I saw red.
I heard shouting and growling, but Orion and I weren't in control of our body. I saw myself pinning Luciene to the ground and landing punch after punch on him. I felt people trying to hold me back, but none of them were strong enough.
I was landing multiple punches on Luciene and he wasn't even trying to fight back.
"Mathew, you need to stop!", I heard a familiar voice shouting.
That voice and the panick in that voice pulled me out of whatever trance had taken hold of me. I looked up and saw Elizabeth. She was standing right infront of me.
I saw my bloodied hands reach out to her and press her against my chest. When I breathed in her heavenly scent, Orion and I started coming to our senses. I pressed her closer into my arms and looked down at her beautiful face. This is the face of the woman I love. The only woman I've ever loved.
I tried to kiss her, but someone pulled me away from her. I don't know who it was, but I had them off me in a matter of seconds. I picked her up and pulled her face to mine to try and kiss her again, but she turned her face away right before our lips touched.
"Mathew, snap out of it!", I heard someone shouting. "He's gone crazy!", I heard another voice. "He can't kiss her!", I heard someone else.
"Mine!", Elizabeth roared at me, but it wasn't her eyes looking back at me. They had the same fiery eyes, but I could tell when it was Phoenix or Elizabeth in control. This was Phoenix. I smiled right back at her. "Mine", I roared back.
I looked up at the hospital room. It was a mess. Hospital equipment was lying on the floor and broken in pieces. The bed was overturned and the windows were smashed.
I looked at the people around me.
Ken and Keyon were getting up from the floor. Their clothes were torn and they had some bruises on their faces. Mike had his hands on my shoulders and he also looked bruised. Uncle Luciene was lying on the floor passed out and covered in blood and Esther was sitting next to him, sobbing.
Doctors and nurses came rushing inside and started attending to Luciene.
"He'll be okay", one of the doctors informed me nervously. "He's a royal werewolf so he'll heal in a few minutes. He'll be awake in a while."
They all looked so scared of me, like I was an animal. Everyone was scared except Phoenix. She was stroking my face with her delicate hand and repeatedly stood on her toes to try and kiss my neck and cheeck. Her eyes were filled with nothing but love and adoration.
"Are you okay?" She looked up at me with the gentlest smile.
I nodded my head and pressed my lips against her forehead. "As long as I have you and Elizabeth, I'll always be okay."
"Orion", she called to him, "are you guys okay?"
I felt him surge to the forefront of my mind and show himself to her. He wanted to kiss her. He wanted to kiss her so passionately and give all of himself to her. "We're okay my beautiful Firefly. I'm sorry if we scared you."
She chuckled. "You could never scare me. I'm stronger than you."
I heard Orion laugh as he pressed her closer to us. He inhaled as much of her scent as he possibly could before retreating to the back of my mind and giving me back control. I wanted to ask Phoenix to give back control to Elizabeth, but I was interrupted by Kendrick.
"Mathew, I'm so sorry!" He had tears in his eyes. "If you...if you no longer want me as your Beta, I'll understand. I really will."
I went to him. He needed to know he wasn't to blame for any of this. "You're my brother, Ken", I reassured him. "None of this is your fault. You're not going anywhere. I...", I took a deep breath, "I overreacted. I don't know what came over me."
He let out a relieved sigh. "It's okay. I understand. If anyone had told me that they're the reason I couldn't see Esther for three years, I would have done the same thing."
We heard Uncle Luciene coughing as he slowly woke up. I pulled Elizabeth into my arms again. Phoenix was still in control of her body. I felt the need to protect them against him now.
His face was swollen, but the doctors had cleaned him up and he was no longer covered in blood.
I wanted to leave the room, but Phoenix forced me to stay.
"Nathaniel", he said with a tremble in his voice, "I had no choice". His swollen eyes looked so desperate and full of remorse. "I had to do it to protect you."
It was hard for me to even look at him. I trusted him. My parents trusted him. I never thought that he of all people could betray me like this. I was in so much pain these past three years. I felt cold and hollow the entire time. I thought I was going to go crazy. He did that to me. He kept her away from me and now because of him, I couldn't mate or mark her.
I felt Phoenix rubbing my chest with her hand and I brought it up to my lips and kissed it. For both hers and Elizabeth's sake, I would have to hear him out. He may hold the key to breaking the curse.
I inhaled her intoxicating scent one last time to calm down. "You need to tell us what happened, Uncle Luciene", I demanded, "and you need to tell us how we can break the curse."
He nodded his head knowingly before he started talking.
"It all started the night the witches attacked. To protect you, your mother asked a good witch to supress your memories and your wolf. That way you could hide in plain sight and never be found."
"I know that, Uncle Luce!", I snapped at him. "I was supposed to get my memories and my wolf back when I met my fated mate, but that's not what happened. When I met Elizabeth I got Orion back, but he and I had no memories of who we were."
He clenched his fists nervously.
"That's my fault, Nathaniel. After you were put under that spell, your mother was killed. I was the only one left. I had to do everything I could to protect you and my little Kenny.
We were on the run for a few days. You two may have been too little to remember or maybe you blocked that trauma from your memories. All the werewolf packs knew the witches were after the royal family. Those cowards shunned us and not a single one of them would help us. We had nowhere to hide."
Esther placed her hand on his and encouraged him to go on.
He balled his fists and suddenly fear clouded his eyes. "After a few days of running, I came across a man. The only way to describe him is that he looked like a serpent, spoke like one and even moved like one. I fought him, Nathaniel. I promise I fought him with the little strength I had left, but..." his voice cracked. "but fighting that man was like a little lamb trying to fight a pride of lions."
We were all quiet. We could feel the fear emanating from him because of a mere memory of this man.
"Uhm", he cleared his throat and tried to shake off his fear, "one strike from that man was enough to almost end my life. He was about to kill you too Nathaniel."
"What stopped him, dad?"
Luciene pursed his lips and finally gathered the strength to look at me. "I told him I'd give him anything if he spared your life. I even offered him my own life, but he said he had no use for it."
I took a deep breath to try and steady my anger. "So you offered him the most sacred and powerful magic in our world? A royal matebond?"
A snarl ripped out of him. "You're damn right I did! That's what he demanded, Nathaniel. I would rather you live without a fated mate than not live at all."
"Do you know what I went through?", I gritted my teeth.
"Mathew", Phoenix cooed in my ear, "let him finish."
He took a deep breath before angrily continuing to talk. "That man said the only way he would let you live is if I gave him permission as your blood relative to sever your matebond. The day you met your mate, you wouldn't recognise each other. You wouldn't feel the pull and you wouldn't get your memories or your wolf back."
"I gave him my permission because it was the only way to save your life, Nathaniel. Also," he furrowed his brows in frustration, "I didn't think it would actually work. I thought he was a mad man."
"So how do we fix it?", I growled at him.
"We don't", Esther responded in what was almost a whisper. "Whatever did this wasn't of this world. Mathew, death is the only way to break the curse."
I felt my claws ripping out of me and felt blood filling in my fists. I was barely managing not mating and marking Elizabeth everytime I saw her. Every part of my body yearned to fully claim her and make her mine in every conceivable way. I needed to mate her until she couldn't walk. I needed to fill her with my seed. Her scent should be so infused with mine that people immediately know who she belongs to when her scent reaches them.
I picked her up like the bride she ought to be one day and started walking out of the hospital room. I needed more than her scent to calm down. I needed more than a few pecks on the cheeck and neck. I needed to lick the parts of her that I could. I needed to bury myself in between her legs again and inhale the scent of her arousal as deeply as I could. I needed my erect penis nuzzled in her somehow. That would have to do for now because what we both actually needed was for me to thrust myself in and out of her all day and night until her voice is hoarse from screaming my name.
Phoenix didn't fight me when I headed for the door. She was thinking the same thing and I could already smell her arousal in the air. We needed this. People usually mark and mate each other the second they meet. It's the most natural thing in our world and it demands to be fulfilled.
"Nathaniel, there's more you need to know!", Luciene shouted after me, almost scolding me but I continued heading for the door. I was so hard that my penis threatened to tear through my pants.
I watched Phoenix's eyes change from rapid flames to gentle and calm flames. Elizabeth was back in control. She started sucking on my mark spot as walked into the hospital hallway. The scent of her arousal was getting so much stronger.
"Fuck", I groaned into her neck. "I need to mate you right now!"
She gasped and whimpered and pulled my face into her neck, right at her mark spot. I started sucking on it furiously while I carried her out of the hospital. She was crying out my name while I refused to stop my onslaught. As I listened to her pleasurable moans, I realised Orion and I were right. The reason this whole Megan thing was such a big problem is because Elizabeth needs me to mate her. That will get her thinking straight again.
"Boss!", I heard Keyon's voice behind me. "Boss, he says Elizabeth has started going into heat. Boss, please! You both need to hear this!"
I stopped walking and Elizabeth stopped licking my neck. I looked at her and she also had a panicked look on her face. A she-wolf in heat cannot and should not be denied her mate. She'll need to be mated by her fated mate constantly until her heat is over. If not, she will go feral.
"I guess we should turn back", she said reluctantly.
I exhaled out of frustration and rested my forehead against hers. "I can't stand this. Why do things have to be so hard for us?"
She stroked my cheeck while I rested my forehead against hers. "Maybe it means things will be that much better when we finally get them."
I chuckled. "Are you still angry with me?"
She bit her lip as if to think about it. "I don't know. It's just..."
"It's just what Elizabeth?"
She took a deep breath. "I want to believe that things between you and Meg are over, but I also remember what you two were like. She's been a constant in your life. And...", tears started forming in her eyes.
I ran my hands through her hair and wiped away one of her tears. "And what, Elizabeth? Tell me."
She gulped and continued speaking. "And I can't help but think that if it weren't for the matebond, you would never even have noticed me. You would have chosen Megan. If things were entirely up to you and not Selene or Azrah, you would have been holding Megan right now instead of me."
I felt my heart break into a million pieces. Not even on her best day could Megan be half the woman that Elizabeth is. I would have noticed this beautiful caramel skinned woman anywhere. I wasn't even going to go into that coffee shop that day. The only reason I went inside is because I saw her. Her caramel skin, dark brown eyes and black wavy hair demanded to be noticed. She was breath taking. She had beautiful soft curves in all the right places, a firm and supple behind and breasts that people pay thousands of dollar to get. She was perfect.
Her mere presence commanded the attention of the whole room. Everything about her demands to be seen, to be heard, to be desired. Matebond or no matebond, she was always meant to be mine.
I felt myself get filled with so much frustration. How would I fix this? How could I convince her that regardless of the matebond, she belonged to me?
I knew I shouldn't, but I needed to. If I didn't, my heart would stop beating. I tilted her chin and softly nibbled on her lips before crashing my lips into hers. I didn't wait for her to give me permission to thrust my tongue into her mouth.
I held her upright and pinned her against the nearest wall. She tried pushing me away, but I grabbed her wrists and pinned both her hands above her head.
I could feel the flames forming around her body and getting bigger each second as they engulfed the both of us.
Our tongues wrestled and she even bit my lip, but I kept kissing her. She needed this. We both needed this. She finally submitted to me and I felt her tongue relax in my mouth and she started grinding herself against me.
She moaned into my mouth while I continued my onslaught. I lifted her with one hand and opened her legs with my other hand. Her flames had burned off all our clothes and we were both naked. I couldn't let her lips go, not even for a second. If she needed to breathe she would have to do it while I kissed her.
Her hands ran through my hair as she cried into my mouth. I started caressing her breast, kneading it greedily to make up for the days I held her in my arms, but couldn't touch her like this.
"Boss!", I heard Keyon shouting through the mindlink. "Boss, the hospital is going to burn down!"
I groaned before I let go of her lips. We were both panting. We needed much more than this. I put her on the ground and her flames started disappearing as she reeled them in. I looked around us and the entire floor we were on was burned charcoal black. No one seemed to be hurt.
Mike ran to her and took off his shirt for her to put on. I yanked it out of his hand before she could take it and tore it apart. She wouldn't wear another man's clothes, even if it's Mike's.
I mindlinked the hospital staff and a few seconds later, they brought me a pair of pants and a large t-shirt for her.
We headed back to Luciene's room, but were stopped when the doors to the floor we were on flung open. Agatha was standing there with two witches who were practically holding her up. She was sweating profusely and looked so pale.
"It's coming back!", She said through shallow breaths. "You two have not followed any of my rules and now that darn curse is coming back. I was able to hold it off for a few days, but whatever you did today gave it more strength than ever! Lizzie has to go right now."
"No!", I roared at her. "I'll go with her. That way the rest of you will be safe."
"It doesn't work that way, King Alden!", she shouted at me. "We don't have time for this. She has to leave right now, but I have a plan. I have found something that is a much better solution, but there's no time to explain."
Mike grabbed Elizabeth's hand, but I stopped them from leaving. I fell to my knees and wrapped my hands around her waist. I couldn't let her leave again.
I heard her muffled sobs and felt her tears hit my arms. She held my face with both hands and made me look up at her. "I'm going to come back. I promise. I will always come back to you, Mathew. I love you."
"Go to the Black Claw pack", I commanded her. "I'll find you there as soon as I fix this."
"No!", Agatha interrupted us. "She has to go somewhere else. I have a better solution in mind and she's the key to getting it. She needs to leave right now. We've already wasted too much time!"
I watched Elizabeth and Mike run out of the hospital together. Orion was roaring and clawing inside my mind. This couldn't be happening again. We couldn't let her leave us again. I got up and started running out of the hospital. The moment I stepped outside, Orion ripped out of me and started chasing after her scent. We couldn't let her leave.