Page 61 of Mated

It is enough of a jolt to make me reconsider.

I start to wonder if I am being fucking insane.

I start to wonder if everything about this situation has not been insane from the beginning.

A lot has changed for my mate since we met. There’s a strength in her that I did not recognize before. She has suffered greatly, and she has discovered parts of herself that have lain dormant her entire life.

The pack is right to be afraid of her.

I am not keeping her in this dungeon because I feel that they would hurt her. I am keeping her down here because when I look into her pretty eyes, I see the thing that Isabella raged about when Kira bit her. My mate has capacities few other wolves do. Most of this pack submits to me easily. Kira submits when I fuck her, and that is all.

Even when she was freshly turned, she was making her own choices. She escaped to the park to steal candy from strangers. When I brought her here to Denholm, she refused to stay in our room and went on an ill-fated spying mission throughout the house. Then she ran off to heed her aunt’s call—but I am not convinced that was merely because the woman called. Kira made her own decision then too. Then she bit Isabella and fought against Abel’s sedation.

All of these actions can easily be rationalized away on their own, but together they form a picture of a young she-wolf who, in spite of appearing meek and perhaps even weak, does not have a naturally submissive bone in her body.

“I am serious,” she says in the silence which follows her statement.

“I know,” I reply.

“What are you going to do with me? How long is it going to take you to realize I’ve never betrayed you?”

“I know you haven’t betrayed me,” I reply. “We’ve talked to your cousin. And your aunt. They don’t know a thing about your heritage. And it’s not your fault that your father happens to have been one of the most infamous villains in our history.”

“So why am I still here?”

“Because I don’t know what to do with you. I know the moment I let you out of this dungeon, the madness will ensue again.”

“Not because of me,” she says.

“Not, not because of you,” I reply. “You never intend any harm, but you have been part of several scandals. And I fear for Isabella if you are to see her again.”

“Then send her away, and your brother too. I don’t intend to forgive him for drugging me. It wasn’t necessary. I’m not dangerous.”

“You just told me you’d kill me.”

She pouts. “Only if you tried to lock me away forever and forever. At that point, it’s fair.”

“A traditional submissive mate would learn to accept her lot, whether it be in her alpha’s dungeon…”

“I’m not traditional then, am I? Let me go, Cain. Let me have a life.”

How can I reasonably refuse her?

She has been patient. More patient than I would be, and more understanding too. She’s right in that she deserves to live her life. There are only so many precautions we can take. There’s only so many suspicions that can be entertained. From the beginning, the pack has been prejudiced against her, and that was not fair then, and it is not fair now.

They can’t keep making me choose this way. I can’t keep her imprisoned just to make everybody else’s life easy. Maybe back in the day, that would have been an alpha’s prerogative, but I like to think I am better than that. And if I want to keep thinking that, I need to be better than that.

“Come with me,” I say, taking her by the hand. “I am getting you out of here.”

Her broad smile is all the reward I need in order to know I have made the right decision.

As we ascend the dungeon stairs, I find my path blocked.

Abel is standing in the passage at the top, preventing us from leaving the area.

“Stand aside, please, brother,” I say, keeping my voice calm.

“No. She cannot leave.”

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