Taming the Alpha King

Chapter 15

Isaac stares at me confused, and I stand there speechless. He turns his head to Tobias's beta and his eyes grow wide. He steps back slowly, then storms away from us. I have to stop him!

I go to follow Isaac but Tobias stops me. His beta goes chasing after Isaac, leaving me here to freak out. My breaths are short and I feel like I just got caught doing something that'll result in my death. It most likely will.

"Shhh shhh shhh. It's okay. You're okay." Tobias goes to hug me and I shake my head.

"No, Tobias it's not okay. If Isaac tells Alexander-"

"Alexander's not going to do anything. Isaac isn't going to tell him, my beta will talk to him. You're going to be fine." His gaze lowers to my collar and he frowns. "Why did you shut me out?"

I look at him confused. That's what he wanted to talk to me about? "Uh... I'd thought it'd be best. So- so you could move on and maybe get a chosen." Those words feel like acid coming out of my mouth, but I keep my gaze down.

He gently lifts my head so I could look at him, "I could never replace you with anyone else Belle. You're my mate."

"But I'm also Alexander's, and in case you haven't noticed I'm kind of stuck with him now."

A low growl erupts from him and I take a step back afraid. He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. He opens them and looks me in the eye, "I wish you weren't." His eyes are glossy and the urge to cry fills me.

I rest my head against his hand and we stand there in the silence for a bit. Finally I speak, "I know. Me too."

We both sit on the floor, ignoring the fact we're dressed in 'swanky' attire. He holds me and we talk about the little things that have happened since we've last spoken.

"Has Alexander been treating you well?"

"Uh, yeah." The ends of my dress suddenly become very interesting and I play with the fabric shyly, "He's been really busy lately so it's easy to avoid any chances of the collar being used on me." His breath becomes deep and jagged so I continue to talk to distract him, "But Isaac is super nice. He really tries to make sure I'm doing well. When I miss my family, he's really good at cheering me up." I smile and he hugs me tighter.

"How about you? We've been talking about me so much, I haven't heard anything about how you're doing."

His sighs and thinks, "Uh, well, there's nothing to talk about."

Tobias's POV:

"There has to be something, it's not like your life just stopped." She jokes, but what she doesn't know is that my life did stop. When she shut me out I didn't know what to do. I spent my days trying to find something that could help her with the situation my brother put her in. I searched for anything that could help me, and when it was time to sleep I could hardly fit in an hour each night.

I don't think she knows how hard it is to know your one and only mate is out there with another man. My wolf was restless with the thought. "Honestly I was too busy missing you."

She sighs, and leans in closer to me. "There has to be something else, I mean you are an Alpha. What kind of duties do you do?"

"Uh, mostly papers. Currently I'm working on some things with the elders about my position. My father never really laid out what exactly would happen after his death. Normally the position goes to the first-born. But considering we're twins things are complicated."

"It shouldn't be that complicated should it? I mean technically you were born first."

I laugh, "Yes technically, but that doesn't really matter. Plus Alexander was the favorite son so he felt like he was obligated to take our father's title."

"So what? The elders are going to see if you should take the title instead?"

"Uh, yeah. But I know that's a little far fetched because the elders also love Alexander. So I'm trying to work a negotiation of splitting the kingdom."

"Wow, complicated..." I laugh and agree while I play with her hair.

I missed this. Seeing her and talking to her about how our day went. Holding her in my arms in real life is better than I've ever imagined. I really want to just take her home with me right now and never let her leave my side, but I know I can't. I look at the horrid black collar around her neck and flashes of violent images pass through my mind. I shut those thoughts out quickly and focus on Belle's breathing.

We talk about little, random things and for some moments we just sit in a comfortable silence. It gets quiet for a while and all you can hear is Belle's even breathing. I almost think she's asleep.

She quickly stumbles to her feet, startling me. I look at her confused and she looks uneasy. "I- I have to go."

"Why?"

"Alexander's probably looking for me." She's got a point, but my wolf doesn't want her to leave.

After an internal war with my wolf I sigh, "Okay, yeah you're right."

Belle's POV:

We turn to walk away and I stop stuck in my tracks. Fear flows through my blood, and I feel like I'm truly going to die this time. I'm screwed!

His eyes are burning flames of fury. His chest rises and falls, as his face stays stolid. Slowly the anger becomes evident on his face and I'm not sure if I should run or hide.

"Belle, come here." His voice is stone cold and my whole body shakes in fear. His gaze never leaves his brother's and the collar slowly heats my skin. I quickly walk over to Alexander, making the heat go away.

"Tobias, you are crossing the line here."

Alexander growls and Tobias growls back. "I have a right to see her. I case you've forgotten, brother, she's my mate."

Alexander takes a threatening step towards Tobias, making me reflexively put my arms out to stop him. Alexander snaps his attention towards me as if he forgot I was there. His eyes fog over and I think he's talking to his wolf. His eyes change from black to green, back to black. He looks at his brother and smirks.

"Of course I haven't forgotten, but that can quickly change." What is he talking about?

'I don't have a good feeling about this...' My wolf cowers in the back of my mind, not liking how a fight between my two mates could end.

"Belle, reject him."

My heart drops. "What?"

"You heard me Belle. Reject my brother or else."

"No!" A zap hits my neck making me jump in surprise and pain.

Alexander glares at me as if I've smashed a bat through his car window, and Tobias looks at me with fear and hurt in his eyes.

"Excuse me?"

"I said no!" Another zap jolts my neck, "You can't make me." The pain hurts but it's bearable.

"Belle Allyn reject my brother now!" He uses his Alpha tone on me making things even harder for me. Heat slowly starts to make my skin simmer, and I now know how it feels to have your flesh burned.

I slowly start walking towards Tobias, ignoring Alexander's demands to come back and the tugging at my neck. The collar becomes tighter the closer I get to Tobias, and the collar burns more and more.

"Alexander, stop this! You're hurting her!" I collapse into Tobias's arms and gasp for air.

I don't pay attention to Alexander and keep my gaze on Tobias. His image gets blurrier and blurrier but I memorize his features, wanting him to be the last thing I see.

Tobias grits his teeth growling, his eyes turning black. "Alexander!" My eyes roll back and I no longer see or feel anything, it all just stops.