Twenty-two
It's been said that you feel immense pain when your mate is killed...
With the contractions I've been having, I wouldn't be able to tell one way or another. Their well being is a complete question mark to me. In all honesty, I'm kinda relieved about that. I don't think I could handle it if I knew they were completely dead. Instead I'm stuck with an array of questions continually flitting through my mind. Are Colton and Caden together? Is one dead but not the other? Did Clyde make Caden watch Colton die or the other way around? Are they waiting for me to give birth before sending me to the same fate? They're morbid questions, but ones that keep my mind occupied from the labor pain.
It's been two days since Ashely took me here and the contractions are getting closer and closer together. What scares me is that I was supposed to go under knife to get these babies out. Two uteruses means it's safe when in the right conditions (and I'm talking absolutely perfect, the planets have aligned conditions) but it's advised to get a cesarean section instead of normal child birth. The risks are too high for both the mother and the children. Usually one or the other dies. I'd be fine with it if I knew for sure that I was the one who would face death, but that's information I don't know.
I feel one of the babies kick at my stomach and I soothingly run my hand over the spot to comfort him. "It's okay, honey. Mommy is here and your daddies and I love you very, very much." I only wish I knew where their daddies were.
A door slamming open wakes me up from the nap I apparently fell into. In a flash my cell door is being thrown open and a hand is yanking me to my swollen feet. I swat at the hand that's connected to a burly guard and begin to waddle forward with my huge stomach leading the way. Wherever I'm going, I would get there with dignity and my babies' safety fully intact.
"I can't walk that fast in case you missed the the two watermelons inside my stomach protruding from beneath my shirt," I finally hiss after the guard pushed me to go faster for the third time.
"I just want to get this over with," his gravelly voice responds.
I was going to ask him what he wanted to get over but the opening of another door stops the words in my throat. The vision. The vision our goddess showed me. It's coming true right before my eyes. Every little detail isn't spot on but the future is always changing. The ending is still the same, though. It seems I was right about Smith's vision having not been changed. I didn't know whether I wanted to kick and scream or pridefully take what's coming.
"Ah! Our guest of honor! Thank you for joining us, darling!" Clyde's voice resounds around the courtyard and I double over in pain as another contraction hits me. Breathe Cassia, just breathe. "Having a bit of trouble, are we? We'll take care of that real soon, darling."
The guard starts pushing me forward towards the platform smack dab in the middle of the area. The platform I will die on. The platform I am terrified of but didn't want to show it. I look at the stone wall directly in front of it expecting to see my mates beaten, broken, and chained up, but I only saw Colton. What?
He looks at me with fear in his eyes. "Where's Caden?!" I desperately yell . Where's my other mate?! His face contorts in disgust and he spits blood onto the ground.
"Caden is no mate of ours, Cassia." He throws his hateful gaze towards the platform I'm a mere ten feet away from and I feel my heart
stop. I let out a heartbreaking sob at the scene.
There's a camera directly in front of them, broadcasting the happenings onto a big screen on the wall behind the platform. Clyde is sitting in a throne-like chair on a different platform that's to the side of the one where I'll die. Beside him... beside him is my mate, Caden, looking like an avenging warrior ready to take on the world. His upper body has brown leather armor on, while his thick legs are covered in the same material. There's a sword hanging off the side of his belt that's so sharp it could cut through bone.
"C-Caden?" the tortured word leaves my mouth.
"How naive can you be, Cassia? You think when it comes down to someone's own life and the life of their mate, they're actually going to choose their mate? I gave Caden here a choice! Either he dies beside his brother and you, or he serves me. You're looking at the leader of the army I'm creating. Your mate is going to help me take over the human world and have everyone bend to my will. No more hiding for us, no more living in fear of hunters. We will be the superior species! Human, warlocks, vampires, every. Fucking. Species. Will. Bow. Down. I just have to get rid of you and your problematic mates first." Clyde laughs like the villain he is.
How can Caden do this to us? Me, his brother, his children? Nothing he did ever indicated what his true heart was really like. I thought he loved me, that he actually cared for me. I should've seen this coming.
"L-Look," I try and say through my sobs, "I don't care if I die. But please, I'm begging you, please let me have my children first. Let them live. I'll do anything you ask, just please." My life may be over, but my children's doesn't have to be. Even if he's betrayed Colton and I, at least they could grow up with one father.
"Caden, they're your children, too. If they can't grow up with all of us, at least they can grow up with you no matter how much I despise you and what you've done to us. They're innocent in this mess and deserve a chance!" I plead into the eyes of my ex-mate. The eyes I used to think we're better than the Milky Way galaxy itself. Now I only see hatred in them.
"Caden, you fucking prick, you owe us that much!" I hear Colton scream through clenched teeth.
"Take her to the platform." At first I thought Clyde had said that, but the reality was much worse. Caden doesn't even want our children. He wants us all to die.
Holding my stomach for dear life, two guards escort me up the platform and to the waiting stone slab in the middle.
"Attention my subjects of the werewolf world! This is your king speaking, and I have a very important message." It takes me awhile to realize he's talking into the cameras. Is this being broadcast to people? "We make examples of people who don't follow the rules. Today, a girl by the name of Cassia Calloway, thought she could try and assassinate me with the help of her mates! That is treason against this kingdom and she has therefore been sentenced to death. Watch and see what happens when you don't follow the rules..."
Time seems to slow down after that. Heavy boots thud behind me. My upper torso is forced onto the stone while they chain my hands to the floor. I don't let go of my babies. An agonizing scream from a man sounds. The beating of skin. I can hear my blood pumping in my ears. I see the glint of something sharp. A different scream, more girlish fills my ears. My world fades to black.
(A/N: Oops??? That went a different direction than I originally planned.)
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His Territory (Old Version)
Werewolf"I own you, Cassia. Your body, your heart, your soul- they belong to me. Don't ever try to deny me something that's mine because I can promise you that the outcome won't be pretty. I'm a very territorial person and you, my dear, are most definitely...
