Ileus: The Dark Prince

Tasha was taken by surprise when Olivia smashed into her from behind. But she was stunned when she realized that Kaizan joined her. The man was fighting the battle out there with the rogues. She saw him with her eyes. How was it possible that the fight was over and he came to the castle so soon? Or was it that he was following her? Or was it that the fight got over so quickly? 

Crying out loudly, she pulled the shard from her arm and hurled it away. Blood oozed out of her skin. She snarled at them. As if ready to shift, she sat up and crouched, ready to leap into her werewolf form. Now it was a matter of do or die for her. With both Olivia and Kaizan she didn't have a chance to escape. But whatever chance she had she was going to make use of it. So, either she was going to die or she was going to die, killing one of them and her best chance of killing was… Kaia. Tasha jumped up and shifted. 

She forgot that there were two werewolves who had anticipated her movement. Kaizan leapt in her direction and shifted in the air. He met Tasha midair and with his strong body, pushed her away from the bed where Kaia was sleeping. Tasha was thrown on the ground with Kaizan's fangs on her throat. The next moment, he pierced his fangs in her throat just enough to keep her pinned in her place, but not enough for her to die. She yelped and cried and tried to paw him, but she was nothing in front of the General's power. He was like a giant mountain lion who had caught his prey and was now playing with it before making the kill. 

Kaizan had come back along with Vaarin to the castle and handed him over to the healers. The healers were taking out the arrow head from his back. The dagger which Luke had plunged in his father was lodged in his stomach. It was not difficult to take it out, but when the healers took it out, blood flowed like a river. Ileus was standing along with the healers to take care of Vaarin. While Kaizan stood there and watched the healers and Ileus, he heard Olivia through their mind link. She informed him of the situation in Kaia's room. His fury knew no bounds. He had rushed to the room, cursing under breath. On the back of his mind, he knew that Ileus would take care of Vaarin. In his experience he had seen worse wounds which had healed well. 

When he reached Kaia's bedchamber, he saw a guard's body dumped in the antechamber. Panicky, he rushed in the bedchamber and found that Olivia had dodged Tasha's attack. Tasha slammed right into him. Furious as hell, Kaizan simply couldn't control his action. Right now, he was at Tasha's throat, his fangs pierced into her flesh. She was whimpering and howling in pain. But Kaizan was filled with so much anger that he wasn't releasing her. It was a soft brush on his fur, the warmth of his mate's fingers in that touch that Kaizan eased some of his anger. 

"Leave her, Kaizan," she said, brushing the fur on his head. 

He growled dangerously one more time and then left Tasha. He nuzzled his bloodied mouth in Olivia's hands and then backed away. 

Tasha was on the floor, completely immobilized after Kaizan's attack. She was unable to shift also because she didn't have the energy to. 

"Shift!" Olivia demanded. But Tasha lay there, her eyes dazed, her body weak. In her state it was difficult to shift because of all the pain her body would endure. 

After a moment, they heard Kaizan's growl. "Shift." He had shifted back in his human form and was now standing behind Olivia. "I command you to shift!" he growled again. 

Tasha couldn't deny his command. Even though she had escaped Silver Vales and had joined Murtagh, she was still bound to Kaizan with the blood oath for her loyalty to him. It was impossible to go against his commands. She shuddered at his command. Her blood oath was so strong that it forced her to shift. And when she shifted back, howling with immense pain, she vomited on the floor. Her entire body was aching. So much blood had flowed out of her that she thought that her skin complexion had turned crimson. She coughed blood, holding her stomach as she sat on her knees after shifting. Even though there were tears of pain in her eyes, she chuckled and looked at Kaizan, "You are a bastard! You used the blood oath to make me shift." 

Kaizan narrowed his eyes. "You should be happy that I didn't ask you to kill yourself." 

"Murtagh will not leave you," she wheezed. "He will come after you. We have attacked the kingdom at many other places. Our attack was so coordinated that there must be mayhem everywhere!" she chuckled. "You all are going to go down very soon. That fucking king and queen sitting in their high castles—they are going to die! Bastards. They never come in the front to fight, but send their minions to do the job!" 

"Have you seen a chess board?" he asked. 

Tasha gave him an amused look through her pain. "What has a chess board got to do with it?" 

"What is the position of the king and queen on the chess board, Tasha?" 

"At the back—" Suddenly, she realized what he meant. 

Kaizan completed her sentence. "The king and queen send their pawns, bishops and knights to protect themselves, but when the queen is challenged, she spills carnage. You are lucky that the queen isn't here. Otherwise not a single rogue would have been left alive. And oh, about those attacks across the kingdom?" He tsked her. "You underestimated Ileus, the dark prince!" 

Tasha's eyes flew wide open. "What— what did you do?" She heard heavy footsteps. 

"Guards!" Kaizan shouted and five guards entered the bedchamber. "Seize her!" 

They rushed to pick up Tasha. She shouted. "Kaizan, if you have the guts, kill me instead of throwing me in the dungeons!" she knew that in the dungeons her life would become a living hell. So, she challenged him. 

"Who said I will throw you in dungeons?" Kaizan replied in a cold voice. After a moment of stunned silence, in which Tasha thought he was going to hang her, he said, "You will be taken as a slave to serve the soldiers in the northern borders for now. After that you will be rotated to serve them every month." 

"No!" Tasha's blood drained from her face. "No, no, no, no!" Serving the soldiers as slave meant, whoring. The soldiers stayed in the frontiers for a long time away from their families. Tasha had seen how they would get girls from villages for sex. And being their slave? It meant she was being thrown to the wolves every night after she slaved for them. "You can't do this to me!" she rasped. 

"Chain her and take her away to the northern borders!" Kaizan barked his order. 

"Noooo!" Tasha's voice boomed through the corridor as she was led out.