Taken by the Alpha: Return of the Witch

Rettacus

“Forgive me,” I huffed, hiking up the side of a mountain with Clio, “but had you said that you wish to attack the castle?”

I glanced back at it past the treeline. We had put a respectful distance between us and the castle, but we were not nearly far enough away to be considered safe.

And with the ire that I had surely drawn from the King for rescuing his sister by breaking her out of prison, he would surely turn up every stone in the kingdom to find us.

We needed a plan, and I couldn’t figure out how that plan could include anything but putting as much distance between us and the King as possible.

Clio paused for a moment to catch her breath. She rested her back against a tree, and I noticed how defined her abdomen was, and how toned her body was.

My heart beat strongly inside my chest, and my stomach spun around like leaves in a tornado.

Clio brushed some of her damp hair away from her eyes. “Yes, as much as I hate to admit it. We will need to bring down my brother if we are to survive.”

She shivered and crossed her arms.

Instincts sprung from a depth of me I had never searched before. I hugged Clio tightly and rubbed her arms, trying my best to keep her warm despite the dreaded weather conditions.

A part of me resented that we had run. I resented the King for forcing me out of my nice warm quarters inside the castle, and I hated that I felt like my mate and I were on the run.

That said, I would not lose her now that I had found her.

“Are you sure that defeating Cerberus is our only ticket to safety?” I asked, hugging Clio from behind. She smelled of roses and blueberries.

Her hand rose and stroked the back of my head. I loved being right beside her, and she stirred the wolf inside me.

“I am afraid so,” Clio admitted. “There is nothing that will stop my brother’s search for us. For so long, he has cruelly kept me captive.”

I kept myself snuggly against her, though I moved to face her and looked into her bright eyes.

“Perhaps it’s best if we continue to run far, far from here,” I said. “I have only just found you, and I will do absolutely anything to protect my mate.”

Clio let a soft smile pass on her face, and she darted her eyes to her boots.

“It is relieving to hear that my mate is such a good man with a big heart,” she said, a blush of red coloring her cheeks.

My heart grew, and I had never smiled so much before.

A great man.

That is what I had always tried to be, but despite my efforts with King Cerberus, I was treated poorly. None of my positive actions were validated.

Instead, the King only wished to scold, punish, and abuse.

I had stuck by him as he tried to regain his humanity, and I did everything I could to help.

Even so, he rejected me.

Perhaps the King’s death would not be such a bad thing…

Rain pattered around us, though thankfully the cover of the tree saved us from getting completely soaked while we talked.

Clio laced her fingers into mine, sending jolts of electricity through my skin.

“Please,” she said, “listen to me when I say that my brother is a horrible man. I am sure that you have felt his disrespect and his anger.”

I gripped her harder. Finally, I had found someone who understood what I had gone through, and did not defend his actions and stood by him, as Clarice had.

Had Clarice truly been the Regina that I had thought she was, then she would have advocated for me. I did nothing but help her.

Clio and I deserve better.

“I know of Cerberus’ cruelty all too well,” I confessed. “He banished me for a misunderstanding. Despite the truth, he wanted me gone.”

Clio took hold of my cheek. Her bright eyes glimmered.

“He did the same to me!” she exclaimed. “I was innocent! I gave my life to him, and he locked me away, using me only for my magic.”

I had to let go of Clio’s hand, for my own hands were forming into fists. How dare Cerberus torture my mate!

“So long as Cerberus lives,” Clio explained, “then we are in danger.”

I blinked a few times and looked back at the castle. I imagined all the merry little lies traveling through the people living in constant fear of their King as I had.

“I fear you may be right,” I admitted.

Clio forced my fists open so that she could hold my hands once more.

“Believe me, darling,” she said, “that I would never put you in danger if I did not think it was to save ourselves and preserve our freedom.”

Lightning cracked out in the distance, and a big blue bolt lit up the entire forest and mountain.

“The King is quite strong,” I said, considering how we might even go about the undertaking of killing him.

“He is,” Clio said, “but he is weak in my magic. It is why he fears it so. And with you, my magic will only get stronger.”

I arched my brow, feeling suddenly more important. “And how is that?”

Clio brought her lips mere inches from mine. I felt her hot breath when she said, “Why, through our mate-bond, of course.”

I couldn’t resist her.

I brought my lips to hers, and we kissed as more lightning struck out in the distance. It smashed against a tree, setting the stump on fire.

Clio and I kissed one another, our hands dancing over one another’s bodies.

She created a hunger inside me that was completely foreign. Her kisses healed the scars on my weathered heart.

We watched as the downpour put the flaming stump out.

Like that tree, the flame inside Cerberus will extinguish. I shall see to that with my mate.

Clio’s fangs glided against my neck.

“I must mark you as mine,” she said.

I nibbled on the skin of her soft neck and said, “And I you, Clio.”

I grabbed her hand, reinvigorated.

“We must get out of this cold,” I told her. “The King gave me a cabin not too far from here. Let us warm up, have a meal, and decide how we will go about our attack.”

More cheers clamored out from the castle.

“We can not stay long at that cabin, however,” I said. “It will be the first place the King searches.”

“Then we must act quickly,” Clio said.

We ran off hand in hand, our boots splashing in the mud.