Unmarked Mates

Unmarked Mates - Chapter 16

Unmarked Mates - Chapter 16

Even though I had never been down in the dungeons before, it was still easy to find. The two guards caught up to me by the time I reached the bottom of the stairs and flanked me like they did before. I didn't stop them. In a way their presence would make this confrontation much easier: they made me feel safe.

We passed cell after cell, all empty with the occasional dried up blood splattered on the walls. It didn't take a psychic to know that wolves were tortured down here. I shuddered at the unpleasant image.

Chad was being held in the cell at the end. He was in wolf form, standing as close to the metal bars without touching them. A quick sniff identified the bars being laced with wolfsbane.

It had been a while since I saw his wolf. A beautiful midnight black whose dark eyes didn't stare at me but my neck. A bastard would always be a bastard in all forms.

His eyes shifted to the guards with me and gave a warning growl.

"Leave us." I ordered. They exchanged a sideway glance but left further down the hall anyway. It was dark down there, I couldn't see them, but they were within earshot. Just in case.

Slowly I walked closer to Chad's cell, his eyes never leaving mine.

"Chad," I murmured softly, hoping for him to calm down. "Shift back...please." I don't know why I added that on the end, but I worked. After taking deep breathes he shifted back and stood before me in all his glory.

"Lana." His eyes went back to my neck.

The anger I held onto decided to burst just then. My hand flung forward on its own accord and ignoring the pain touching the bar inflicted, I punched Chad.

I did see his head move to the side and hear the crack of bones breaking. My bones.

It hurt but the anger hurt even more.

"Did that make you feel better?" He asked, rubbing his left cheek.

I fisted my right hand in an attempt to hide the fact that it was trembling from the pain. I wasn't healing.

"Lana," He began gently. "Let me out."

"No."

"Why?" He growled, gripping the bars in front of him. The smell of burning skin met my nostrils.

I ignored his question. "Why did you do it, Chad?" I whispered, looking straight into his eyes and detecting no sight of emotion.

"Simple," He said, clutching the bars tighter, the smell getting even stronger. "I love you."

I froze. Three. This was the third time he had said it. But this time I didn't believe him.

I cleared my throat. "Cut the crap. We both know you're a power hungry bastard who took the first opportunity he got."

"No, Lana. I love you. I want to be with you, with our children. I want us to be a family."

Family. Somehow he knew my deepest desire to have a proper one with a mate and my children. However, I knew better.

"I will have a proper family one day, Chad, one with a man that truly loves me. When that day comes, you would have already had half the females in your pack knocked up, if you haven't already done so."

"You bitch, I'd never -"

"Your mark isn't complete and I will have Eric properly mark me! Then you and I will have no connection whatsoever."