[TAMIKO]
Stealing glances at the warrior who was walking beside him, Tamiko couldn't help but feel guilt gnawing at him. He wasn't sure what he had expected after the discussion with Igor, but taking him home wasn't it.
And especially not when Igor already knew that Tamiko was the outcast of Grealor.
He should have stayed behind, stayed away from Tamiko, and yet when they reached the Grealor woods, Igor Konstantin hadn't said a word.
The warrior had still stayed silent, occasionally telling Tamiko to be careful not to fall, and shielding him against the branches that were sometimes annoying. That was all Igor did and fuck, it was messing with Tamiko.
"We're here. Thank you," Tamiko said carefully, like he wasn't sure what he was supposed to say to the man who had met him and gotten so affectionate with him on the same day.
It just didn't make any sense, even though a part of Tamiko knew what this was. He could tell but he was scared of having hope.
Hope was toxic and in the kind of life he lived, Tamiko had learned the hard way not to hope, because it always left him hurt and disappointed.
"Where's your shelter?" Igor asked after a long silence.
Of course, he had known that Tamiko's shelter had been disbanded, but that didn't make him want to see it any less. Eventually, the young lycan figured that Igor wanted to see where his shelter had once been, but then that was a little deeper into the Grealor words.
Tamiko knew that if Igor walked him even deeper, then it was just a matter of time before the Grealor wolves knew that Igor Konstantin was in their woods, and that wasn't exactly a moment of peace for them.
"It's a little farther into Grealor. If we go any further, Kosta—"
"Come on dusha, show me your shelter. No one will hurt you, not when I'm with you," Igor said with conviction as he tried to look through the woods and see if there was any sign of Tamiko's shelter.
He was curious about what was there and honestly, he wanted to see for himself the extent of the brutality Tamiko was experiencing.
"But—"
"Don't worry, I masked my scent. They won't know I was here. Come along. We have a shelter to build back up," Igor said stubbornly as she sniffed Tamiko's neck, before he walked into the woods, like he was looking for a place that had Tamiko's potent scent.
"Well, I'm fucked," Tamiko let out, unsure if he was lucky or just the most unlucky person on this side of the realm. But what if it was the first one yeah? What would Tamiko do, now that Igor had stated his interest in Tamiko the outcast?
Carefully, Tamiko followed Igor and when they reached his shelter, or whatever used to be his shelter, Igor let out a low angry growl, while Tamiko just sighed.
He knew it would take him a while to get his shelter in order, and given there wasn't even a moon on this night, it would take a lot of effort most of which he wasn't even sure he had. Maybe he would just sleep on the forest floor and fix it all up later, right?
"I'll just fix this tomorrow. It's nothing new. Go home, Kosta. You wouldn't want to be seen with an outcast like me," Tamiko said, even though he knew that Igor couldn't care less what people thought of him being around Tamiko.
However, before Igor could give a response, he heard shuffling in the woods, and took Tamiko with him to hide behind one of the huge trees.
It was something Tamiko found funny, because he had never had to hide from anyone, because no matter how well he hid, he would always be found, so he had long given up trying to hide.
'Someone's here. Stay still, moya dusha,' Igor said to Tamiko in the mind link.
And Tamiko froze.
He had never expected that someone could initiate a link with him, especially given how they had met, but then Igor had done it, and fuck, Tamiko had so many questions there was just no way that he had created a bond with Igor, and that too in one day, right?
"Where's the outcast anyway? The whole day, he hasn't been sighted. Makes me wonder if our little slave finally got the guts to try and run away," Judd's voice came through the woods as he, Zakhar, and Gabe walked toward Tamiko's shelter.
"He couldn't run. He knows Alpha Ashton would turn all the packs against him, and they would want him dead faster than we do," Zakhar said and Gabe let out a low possessive growl.
In such instances, Tamiko would have said something to taunt Gabriel in the mind link, but he was too shocked from learning that Igor could talk to him in the mind link, to even focus on Gabriel Grealor.
It wasn't something that Tamiko had ever thought of, so he just watched alongside Igor as the alpha's son and his friends looked for Tamiko.
"We know you're around here Tamiko. Cut the crap and come forward," Gabe said in a bored tone as he sniffed for Tamiko.
He loved his mate's scent, but he was careful not to sniff it a lot because then his wolf would get excited and would come out to his best friends who were literally assholes to his mate. Including him anyway.
Gabe wasn't ready for anyone to learn that he was mated to Tamiko, and that was something he had realized when Tamiko was away. He didn't want to ruin his reputation and start cleaning house.
He had a year to get closer to Tamiko systematically so everyone would think they had fallen in love naturally hence the mate bond, but then would Tamiko agree?
"Maybe he wants us to chase him. Someone said they saw him run away. Are you sure he's here?" Judd asked and Gabe just nodded, because he could smell his mate. Oh, how he wanted Tamiko so bad, but then he had to pretend.
"Let's count to five. If he doesn't show, we take him to the square and whip him. Besides, the whole day has passed, so everything is back to normal and we can peacefully torment him," Zakhar said and Gabe felt his heart sink into his stomach.
He wasn't sure he wanted that for Tamiko, but then he had to play along.
"Sounds like a good idea to me. Shall we?" Judd said before he started counting.
'I assume the one that keeps growling is the stupid mate, no?' Igor said angrily in the link and it took everything in Tamiko not to fold into Igor's arms.
'Isn't he a darling, right? Anyway, I am needed. I have to go. I guess I'll see you some other day when we meet each other, right?' Tamiko responded carefully yet sarcastically in the mind link and this time, Igor let out a loud warning growl.
He didn't care that everyone in Grealor had heard him, but he was done listening to the kids threaten his new interest.
"Two… One. Ding ding, don't we have a winner here?" Igor said, finalizing Judd's count, as he came out of hiding with Tamiko, holding the young Lycan's arms delicately like he was scared he would hurt Tamiko.
"Igor Konstantin?" Zakhar said as he took in Igor's appearance.
"The mad lycan warrior, Igor?" Judd asked, while Gabe just stood there, stiffly, like he wasn't sure what to do.
The three of them knew the man's reputation and the fact that he had Tamiko this close to him made Gabe a jealous mate, and more than anything, a worried mate.
He may have hated Tamiko before, but he had never imagined that there would come a day when his mate would be in the hands of Igor Konstantin. This man was cruelty materialized and they were painstakingly aware of it.
"Again, we have a winner," Igor said as he looked at Gabe, challenging the man to say anything shitty about Tamiko and see for himself what Igor would do to him, here and now. It was a challenge, one that Igor was not worried about.
"What… What did he do this time?" Gabe forced out, even though he was scared on behalf of Tamiko.
"Ah, Gabriel Grealor, Alpha Ashton's son. I see I met the right people," Igor said with a sinister smile as he looked between Tamiko and Gabe.
He knew.