Chapter 5. Mate Bond

LUCIUS' POV

Living a double life was so much harder than it sounded like. I had to keep myself hidden all the time, especially when it was full moon. I had to always chain myself in the dungeon with my best warriors assigned outside for extra protective measures.

Five years ago, they cursed me with the most monstrous curse possible. After losing both my parents in the great war, my brother hated me and - a witch cursed me. The first couple of months were a massive disaster for me and for everyone around me. The only person who was there for me was my beta - Neal.

Neal had helped me control the curse over the past few years. He would never leave my side whenever I would be under the power of the curse.

Even though it was such a risk to be around me because everything was unpredictable, he would still be there protecting me and watching my back. We have grown closer together over the past years.

"Lucius, where have you been?" Neal exclaimed upon entering my office.

"I went on a brief hunting trip," I replied.

"I am serious, Lucius! You can't just disappear for four days without letting me know where you are heading or what your situation is. The full moon is in two weeks and Queen Luna will arrive two days after the full moon." He reasoned.

"I know, and I am sorry. Okay? Sometimes, I feel you are the King Alpha and not me." I replied, teasing him.

"If you would only tell Queen Luna the truth, my job would be much easier," he suggested.

"We have already talked about it, Neal. Not a word about this to her." I reminded him.

Before Neal could say something, there was a knock on my door.

"Come in!" I yelled.

The door opened, and it was one warrior that was posted as the castle guard.

"Alpha. Beta." he bowed.

"What is it?" I asked.

"The prisoner tried to escape, Alpha. We caught her by the 10th floor." He informed me.

"I see. Bring her back to the attic. No one touches her." I instructed, giving them a warning.

"Yes, Alpha." he replied before leaving.

As soon as the guard left, Neal interrogated me about the prisoner.

"Who is this prisoner, Lucius?" he asked.

"It's nothing like that, Neal, if that's what you are worried about," I replied, focusing on the paper works on my table.

During the early years of my curse, I used to always lock up a female werewolf in the dungeon and beat her to death. It would always surface whenever I was a beast. It's like a characteristic that came with my curse. Not only that, but during a full moon, three years ago, I escaped from the dungeon. I had no memories of what exactly happened, but Neal told me he tracked me in the nearby forest. He said that I had tied a female wolf in one tree and was beating her senselessly. I had to command him to bring me to where he found me, to see what gruesome thing my beast self did.

"Who is she, then?" he asked again.

I put down the file I was reading and let out an annoyed sigh.

"My mate," I replied, looking into his eyes.

"You found your mate?" he asked excitedly.

I looked at him with complete boredom in my eyes.

"Wait! Why is she imprisoned?" he questioned.

I let out another sigh and looked at him.

"Because she is a traitor." I implied.

"How?" he asked.

I told him the clean version of how I met her and what happened, minus the part where we had sex.

"Have you lost your mind? You have no concrete evidence that she is working with the person who tried to kill you. What if she is really innocent as she has been claiming to be?" he exclaimed.

"The last time I checked, she was my mate, and I am the Alpha King. So, if you have no other business here, you may leave." I snapped.

I picked up the same file that I was reading before he arrived and ignored him. After a few seconds, he left my office.

I let out a sigh of relief after he left.

My wolf, Lucian, had been bugging me the past two weeks about her. He even started ignoring me for the past five days because I wouldn't allow him to meet her and take her out of the imprisonment. I had a fight with him for being so irresponsible during the night that she found us in the woods. If he wasn't so love-sick during that night and didn't give in to the mate bond, the sex would have never happened.

After doing some paperwork, I left the office and went straight to the attic.

It had been 12 days since she fainted. The doctor said that her body was too weak, so it automatically shut down. She hasn't woken up ever since.

I arrived in the attic and I gave a curt nod to the guard that reported to me earlier.

"Who dared hurt her?" I yelled.

"We didn't hurt her, King Alpha." The other guard answered.

"Then explain this!" I yelled, pointing at my mate's bruised arm.

"I didn't mean to, King Alpha. She wasn't cooperating, so I had to drag her to get her back in here." The guard replied.

"How can she possibly fight back when she isn't even strong enough to stand on her own?" I roared.

How dare he touch my mate?

"Get out of here before I throw you both in the dungeon," I ordered.

I turned around and looked at her. My anger disappeared when I saw her angelic face.

"Were you really that stupid to think that you could escape my castle? You can even barely stand up!" I scolded her.

She just sat there quietly.

'Where are you, doctor?' I snapped through the mind link.

I called for the pack doctor minutes before I even left the office, yet she was still not here.

A few minutes, she finally arrived.

"King Alpha." she said.

"Check her vitals and insert that IV back in her." I ordered.

I watched as she injected the IV again.

I had to stop myself from storming off to the doctor and snapping her neck when I smelt my mates' blood.

"She is still weak, King Alpha. I have given her a booster to help speed up her recovery." The doctor reported.

"Dismiss." I simply said.

The doctor left, and it was only me and her in the room.

"So, are you finally going to tell me who are your accomplices?" I asked.

Even if she was my mate, I still needed to find out who her accomplices were. No matter how Lucian wanted her, I had to punish her for what she did.

"I don't know what you are talking about, King Alpha." she mumbled.

"Huh! You dare lie to me? What would she-wolf like you be doing in the middle of the no-man's-land? Don't you dare tell me you just found me unconscious because that is bullshit." I yelled.

She sat there on the bed, staring at her hands.

"Answer me," I growled.

My patience was running out and Lucian, who kept fighting for dominance, was making it worse. Trying to fight the mate bond was one thing, and trying to block my wolf was another.

"I am telling the truth, King Alpha." she whimpered.

I roared in annoyance and left the room. This time, I locked the doors and went straight to my room.

Being in the same room with her and smelling her scent was more than enough to drive me horny. Thanks to her, I had to take a very long, cold shower to tame my awakened hormones.