The Prince's Mate

Chapter 8

My gray and white wolf stood in front of my mate on her own four paws, snarling madly at the man who basically assaulted her, then insulted her mere seconds later. The human half of me was startled, I hardly shifted at all, only when my wolf became terribly restless and I had never in my life shifted out of sheer rage. But there I was, teeth bared, hackles raised, and growls pouring out of my mouth as I stalked closer to my mate.

"What are you gonna do?" My mate taunted, opening up his arms, "Huh? You aren't dumb enough to fight me and we both know it. I could kill you in seconds." He grinned broadly and gestured for me to make the first move. "So what's it going to be?"

My wolf knew she couldn't take on the prince. He had royal blood on his side and years upon years of physical and mental training. I would be a fool for actually lunging at him, no matter how furious I was. So I thought of the one thing that would be more humiliating for a prince and I took another step towards him.

My mate lowered his body into a fighting stance, ready to grab me and toss me on my back in a moment's notice. But what he wasn't ready for was my sudden charge to the bedroom door. I bolted out of the open door then raced down the grand staircase as fast as my wolf would allow. My paws had a hard time sticking to the slick surface, but once I hit the bottom step I was faced with a new problem, the front door and a lack of thumbs. So I did the only thing I could, I slammed my weight against that stunning door and let out a little sigh of relief when something gave and it swung open on it's hinges.

"Where are you going?" my mate demanded from the top of the stairs. He had lost the arrogant edge to his voice and now sounded nervous. He and I both knew that there was nothing more embarrassing for a male in a position of power than losing control over their fragile, dumb, female mate.

I was winning this battle, whether the prince liked it or not. The moment I was out the door eyes were on me. At least twenty guards were gazing intently at me as I raced over the grass. I let out a triumphed howl when I heard my mate shouting profanities behind me while he tried to catch up and so he had gotten the attention of every guard in the vicinity. Soon enough he had recruited at least ten guards to help him chase me down, but I was still howling with laughter as I ran.

It ha

d been so long since I let my wolf out that I had forgotten how good it felt. My paws were pounding the earth beneath them, the wind whistled in my ears, and the air felt so fresh in my lungs. It felt like I was free for the first time in a long time, so even though I had accomplished my goal of embarrassing my mate, I kept running, just for the sheer joy of it.

I looped around the beautiful fountain, loving the sound of the water running, and thoroughly enjoying the fact that I was making my mate go on a wild goose chase. I ran up the vibrant flower bed, full speed, then leapt over them with more grace than I knew I had. And once I landed I kept running, weaving around hedges, ducking behind massive statues, and little hidden garden sheds.

For the entirety of my little escapade I was laughing, sometimes internally and occasionally in wolfish cackles out loud. I loved the thrill of winning and the exhilaration that came with every run like this just made me feel like I was floating on cloud nine.

Until I heard a kind voice whisper: "Brooklyn."

I skidded to a stop, mortified as I looked at Donovan who was staring at me with equal levels of horror.

But before I had a chance to think of my next move gruff hands grabbed at my sides and I was thrown on my back so hard my wolf let out a shriek of pain.

"What the hell is this little bitch doing?" a cold voice demanded. I didn't know who was speaking until I looked up into sharp, almost black eyes and the fight in me died. The king was puffing hard as if he had been chasing me too, but his attention was snatched away from me when he barked at Donovan, "Get the collar. If she wants to behave like a dog, then she'll be treated like one."

I had no idea what a collar was, at least not completely, but when I saw Donovan hesitate to move I knew it couldn't be good. But he was a guard, and his duty was to comply to the king's orders so he bowed his head, clasped his hands together behind his back and left to go find this collar while the rest of the guards and my mate finally caught up to me.

"Why the hell was she running around like some mutt. I know she doesn't come from the most prestigious pack, but this is unacceptable." The king grunted, still keeping me pinned down on my back despite the fact that I had stopped fighting. I only let out a little growl when he disrespected my pack which earned me a hard smack on the muzzle. "Damn mutt can't control herself."

"She certainly is wild." The prince agreed. His demeanor had changed slightly. He was a little less arrogant now, and a little more cautious. I snorted internally, the big bad wolf was afraid of his own father. My father would've been exiled from the werewolf community if it meant he got to keep my mother for another day and that was much more daunting than standing up to your own father. But I suppose not all men were created equal.

"Ah, there you are Anderson." The king grunted.

Donovan approached the hoard of on-lookers slowly and carefully, carrying something that was bundled in several cloths. He gingerly handed the king whatever he was holding and, after the cloths had been discarded, I felt searing agony constrict my throat. I instantly let out a loud howling scream. I had never experienced the harsh burn that silver caused, but I knew what it was right away. there was nothing more painful for a werewolf than touching silver and I had the metal strapped tightly around my neck.

"The collar?" The prince asked, sounding panicked.

"She needs to learn." The king stated, "Get her on the chain and make sure it's staked to the ground good. We don't want a repeat of what just happened, do we?"

"No." the prince answered.

A second later I was clipped to a horrendously heavy chain that was tethered to a chunk of buried concrete. I didn't care that they had chained me up like a disobedient puppy. I didn't care that people were gawking at me. I didn't care that I didn't have any food or water nearby. I didn't care that my family was hundreds of miles away or that night was falling quickly.

All I could think about was the intense burning sensation that the silver caused. It was so painful that once I realized I couldn't scratch off the collar I stopped moving all together. I took slow, even breaths to prevent myself from letting out pained howls and I kept my eyes closed to avoid the concerned glances from other people.

I told myself over and over again that once this collar was off me I was going to kill the king.

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