Don't Kill My Mate

*Rowan*

“Please don’t kill my mate,” the voice in my ear proclaims. “I’ll do anything. Anything.”

Even though I’ve never heard his voice before, I know exactly who it is. I take a deep breath and lean back in my chair, watching Wilma perk up. I don’t know if she can hear him through the receiver pressed to my ear or if she just has a feeling it must be him, but she’s suddenly very attentive.

“Why in the world would I do anything other than execute her right now?” I ask him. “After all she’s done to my kingdom over the years? She deserves to die.”

Wilma’s face falls, and a fresh round of tears fills her eyes. 

“I know,” Alistair says, his voice still full of desperation. “I understand that you feel that way. I would feel the same way. But… please. I’ll do whatever I have to. Just don’t kill her.”

“Are you willing to turn yourself over to me?” I ask him. While it’s been proven that he’s not a very powerful wizard, and Hezzlie can certainly best him any time of the day, it will be helpful not to have him out there on the other side of this fight if I can help it.

Alistair hesitates for a few moments, which makes me chuckle. “So you didn’t mean it.”

“No, I did mean it,” he says. “I just… I’m not sure how I’ll get out of here. If Alpha King Solomon finds out, he’ll prevent me from going.”

“Well, you’d better figure it out quick,” I tell him. “I’ll give you two hours. If you’re not at my doorstep with silver handcuffs on by then, she’s going to die.”

“Wait–” Alistair shouts, but I’m already slamming the phone down.

Wilma is crying again, though not as heavily as she was before. “Please, just let him go,” she says. “I know he’s your enemy, but–”

“You know I won’t do that,” I tell her, shaking my head. “He said he’s your mate. How can that be true?”

“Second chance mates,” she says. “I can’t explain it. I was out for a run once, about ten years ago, and I felt his presence on the other side of the wall. I knew then that I had a second chance at having a mate, and I took it, even though we’ve never been able to be together. We’ve been communicating over the years. I’ve helped him some–like with the attack on your father and the other night. But for the most part, we just live separate lives.” All of that comes out in a whoosh of emotion. I can understand her, but just barely. 

“Why did you need the phone, though?” I ask her. “Why couldn’t you just communicate through the mind-link?”

“We could when we were closer,” she says, “But not when I was in the mansion and he was in the castle. It’s too far.”

“It’s not too far,” I argue. “Hezzlie and I could communicate through the mind-link when she was in the castle.”

Wilma shrugs. “I don’t know, Alpha. I only know that I’ve never been able to reach him at such a distance, and I can’t reach him now. As I was running toward Darksky, I sent out a message to him through the mind-link. He didn’t answer until I was nearly to the gate, just a few moments before Dean intercepted me.”

“He must’ve made good time getting over here then,” I murmur. It’s a good thing she hasn’t been able to use the mind-link to communicate with him all this time or who knows what else she may have told him. “Are you the one who told them about the moonstones then?”

“I told them of the rumors, but I didn’t

know for sure. I didn’t know they were there until we found that door and you and Hezzlie went down there. But yes, they do know all about them now.” She hangs her head in shame.

“Why couldn’t this have worked the other way around, Wima? Why couldn’t you have been the one to stay loyal and tell me all of Darksky’s secrets?” 

She shakes her head. “I don’t know, Alpha. I just… did what my mate asked of me. I’m truly sorry.”

“I don’t think you’re sorry,” I tell her, and I mean it. “I think you’re only sorry that you got caught, not for what you’ve done.”
“No, that’s not true. I have loved you and your sister since you were little children,” she tells me, and I want to believe her, but I know that I can’t. 

“Did you know that your mate was weaponizing my sister against my mother?” I counter, folding my arms across my chest.

Her mouth drops open, but she’s silent for a few moments before she slowly nods her head.

“Then I guess you don’t know the meaning of the word love, Wilma. People who love one another don’t put them in situations where they have to live with the guilt of killing their own mother.”

The tears are back, but I’ve had enough of it. I use the mind-link to call for James to send a healer to set her fingers and have her moved to the dungeon. In just a few minutes, my door opens, and Elise walks in. She makes short work of setting the broken fingers and wrapping them in splints, and then the guards haul Wilma out of her chair.

As they’re taking her to the door, she turns back to look at me. “Did you mean what you said, Alpha? If Alistar isn’t able to get her before time runs out, are you really going to kill me?”

“I’m a man of my word,” I tell her, and I see all the color wash out of her face. She turns back around and lets the guards take her, and once again, she’s crying.

I hope to hell Alistar gets here in time because I’m not the horrible monster I used to be before Hezzlie showed up here. Killing someone like Wilma will not be easy, but if I go back on what I said, then Darksky will think he can manipulate me, that I’ve gone soft, and I can’t have that either.

Once Wilma is out of my office, I use the mind-link to let the troops know that I’m expecting Alistar to show up within an hour or so. They tell me they’ll let me know when he arrives. 

Now, it’s just a waiting game. If he shows up in time, she’ll live. If he doesn’t, she’ll die. And I’ll have to do it myself because I could never ask anyone else to do it. 

I contemplate the method. Slash her throat, break her neck, hanging, suffocation, some kind of medication. I settle on that. I’ll have James make me something that will kill her quickly. I’ll need his help. He’ll have to put the needle in her arm–but I’ll be the one to push the stopper.

My eyes flicker to the clock a thousand times. Alistar is just about out of time. He’s got five more minutes before his mate dies–at my hand.

This just might be the second hardest thing I’ve ever done besides trading Hezzlie for Mara. But I can do it.

I have no choice.