Their Thief

Twenty-one

Luca King

The bodies and words written in blood made me freeze as fear coursed through my body.

"Alec," I said quietly as my fear grew with every second our mate wasn't in front of my eyes where I could see she was safe.

"They don't know she's our mate," he said, his voice holding fear. "They probably think she's somewhat important to us because we've never had a pet before. If they knew she was our mate they wouldn't have warned us. They would know they have too much to gain, they wouldn't risk it."

I nodded slowly. He was right. They would have taken her to use as leverage the moment they knew she existed if they were aware of who she is. Even though it's a relief that they don't know what she means to us, it still has other downsides. If they are coming for her thinking that she is simply a pet then they would have no qualms about killing her. If they knew she was our mate, they would ensure that she stays alive at least until they have dealt with us.

"I need to see that she's okay," I say while walking backwards with my eyes locked on the mutilated bodies in front of me before turning and rushing to our mate, our Damaris.

I reached the open double doors to my room and froze when I saw the look of horror on her face. She was on the bed with wet hair, slowly backing away from Jace who stood in front of her.

"No, no, please, no," she whispered, shaking her head as tears filled her eyes that were locked on whatever Jace held in his arms.

I stepped into the room just as Alec arrived. He followed me in, drawing her attention. Her eyes darted to me before going to Alec. Once her eyes landed on Alec she froze as her eyes widened and her lower lip started trembling. Her eyes darted from Alec to what Jace held then returned to Alec as tears flowed freely down her face, her body trembled along with her lip.

I looked towards Alec, confused at why her fear increased so much from his presence. I furrowed my eyebrows. Logically if she was going to be more afraid of any one of us then it should be Jace. He's the only one that has personally harmed her. Alec did threaten her with punishments but that wouldn't outweigh the damage that Jace caused by his whipping. Unless...

Unless he's done something we aren't aware of.

I whip my head toward Alec. "What. Did. You. Do." I glared at him as I spoke each word through gritted teeth, causing Jace to turn towards us as Alec turned to face me.

He didn't reply to my question. He just looked at me with a confused expression. He turned back towards her and Jace and his body suddenly went rigid.

Alec King

"No, please!" she pleaded towards me. "D-don't hurt it. I don't l-like it, I h-hate it," she stuttered out in fear.

I stilled as realization dawned upon me. Her fear of me increased because of what Jace held in his arms, a puppy. The last time she was around me and an animal at the same time was when I fed her that bird that she seemed to care for... her pet. Now that we're giving her a puppy as a pet...

She thinks I'm going to make her eat it.

"Damaris," I say quietly, speaking her name for the first time since I learned it thanks to lover boy. It rolled off my tongue and sounded perfect. I saw her slightly shiver in pleasure at hearing me speak it. She may hate and fear us, but the bond still affected her, making her react involuntarily. She only feels a fraction of the bond, but when we mark and mate her she'll feel it's true effects and learn just how strong it truly is.