Page 51 of Brutally Mated
“And you sound like an old man who doesn’t want to admit to himself that his values are being undermined by the brother he’s sharing a mate with because there weren’t enough mates for you all to have one each.”
“She’s not wrong,” Thorn adds. “I’ve had my suspicions for a while.”
“Skor’s business is his own business. He doesn’t do magic in front of us.”
“He did magic on me, though.”
“And he won’t again,” I promise her. “I will talk to him.”
“He will,” she says. “You won’t be able to stop him. I bet he could make you not even know it was happening.”
“We will talk about this when he returns.”
Tabby
We won’t, I bet.
Krall doesn’t want to deal with Skor’s magic use. Thorn looks uncomfortable. I am… concerned. I knew I was at the mercy of stronger alpha males. I did not know that my magic wouldn’t be able to save me.
The urge to run is back, and stronger than ever. I have to get away from Skor before he assumes near total control of me, and maybe the others as well. But maybe they’ll listen if I just keep telling them.
“He could put us all in a salt circle,” I tell him. “You have no idea the power he wields.”
“Krall…” Thorn lifts his voice. “She might be right.”
“She might be,” Krall admits.
“He didn’t want you to find us right away. He wanted his time with me to prove that I was helpless. And I was.”
“Witchcraft is banned in our pack because many years ago, strong lineages almost took over the human clan and the wolf pack in our lands. It was a threat to the existence and freedom of wolf and man alike. But magic is in the blood, and not all of it was shed. There’s those who still carry seeds of the potency in them. It’s not their fault. But using it? Especially to take control of others? That’s against all our laws. If that’s what he’s doing…” Krall trails off.
“It’s what he did.”
“We’ll talk about it when he returns,” Krall says. “And we’ll talk about your behavior too, back on the train, when you turned us in to the humans, betraying not just us, but our kind.”
“What?”
“You were given to us. You belong to us. You know it. You are not being abducted.”
“That’s news to me,” I mutter.
“You,” Krall says, “are due a proper punishment.”
“Oh, my gods, why?”
“Because of what you did on the train,” he replies. “You turned humans against us. You almost caused us to have to reveal ourselves.”
“That’s your fault, though.”
“Not the time to argue with me, Tabby. We should be on our way right now, but you have been tantruming and acting like a spoiled little whelp. So instead, we are in a cabin in the middle of nowhere. And we are waiting for a car. And you are not sorry for what you almost did. Not at all. If anything, you want to be protected from the consequences of your actions with Skor. Whatever happened to you, whatever he did, it was the result of your actions.”
“No,” Thorn interjects. “Stop. Now. You can’t blame her for what he did, and you can’t blame her for the train. If she doesn’t like you, she doesn’t like you. Get over it. Maybe you’re not likable. Maybe you keep forcing her into situations she doesn’t want to be in.”
Thank god one of these males is on my side. Thorn gets it. He’s part of the problem, but he might actually get this.
“Quiet,” Krall snaps. “If she doesn’t accept she’s our mate, then what is the point of any of this?”
“Exactly!” Thorn says. “If you make her hate us, what’s the point?”
