The Prince's Mate

Chapter 28

The pain was worse than I remembered. The second the silver touched my fur I was howling and I could see Bennett cringing out of the corner of my eye though he didn't do a single thing to stop it. Before I got collared I completely accepted the fact that he wouldn't help me, he couldn't. He was going to over throw his father, but if he wanted to crown he would have to be compliant for a while longer. Even if that meant watching me suffer.

But now, with my skin burning and the pain crippling my whole body I didn't understand how he could just leave me like this. I was helpless against the agony. The second the collar was fully fastened I fell onto my stomach, paws splayed out, as I howled and whimpered in pain.

"That'll teach you, bitch." The king hissed, spitting on the ground near my head, "Maybe you'll die out here and save my son the trouble of having to deal with you." He growled.

I just whimpered louder and shut my eyes, wishing so deeply the curious on lookers would disappear. The pain was terrible and horrendous enough, I didn't want to deal with the shame as well, but it seemed like humiliating women was quite a spectacle whenever it happened.

"Cry all you want, you aren't getting out of that collar until you submit to my son." The king laughed. The crowd laughed, many of them applauding his comment. I suddenly wished very strongly that I was deaf. Maybe the lack of sound would make the collar hurt less, like a hangover.

Thankfully all the spectators, including the king, left soon after. I guess a wolf lying on the dirt, whimpering wasn't incredibly entertaining for long so once my agony became boring for them they wandered off, leaving me alone with my mate who continued to watch me with sad, regretful eyes.

"I'm sorry Brooklyn." He whispered. He walked towards me slowly; as if he was afraid I would lash out and bite him. Even if I was mad at him I was in too much pain to care now. It felt like it would be impossible to even lift my head from the dirty snow. "I know you didn't mean any harm and I wish I could fix this." He sat down on the snow, ruining his perfectly crisp suit, "But I can't, he's the king. He over rules me and if I let you go it could be considered treason." He scrubbed his hands across his face, "Fuck, I'm so sorry Brook."

I just whined, exposing my neck to him despite the intense jolt of pain that greeted me every time I so much as flinched.

"No, Brook, I can't just undo the collar like I did last time, you have to submit to me and it's a very public thing when a collared female submits. We can't really fake it, even if I wish we could." He whispered, gently patting my head. "God this is all my fault, I should've known you needed to go for a run, I'm so sorry sweetheart."

I let out a confused grumble, ignoring his constant apologies. Saying sorry was not going to get me out of this hellish collar, neither was rambling on and on about the things he could've done differently. But I was confused by the submission factor. I had assumed that submitting simply meant that I agreed to be obedient to his commands. That would be easy, I would simple shift into human form once the silver wore off enough and proclaim that I loved Bennett and I would do whatever he said in front of however many people. That didn't seem so awful, even if it meant I had to stay in this dreadful collar until we got an audience again.

"I expected you to be more upset about publically submitting to me." Bennett said with a slight laugh, rubbing behind my ears, "But I suppose it's a good thing you aren't too worried about it."

I just cocked my head in confusion, wondering why he assumed I would be upset about a simply verbal confession.

"Aw shit, you don't know what submitting really entails, do you?" Bennett asked.

I just let out a little grumble in response.

"Oh God Brook. Submitting doesn't just mean you accept me as your patriarch or something. It's a lot more than that." He rambled.

I growled a little. I was in incredible amounts of pain and awfully sick of him beating around the bush. I just wanted him to spit out the truth.

"Brook, submitting is a much more personal, intimate matter. It's not something that anyone would want the whole pack to witness. It's all about me dominating you and considering how upset you were about the idea of me marking you in a year..." he trailed off, shaking his head.

I just nudged him with my head, not understanding what he was saying.

"Brook, when you submit to me that means that we have to mate out here, while you're collared up. That is how you accept me as your mate. Fuck." He hissed out, "I know you don't want to mate with me at all, much less breed you in front of the whole royal pack like you're a fucking animal, but that's the only way my father is going to let you off this collar."

My heart plummeted at the idea of mating with Bennett against my better judgement. I didn't want to mate with him like that if I did decide that I wanted to mate with him at all. And in front of the whole pack? In front of Donovan, my seamstress, the queen, the king, and anyone else who wanted to watch? That was sick, absolutely sick!

"I'm sorry Brook." Bennett breathed.

I just growled at him and snapped my teeth dangerously close to his stomach. It was a warning. I wanted him gone and I wanted him gone now. I couldn't stand the sight of him right now, knowing what he would have to do to get me off this collar disgusted me. I needed to be alone, even if being alone meant crying into the night because of the pain.

Bennett didn't argue with me this time. He got up without a word and left me in the cold as it began to snow.