it's been so long

3rd person POV

"how long are you going to keep me here?" Craig asked Sorin as he kept cleaning his beautiful pale skin, giving him a sponge bath.

Craig shook his arms in front of his face showing him his cuffed wrists, Sorin sighed not saying anything else just grabbed his hands pulling him towards his body, and kissed the bruised skin while cherishing the under the skin of his soft smooth hands.

Sorin felt the skip in his mate's heartbeat, he didn't say anything but continued to wash his Mate's dirty skin.

"can you please take me out for a little bit? it's suffocating here." Craig whines childishly. his tactics were changing every now and then, he went from demanding to let him out, to playing the mate card on him.

he has been warming up to Sori after spending his time in the torture room, it's been more than six months and he finally started speaking politely to his mate. well at least trying to since Sorin couldn't forgive him for what he did a couple of months ago.

"you know I can't do that," Sorin said disheartened, he got up to leave but was stopped when Craig held his jeans.

"come on it was just one time, I promise I will behave this time, " he gave Sorin a puppy dog smile but it didn't work because there isn't something he hasn't already tried.

Sorin pulled his leg away from his grasp and sneered at him " you killed seven guards and threatened to kill the king when he tried to block you, " Craig didn't look much bothered but he looked bored.

"it's was just a misunderstanding, I wasn't going to kill him, really " he moved his arm dismissing it.

"you crushed his ribs all while ripping the guard apart with a spell," Sori yelled furiously, Craig didn't talk further just watched his mate lose it.

Sorin sighed tired, tired of everything. "when we find Alejandro's bones or even single evidence that he is gone, I will reject you, you need to be punished for all the horrible things you have done, the only thing stopping Lorenzo from ripping you apart is me, so, let's change that," he said before gagging Craig and left

Craig didn't know why his cold rotten heart hurt with the words that left Sorin's mouth, he had come to find entertainment in the tall muscular African-American werewolf, he found it funny how Sorin was trying to stay by his side, even after he killed the guard Sorin had come to trust with Craig's security.

but this time it was different, Sorin might hate him, curse him or even let Lorenzo beat him to death, but he had not even once talked about rejection. Craig clenched his chest as the abrupt pain shot through his heart.

"Don't," he yelled just before Sorin could step out of the room, he stood at the edge of the door not turning around but he was listening. "Don't reject me, we can stay away from each other, but no rejection, please," this was the first time the devil's voice was sincere.

Sorin sighed before leaving the dungeon, it hurt him more than he could have imagined, his heart bled when he spoke those words to his soulmate but the last six months have taught him that there are things that are out of his control. and that was containing his mate.

Craig has tried to escape the dungeons more than ten times in the past six months and has killed more than fifty people, he was too powerful for anyone to control. he had to choose because the only reason Craig was alive is that he was Sorin's mate.

Sorin walked out of the dungeons and went to see Lorenzo, they dropped the formality when they realized they had more in common when it comes to Alejandro.

Lorenzo has been searching for the remains of Alejandro the very next moment he fell off that cliff. it's painful to see the state he was in, all the fuss about the throne and now that he was rightfully allowed to claim the throne he refused to. he said 'it doesn't matter now, he is gone, and I have nothing to fight with or for,'

everyone in the kingdom knew they were mates and Lorenzo didn't deny it when he was asked he always said that he would have announced a long time ago that they were mates instead of quarreling about who will rule on the throne. he said it was one among many regrets he had, not embracing his mate like everyone else, not marking him on the spot like they were supposed to, not loving him with all his heart was the biggest one,

Sorin had never seen anyone lose the passion of their life after they finally got it. Alejandro's father was still the king but his health was giving up him. he didn't seem to have much time left. everything was falling apart and Lorenzo was at the center of it.

Lorenzo along with Sorin and Josh we're digging up the history of Claudius and Alejandro's family. the king was no help since the curse skips a generation and passes on to the next one.

they found the origin of the curse and it was the same story of the beast that was told in the Disney stories. but the only difference was that this was real and the curse was placed by a mage, they were different from the witches, more powerful and dangerous. and by their luck, Mages were also extinct.

The first king of Alejandro's lineage was a cruel man, in the early sixties, there were lots of dark magic practices, mages were considered the most vicious ones well at least by the King, he only wanted more power for himself to rule the world. he was crazy and greedy, he tried to force an heir from the Mage but that didn't happen because werewolves can reproduce only with their mates, The king was furious, he was so angry that he murdered the entire clan of Mages and tortured the young female mage's mate.

she was the most powerful Mage of her time but she was one of the good ones who help the one in need and the king had taken advantage of it. at the cost of her mate's life, she didn't want to spare this filthy mutt any longer.

the King had a little boy, who was not more than five years old, he tried to help the mage by standing between his father and the mage but he was pushed off, he tried everything his little body could do but failed. considering this mage was different to him.

She killed herself while stabbing herself, just before her soul left her body she cursed him, and every second male in his family generation. every male born in his family will have all the power the king wanted but that came with a price, he would not have an inner wolf but a beast, a bloodthirsty beast that would lose control and end up killing his mate.

The King mocked the mage for having such a silly insight but his laughter turned to gurgle when blood pooled in his mouth. he choked on his blood as his bones broke in various places, he was turning into a beast. his eyes turned a deep black, his claws extended, hair spurred on his body coating every inch of his skin. he was vicious, and he did kill his mate, he would have killed his son as well if it weren't for his beta interfering, he grabbed the boy and ran.

The King died alone in the castle, with everything he ever wanted, and yet he died alone, in an abandoned place that once was the heart of the city.

Lorenzo didn't know how to handle this because there was no next heir so the curse died along with his mate, but there was this nagging feeling within his heart that this was not the end

but the beginning of something worst.