Chapter 60- Her Tormentor

Lucien Volkov:

"You should now take a chosen mate, Lucien."

Alpha Zimmer suggested with a big smile. He was my age and thought that I was his friend.

"A king can rule better if he has a mate beside him," he continued, and Arabella’s face flashed through my mind.

I didn’t even smile because I knew where this conversation was heading. He wanted to pair me with his sister.

A few years ago, she had cornered me willingly in a deserted corridor of council headquarters, and we shared a hot kiss. That was all.

After that, she kept calling me, looking for excuses to visit my palace, but I never encouraged her. I once made it crystal clear that I wasn’t interested in her.

"A mate gives you power to..."

I cut him off coldly, "A mate also becomes weakness, Zimmer. I’ve ruled this kingdom without one for years. I don’t need a chosen mate to tell me how to be a king."

He got quiet for a moment, not expecting me to give this polite shut-up call.

"It’s just..." he shrugged, "The council members encourage a mate or the beast becomes feral... unfit to rule..."

I knew what he was implying. I won’t be the ruler of Lunaris Kingdom for long if I don’t take a mate.

Now I had Arabella, so I didn’t need to worry about my throne. Soon I’ll introduce her to everyone as my mate. Before that, I needed to work on my sister’s murder case and clear Arabella’s name.

***

"She ordered me as if she knew I was her beta," Bradley laughed, standing beside me. I didn’t find it funny, but the way he was laughing, I was trying too hard to control my grin.

For me, this was an achievement. It had been two days since she came to me boldly and asked me to spare Jasmine. Right there on the ground. Among the warriors.

I could see shock on my family’s faces. Even my warriors seemed uncomfortable. They all knew her as a slave who deserved no mercy... someone who helped Victor kill Anika.

I had to change their perspective. Bradley and I were working to prove her innocence. If her family was involved in this, then they had to be ready for consequences.

A soft knock on the office door pulled me out of my thoughts.

"Come in," I said. Before even looking up, I knew it was Lilith.

She gave a brief nod to Bradley before her violet eyes settled on me, "It’s about Arabella."

I knew it.

I quietly closed the file in front of me, "What is it?"

She took a slow breath and sat across me. Her eyes rolled up as if trying to choose her words carefully, "The day I helped her out of the infirmary and brought her to the training grounds..." She bit her inner cheek for a moment, "I felt something strange."

"Strange?" The question was shot by Bradley.

She nodded, "Around her navel and inside her head... there was some strange tightness. It didn’t feel natural."

"Lilith!" I said in annoyance, "Can you please speak English?"

She seemed hesitant at first, "I think... she is under some kind of spell..."

Bradley and I exchanged a glance before I looked back at her, "What exactly are you saying?"

Lilith frowned and then met my gaze, "Didn’t you notice what happens every time we ask about her past? She either stammers or she repeats the same words over and over... sometimes she even slaps herself."

I clenched my jaw. I did notice those things, but I thought she must be shit scared. Because in all honesty, I had seen warriors peeing their pants in my presence.

"Lucien. I don’t think she’s refusing to tell us the truth," her voice softened, "I think... she just physically can’t... I mean... I have my suspicions about her former pack. They must have done something to her. A spell... a seal..."

Just a few days back I was asking her to take a stand for herself. To speak for herself. I wanted to see her as a confident woman.

But this seemed pretty fucked up. Some fucking moron put her under some spell?

"Do you know what it means, Lucien?" she asked me, her eyes filled with concern, "It means there are certain things she has been forbidden to speak about. If she tries, she might end up injured, or suffer internal bleeding... or even die."

Die?

Before I even realized, my fist came down on the desk with a deafening bang that made both of them jump in panic.

A jagged line spread across the wooden surface.

I stared at the splintered desk, "Those bastards..." I growled through clenched teeth, and Zorro’s voice also joined me, making it deeper, far more terrifying.

"They put her under a spell? A frightened eighteen-year-old girl? Just to stop her from speaking?" I said in disbelief.

"Kill them!" Zorro snarled, his voice dripping with fury.

Now every piece of the puzzle was falling into place. Her stepmother, the way Arabella handled palace chores, her back covered with whip lash marks.

My mate slapped her face when she couldn’t utter the words. She repeated things mechanically... things she was supposed to speak.

"Lucien?" I hadn’t realized when Lilith got up from her seat and came to me. Her hand was placed on my shoulder, "Don’t worry. We can treat her."

Lilith kept speaking. Even Bradley also tried to say something. I could see their moving mouths but couldn’t hear a single fucking word. My mind had already drifted to Arabella.

How my family abused her, and I let them. I called her a murderer, insulted her. Handed her over to my family as a slave.

I had been so blinded by my hatred for Victor and the Toussaint family that I never gave her a chance to explain herself.

Every scar on her body... every tear... every punishment. I allowed it all.

And then I had the audacity to tell her that I would never take my mark back. What was the difference between me and her family?

What was wrong with me?

I had spent years hunting monsters, only to become one myself. Somewhere along the way, I had become another one of her tormentors.