134

Dickson

“Yes,” I replied again before grabbing her shoulder, desperation making my grip tighter than intended.

“Please bear with me. After all this, I promise to build you a mansion, no, a palace. But for now, please stay with me.” My voice cracked with weakness I’d never shown anyone before.

“No!” she screamed, yanking my hand away with such force it staggered me. “I will never stay in a place like this.”

“Scar—” I tried again, reaching for her, fear clawing at my insides.

“Do not call me that!” she scowled, her eyes flashing with rage and betrayal. “You should have let me stay in my pack when you knew you had no place to call home.”

She paused, tears streaming down her face as she continued, each drop taunting my soul. “You brought me here to make me suffer. How selfish of you. I hate them, but I hate you more. I fucking hate you, Dickson.”

Each of her words sent a sharp pain inside me. Why was she talking like this? A cold, sickening dread spread through me. Was she regretting accepting and following me?

Did she not love me? I had heard about the mate bond. I was told you could fall in love at first sight when you saw each other.

It was working on me; goddess, how it was working on me, but why not on her as well? The rejection felt like being torn apart.

“I regretted this. I should have rejected you if I knew you were nothing but this.”

“Enough!” I heard Henry scream, shutting her into silence. My beta’s outburst barely registered through the roaring in my ears. “How dare you speak to my lord like that?”

“You…” Scar pointed at him. “You dare speak rudely to me? Do you know who I am?”

“Who the heck are you!” Henry snapped back. I watched as the two exchanged heated words, feeling strangely detached from the scene before me.

Why? Why me? I had always been the one with a foul mouth. I had been the one who treated women as lowly creatures. Now I stood frozen, watching my mate; the woman who was supposed to complete me, declare her hatred for me.

I had been the one who did cruel things to them, not the other way around. And yet here I was, being treated as if I was nothing. The most painful part was that I was being looked down on by my woman, my mate.

“Enough. You two should stop. There is no need for both of you to be tearing at each other.” My voice came out weaker than I intended.

“You stand there and watch this idiot hurl insults at me, Dickson?” Her eyes flashed with contempt, making me flinch.

Should I blame myself for giving in to the mate bond? For this weakness that now left me vulnerable to a pain I’d never experienced before?

“I would rather be a mistress than live with you in a dump like this,” she howled, each word meant to wound me. “If I became Lucas’s mistress, I could live my life to the fullest. I could spend the rest of my life in luxury, command the respect of powerful people, and have many fall at my feet. But you...”

She smirked, the malice in her expression offshore on her beautiful face. “I will never allow you to hold me back.”

“I could give you all that,” I spoke with softness that surprised even me, grief making my voice shiver. “Everything and more than Lucas could offer you, love. You are my woman, and I will treat you like the queen you deserve to be.” Pride abandoned me as I pleaded with her.

“Ha,” she let out a laugh, but it sounded more like a cry, bitter and hollow. “You knew I was a queen, yet you dare lust after me.”

“My lord,” Henry called beside me, his face twisted with disgust at her words. “I don’t think she’s worthy of the strength you are putting into her.”

“Shut up,” I howled, slapping him across the face with such force he staggered backward. Rage and grief tangled inside me. “Don’t you dare speak unless I ask you to.”

“Yes, sir.” Blood trickled from his lip.

“This is between me and my mate, and I won’t let anyone butt in.”

“Who is your mate? I will never accept someone like you. I refuse to suffer with you,” Scar muttered, her beautiful features contorted with loathing. “When you were rich, did you come find me? Now that you are poor, poorer than our servants back in my pack, you dare come for me and ask me to endure suffering with you? You’re such a selfish person. Useless wolf. I refuse.”

She turned around to walk away. Before she could run, I grabbed her hand, panic surging through me at the thought of losing her.

“Let me go while I’m being nice to you,” she warned, her voice trembling with fury.

“You are my woman. My mate. My everything. Where do you think you should be if not beside me?” I pleaded, desperation making my grip tighten around her wrist.

“I refuse.” She yanked herself away from me, pushed me back, and then hit me in the face.

The slap stung, but the rejection behind it burned far deeper. Still, I refused to give up, not when I knew the mate bond was at work. “I refuse to stay beside you, jerk.”

Something snapped inside me then. A cold, terrible clarity washed over me. If this went on, I could lose her forever. Why should I let her go when I was already in love with her?

“Shut up," I howled, my voice transforming into something I recognized as my old self. “I have given you so many chances, and I can see you are up to no good. You will stay here, beside me, with or without your permission. I own you. You’re mine.”

“Let go of me!” Scar screamed at the top of her lungs as I dragged her inside. My heart pounded with conflicting emotions, guilt and righteousness battling within me.

If I had known I would meet my mate, I would have asked Henry to get some female rogues to clean up this place. At least it would have been a little more suitable to live in.

“Stay here,” I said, pushing her onto the bed. “Be on your best behavior. Or else,” I threatened. Only this could make me keep her at my side. “I will be right back.”

Scar’s curses and screams trailed after me as I walked away. Yet I hardened myself against them. This was necessary. She would understand eventually.

“Alpha,” one of the rogues greeted, bowing his head in submission.

“I have already told you,” I scoffed, my face hard as I shot him a sharp look. “Address me as king.”

“King,” he corrected himself, eyes lowered in yield. “Your attention is needed.”

“Okay.” I followed him deep inside one of the rooms we had here. It was dark, and the air surrounding us was thick with a sinister aura that clung to my skin like a second coat.

I could remember the first day I was here. Henry had carried me away from the pack despite me not breathing. Amidst the flames, he brought me here.

He was mourning me when I suddenly breathed again, gasping for air as if emerging from the depths of death itself. Ever since then, we had been living here, surviving in the shadows.

We both conquered the rogues around us, and I easily became their king. My power was absolute, my word law. And of course, not all things end well, the ones who refused to bow down were killed by me.

My feet carried me as fast as they could before we finally reached the dark room.

“King,” everyone inside the room addressed me, standing up and bowing their heads in respect.

“Rise.” I walked in before settling into my chair, feeling the cold wood beneath me. “Why was this meeting called?”

They all coughed before someone among them gathered the courage to speak, his voice trembling slightly.

“My king, did you bring good news for us?”

“No,” I muttered. “He rejected me again.”

“We knew it,” they all chorused, faces darkening with shared resentment. “Those packs are disgusting. We knew they would try their best to get away from people who need help. And to make matters worse, you once helped them, my king. Look at how they treated you, turning you down when you needed their help.”

“I know what to do,” I began. “After taking down the Crescent Pack, it will be their turn.”

“Yes!” they shouted in joy, fists raised in the dim light. “Take them down! Take them down!”

I smiled, knowing they would follow me through fire. I had gathered some good warriors, loyal to the death, bound by shared pain and purpose.

“Enough,” my voice rang through the dark place, silencing their chants. “We need more people. More people to join our side to help us win this battle.”

“Yes, King. We know exactly what to do. We will go hunt more rogues. Recruit them to follow you.”

“What happens if someone dares to disobey?" I asked, my voice soft yet laced with steel.

“Kill,” they chorused. “Kill without mercy.”

Yes. This is what I wanted. Happiness surged through me as I watched my bloodthirsty soldiers.

They kill without mercy, committing all sorts of assaults, rapes, murders, and other unspeakable evils I couldn’t even name.

“Good. Set out now,” I commanded. “I want as many people as possible. I can no longer wait.”