Chapter 58

58 Heart in Chains

~ TARKYN ~

Everybody leaped to their feet when the guards dragged Tarkyn into the Security Council building, snarling and wrestling, only barely containing his beast.

His head rang, every instinct on high alert, his body washed in waves of adrenaline fueled by rage as, through the bond, he felt his mate’s fear and pain.

“What the hell happened?” Elreth gasped. “I thought you said it was a peaceful night?”

“It was, we had an incident on the road.” Mhagnus spoke through his teeth, fighting for his grip on Tarkyn’s arm as Tarkyn twisted like a serpent, snarling for release.

Between the arms of his captors, as he looked for glimpses of his mate, Tarkyn saw Elreth hurry towards them, but Aaryn pushed forward, putting himself between his mate and the half-crazed Tarkyn.

“Free me!” Tarkyn snarled, still struggling. “Free my mate! They’re frightening her-you have no idea what she’s been through!” His voice was guttural and ragged with his beast’s growl.

As Elreth opened her mouth, her face twisted with worry, Aaryn put a hand back to hold her, his fingers flashing.

With a glance back at his own mate, Gar shoved towards the guards, growling. “Let him go!”

.....

“Hold on!” Elreth ordered. “He’s out of his mind-”

“Because his mate is in danger. This is Tarkyn, El-” Gar snapped.

“I know, that’s my point! When have you ever seen him like this?”

“When has he ever had a mate to protect? A bond pulling at him? Come on, El. You can’t have forgotten what that was like,” Aaryn said, quietly but firmly, holding her arm when she tried to step forward.

“You tell me to release him, but don’t trust him enough to let me close?” she said, frustrated, gesturing towards his grip.

“He needs to be free to calm down. His mate too-”

Tarkyn had tried to hold it back, but a surge of sensation-his beautiful mate, her entire system jangling with fear, had suddenly gone quiet in his head.

“Harth! Harth, love-LET HER GO!” he roared, pulling so hard against the bonds and hands holding his limbs, the world turned red and he saw stars.

There was a long moment in which he was aware of nothing but the pain and rage that screamed in his body as he fought to get to her, to find her with his eyes, with his hands, to pull her from the grip of the males surrounding her and overwhelming her.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Gar thundered.

Tarkyn was still blind, jagged lights crackling across his sight, when there was a tug at his left side, then pressure released.

“Let him go,” the deep voice of the War Chief ordered.

“But Gar, he’ll fight-”

“I’ll handle him, let him go.”

Seconds later, Tarkyn was lowered to the wooden floor, then the guards scrambled back out of the way as he rolled, leaping to his feet, then almost tumbling as his head spun and his ankles, still bound, caught. Arms bound behind him, if he’d tumbled it would have been straight onto his face, but large hands appeared on his shoulders and a pair of lion eyes filled his clearing sight, boring into his.

Tarkyn leaned into the hands, teeth bared and chest heaving.

“Tarkyn, brother,” Gar rumbled quietly, “You have to breathe.”

“My mate-”

“I know, and I’m going to get her free too, but you have to breathe. You have to calm. You have to think!”

The words fell around him like rain. Deep within he knew they were right, were good, but his body still fought with his mind, screaming to find her. With a growl that reverberated in his chest, Gar held him, both hands cupping his neck, holding his jaw, forcing him to meet his eyes.

“She needs the Captain-your Queen needs her Captain, and your mate needs his strength. Snap out of it, Tarkyn, no one wants to hurt her!”

Tarkyn’s breath caught, his teeth clenching so hard his jaw ached, his ears thundered. But Gar’s intensity broke through. He stopped fighting, stopped trying to move. But his entire body trembled, his heart at war with his mind.

Gar stared at him for a moment, then shoved the air out of his nose and spoke to his sister without taking his eyes from Tarkyn’s.

“Let Harth go. Let her come to her mate so he can see we mean her no harm.”

“Gar, I’m not-” Elreth breathed, her voice shaky with fear.

But Aaryn stepped in. “El... let her go. Tark needs this. Even together, there’s no way they can overpower eight guards, plus me and Gar.”

Tarkyn trembled with the urge to roar at her to listen to her mate, but Gar flashed him a warning look and he swallowed it back.

Elreth stared at her mate for a long breath, then nodded. “Guards at the door and windows,” she said briskly, then turned to the males who were scrambling to her orders. “Check her for arms and if she has no weapons, cut her bonds. Let her go to him.”

Tarkyn barely dared breathe as Harth was pulled up to her feet, her face a blank mask, but her eyes immediately found him.

A thin whine broke in his throat-he could feel her! Feel every ache, every pain, every fear! Her shoulder had been wrenched. Her wrists stung, and her hands throbbed because the bonds were too tight and she’d fought them. She wasn’t speaking, but adrenaline raced through her, making her chest thud with the force of her pulse.

Tarkyn, still bound, quivered like a rabid dog as he watched the guards frisk her from head to toe, every instinct in his body screaming at him that males were touching his mate-that she was in fear and pain.

But then one of them knelt to slice the bonds at her ankles, quickly followed by those at her wrists, and she didn’t even stop to rub the aching places, just tore forward, his name breaking in her throat.

Gar stepped back to give them room and the first sense of relief flooded Tarkyn as she reached him, wrapping her arms around him, burying her face in his chest. But when he tried to hold her, his bonds cut into the flesh at his wrist.

“Please,” he rasped. “Please... Elreth... let me go.”

Elreth sighed, but she must have given the signal, because the shadow of her brother passed to his right, then suddenly there was an entirely new sensation screaming through his shoulders and arms as his limbs were released and blood rushed back into places it had been restricted.

Tarkyn didn’t care. Ignoring the pain, ignoring the dozen pairs of eyes watching, he wrapped his arms around his mate, holding her head to his chest with one hand, pulling her against him with the other.

Best

They trembled together for longer than Tarkyn cared to consider.

She wasn’t talking-in his ear, or in his head-and that frightened him more than the pain he could feel throbbing in her body through the bond.

“Harth,” he breathed, his lips against her hair. “I’m here. I won’t let this happen again. I vow to you.”

She nodded against his chest, her arms tightening around his waist. But she didn’t relax. None of the tension left her.

And his heart broke, because he could feel her. Feel the tiny curl of hope and relief that poked up through her fear like a new blade of grass... but it had taken root in a field of pain and anger. And he could feel the wildfire she held at bay threatening to rip through and burn it to the ground.

‘I know you’ll try, Tarkyn. But... I don’t trust them,’ she finally murmured in his head.

And for the first time ever in his life, Tarkyn didn’t leap to the defense of his Queen or her family.

And that was, perhaps, the most shocking thing that had happened so far.