Chapter 6
Kiarra barged through the large gold painted doors along the endless marble corridor, her strides long and her eyes blazing with anger. She is searching for the very infuriating man whom she calls father. How could he put Castor up with this?
Two elevators up and she was on her father's floor. The place was immaculately decorated with the finest and everything was carefully aligned together for perfection. From the position of the windows to let in the light to the shape of the windows and the type of glass. Guards bowed as she passed and none of them dared to glance at her, feeling the fiery fury passing off of her in waves making their beasts restless and causing them to bow heavily as she passed.
Yet as she looked around the palace he was nowhere to be seen and Kiarra gritted her teeth angrily. She paused trying to steady her breath and calm her anger when she caught a glimpse of him through the window with Castor's father walking through the property on the east wing and her heart squeezed. The familiar black hair barely streaked with grey, the large dominating shoulders and the smoothness of his walk made him easy to locate.
Pearlor Whitlock on the other hand was also a mirror of his son with blonde hair and piercing blue eyes and she wondered if he was in on this as well, probably thought it was a perfect union, inevitable and in a way she couldn't blame him. In order to avoid an incomplete reading experience, visit J0bn lb.com. They have been friends from what seems like birth. Her father on the other hand knew better, he knew she saw Castor as nothing more than a friend.
How could he just sign her off to Castor like that without even discussing it with her first like she was some mare he was giving away?
She had never in her life given Castor a reason to believe they were more than just friends or could be more. So only one person could have convinced and manipulated him otherwise. In her blinding anger, she didn't even know when she had arrived behind them making long strides on the pathway to catch up to them.
The two of them turned and looked at her and her father didn't seem in the least surprised. Then again she couldn't think of a time he actually looked surprised.
He was unstoppable and this scared her because if he decided this was final, her only way out was death.
"f*****g Castor?!" her voice booms across the grounds and the pair stare at the seething girl before them.
Castor's father, Pearlor, looks embarrassed for a moment but she doesn't care that he had to hear about his son in such a manner. Castor was a wonderful man, the best of the best and she loved him with all her heart, but he would never be more than just a brother to her.
"You're disgusting." she spits at her father and her eyes glow with rage. "I will not marry f*****g Castor!"
Her voice echoes around her and she knows everyone is listening, but he has gone too far.
Arthur is taken aback by his daughter's fearlessness and strength and he must admit if she was a man she would be something this world has never seen. He shifts slightly to look at his angry daughter.
Pearlor looks unsure of what to do looking back and forth between the King and his daughter and by now his face is red. The hope of his son being the future king being diminished before his eyes out in the open ground for all to hear.
Pearlor has always been incredibly nice to her and maybe after her confrontation with her father she can talk to him privately and let him know that she has nothing against his wonderful son, she just couldn't see him as anything more than a brother. Her father looking calm as ever, bored actually places his hands in the pockets of the richly tailored suit that seemed to have been made on him.
"You will lower your voice when addressing me!" he booms back and she feels the dominance rolling off of him in waves.
The ground shakes beneath her and Pearlor falls to his knees and so does the guards planted near the perimeter of the extremely high white fence separating them from the outside world. The power this man holds.
She feels the biting pain wring at her and tries to hold on, but she has to submit and bows her head, folding before him. He was much taller than her or any man she had ever encountered and hard muscled. If not for the barely noticeable streaks of grey, you would think he was much younger.
Arthur, King of the beasts, the most powerful Lycan that exists is a man with a large reputation. A man, a king larger than life.
He takes slow steps towards his daughter, his composure never wavering, but she knows him better and it sends a shiver through her, her heart picking up its beat erratically in fear.
"Now, I've let you waltz around for far too long in this fantasy of yours and you have gotten away with it because you have my heart. Your time is up! Marry Castor or choose a suitor from those who have asked for your hand!" his deep cool voice bathes her. She feels his words pierce at her as she looks at the grey and black eyes before her. There is a deadly silence now as he stares at her waiting for her to come to her senses and agree. He softens and the waves coming off of him have stopped, but she will not back down, not on this. She quickly shuffles up and tries to get her point across.
"I will not marry Castor. Father Castor is like a brother to me! To harass Castor to marry me is low." She waves her hand around trying to get her point across to her stubborn and unmoving father and Pearlor has now faded into the background. Pearlor wouldn't dare to intervene. A wrong move or breath could invite her father's attention and the outcome could be deadly. Her father is a very serious man.
Arthur scoffs at her and really looks at his daughter. She couldn't be so naive, could she?
"Have you seen the way that man looks at you waiting for you to come around like a puppy? Put the man out of his misery and marry him. You need a mate." Arthur declares, his tone final and he starts walking away finished with her.
This hurts Kiarra. That he would not even listen to her and hear her out, what she feels doesn't matter to him. All that matters is what he wants and decides.
The wind picks up in the English countryside as if siding with her blowing her hair to the side. As if on cue, her two personal guards arrive beside her. She had gotten a breather from them earlier because she was with Castor, but her father must have mind linked them to return to her because to him this useless conversation that she was pushing on him was over.
"I will not marry a man who isn't my mate! " Kiarra screams adamantly trying to hold on.
Arthur is over the whole exchange and he looks back to stare at the fool he calls his daughter.
"And who is your mate?" the King asks, the light hitting the charcoal black hair and the faint grey streaks shining bright silver.
"He will find me." Kiarra says calmly, trying to steady her voice.
Kiarra has to believe he will. He has to find her and she knows he is out there somewhere and the dreams alone are proof that he exists.
"I never raised a stupid daughter and I will not have one." He stands over her and looks down at her with disdain, his words flying out rapid and harshly lashing at her. " You will marry before the month is over. Your time is up and you are a woman Kiarra, a powerful one at that. You will pick your suitor or I will. Castor is as good as any man out there. Make your choice while you still have one."
A month?! Her heart started racing at the thought. Would that even be enough time to find him?
Kiarra stares at her father incredulously, he has to change his mind because she wasn't budging on this. Not today nor next month. She could feel her anger soar and burn inside of her.
"Father this conversation has long expired and you need to grasp that I will not marry him or anyone else who isn't my mate. You clearly do not listen and I will not repeat myself!"
If Kiarra is anything, she is brave and fierce. No one dares to speak to the King of beasts in such a manner. But she will not back down, he cannot have this. He will not have his way and she will make her own way.
The impact of her words sits with him. His eyes flash red and before she knows it long sharp claws have slashed along her thighs, leaving large open gashes.
Kiarra screams out from the pain and both the surprise and by the time she catches on, the claws lash at her two more times, ripping her open.
Her father is tearing her apart!
One rake through her middle and the other across her torso. She crashes to the ground and whimpers in pain, her hands shaking as it slices through her mangled body. The dress opens around her exposing her body, but she cannot even fix it due to the pain that is consuming her.
The guards have turned around not wanting to risk any of the king's wrath both shaking in fear.
Her father carefully walks over to her and looks down at her torn body, her eyes filled with tears and her breathing erratic.
Pearlor looks at her with wide open eyes filled with fear, his mouth wide open as the scent of her blood rises in the air. Her hands shake as she tries to hold on to her modesty covering as much as she can.
"Father please, please don't kill me." she softly begs as her blood pools round her, tears escaping the corner of her eyes.
He looks down at her and she blinks away the tears that have escaped and now runs down her face disappearing into the tiled walkway beneath her.
"Give an inch you take a mile Kiarra." his voice is bitter and menacing as he looks down at her with distaste. "The next time you test my love for you and raise your voice at me you will lose it."
She knows this is not an if or maybe. It is a promise. Her body shivers in fear.
"Yes, father." she quickly replies, submitting to the humiliation and pain, her voice cracking from exerting any pressure due to her painful wounds.
She was afraid of his temper, afraid of him.
She hears the click of the heel of his shoes against the pathway as he walks away, the black pants leg blurring in her vision with tears. Her body felt as if it was on fire and the pain was unbearable. Her wounds are healing, but the depth of the wounds makes it take a while, her shaking hands are covered in blood.
The guards waiting for her try their best not to look at her as she lies there trying to control her sobs that only make the pain worse when they rack her body.
Kiarra lays her head down and closed her eyes and wait until the larger openings start to heal. Her body is now shaking violently and she pulls herself up in a sitting position letting out a strangled cry feeling dizzy as the wound on her abdomen and thighs gapes at her. She makes no move to cover herself knowing it is useless and she feels herself starting to slip away, her mouth tasting sour.
She closes her eyes and pictures her mother. Her smiling face and golden hair. The light airy clean scent she carries with her. As she sat there she realised she could not possibly make it back to her room.
"Guard." she whispers.
Her hair clinging to her skin and her throat was unbelievably dry. Kiarra tries not to look down at a large amount of red on the pathway beneath her. Blood runs down her legs and she watches it as a guard quickly shuffles over to her.
The man stares at her directly trying not to show any emotion or regard, but he fails miserably. She can see his jaw clenched tight from the scent of the blood and the sympathy in his eyes.
"Yes, Princess." he bows his head.
"Take me back to my room please and lay me on the bed."
He looks hesitant at first, but he cannot disobey an order from her. Men are forbidden from entering her quarters unless it is her father. Not even Castor is allowed and her father made that rule a long time ago.
His strong arms easily lift her and he frowns before moving off asking the other guard for his jacket which he tucks around her before swiftly moving off.
She was fading in and out of consciousness when she felt the softness of her bed beneath her and then the click of the door. She would have to remember him for his kindness. She quickly succumbed to the small dots appearing in front of her, welcoming the darkness and slipping under.
Soon she was drifting through darkness and she found herself standing on damp grass. Kiarra realizes she is barefoot walking through the cold grass towards the cliff she dreamt of too many times to not know it by heart. She soon sees him sitting there on the edge of the cliff and her heartbeat increases pounding in her chest, her skin buzzing as if with electricity. The light of the moon bathes him. Every time Kiarra sees him he looks bigger, but his shoulders always have a slump to them and he looks sad.
The wolf lifts up his head at an angle and Kiarra can finally see his cheek in the moonlight. He has a gold streak across it. How strange? This time the dream feels as if it's finally revealing the wolf who has haunted her mind for so long. She tries to make out if he is black or dark brown, but the moonlight doesn't give it away.
The large head slightly tilts in her direction as if it senses her and her breath catches, an electric jolt coursing through her.
Blue, his eyes are ice blue. Blue eyes are rare indeed among wolf packs.
As she tries to think of which pack has to ice blue eyes as an ancestral mark she is thrown off guard when its howling rips through her. It feels like it is crushing her heart and Kiarra staggers under the painful pressure.
Her eyes fly open from the pain of her mate and she sees her body is covered in sweat. Her hands move across her body, searching frantically. The wounds have almost healed.
The ice blue eyes send a shiver through her as she looks around in the darkness trying to get her memory to cooperate, her eyes wild. It feels as if at any moment he would jump at her out of the darkness from some corner of her bedroom.
"Come on Kiarra! Think!" she shouted at her self wriggling miserably.
The last time a wolf had ice blue eyes was centuries ago. Her heart was beating rapidly and she could hear it pounding in her ears as she frantically sought through her memories willing her mind to cooperate.
Which pack is known for the blue eyes? She was snapping her fingers together in the dark. Come on Kiarra. She knows this by heart so why does it elude her now? It was on the tip of her tongue.
She closed her eyes and said a prayer. Kiarra calmed down and steadied her breathing and then it came to her like a bolt of lightning.
The Cartier Pack!