The Prince's Mate

Chapter 9

I was lying on my stomach, quietly whimpering in pain when I heard quiet steps approach me. When that minty smell hit my nose my stomach rolled and the whimpered turned into furious growls. I leapt to my feet and whirled around to face him, glaring at him in the dim moonlight. If I had the strength I would've lunged at him and snapped my teeth at his legs.

"Don't." the prince warned immediately.

The quick scolding only made me more furious and I stalked towards him, even though I knew I would never be able to get close enough to actually bite him.

"Listen to me." the prince snapped, "I'm trying to help."

I knew I would be beyond foolish to trust him, but my growls quieted to a gentle rumble in my chest anyway. At the very least if I did what he asked he wouldn't make my punishment worse or more painful than it already was. Well, that's what I hoped anyway.

"Good, now I'm going to make you a deal."

My ears flattened against my head and I bared my teeth in a warning.

"You are allowed to refuse, but refusing my offer means you stay in this collar until my father decides that you have had enough and you are fit to live. That may take days. If you agree to my terms, I will unlock that collar right now. But, if you break one of my rules, I will personally get you back in this collar and I will be no kinder than my father next time, do you understand?"

I couldn't hide the excitement that came with the mention of the collar being removed, but I still remained wary. I wasn't dumb enough to think that the prince who had tried to rape me was simply going to take off this retched collar, pat me on the head, and tell me I was free to do whatever I liked after I had humiliated him.

"If I undone this collar you will come into my house with me, you will sleep in my bed, and you will do whatever I say." He announced.

I just snarled in response.

The prince grew frustrated and ran his hands through his hair, and let out a groan, "Listen, you either figure out that feminism is only for humans or you spend the rest of your life in this collar, alright? You can hate it as much as you like but I have the power in this relationship, I am the authority, and it is expected that I punish you accordingly when you misbehave. So you can either accept your reality or you can sit here with this damn collar choking you and burning your skin. It's up to you."

I wanted to argue with him. I wanted to bite him, or punch him in the face, anything. I wanted to show him the kind of man my father was. I wished so desperately that I wasn't mated to such an arrogant ass, that I had a gentle man who loved me and allowed me to be whoever I wanted to be. But the searing pain from the collar and the truth of his words struck me and I lowered my head in submission.

The prince let out a little sigh of relief and took away the distance between us in two easy steps. He hesitated a little when he reached over my head, and I didn't blame him, once snap of my powerful jaws could easily take his human hand off and we both knew it. But I wanted the collar off more than I wanted revenge so I kept my head bowed down. The prince hissed when his fingers came into contact with the savage metal, but he didn't jerk away, he just unclasped the collar and let it fall to the ground.

"Now, we are going to tell everyone that you begged me to take that collar off, okay? My father will put this bloody thing on me if he ever finds out I just let you go because I felt sorry for you." The prince said. "Good," he continued, when I nodded my big wolf head, "then shift."

Even though I had agreed to do whatever he said I whimpered and shrunk back at this demand. He had thrown me down on the bed when I had been fully clothed, I couldn't imagine what he would do if he saw my body naked.

"You walking around in wolf form is going to confuse guards, now shift please." He demanded. I was going to protest more until he tossed a large tee shirt at me. "Come on, I don't have time for this."

I turned my back him, hoping that he would be polite enough not to look at my naked body once I shifted. But shifting was harder than I had anticipated. The silver had damaged my wolf temporarily and there was enough silver in my bloodstream still to prevent my wolf from shifting back into a human. I had to jam my eyes shut and exert so much effort to the shift that I ended up grunting. Thankfully, the shift came, even if it happened slowly. I could feel every bone in my bone shifting, moving, my teeth rearranging, and my skin shifting. Had I not been gritting my teeth so tightly I would've let out a howl of pain.

When the shift was over I stood on my own two feet, hunched over and panting. My skin was slick with sweat and my neck was still throbbing with pain.

"Here." The prince murmured, almost to himself as he picked the tee shirt off the ground and then pulled it over my head. I cringed when the cotton material brushed against my raw throat and the grimace didn't get by the prince. "I've seen worse." He commented blandly, "I don't think yours will even scar over, it should be gone in a couple days."

I stood there, stunned by how easily he could dismiss the aftermath of his father's punishment. I had thought my alpha was cruel, but this was beyond anything he would've done. And my own, the man that was supposed to love me more than anything, was regarding my raw and damaged neck as if it were a paper cut or a bruise.

"Let's go inside, I'm exhausted." The prince continued.

Without even waiting for a response, he walked off towards his mansion. For the briefest moment I imagined running away right then, but my eyes dropped to the silver collar and the idea left my mind. I would find a way to deal with this mate, but I wasn't going to put myself at risk again.