Ileus: The Dark Prince

Bernice's mind became numb for a moment. Captain Samuel with his black beady eyes was her mate. Every part of her body ached to touch his body. She wanted to run in his arms, but shock found her first. Then complete disbelief and agony washed over her. His scent made her want to nuzzle her face around him. The mate bond was deadlier than she had expected. 

But how could a man that short in height, and the total opposite of Kaizan be her mate?

Her body moved towards him but she stopped herself and the pain of denying going closer to him was horrible. She found him moving towards her as if he was attracted to a magnet. "Mate," he growled, which came out as a… squeak. But Bernice loved the deep throaty voice. She was sure her mind was playing at it. Surely the moon goddess had thought better for her than the man who was almost running to her with open arms. What did she do to deserve a mate like him? Was karma a bitch? 

Samuel had come very close to her. He was bewitched by her. "By god! I didn't know that today would be my lucky day!" he rasped and then licked his lips. "I found my mate!" He knelt in front of her and looked like a child on his knees saying 'come to your daddy, baby'. 

Another ripple of shock blasted through her when she stared at Captain Samuel, aka her mate. He had extended his hand to her and there was a dreamy look in his eyes. "I had heard so much about you," he said. "You are the social butterfly of the Whiteclaw pack. And now I know why," he said in a breathy voice that reeked of rats. 

Did he even brush his teeth? And despite that Bernice wanted to hold him tight and take him to her bed and have sex with him. Surely, gods had gone insane when they paired a girl like her with him. There was no denying the bond. Her eyelids grew heavy on his scent. She didn't take his extended hand but she knelt right before him and stroked his oil slicked hair gently. How was it possible that she was liking the bald patch on his head? How was it possible that she wanted to open his shirt and drum her fingers on that belly? Her mind was screaming to get away from this filthy, smelly creature, but her body—it wanted him to mark her. "Ewwwww!" she screamed and then suddenly held him tightly and pressed his head to her bosoms. 

"Bernice!" Fuchsia shouted, totally stunned at what was playing in front of her. Knife forgotten, she ran to her daughter and grabbed her by her shoulders. "What are you doing?" she screamed. She pulled her away from the man she was entwined with. "Are you mad?" 

Captain Samuel growled at Fuchsia—the growl which came out as a squeak. "We are mates!" he announced and then pulled Bernice back to him. "And you must be her mother, Lady Fuchsia." 

Lady Fuchsia was thunder-struck. "Mates?" she said in a jittery voice, as she stumbled back. "B— but…" Her gaze drifted to Bernice who looked… entranced. Fuchsia hoped that the moon goddess struck down now and killed Captain Samuel. How could her daughter, her beautiful, charming, attractive, sought-after daughter, who was number one in the social circles, who deserved a man no less than Kaizan, be a mate to Captain Samuel? The man looked like a combination of a frog crossed with a mouse in the human form. "No, no, no, no!" she said. "This is a disaster!" She glanced back at Olivia who was sitting at the table with her arms leaned across over it. She had this huge smile on her face as if snickering at her. Her smile enraged Fuchsia all the more. She really had to kill her but first she had to pluck her daughter away from the frog, no, the mouse. Whatever… 

"Bernice!" She called her daughter again and pulled her, but Samuel didn't leave her. 

"She is my mate!" he growled. "I will marry her. I don't even need to marry her!" he said with joy in his eyes. The mate bond was above marriage. 

"What?" Fuchsia screamed. She lifted her foot to kick him, only to be stopped by a fierce growl from Bernice. Fuchsia stared at her daughter with utter disbelief. "Wake up, Bernie!" she grasped her shoulders and shook her. "You don't want him." 

Bernice looked at her mother, her mind too numb to process anything. Her mate bond was so strong that it called her. All she wanted was to lope with her mate to the forests and then let him claim her, mark her, and rut her like a beast. 

"You don't want him," Fuchsia shook her again. She had to make Bernice reject her mate, because if she didn't, how would she become Kaizan's wife and then how would her husband become the Alpha of the pack? "Reject him!" 

The word reject sounded excruciatingly painful. "Reject him?" she repeated as if too numbed to understand the world. 

"Yes!" Fuchsia nodded frantically. She wanted to kill Samuel now, and time was running short. 

"No!" Samuel retorted. He clasped Bernice's hand. "She can't reject me!" He looked at his mate. "I know you love me." 

Bernice nodded. "I do love you!" What? She pressed her fist into her mouth. What was she speaking? She shook her head vigorously. She had to get out of this situation. Her eyes went to Olivia who was sitting at the table, enjoying the show to the fullest. Her mind ticked. She wanted to get married to Kaizan. 

"Bernie!" Fuchsia shouted. "Reject him!" 

Bernice looked at the man who knelt in front of her, looking at her like she was his life. "I… can't…" Saying that she gasped. Then she got up, pulled away from the captain and then rushed inside her room, even as her body was refusing to go away from there. 

"Bernice!" Samuel cried. At the same time, he heard footsteps behind him. "Bernice, come back!" he cried in agony. 

"Shut up!" Fuchsia was so furious that the knife that she intended to use for Olivia, she pulled it out to plunge in the man in front of her, but she was not ready for what happened next. Samuel grabbed the wrist in which she had the knife and twisted it like he was opening a bottle's lid. A loud crack sounded and then Fuchsia's screams. The knife dropped on the floor with a loud clank and so did Fuchsia on her knees. "My hand!" she yelled in pain. Black stars blasted in her vision. 

"Fuchsia! Fuchsia!" She heard Samus. 

"He— he tried to kill me!" she yelled through her pain and tears. "Bernice didn't want to marry him!" Samus held her in his arms.

"No, that is wrong," Olivia's voice boomed from behind. 

When Fuchsia opened her eyes, she saw Olivia towering above them with her husband next to her. "She wanted to kill Samuel because—" 

"Because?" Samus asked. 

"Because he is Bernice's mate." 

Fuchsia screamed. "You bitch, you are lying." She looked at Samus and said desperately, "Kill the captain!" When she turned her face behind, he was missing. 

What happened next was shocking as hell!