Chapter 12: give me my mate

Chapter 12: give me my mate
The pounding on the door came again, harder than before, shaking the frame. My heart lodged itself in my throat.

And then came the voice.

“Give me my mate.”

Onyx.

I froze, every part of me locked tight, like my body knew it couldn’t run even if it wanted to. Skye didn’t flinch. He stood planted in front of the door like he had been expecting this.

“She’s not going anywhere,” Skye called back, his tone sharp and clipped.

The handle rattled once, then fell still. A pause followed, thick and heavy.

“Skye,” Onyx’s voice dropped lower, angrier. “Do not test me. You are crossing boundaries you should know better than to cross.”

“This is my room,” Skye snapped. “You don’t get to storm in here and demand anything.”

The door suddenly groaned, wood straining against pressure. The next moment, it burst open with a sharp crack as Onyx shoved it wide using his boot. The impact sent it crashing against the wall.

I stumbled back instinctively, my hand flying to my chest.

Onyx stepped into the room, tall, broad, his expression carved from stone. His dark blue eyes blazed in the low light, finding me instantly before cutting to Skye.

“I am not fighting you for your stupid position,” he said, his voice thick with venom. “You can keep your throne, your crown, your title. I do not care. But my mate remains mine.”

His words hit me like a strike to the chest.

Skye moved forward a step, squaring his shoulders. “She is not a prize for you to claim. And I am not letting you near her again.”

“Near her?” Onyx’s mouth twisted into a grim smile. “You have already touched what is not yours, brother. Do not think for a second I will let that slide.”

The air in the room felt suffocating. I could feel their rage pressing against me from both sides, like two storms colliding.

“Stop it,” I tried, my voice small, but neither of them looked at me.

Skye’s fists clenched at his sides. “You think you can intimidate me? Walk in here and take whatever you want? You forget who you are speaking to.”

“No,” Onyx said, stepping closer, his presence heavy enough to swallow the space. “You forget who you are speaking to. I am your elder, and I will not bow to your arrogance. She is my mate. That bond is stronger than any false claim you make.”

“You don’t deserve her,” Skye shot back. “You would ruin her. Just like you ruin everything you touch.”

Something in Onyx’s eyes snapped at those words. Without warning, he shoved Skye hard in the chest. Skye stumbled back a step, then lunged forward, slamming his shoulder into Onyx.

The sound of their bodies colliding echoed in the room. My breath caught in my throat.

“Stop it!” I cried, rushing forward, but they were already locked in a struggle. Onyx grabbed Skye by the collar and drove him back against the wall, his face twisted with fury.

“You think you’re stronger than me?” Onyx growled.

Skye snarled back, wrenching himself free and shoving Onyx across the room. “I don’t think. I know.”

Onyx stumbled but didn’t fall. He came back twice as hard, throwing a punch that caught Skye across the jaw. The crack of knuckles against skin made my stomach turn. Skye’s head snapped to the side, but he didn’t back down. He struck back, his fist slamming into Onyx’s ribs.

They grunted, cursed, and shoved like wild animals, their movements heavy and violent, breaking furniture as they stumbled. A chair toppled. A table leg cracked under Onyx’s weight as Skye pushed him into it. The sound of splintering wood filled the air.

I pressed my hands over my ears, but it did nothing to drown out the chaos.

“Stop it!” I screamed again, but they didn’t hear me. They were lost to the fight, lost to their hatred for each other, and I was just the excuse caught in the middle.

Onyx grabbed Skye by the arm and swung him, slamming him into the edge of the bedpost. Skye let out a hiss of pain, then retaliated with a hard knee to Onyx’s stomach.

I flinched at every blow, every strike, my body tensing as if I could feel the impact myself. My legs trembled under me, my heart hammering so hard it hurt.

They were fighting over me, but it didn’t feel like I mattered. Not really. To them, I was a symbol, a line neither wanted to let the other cross.

The truth cut me deeper than Morgana’s slap ever could.

“Enough!” My voice tore from my throat, raw and broken, louder than I thought possible.

They froze. Both of them. Onyx with his hand still twisted in Skye’s shirt, Skye with his fist still raised, ready to strike.

I stood in the middle of the wrecked room, my chest heaving, my face burning with anger and humiliation. “Do you hear yourselves? Do you even see what you’re doing? You’re tearing each other apart over me like I’m some… thing. Like I don’t have a choice in any of this.”

The silence that followed was deafening.

I swallowed hard, my voice trembling as I went on. “I am not your prize. I am not your possession. I am tired. Tired of being pulled between you, between everyone. If this is what it means to have a mate, then I don’t want it.”

Their faces shifted, but I couldn’t bear to look at them too closely. Onyx’s anger simmered just beneath the surface, while Skye’s jaw worked as if he was grinding back words he couldn’t spit out.

I wrapped my arms around myself, trying to hold in the shaking. “I can’t do this anymore.”

For a moment, nobody moved. The fire in the hearth crackled faintly, mocking in its calmness compared to the wreckage around it.

Onyx let go of Skye’s shirt with a final shove, his chest rising and falling heavily. His eyes lingered on me, dark and unreadable. Skye wiped at the blood on his lip with the back of his hand, his gaze darting between us, sharp and furious.

The silence wasn’t peace. It was the stillness before another storm.

And I was standing at the center of it.