I led Xander down the streets to the warehouse Kingsley was in. I wondered what my friend was doing. I knew she wouldn’t mind if I came inside, but I wasn't sure about Xander coming with me yet. I left my mate outside and walked into a seriously heated argument.
There was a woman there with a group of full and partial Demons. The woman standing near Kingsley was a partial Demon. Kingsley said, “Look, we ALL know I’m not a fan of Dirsha, BUT since none of you will do the right thing. I guess it’s up to me. Let’s detail the list of what this is.”
A man practically hissed, “She’s my mate.” Kingsley snorted, “Really? Come off it. Besides, I wasn’t done talking so zip it. Since Dirsha turned eighteen and you discovered she was yourmate, your first move was to use your position as a future Lord to have her reject you.”
I nearly gasped out loud. My heart broke for Dirsha because while I imagined Xander rejecting me, it didn’t happen. My mate showed nothing but love from the moment I met him. The fact this man used his position to force her to accept, or reject him back, was appalling. Freya snarled in my head.
The man tensed before shouting, “That was a mistake! I had her take it back.” Now, I wanted to scream. Freya told me, “That is horrible. Asmodeus should smite this man.” Well, maybe Asmodeus got Karma involved since Kingsley was here and now so was I.
Freya snorted, “I meant smite him as in strike this whelp dead.” Well, ok then. I was onboard for that. Using his position to force a rejection, then a take back of that rejection, did deserve a harsh punishment. So, I understood her thought.
Gods didn’t really claim to police things like this… but at the same time… this was incredibly extreme. I noted none of these people bore Iblis’s mark. So, killing them would be easy. Freya laughed in my head. My wolf told me, “Exactly. We could handle this with Kingsley and Kayda.” I mean technically speaking Kayda could do it all herself.
Kingsley snorted, “After forcing her to reject you, because you are a young pompous prick, you only had her take it back because you couldn’t take the pain.” Ok…so we could torture him to death…. That sounded fair to me. Freya shouted, “YES!”
Kingsley continued, “So you used your power as a future Lord to make her take it back. Which, by the way Dirsha, was your first mistake here. Just so we are clear.” My friend turned back to the man who clearly wanted me to kill him saying, “Then you ordered her not to tell anyone because you don’t want anyone you don’t tell to know.”
Well, that made sense. That was straight out of the ‘I knew I did something wrong, and I don’t want people to know’ handbook. It was pretty standard. Sadly, this is what I’d seen the last several years. I’d even helped wolves whose mate rejected them but refused to let them leave. Even after they took a chosen…which was unfair…and I helped those people leave such situations and move on with their lives.
Dirsha was trying not to smile… so she was better than me. I’d look murderously angry or broken if I was in her shoes. Freya said, “You were never broken despite all that happened to you.” That was true, but I was self-aware enough to know that Xander not wanting me… and using an Alpha Command to get me to accept his rejection would’ve….well cracked every single piece of me.
Kingsley nearly screeched in Kayda’s voice, “THEN you forced her to attend a dinner where you KNEW she had bad blood with the daughter of your guest. Drisha even requested NOT to attend to avoid any drama.”
“You denied her request and yet you still got pissed when there's drama and a fight. Because apparently, Dirsha should’ve just sat at that dinner and taken all the insults hurled her way with no response. Then she shouldn’t have fought back when she was physically assaulted.”
I literally hated the fact that people could be as mean as they wanted and the victim was always shamed for their reaction. This poor woman finally stood up for herself and was chastised by her own mate. When mates were supposed to protect you at all costs.
Kingsley continued, “I mean really, what did you want her to do? You know what I would expect my mate to do if I was her? DEFEND ME! At minimum, I would expect my mate to check on me after the fight. Or say any words at dinner to stop that wretched bitch from slinging insults at me.” I mean I would wanta lot more. Hastein would blood eagle someone for doing that to Kingsley…if I was right…and I was probably right.
Kingsley voiced that thought, “We are talking bare minimum here. You though, did none of those things.” This mate didn’t even check on his mate after a physical fight? Ok… the fact this woman was standing was so impressive to me. Even Edward hovered around Elena if she was upset… which annoyed her. Jean did the same thing with Eden.
Kingsley angrily said, “No, you went outside like the man child you are to shit talk your mate WITH HER SISTER!” My jaw literally dropped while Freya growled. Her sister?! That was low. Maybe the sister punched him. That would be good.
Kingsley snarked, “Then instead of casually glancing around to see if your mate is around or using any of your senses to notice your mate; you, in your infinite wisdom, told her SISTER you wished SHE was your mate. The kicker is that you said it or thought it, but you had to take it a step above and say it where your mate could overhear you. Jackass.”
I felt absolute, abject horror over that statement. I knew exactly how it felt to hear someone else say your mate didn’t want you. To hear your own mate say it made me want to cry for this woman. Freya growled, “Those women all lied.” Yeah, they did and their days were numbered for it.
Another man asked, “Wait, what?” Kingsley snorted, “Look brother Benedict Arnold, you lost your turn to speak.” I laughed because I felt nervous and proud of Kingsley. Everyone turned towards me so I stepped forward, smiling at Kingsley.
My friend nodded to me, so I came and stood by her side blocking everyone’s view of Dirsha. I didn’t know her, but her story made me want to kick someone butt… on principle. I wasn’t above killing all of these people. Hearing your mate say he wished you were someone else was cutting.
The story somehow wasn’t over yet though. Kingsley sneered before continuing, “Then to make it clear you are the WORST mate of all time, you let Dirsha run off. Sure, you chased her for a few minutes but then you gave up.” I’m pretty sure my face showed all my horrified thoughts on the matter.
Kingsley pointed her finger at this pathetic excuse of a man, “You could’ve shimmered to her, or sent someone to make sure she was safe. Considering there are Hunters crawling out your ass right now in this area that’s again the bare minimum you could’ve done. Not you though.”
Ok, so he left her to her thoughts. It was mean but given this story, but I was positive it could get worse. Freya said, “It’s all a steaming pile of horse shit. Asmodeus needs to strike this male dead right now.”
Kingsley spat out, “No, you go and get drunk and let some chick suck your dick. Which gives your mate searing pain because of course Demons feel pain BEFORE being marked.” Ok… I was right. It got so much worse. I began to plot out ways to kill this man.
Kingsley stated, “Your god has a sick sense of justice. Your flimsy excuse is you were drunk, and the chick was blonde.” I gasped, “That was not what he said. Tell me that’s not what he said. She was blonde?! After all the things he did, he excused his actions BECAUSE SHE IS BLONDE?!” Like those EVIL MODELS that came at me?! UGH! No. Why were they ALL blondes?!
The Demon in question gritted his teeth, “I apologized.” And? I snorted, “Is that it? Because you should’ve groveled… bought chocolate… flowers…. jewelry… offered some type of couple’s counseling….and more. Did you do any of those things? I’m literally scraping the bottom of the barrel of mate actions right now. Even human men do this when they grovel… I’m just saying.”
I looked at Dirsha, who shook her head. Kingsley snorted, “No, he didn’t. This man child refused to accept her boundaries and got her siblings on his side to deliver his texts after she blocked his number. After peer pressure from her siblings, she caved and talked to him.”
“They were rebuilding their relationship when these two women, whom by the way HATE Dirsha, attacked her in the hallway. Disha merely defended herself. I was literally there and saw it happen, and I wasn’t the one to witness it. Those women ran to Rolfin here and told him a sob story.” So, the dead man had a name.
Freya said, “A name which is wholly unnecessary for us to know.” True, but if he left it could come in handy. Kingsley scoffed, “Rolfin believed their story. He believed his own mate attacked them without provocation. Which is the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.” I mean this whole story was insane, and my threshold for that was not low. I saw a lot of bad mates….all the time.
