Chapter 102

Sterling
He got up off the floor as his daughters and their mates left. Sasha shot Slonsky an apologetic look and shut the door behind them. Sterling crossed the small space between them to sit on the cot. He clasped his hands together between his knees with his head low. Slonsky sat next to him.
“I know I hurt you. I know I hurt Odanya. I know I hurt Anastasia and I changed the course of everyone’s lives, but I really did do it out of pure love for my mate. All I wanted was her. She is still what I want. I want both of them. Do you know how hard it is to see your fated mate happy with someone else?”
Sterling nodded. “Anastasia was happy with her chosen mate.”
Slonsky sighed. “I know she was. Everyone was happy except for me. I acted selfishly. I wasn’t thinking about her, just myself.”
He sighed. “After I was forced to kill her chosen mate, she changed. I felt it. I had never marked Anastasia, but I could feel her. I never thought I would fall in love with her, but there were times where she was genuine and that’s who I fell in love with. She would smile sometimes…”
“And you would see the woman she was when she was with her chosen mate,” Slonsky finished for him. “I get it. She was a good woman that I caused to turn into a fragmented shell of herself.” He sighed. “Odanya, on the other hand, she was something really special. I would watch you two and you were so in love. She would smile at you so sweetly and I would have killed for her to look at me like that.
She was so kind to everyone and the way she treated children.. It made me long to have a family. I ended up having a family with Anastasia. She didn’t want Casey. She threatened to kill her almost before she took her first breath. I wanted everything with someone and my woman had that with you. I was never lucky enough to have that. The love of a good woman, a child who would run behind her mother, but be a daddy’s girl. I wanted to watch my wife breastfeed our children, teach them, love them, but you had that with who should have been my wife.”
Sterling looked at him. “Do you know how hard it was to love two women who hated each other? Do you know how hard it was to balance between the two? When Odanya sent her away, I lost a big part of my heart. I really want to hurt you. I want to make you feel every ounce of pain you made me feel. I want to make you watch your daughter be tortured and abused and not be able to save her.
I want you to watch your mates, both chosen and fated, break into a million pieces. I want you to feel your dragon slowly die from anguish. I want you to be in such crippling pain, you can’t even breathe sometimes.” He stopped to wipe a fresh tear away. “I would have figured out a way to make her happy. I would have been happy to share her. I know she loved me and I knew she felt something for you. You should have just come to us. We could have worked something out.”
Slonsky sighed. “I’m sorry. I can never apologize enough for my actions. Just please, whatever you do, don’t punish Casey.”
“I won’t.” He ran his fingers through his hair. “I saw how she looked at you. She loved you. I can’t dishonor who she was, because I am angry.”
Slonsky put his hand on Sterling’s shoulder. “She loved you, too.”
“I know she did.” He turned to Slonsky. “Did Anastasia talk about me?”
He tilted his head. “Not when she was awake.”
“In her sleep?”
Slonsky nodded. “Anastasia loved you, too. She couldn’t help, but to be drawn to you. She just didn’t want to give in to it. She really hated your daughters.”
“I know she did. I don’t understand why though.”
“They look like you, or at least she thought so. She said when she looked at them all she saw was you, even though they looked like her. She missed you, but she was too stubborn. She hated Odanya, not you. Surprisingly, she never talked bad about you to anybody. Well, not often. There were things here and there when she was having a bad day, but never too horrible.”
Sterling sighed. “I wonder who were the lucky ones. The women or us?”
“They were, because they were loved more than anything. Us on the other hand, we weren’t ever sure about how they felt about us,” Slonsky replied.
Sterling stood up and walked out of the cell. “When we leave this dungeon, we will not discuss them again. We will let them rest in peace.” He paused. “But, please, do not ever want my woman ever again. That’s if I ever find one I can tolerate.”
“Done. Hey, Sterling?”
He turned back. “Yeah, Slonsky?”
Slonsky held his hand out. “I know that sparing me is hard, but I wanted to thank you.”
Sterling eyed his hand, before shaking it. “I’m not going to say this is good and everything is fine, but I chose to stay alive for my children, it would be wrong of me not to allow another child the chance to make her father live for them, too.”
He dropped his hand and went up the stairs to where Sasha and Aiden stood waiting. Sasha stopped pacing.
“Dad, did you kill-,” she started, before falling silent when Slonsky came up the stairs behind him.
She breathed a sigh of relief. “So, does this mean you have forgiven him?”
“Not at all. This is an 'I understand why you did what you did'. I don’t like it, but I probably would have done anything for my mate if the positions were reversed. I am gonna go for a bit. I need to be alone.”
He moved past Aiden, only to be wrapped up in a hug by his daughter. “I love you, Dad. We will be here if you need us.”
“Thank you.”
He left the castle and took off into the sky. Magdon started flying and Sterling gave him control. He didn’t particularly care where they went. He just needed to get away to nurse his emotional wounds. In no time at all, he found himself landing on the Wolfsbane pack territory in front of the Lava Lagoon restaurant. He walked in and the maitre’d rushed around the podium, bowing.
“Your Majesty. Welcome. Table for two?”
Sterling’s chest tightened and he shook his head. “No. It will just be one,” he replied quietly.
The maitre’d nodded. “Right this way, Sire.”
Sterling followed him to the right, which was always reserved for him and Odanya. His steps faltered until he stopped.
“Not this table. Another.”
He turned around and headed to the other side of the restaurant. He set the menu down on the table. Sterling picked it up, even though he already knew what he was going to order.
“Good evening, Your Majesty. My name is Joy and I will be your waitress this evening. Can I start you off with a drink?”
He lowered the menu to address her and his eyes were drawn to her sad brown ones.
“Joy,” he repeated.
“Yes, Sire. What can I get you?”
“Bourbon whiskey.”
She blinked in surprise. “A bourbon whiskey?”
“Yep. They know how I like it.”
“Isn’t bourbon whiskey, whiskey already?” She took a step back. “I’m sorry, I’ll get that for you.”
He watched her dash away and he chuckled to himself. The woman must not drink much to not know what a bourbon whiskey was. She came back and set a bottle on the table beside a glass. She pulled the top off and poured some of the amber liquid into his glass. He gestured to the chair across from him.
“Would you like to join me?”
“I do appreciate the offer, Your Majesty, but I am working, so I must respectfully decline.”
“Send the manager over.”
She bowed low. “As you wish, Sire.”
He swirled the drink around before sipping it deeply. The manager came over.
“When is Joy off?”
“In an hour, King Sterling.”
“Does she have a mate?”
“Not anymore. He was murdered before she came to the pack.”
“How long has she been here?”
“A month.”
“Go away.”
The man bowed and hurried away. Joy came back and asked for his order. He pointed to the chair again.
“Sit.”
She cleared her throat. “I’m working.”
“And I wasn’t asking,” he countered.
She sat. He pushed his glass over to her and raised his hand. Another waitress hurried over. He asked for a bottle of whiskey and another glass.
“Take a sip.”
“Your Majesty, I’m-”
“Off now. Take a sip.”
“Sire, I need my check. I can’t afford to miss hours.”
He pulled his wallet out and handed her the stack of hundreds inside of it. “Here. I need company tonight.”
She flushed. “I am not sure exactly what you expect from me, but I-”
“I recently lost my mate and I hear you did, too. I expect nothing more than some conversation from you.”
She sighed and nodded. “Alright.”
“My name is Sterling.” He waved to the bourbon in front of her. “Drink it.”
He took the glass and bottle from the waitress, pouring some. She lifted it to her lips and drank some. She gagged and he laughed.
“So, tell me Joy. Do you have children?”
“I do. I have a daughter.”
“What’s her name?”
“Sommer. Do you have kids?”
He nodded. “I have three. Lukas, Sasha and Kalani. They all have found their mates. Has Sommer?”
She nodded. “His name is James.”
“That’s nice.”
He took the glass with bourbon back and pushed the plain whiskey in front of her. She took a small sip and made a face. He laughed.
“You’re not really supposed to let it sit on your tongue.”
He got up and moved behind her. He picked the glass up and put his hand on her neck, making her bend it back.
“Open your mouth and when I say swallow, swallow.”
She did as he asked and he put the glass to her lips.
“Swallow,” he told her as he tipped the glass, pouring some into her mouth.
She swallowed, before giggling. “Oh, that’s nice,”
His eyes stayed on her throat as he tipped the glass up again. “Swallow.”
She did and the way her throat moved made his body react. He leaned down and kissed her. Her eyes widened, before closing. She turned in her chair to fist her hand in his shirt. His hand went back around her throat and she moaned into his mouth. He pulled back to study her face, before sitting back in his chair. He quickly tossed back three glasses of bourbon while she watched him, shocked.
“Do you want to get out of here?,” she asked.
He raised his eyebrow. “Do you?”
She leaned towards him. “I think we could both use a different kind of company tonight.”
He stood up and held his hand out to her. She took it. He led her out of the restaurant, knowing they would charge his card on file. He linked their fingers together.
“Where to?”
“There’s a hotel on the corner.”
He let her lead him to the hotel and she got them a room. As soon as they stepped inside the door, he spun her towards him and started to devour her mouth. He backed her up to the wall while her hands tugged at his belt. In mere seconds, all of their clothes lay in a pile on the floor. He picked her up and her legs went around his waist.
She pulled away, breathlessly and he moved down her neck, leaving kisses on her skin. Her head dropped back and he growled. Her fingers went into his hair and he pulled her off the wall to carry her to the bed. He laid her down, following her onto it. She arched her back and he slid into her. He pushed forward into her until he couldn’t sink any deeper. She looked up into his eyes.
“Sterling.”
His control snapped and he started thrusting into her quickly. She met every thrust and he took her hands and put them above her head. She kissed down his chest and he growled. He leaned down and bit into her throat, leaving a temporary lovers mark on her skin. She cried out and clenched around his cock. She bit into his chest and the feel of her sharp canines sliding through his muscle made him release his hot seed into her. He collapsed on top of her, kissing her neck.
“Joy.”
She ran her fingers through his hair. “Sterling,” she purred.
“Stay with me tonight?”
She kissed him softly. “Only for tonight.”