The Outlands (Sequel to Elven King Mistress)

Chapter 32

Shane Pov

Ashford looked down at me with tired and hopeless eyes. She has been beaten down and she's tired. But I know if she does this, she will regret it. She feels hopeless and miserable now and who can blame her, but I've seen Ashford with Mickey. She's obsessed. Her eyes sparkle at the mention of his name, but here lately there's been feelings of hopelessness, but this is not right. Mickey and Chaos need us. They need their mates.

"Do you feel that? The pain. It's his pain." I nodded my head to Mickey. He is the last being that I want to defend, but I love him. I will fight for us. I get it. If you look past the rage that's always on his face, you can see that Mickey wanted to do better and he's tried time and time again. He has walked away from me several times to save me from Chaos. I always know who is punishing us, because of their actions. When it's Mickey, he mainly sexes us to death. When it's Chaos, it's painful, violent and we are near death after he's done with us. He didn't cause anywhere near the amount of damage that I heard his father caused when his warlock first came. Mickey is smart. He loves his family. He loves his kingdom. All these things have played a part in his decision making.

I stood up. "He loves us." As I was feeling the pain, I felt his love as well as possession, obsession and something else I couldn't put a name to that felt oddly dangerous. He will go to any lengths for us and to have us. His feelings for us are downright dangerous and lethal. I shivered.

"I didn't feel any love, Shane. He loves to control us. I see that now."

"Yea, he does, but I see now that's it with good reason. He goes about his love in a dark way but look at him. He's hurting. The great Mickey of Aelasar is down on bended knee and you did that Ashford. He doesn't want to lose you or me."

"How would I know all of that if he never tells me. He only shows me pain and rage. I don't think I can endure it any longer. I'm tired, Shane."

She turned back to him, ready to say the final words, but Mickey was there in her face. He had a look on his face that I couldn't decipher.

The longer she stared at him the more emotions came back into her face. She gasped then tears came. She looked at me and cried harder.

"What have I done?" She asked and cried harder.

"What do you want," Mickey asked. His eyes were flashing red right before our eyes. He was fighting Chaos while feeling the worst pain that he has ever felt in his life. Mickey is truly a wonder and I admire him. A lesser man would have caved or folded under that kind of pressure from all sides. Because I can bet anything that Chaos is pissed. He wants to torture us for even daring to fix our mouth in defiance. But Mickey, even though he is not all candy and rainbows, is holding him back. I clenched my jaw at the number of times I've defended him. It's definitely an adjustment from my thoughts from weeks ago. But I've grown and so has he. He's grown in impossible circumstances.

"I-I want you to-to."

"What? love you," he asked.

She gasped out as more tears ran.

"You want me to love you more than anyone has ever loved another being. Would you feel better?"

And that's what it all comes down to. If Ashford knew without a shadow of a doubt that Mickey doesn't hate her, then she can endure. She needs to know that his anger and rage is not because he hates her. Something that she should know after all these planet cycles. But how can she know if Mickey never reassures her.

She nodded.

"Then feel better."

He brought his fingers to our foreheads. Feelings and emotions hit us like a nice warm blanket, enveloping us. They were his feelings and emotions. They just don't come out like our feelings do, but they are there. He has an insurmountable amount of respect for us. He admires Ashford and loves her more than any being on this planet. He hates himself for loving the content feelings he gets while punishing her. He taught Chaos early on to love Ashford. Chaos simply didn't care about love or feelings, but still. And me. He's proud of me. He's proud to be my mate. He loves how strong and resilient I am. He loves that I take a licking and keep on ticking. I chuckled. He thinks I'm formidable. He thinks I'm the strongest being he's ever met. He admires my grit. Then came the saddest feeling of all from him. We felt what would happen if we rejected or left him. Death. He would die and from the smallest amount of crushing pain I felt earlier, I believe it.