Page 41 of Bound By My Alpha Mate

“You fucking monster,” I said under my breath.

“All shifters are monsters,” David said nonchalantly. “Our existence inherently oppresses someone or something else. The animals we kill for food. The humans we silence to protect our identities. Even amongst ourselves, we slaughter indiscriminately so that our strongest can survive. Don’t tell me unicorns have never caused deaths in order to continue hiding. You may not have slit a throat, but reserving your magic for yourselves has inadvertently taken lives, too.”

“It’s a bit of a reach to call us murderers for trying to protect ourselves from being exploited,” I growled, testing the strength of the ropes around my wrists with subtle squirms. They were too tight for me to break out of them, the way I was sitting right then.

“Nonetheless,” continued David, “your selfishness has ripped people away from their loved ones. Your mother is at fault for the death of Sibyelle, and you…well, that baby girl might still be alive had you not tried to steal her away.” He frowned. “As I said, we’re all monsters in some way.”

I shook my head, forcing back the unpleasant sense of responsibility I had for Lothair’s daughter’s death. “So, in your eyes, it’s fair to poach my mother for her horn and use me for my magic?”

“I’m very much justified in doing this,” he agreed. “Mythguard will claim my actions warrant extermination, but I intend to show them the hypocrisy of their ways. They, too, are monsters for suppressing and persecuting us. We are within our rights to rise up and fight back. We deserve every bit the same degree of freedom as humans—if not more, considering every new regulation and law Mythguard imposes in order to oppress us.”

My mouth hung open with the beginnings of an argument, but truly, I didn’t know if I entirely disagreed with David. I was forced to live my life in secrecy because, if they knew the capabilities of a unicorn shifter, the humans would exploit me, like other shifters already did. Yes, I wanted to live as freely as humans did and embrace my hybrid beast without fear, but…this wasn’t the way to do it. A growl brewed in my throat. “Killing people isn’t going to get you what you want, David. It’s only going to cause a more violent backlash. You’re going to make it worse for shifters, not better.”

“This is going to get me exactly what I want. The world is too soft for a gentle, mindful approach, Kiara. It’s time we assert ourselves, whether or not the world is ready for us.”

Arguing with David was futile. I knew nothing I could say would change his mind, but it was at least validating to tell him to his face how wrong he was. I bared my teeth, and he grinned, standing up from behind his desk. “I’ve made up my mind,” said David, taking hold of the unicorn horn. “I actually have no need for you after tomorrow, but it will please me so greatly to bleed you out and know that my traitorous son will suffer as he feels you die.”

Cold dread made me feel heavy and hopeless. “Bastard!” I snapped back at him, struggling in the chair as if that might help me at all. It didn’t. All I could do was watch David walk around me with the iridescent horn and admire it as he reached the door.

“Bring her downstairs. I want her to ponder her mother’s sacrifice in the few hours she has left, while we prepare the atrium for the ritual. Come, I’ll show you where to keep her,” said David.

Kipling wrenched me out of the chair and dragged me through the Manor to the basement where I’d been locked up before. Only this time, I wasn’t taken into the cold room where carcasses were butchered. David led us further into the basement to a refrigerated room, kept below freezing, where all of Dalesbloom’s and the Inkscales’ food was stored. I hadn’t realized they’d stockpiled so much meat. They must have been hunting to excess in the past few weeks in order to keep their numbers fed. That would explain why Grandbay and Eastpeak hadn’t been having much luck hunting. They were going hungry because Dalesbloom and the dragons were killing everything in sight and hoarding it where nobody else could find it.

Cold air raked my skin, making my hair stand on end. My bare feet stung, and I shivered as I walked across the icy, concrete floor, immediately feeling my energy drained not only from the freezing temperature but the enveloping presence of meat. Fresh blood was most intensely poisonous to me, but meat could be just as bad, exposed tracts of muscle and bone that should have been alive. Now it was dead, with the process of decay—the antithesis of a unicorn’s source of magic, which was life and healing—suspended in the cold. Kipling skulked toward me. Condensed air fled from my lips as I snarled at him, kicking in resistance when he grabbed me and lifted me up off the ground. “Let me go! Screw you! You asshole, I hope someone from Mythguard puts a bullet in your head!”

He ignored me.

Behind me, David grabbed two heavy chains that were wrapped around a thick metal bar extending between the walls. With the hooks on the ends of each chain, he secured the nylon ropes that were around my wrists, then snapped a padlock around the links of both chains. Kipling let go of me, and gravity abruptly yanked me down until I was left hanging helplessly by the chains, my feet dangling and my neck aching.

“Let’s allow her to cool off a little bit, hm?” David snickered, then turned to the nearby carcass of a whole pig that had been left to hang upside down. It was still fresh—probably killed only the day before. “Now, I don’t want to keep this horn on me in case somebody gets ideas. I’m going to leave it down here as a reminder to Kiara of her failures. Perhaps, if she proves strong enough, she’ll embody the hypocrisy she loves so much and rip this horn out of flesh, just as we did.”

Nausea flooded me as I watched David stab the abdomen of the hanging pig with the horn, shearing flesh and impaling organs, plunging his hand into the gore until he had lodged the horn deep within its body. A cruel hiding place in plain sight, as he knew I would have to poison myself to recover the horn if I managed to free myself from the chains.

David smacked the pig and threw a wicked grin at me before gesturing for Kipling to follow him, his hand slick with crimson. “Meditate on your fate, Kiara. You’ll have a few hours yet before I’m ready for you.”

They walked out of the room to the sound of me spewing obscenities at them. The door slammed shut, sealing me inside the refrigerated room with my shouts stifled by icy walls. I struggled, kicking at the air and thrashing my body as the clinking of rattling chains filled my ears. Rage and anguish welled up so powerfully inside me that I screamed; my voice echoed off the carcasses and back at me. David had left me to freeze in this room, surrounded by my greatest weakness. My hybrid beast howled with hunger and pain. I wanted to eat so badly, but the stench of the meat stung my throat. This was the worst possible place for me to be.

I shrieked and roared and struggled in the chains for twenty minutes before exhaustion finally took over. Frost gathered on my bare skin as the heat of my anger gradually surrendered to the cold. Still, I wouldn’t allow tears to fall. Desperate and tattered breaths wracked my body as I went limp, redirecting my energy to mental endeavors instead.

I had to find a way out of here. The longer I stayed, the weaker I became, but I wasn’t about to let David have the satisfaction of killing me. Not if I could help it.

My gaze fixed on the pig where David had crammed my mother’s horn. He would pay dearly for this sick, twisted offense. I wasn’t a sadistic person, but I wanted to make him suffer for this.

Chapter 26

Colt

I didn’t remember falling asleep, but when I jolted awake on the couch, the sun hadn’t even risen yet. The front door cracked open, and Everett spoke quietly to somebody coming in. Gavin was still dozing next to me, with Billie beside him and Aislin on the other end of the couch. Craning my neck, I looked past the armrest and saw a few men clad in black step inside, and then I met Everett’s eyes.

“The Mythguard guys are here,” he said. “Wake everyone up. We’ll begin planning while the recon team visits the mine.”

Aislin was already unfurling her limbs and blinking sleep out of her eyes, which was good; I didn’t want to get near her. I gently shook Gavin’s arm, then got to my feet while he and Billie stirred, looking up at the people entering the living room. Everett welcomed the swarm of strangers into our space, looking focused and hardened while the rest of us sagged with exhaustion and dark circles under our eyes.

After a quick breakfast, we sat around the table with five Mythguard representatives. Another four patrolled outside, while the remaining six who had been sent as backup went to check on the rest of Everett’s and Gavin’s packmates, who were taking refuge at Everett’s mother’s house. The recon team consisted of ten more operatives. That made twenty-five Mythguard operatives in total, plus the five of us. We were still outnumbered by Dalesbloom and the Inkscales, but we figured we only needed to take out David and Lothair before the fight would likely end—it was doubtful their followers would continue fighting if their leaders fell. We were certainly counting on their loyalty wavering once David and Lothair became Lycan.

The plan became that Mythguard would approach the mine first, armed with tranquilizer guns, and either lure the front line out into the open or enter the mine, if need be. As the Lycan ritual required exposure to moonlight, we had to strike before nightfall, as we suspected my father would be hiding deep within the mine until then. The tranquilizers would knock most of the defending line unconscious, and then we would push into the mine, using lethal force if necessary, until we encountered David and Lothair. They would be exterminated, and Kiara would be rescued. The plan was simple in theory, but in execution, none of us knew how it would turn out, and we were prepared for more death. It was a risk we had to take to ensure the safety of our home. I was ready to sacrifice myself if it meant keeping everyone else safe.

At 6 a.m., the recon team arrived at Everett’s house. “We counted three wolves and four dragons patrolling the outskirts of the silver mine. Brad and Carla have also confirmed that David’s truck, carrying Kiara’s scent, is parked at the mine, which leads us to believe both David and Kiara are inside,” one of the Mythguard humans reported.

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