A Wolf's Duty (12 page)

Her head held high,
Lucinda refused to back down “Yes, I did your highness. There was
an intruder in your home and I took the necessary measures to deal
with it.”

“She isn’t an intruder.
What’s wrong with you? I marked her. Anyone of our people would
know that she’s mine after one whiff. You must have known who she
was and you attacked her anyway. You assaulted my mate.” His fangs
had lengthened and he could feel his muscles tensing in
anticipation. “I could deal with you now and no-one would question
it, would they?” He turned to Ryan and Sebastian, the murderous
look in his eyes causing them to tremble with fear. They had seen
that look only a few times in all their lives and it had never
ended well for those involved. They shook their heads in response
to his question and Lucinda gulped as dread filled her.

“Tobias? What are you
talking about? What’s a mate?” Alex’s small voice broke the tense
silence as Tobias forced his body to calm its reactions before
turning his head to face her. His eyes were once again grey,
although flecks of amber were still visible, his fangs receded and
the claws that had threatened to erupt from his fingers ceased
their demands. He smiled at her, slightly concerned at the dazed
expression on her face.

“Ryan, Sebastian, take her
out of here and then come back, we need to talk.” Lifting his head
once again, he quickly strode out of the room, fully expecting his
orders to be carried out and entered his bedroom, gently placing
Alex in the middle before coming to sit beside her.

“You still haven’t told me
Tobias, what’s a mate?”

“You’re a mate, dearest.
Mine. Don’t talk anymore, I’m just going to get something to clean
you up and then we can talk.” Standing up quickly, he headed to the
bathroom, returning with a damp cloth to wipe away at the
blood.

Sitting up in the bed, she
smiled warmly at him as he returned, concerned at the frown on his
face. “Tobias what’s the matter?”

Moving onto the bed, he
remained silent as he carefully wiped away at the blood at her
throat, struggling to stay in control while his wolf was howling
for him to spill Lucinda's in retribution. “Care to tell me what
happened?”

She winced as she
remembered what had started this train of events, the whispers
coming back in force. “It’s kind of hard to explain.”

“Try me. I think you’ll
find that I’m not all that hard to talk to.”

“You probably won’t
believe me; I’m having problems believing it myself.”

“Just tell me the truth
Xandria. Start from the beginning.”

“Don’t say anything
Tobias; just wait until I’m finished ok?”

He smiled as he remembered
the conversation they had had on their first date where he had said
something very similar. “I swear I won’t say a word.”

“Well it all started this
morning, I had a fight with Fred, my dad, my mum had left me some
money and he wasn’t happy about it. Anyway, so I was mad but I went
to uni anyway and Emily was there.” She sighed at the memory. “You
probably don’t remember her but she was there on Friday when you
came to meet me. We had a bit of a disagreement. She wanted my
bracelet and I didn’t want her to have it, so we had a fight. I was
already sore from that morning with Fred.” He opened his mouth to
speak but she silenced him with a look and continued her story.
“Then the bloody whispers came, God save me from the whispers. The
whispers are plants, from what I can tell, and they felt they
should take it upon themselves to help me. Good lord, if you saw
what they did to the building on campus… It looked like a
rainforest when I left. They attacked Emily but I told them to let
her go, I ran away. I ran back home and there was a man waiting for
me. He grabbed me from behind, put one hand over my mouth and a
knife over my throat.” She faltered as her body began to tremble,
the memories threatening to overwhelm her, a hand rising to her
healing throat.

“I dealt with him,” Ryan
inserted, both him and Sebastian apparently finished escorting
Lucinda out. Her shaking increased as she remembered the large
wolf, which Ryan was capable of transforming into.

“In front of her?” Tobias
demanded.

Ryan nodded, meeting
Tobias’ stare directly unashamed of what he had done. “She saw me
change.”

“What on earth is wrong
with you? I told you under no circumstance were you to do that.
You’ve terrified her.”

“I had no choice. I
couldn’t move in wolf form, she wouldn’t let me. She told me to
stay and every muscle in my body responded. I was trying to help
her and I couldn’t do that when I was a wolf.”

“Alex?”

“I suppose the whispers
weren’t just the plants then.”

“You know what he
is?”

She nodded. “He’s a wolf,
but that doesn’t change the fact that he saved my life Tobias.
Thank you Ryan, I’m sorry about earlier, I was just a little
paranoid.”

He smiled in response, the
simple movement of his lips transforming his once harsh
face.

“Get out. Leave us alone.”
Tobias groaned, his head falling into his hands, the long strands
covering his face.

Alex watched as the pair
quickly left, closing the door firmly behind them. “Tobias, are you
ok? Are you mad at him? Didn’t you know what he was?”

“Of course I knew; I’m his
cousin,” he groaned.

“Then what’s the matter?”
She moved, lightly resting a hand against his back.

“I didn’t want you to find
out like this.”

“Do you mean about Ryan? I
didn’t even know him before today; there was nothing for you to be
worried about.”

“I don’t mean about him,
I’m talking about me.” He turned to face her, his eyes completely
amber, sweat beading across his forehead as his wolf struggled for
dominance.

She gasped at the shift in
his appearance, reaching a hand forward to caress his cheek.
Leaning into her touch, he smiled at her apparent acceptance.
“You’re like him.”

“Yes. So is Sebastian. We
were born this way.”

“Is your entire family
like this?” He nodded. “That woman, Lucinda, she called you your
highness, why?”

“I’m the Prince of our
people, soon to be King.”

She frowned, “Oh, I
suppose that means that you’ll be leaving soon. Going home to be
King and all that yeah?”

“Yes.”

“Oh, I guess it couldn’t
have lasted forever,” she wheezed, her heart stuttering within her
chest at the news.

“And why exactly can’t we
last forever?”

“Well you’re a wolf Prince
and I’m…, I’m nothing, really, or at least nothing that
special.”

Cupping her chin with his
hand he lifted her head so she was forced to meet his gaze. “You’re
mine. You’re my mate.”

“And what exactly does
that mean?”

“In your terms, I suppose
the equivalent would be wife.”

“Wife? Wife? I’m sorry but
I don’t remember a wedding. We aren’t married.”

“You’re right about that,
at the moment the right word would be fiancé. We’re not quite mated
just yet, but soon...”

“Soon what?”

“Soon I intend for us to
be.”

“You’re kidding me,
right?”

“No,” he laughed amused by
her response to his declaration. “The bracelet I gave you has been
passed down through my family for generations, it’s a sign of
commitment, like an engagement ring. I gave it to you and you
accepted it, we’re promised to each other.” A look of shock came
over her features and she raised the bracelet to eye level, seeing
it in a whole new light. The movement brought her exposed skin to
his attention and his eyes quickly landed on the dark bruises on
her arms. Reaching forward he grasped both arms lightly examining
the injuries intently. “What are these Alexandria?” His voice had
roughened and she shivered at the sound. “You will tell me what
these are, Xandria, and this time I want the truth.”

Chapter
Eleven

“What exactly do you mean
by the truth Tobias?” she murmured, stalling for time before the
inevitable confrontation.

“You know what I’m talking
about Xandria. There’s been something off since the first day I met
you and you’re going to tell me what that is right now. I told you
my biggest secret and now you’re going to tell me
yours.”

“You’re going to be angry
Tobias, I’ve seen enough of that side of you today; can’t we just
leave it?”

“No.” His abrupt response
killed any hope she might have had that he would simply let the
matter slide.

“You have to promise me
one thing though.”

“What is it?”

“I want you to swear to me
that you won’t go and try to hurt him.”

“If I swear to this, will
you tell me everything?”

“Yes, but if you don’t, I
won’t say a word.”

“Then I swear, I won’t
hurt him, now tell me.”

Taking a deep breath, she
stared him directly in the eye. “My father, Fred, isn’t a very nice
person.” She sighed, before ploughing on. “Who am I kidding, not a
nice person? The truth is that my father is abusive. He’s a nasty,
violent, drunk and I’m the only one left that he can take it out
on. My father hits me... a lot, that’s why I’ve got all these
bruises.”

He opened his mouth as though he
wanted to speak, but she silenced him with a look. “You said you
wouldn’t interrupt. If you don’t want to hear this then I can stop
right now.” He remained silent and she continued. “Do you remember
what I told you about four years ago?” He nodded, maintaining his
temporary vow of silence. “Well I didn’t quite tell you everything.
My mum didn’t just fall, Fred hit her. He came home one night
totally pissed and started accusing her of having an affair. My mum
would never have done that to him, ever. She was the most loyal
person I’ve ever known. Anyway, he came back demanding she admit to
the affair, she obviously denied it, there was no reason for her to
admit to it, she hadn’t done it after all. Then he tried to find
me.” His jaw clenched in anger as his mind was flooded with
scenarios of what could have happened. “She lied; she told him
she’d slept with whoever he thought she had just so he wouldn’t
find me and he hit her for it. He hit her hard.”

“She didn’t die that night like
I told you. I managed to call an ambulance and the paramedics saved
her life. But there were times in the year after that I wished I
hadn’t. If I thought he was bad before, he took it to a whole new
level after that. He drank all the time, I swear the only times I
saw him without a bottle in hand were when he had passed out and
the drink had rolled out of his grasp.” She shuddered as she
dredged up the unpleasant memories but continued regardless.

“The more he drank the worse he
was and he made mum’s life unbearable. He turned her life into a
nightmare. He was always beating her; God there wasn’t a day where
she wasn’t in pain. He made her a prisoner in the house, boarded up
the windows from the outside, put locks on the all the doors that
led outside, took away my keys because if I’d had a set I would
have let her out. He did everything he possibly could to make sure
she couldn’t get help. Then he destroyed her garden, it didn’t die
because she did, if anything it was the other way around.”
Sniffling, she remembered the look of anguish on her mother’s face
as Fred had cruelly hacked away at her pride and joy.

“I think the garden pushed her
over the edge. If you had seen the look on her face…He forced her
to watch him hack down one of the things she loved most in the
world and he destroyed her. Before that, even though she was a
prisoner and got hit everyday, she had somehow managed to keep
going. After the garden was gone she just lost the will to live.
About a week later we came home and found her lying in a puddle of
her own blood; she’d slit her wrists and managed to cut open half
of her throat. There was nothing the paramedics could do for her
that time.”

Her eyes widened at the
surprising warmth of Tobias’ fingertips as they rubbed away the
tears she had unknowingly shed. Wiping the back of her hand against
her face, she scrubbed away at the last few tears. Sniffling, she
continued with her tale.

“I don’t think she would have
left me if she had known he would turn on me. I mean she had no
reason to think he would; he had never raised a hand against me
when she was alive, but turn on me he did. I fought back when he
first started on me; I didn’t just sit back and take it.”

That’s my
girl.
He smiled, clearly pleased with her
defiance, encouraging her to continue with a light squeeze of his
hand.

“But fighting back just meant
that the beatings got worse. After the first time he broke my arm I
decided I’d had enough and tried to run away. I didn’t get very
far, I had no money and Fred called the police. When I tried to
explain to the officers that I’d run away because I genuinely
thought my father was going to kill me, either accidentally or
intentionally, they went to ask him for his side of the story. He
cried,” she scoffed, “The heartless bastard cried and then put on
the whole concerned father routine. He told them I was acting out
after I’d seen my mum commit suicide, that I had started hanging
out with the wrong kind of people and he didn’t know what to
do.”