Chapter 153

Carlos POV.

I sat at the extravagant table, barely eating the food that was laid out in front of me, while lady Lorellia sat stroking her full round stomach with her thumb, all the while staring at the latest scan photograph that was taken the day before. I simply grumbled and continue playing with my food.

"Only 12 weeks left to go until we meet him." She screeched causing a wince to leave me. I was tired, and abused. My arm rested in a tight sling due to my elbow breaking under the weight of Lorellias foot, three days ago, simply because I refused to talk to her stomach. "You know, if my nephew doesn't get his mate back, then our boy may just be the next heir. How exciting is that, I could be carrying the next king."

"Josh will get her back!" The dowager king snapped at his sister while reading the latest news article on his holographic monitor. "When he does, she better beg for his mercy because her life at this stage means very little."

“She’s only doing what every instinct in her is telling her to do. He killed her mother, for goddess sake.” Caius stated turning his own device so that a new news article showed up.

“With good reason, that woman raised, a loud mouth, impertinent child. Perhaps if he had acted sooner miss Riley wouldn’t have gotten any ideas.” That live recording of her on the day of her mothers death was just horrendous to watch, I had no idea she longed for death so much.

"Hasn't that girl been through enough?" Caucus stated angrily as he looked at his son in horror. "This has to stop. We were once a proud race, one who treasured the moon goddesses gifts with every ounce of our being. Now all we do is abuse the people we are bound to, and why? Because we think we are better than them. We may have abilities beyond the humans, but to use it against them, it’s getting intolerable.” He turned to his daughter, the person calling herself my mate and frowned in anger, before pointing to me. "That man is about as excited as a fly caught in a spiders web, and I don't blame him. Goddess, You'll be lucky if he can even hold your child with how badly you messed his arm up."

“He refused to acknowledge our child, I should have broken both of his arms.” She jeered, while my head lowered, the situation wasn’t great at all.

"That is enough." The old king wasn't playing at all today as he swiped left on the news article to reveal that 22 punishment stages had now been burnt in retaliation for Dylan's actions.

Dylan was out there making a difference, defying every law that has been set in place since the beginning of the new world. I was simply stuck in here, destined to be groped and used as a sperm donor for the rest of my existence. I should have been attempting to make a difference too, instead I had all but accepted my fate. That's how I knew Dylan was so much better than I was, she was so sure of herself and her actions, even at such a young age. Her conviction and determination for change, actually freed her from the kings clutches.

Everything she had been through up until now, had only strengthened her resolve to end this sick world as we knew it. She even had the strength to stand up to his grace, on live television and declare that his views were wrong. I know that it resulted in her mother being killed by the kings hands, but she still stood her ground and fled when she had the chance, bringing this new mass act of rebellion, the burning of our torture.

I was seeing more and more news articles about her and how her actions were slowly being supported by more and more people, even the Lycans were slowly turning against the crown, and it made the royals uneasy.

“Tell my dad how excited you are to have a son.” Lorellia spoke, the demand in her voice completely evident.

“I’m very excited sir!” My tone held absolutely no emotion as I looked at king Josh’s grandfather, who frowned at my response.

"Oooh, he kicked." Lorellias exclamation caught the attention of everyone in the room and she grabbed my good hand roughly, pressing it to her lower stomach. "See, the boy knows his daddy." I felt like I was going to be sick. I felt the tiniest flutter of a kick on this woman's stomach and sighed, my mind racing to my wife's pregnancy with my beautiful daughter Victoria.

My previous wife, had that amazing pregnant glow to her features when she was with child. Everything about her was stunning, but Lorellia didn't glow, she only looked smug and manipulative. Half of me wasn't even convinced the baby was mine to begin with. Maybe she got fed up of trying with me, and roped some other sad sack into sealing the deal, just so she'd trap me.

I sighed as I played with the meal in front of me, my mind racing back to Dylan, that poor girl had been tested at every single turn, and still she remained unmoved, the king was at his end with her attitude, If he so much as caught wind of where she was, she'd be dead. He had every single intention of just outright marking her, with or without permission, and if she was the same girl that left here a few months ago, then it would definitely be without permission.

A loud gasp from the queen regent actually bought me out of my thoughts and she turned to face her mate, a shocked yet concerned look crossing her features.

"One of the sectors borders have been closed entirely..." she stated turning her device around for her mate to see, his eyes widening more drastically than her own.

"Why would someone go out of their way to completely close one of the borders?" Lorellia asked in her screechy voice that caused me to wince whenever it got too loud. I glanced over at the news report and dropped my spoon onto the table with a loud crash. That was were my home was...

"Fuck!" I hadn't even realized I had spoken out loud until every single pair of eyes met mine, but my brain couldn't comprehend their stares, the only thing it was thinking about was The rebellion... and Dylan.... Had she found my home? The place built upon equal standing? Were wolves and humans could coexist? Had she found her way to my Victoria? Had she built up a resistance to the new world? "That girl..." I whispered quietly smiling to myself slightly before a slap hit my cheek. I blinked not expecting it at all and turned to the pregnant lady sat directly next to me.

"That girl is a blight to this world." The king roared in anger as his fists slammed down on the table in front of him. "Get my son on the phone... NOW!" There was no room for argument as three of the royal workers disbanded and scurried off trying to find a communication device.

Dylan, you really were amazing.

I knew in my bones that it was her idea to close that border. I knew she must have been working so hard to fight against the narcissistic wolf kind and their ideals, she always did, even at her own risk. 17 years old and already she was making a bigger impact than anyone else had ever made. 22 districts had burnt their punishment stages in support of her, hell, she had even managed to get an entire sector to close its borders.

"Where the fuck is my son?!" The kings regents temper had reached an all time high now as he waited for news of his son. It wasn’t long before a holographic device was bought in and the king regent made it ring.

“Hello… Your grace.” Warren answered nervously in the kings stead.

“Where is Josh?!” Warrens face paled slightly at the kings question and he stopped in his tracks. Had something happened to him? God please, please tell me something had happened.

“He’s, in bed… your grace.” In bed? Was he sick? I didn’t think lycans even got sick.

“Put him on…” Warren nodded before knocking on a door and walking in, handing the device over to Josh, who looked nothing but in pain. “Explain…”

“She’s been fucking someone else!” Was his only statement, causing all of our eyes to widen. He undoubtedly meant Dylan, but after everything, I couldn’t imagine her doing stuff with anybody else. I thought Beta Lewis may have had a chance, you could tell by looking at him that he was in love with her, but he disappeared, weeks before Dylan did. Unless they had found each other again.

“She’s your mate! How does a pathetic human have so much disrespect!” The queen regent was angry, it’s a wolfs nature to want to claim someone as there own. So, the fact that the king was lying in bed, looking to be in pain, while the only explanation was that Dylan was having fun, was a shock. I admit, it was one even I didn’t expect, but I couldn’t help the smirk that formed on my lips, and my snarky remark left my mouth before I could stop myself.

“I guess she wasn’t as broken as you thought.” My head shot up quickly at the sound of my own voice, and my eyes widened in fear. I saw nothing but looks of anger from everyone around the table.

“She should be wearing my mark, in stead she’s out, fucking someone else! I should have just marked her, if she was truly my mate then she would have lived.” Josh’s voice sounded furious as he spoke to his parents. While my eyes widened. There was no way he actually thought that. No way. Everyone knew a refused marked resulted in death.

“Perhaps you are right. At least then she would have been bought down a peg or two. I will come to you.” The king regent spoke looking at his mate who nodded in agreement. “This ends now. We can not allow the rebellion to get the upper hand by attacking us first. We need to march on the closed sector. It will either end with that girls death, or with her submission.” The royals had gone crazy.

The king made preparations for his departure, along with the rest of the warriors, leaving the palace in the hands of a select few. No one was focussed on the palace at the minute though, so everyone was fairly certain that, we’d all be alright.

“Can you believe it? How much gall does she have to cheat on Josh? It’s preposterous.” Lorellia kicked her shoes off after entering our room. She flopped onto the bed and wiggled her toes in front of me. “Give me a massage, my love.”

“I’m going to wash up.” I ignored her but was stopped by her death grip on my arm.

“You wouldn’t cheat on me, would you?” I wouldn’t class it as cheating, because we weren’t actually together. “WOULD YOU?!”

She didn’t like my silence. I rolled my eyes and slipped my sling off to wash up, but she pounced on me, knocking me to the ground. Her wolf surfacing.

“You’re mine, Carlos! No one else can have you!” With that she allowed her teeth to elongate and grabbed my head, I thrashed and fought to try and get her off me, but her teeth bit down painfully on the flesh, bringing a shout of pure agony out of me, my sight went blurry and My body felt as if it was on fire as screamed.

She had marked me… forcibly marked me.