His Lover, My Mate

Thirty-Nine: Transgression

I know I've been gone for a while, but this chapter's hella long because of the initiation ceremony. Shit goes down in here and I wanted to write it with loads of inspiration. Hope you like it! 

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*Rush*

His mother had always called him her "unworthy bastard." She believed he was a bad omen, so she would treat him as such. As twisted as she was, she used him for her depraved amusement. Every few nights, she would invite males to her castle. Lords, warriors, any male with influence. Any male willing to seek amusement. Because that was what his mother was known for--the Bringer of Blood in unforeseen and wicked circumstances.

The vampire lords of Castira always visited his mother, and when they felt the need to get a little interesting, she would allow them to open Rush's prison door and...use him in more ways than one. They would drink his blood, cut his body, fuck him. Yes, they did that a lot. At first he'd screamed and he'd fought them off. But that would piss them off so they would give him pain. They would torture him, burn him, gag him until he passed out only to realize after he regained consciousness that they'd already raped him. It happened so often that he reached a point when he'd stopped caring. He'd shut down completely. He'd ceased struggling or screaming or begging. He just let them take his body and shred his soul until they were sated enough to end his torment for the night. Then Rush would be left alone in the filth of his own blood and their viscid release all around his body.

Rush closed his eyes, breathing out. He couldn't think about it anymore. Those days as a pleasure slave were over. Those lords were dead. He'd killed them when Maddox came and forced Vicera to release him. That had been the day Rush was truly born. The day he became the Alpha of the Night Pack. The Alpha who started with less than nothing and finally found something more.

Now it was the night of the initiation ceremony. The night he would turn his mate into a vampire for the rest of eternity. And his mother would watch it all happen with deranged fascination, a twisted satisfaction that she controlled the fate of another from the Crimson Pack. Rush could practically smell the bloodlust on the female, the urge to kill Aletha under her graceful mask and thin smile.

She wanted to sabotage everything that made him feel alive.

The entire pack was outside. Warrior wolves prowled around the territory. Many guarded the borders while the other half guarded around the castle and the field that led to it. A long crowd of Night Pack members surrounded the Night Castle as Rush stood in front of his throne, awaiting his mate. All the Alphas were in the front, gazes hard and full of battle anticipation. His mother was also on the pedestal, sitting beside his throne with her men gathered behind her and some guarding the path that led to his throne.

The air was thick with nervous anticipation and dread. They knew something was bound to happen, and Rush could only hope nothing did. He kept whispering silent prayers to make this night pass through without any uproar, or at least until he turned Aletha into a vampire. If she was immortal, she couldn't be killed unless she was burned to the bone. And that wasn't possible unless one was put on a stake and burned for hours. Even then, the bones would need to turn to ashes before the soul finally expelled.

Suddenly, a hush fell over the night as heads turned. Rush knew exactly why. The Luna had arrived.

She was wearing a crimson gown that matched her hair. Under the light of the moon and fire in the illuminated pathway, her skin dazzled and glowed with life. She seemed...relaxed. Driven. Like this didn't bother her, like she wanted to do this out of her own volition. She firmly held onto his Beta's arm, as tradition called, while Sirka followed behind them, keeping watch with lethal threat flashing through her gaze. The six warriors followed behind Sirka to protect all three of them as they approached the Night Throne.