Page 54 of Brutally Mated
He stares me in the eyes and I feel the tension between us. His raw dominance is an energy that is almost as strong as magic though it is undeniably mundane. He and I are the most different of all my mates. Thorn is younger, like me. Skor is magic, like me. But there is a gulf between Krall and me that I do not think either of us can cross. It stretches out in the silence where he thought he knew what he was supposed to do with me, but is no longer certain.
“Fuck,” he curses, putting me back down again.
I can’t believe that worked. I stare over his shoulder at Thorn, who shrugs.
Skor opens the door, looking confused. He obviously expected me to be screaming by now as Krall thrashed me and fucked meand did all sorts of terrible things that would make me hate him. There’s a game being played here, and we’re all taking part.
“Ready to go?” he says.
He’s so fucking smooth. When his plan falls apart, he slides away from it like a snake, not taking any ownership of the fact he almost certainly intended to cause chaos again. I want to hate him, but he’s so damn good at being what he is—evil.
“Yes,” Krall says. “You drive. Thorn up front with you. Stay armed, Thorn. Tabby, you ride in the rear with me.”
Krall gets us all into the vehicle, and Skor plays it like he’s not pissed that things aren’t going fucking crazy, and I keep my mouth shut about his magic use because one of the first rules of magic, one I’ve known for a very long time, is that you don’t talk about it. Skor wants to play in the shadows? Fine. I’ve been doing battle with dark beasts my entire life.
We drive from the field onto a road, a long lacing band of tarmac that winds through the countryside in a frankly strange and unsettling way. There are goat paths in the mountains, but it is disturbing to see that a whole world can be cut in two by one long line of drivable surface.
I look out the window, trying to gather my thoughts, make my plans. The mountains are receding even further in the distance, but I am not panicking about it as much as I might have before. I feel them inside me now. They speak to me. They whisper to me. They can take me from the mountains, but they cannot take the mountains out of me.
“Open the windows,” Krall suggests. “We need some fresh air.”
Skor does so, making the front windows slide down, and introducing a noisy blowing of air through the vehicle, which is moving at a pace that makes the train seem sedate. Two days ago I would have panicked, but now I understand the world differently.
“What else do you see?” Krall murmurs the question to me. He is speaking at a volume clearly designed to ensure nobody else in the car can hear him. This is a conversation meant just for him and me, a conspiratorial moment that I embrace because fuck Skor.
“What do you mean?”
“You think Skor is manipulating the situation? You have seen him use magic? What else should I know? What else have I missed?”
For the first time, I feel a pang of admiration for Krall. I really thought he was a stupid old man, not as old as my father, but like him in that he thought he knew everything already. Krall is looking for me to confide in him. He understood that he was being toyed with. He has the ability to stop, to put his ego aside, and to gather information. I’m starting to understand how he survived so long as a leader.
“He’s a great worker,” I tell Krall. “That means he doesn’t do little spells like I do, cantrips and weather work and stuff like that. He can control… I don’t know, energies. It’s hard to say. It’s not what I’m used to. Maybe if I found some books of his, I might understand. But he’s powerful. And he’s got his own agenda.”
Krall nods slowly. “Anything else?”
I shake my head. I don’t know anything else.
“I could try to find out,” I whisper. “I could get closer to him. I kind of have to anyway. He’s my mate.”
Krall gives a short nod. “And he’s my brother,” he says. “But he’s always had his secrets.”
He puts his hand on my leg and I feel a certain answering warmth. He moves his hand up and down my leg, then slides all the way up to my crotch. His fingers run lightly along the seam that sits above my lips.
The feeling is nice. Less demanding than usual. He is not trying to fuck me right now; he’s just playing with me, treating me to some pleasure for once.
“Is that what this is? The mate bond? Like the feeling that you want to get away, but getting away would almost hurt more?”
“I don’t want to get away,” he laughs. “But yes. That’s the mate bond.”
“We don’t really talk about mate bonds in our pack, because mates die too quickly.”
He nods his head once, then gives me a penetrating sideways look. “Would you prefer we had all perished on that first night?”
I think about that for a second. The answer is no. But I don’t know how I feel about the answer. I am being taken against my will, punished, used, and bred. I should want them all dead. I should be running to the mountains now.
But something is keeping me here. Maybe it is the mate bond.
Krall’s fingers stroke up my slit again, and I am brought back to the present moment.
