Fae Dominance

by J. B. Miller

  Oberon threw a look over his shoulder and gave us a tight smile. "Come, boys, and join in the games."

  This would have been my version of hell if I had to live this day in and out. It was something out of a Victorian novel. The Throne room was just that. The room was long, I would have guessed at over a hundred feet. At the end sitting upon a dais stood a golden thrown. The closer we came, the more detailed it became. It was the epitome of ostentatious.

  The walls were golden and the ceilings shown with sparkling lights. The path to the throne lay carpeted in a rich blue runner trimmed in red.

  Along each side of the runner stood dozens of Fae, they were dressed in every color and style imaginable. From modern to ancient. However, all were in the finest materials and highly decorated to catch the eye.

  The women simpered and fluttered when Oberon passed, trying to catch the king's attention. Beside me, Robin snorted and the twitters died.

  The smiling flirting eyes took on a look of fear and you could see them visibly shrinking back.

  Oberon raised a brow but continued on to his throne and threw himself into it negligently. Once he was seated, he flicked a finger and guards approached with two more chairs. They were quickly placed on either side of the king’s and he indicated we should sit.

  Robin settled first and I followed suit. It wasn’t every day that you got to hold court like kings of old.

  While Oberon lounged and Robin sat quietly introspective, I observed. You could easily see that many wanted the attention of the king but the furtive looks at Robin and whitening of closed fists told its own story. None would approach.

  I opened my mouth to question him about it, but before I could, Oberon held up a hand. "One moment, Kale," a second later and all sound was cut out from around us. "There, that is much better," Oberon grinned. "A bit of privacy and it will drive the bastards crazy wondering what we are doing."

  He turned to me and winked.

  "They cannot hear or see us behind the barrier. While we can see them, we are totally obscured from their sound and vision. We could hear them as well if we wanted…but I do not.

  "You have a question, Kale; I can see it in your eyes. Ask it. I believe that my Puck has been less forthcoming than he should have been about his origins."

  I turned from Oberon and my gaze met Robin's troubled one. I sat waiting for him to say something but his eyes darkened and loneliness flashed quickly across his expression before he could cover it.

  "They fear you, Robin, why? It's not normal fear; the room is choked with it." I motioned toward the others in the room with one hand never letting my gaze fall from his. "Why? I know fear, Puck. I lived it every day as a child. Until the day that bastard who fathered me died, my world was fear. However, none of it was like this."

  "Puppy, leave it please," Robin whispered. For the first time I felt his pain. It was a subtle thing but if I let it, it would overwhelm me.

  "This is something I need to know, Robin. I am not Dia. Nothing you can say will horrify me." I laughed bitterly. "Let me tell you a story Puck and see if it helps release yours. You know my father was an evil controlling bastard. Did you know that he tortured his pack? He was insane. He would imagine treachery where there was none. Men and boys were beaten and brutalized for the smallest crime.

  "Once when I was about twelve, I had just come home from a training session. I could barely walk since my instructors knew if they were perceived as going easy on me that all of us would face my father's punishment.

  "I had just made my way into the house and was heading up the stairs when I heard grunting and whimpering."

  A haunted look crossed my face as the memories resurfaced. I had buried them long ago but now it was as if I was reliving them again.

  "I walked down the hall to one of the guest rooms. A part of me wanted to turn away and ignore it. If I didn’t look I wouldn’t know. Then I could pretend it wasn’t happening. It would be so easy, just turn away, walk back to my room shut the door, and turn on the music.

  "I could do that and I wouldn’t have to see what I knew in my heart was behind that door. It was pathetic but the twelve-year-old boy wanted to run. The Alpha that was already emerging inside of me would not let me though.

  "I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, and asked the eternal spirit of the beast to give me strength. Then I opened that cursed door onto a hell I never wanted to see again.

  "Crumpled against the wall was Derek, my father's Omega. His lifeless eyes stared accusingly at me, as if demanding why I was not stopping the atrocities.

  "His mate, Rachel, laid naked and bloodied upon the bed. Ragged gashes tore holes in her flesh. Her stomach was ripped open and the shiny lining of her intestines poked through the wounds. Wet bubbling air trickled from her lips and I could tell she wouldn’t last more than a few minutes.

  "That was not even the worst of this nightmare. It was Jasmine that had made those horrid whimpering sounds that drew me in the first place. She lay belly down beside her mother. Oh dear gods, she was the same age as me. We often had lessons together. Her blonde curls that normally fell down to her waist like liquid sunshine were tangled and matted with blood. The green speckled eyes that held such kindness were now sealed shut in a grimace as she was about to be brutally attacked next to the body of her dying mother. Her tiny hand reached out and grasped her mother's as she bit her lip until blood poured from it.

  "Behind her was my father. He crawled toward the young girl, his eyes glazed while spittle dribbled from his lips. It must have been only seconds that I stood there but it felt like hours as the atrocity played out before me. It was Rachel's last painful breath before she died that broke the spell.

  "’Alpha,’ I screamed. ‘What are you doing? You must stop. Dear God, Dad, stop it.’

  "My father did not even pause, but looked at me with a maniacal grin on his face. ‘My boy, come…come…its time you became a man. This little one will be a lovely introduction for you. Look, I have already broken her in for you.’ He grabbed her by the hair. ‘Damn, boy, you won't find better than this.’ Jasmine whimpered and her pain filled eyes opened and locked on mine. ‘Please,’ she whimpered.

  "Something inside of me snapped and I shifted. The wolf inside of me exploded out. They told me later it was the earliest shift in memory and that my wolf was much larger than he should have been for my age.

  "All I could recall was the overwhelming rage. The need to stop the monster that fathered me from hurting Jasmine anymore.

  "I attacked, leaping over Jasmine's prone body and landing on my father. I knocked him backwards while going for his throat with all that I had in me, in that moment, I wanted his death.

  "He was barely able to hold me away from his throat. I tore with my claws and ripped chunks of meat from the arm that he had managed to wedge between my maw.

  "I had begun to rip with my back claws. I was trying my damnedest to disembowel him as he had Rachel. It was in that moment that I swore to myself that I would kill this insane fucker.

  "He must have mentally called for his enforcers because suddenly I found myself ripped away from my prey and slung across the room. The impact against the wall dazed me more than a little.

  "The enforcers were as horrified as I was when they took in the room. The difference is they did not understand what was going on. The room swam when I tried to stand and the world blurred around me.

  "The next thing I knew I was naked on the floor with my father's men staring down at me with shocked faces." A throat clearing brought me back to the present and with a shudder, I shook off the horror that day brought. Robin looked away into the distance but Oberon watched me closely.

  "Tell me, Kale, what is the ending to this nightmare tale. The dead father, dying mother…" the blue in his eyes crystalized in unfathomable rage, "the near brutalized child and monstrous Alpha. Did his enforcers rightfully destroy him? Finishing the job a boy had begun. Is that why you are so stoic now, so filled with the drive to be a good Alpha
?"

  "No, Oberon. That is not how the story ends," I told him miserably.

  "They could not have let him live," Oberon was incredulous and openly so. Even though it had been years ago to a Fae it was but yesterday.

  The king sat up straight and then leaned near to me. "Tell me, Wolf of my Puck. How did this tale end? I would know that justice was done."

  I shook my head sadly. "Not that day."

  Rage suffused his face and I calmly interjected.

  "Would you like me to finish this nightmare and tell you the rest?"

  "Yes, most assuredly I would," Oberon said in quite a fury.

  "My father's Betas were shocked," I began again, determined to finish this grisly tale. "They had never seen a pup so young shift. All they knew was that two pack members lay dead. One violated and mauled with the third, a female child, grievously injured and in shock. Both mother and child were nude as was father and son.

  "My father demanded they apprehend me, that I had betrayed the pack and tried to kill their Alpha. Duty and the basic need to protect warred within them and they paused.

  "I was able to bring myself to my feet and face my father. I met his gaze and held it unflinchingly. I had lost all fear of the creature that had sired me.

  "'You are an abomination,’ I told him. ‘You are not fit to be Alpha of this pack. One day I will take you down, and on that day our pack will dance upon your corpse.’

  "I turned to my father's men and told them quietly. ‘I came upon this,’ my arm raised to encompass the room. Derick's body on the floor, Rachel on the bed, and poor Jasmine being tended by one of the Betas. ‘Derick was already gone. Rachel only moments later and that bastard,’ I pointed at my father, ‘was about to…’ I stumbled upon the words, ‘violate poor jasmine and then he told me to join in. I lost it, shifted and attacked him.’

  "'The rest you know.’ They looked from my father to me. Richard, my father's second, asked me, a twelve-year-old boy—‘what do we do?’

  "Even at that age, I knew we could not openly challenge him. My father must have regained some of his senses, as he did not challenge the defiance of his second seeking my rule.

  "It was the hardest decision I had ever made. And one I still, to this day, will never forgive myself for. Without my father, the pack would fall apart and there was no one strong enough yet to take him on.

  "I stared at Jasmine as I issued the orders. ‘Clean up the mess and bury Derick and Rachel respectfully but quietly. This cannot leave this room.’

  "Richard nodded and glanced at Jasmine. That is when I told him to take her up North. There is a pack in Sutherland that is small and remote. It is in Port Gower, a tiny village. Talk to the pack Alpha there. His name is Duncan. Tell him what has happened and that she needs protection. They will protect her where we could not.

  "I walked over to Jasmine and knelt down beside her. ‘I am so sorry, Jas.’ My fingers brushed over her tear-streaked face. Her beautiful eyes opened and even mostly empty with shock a shimmer of the girl I knew was still there.

  "Her lips trembled but she managed to open them and whisper two simple words. ‘Thank you.’

  "My heart broke then, hardened and I turned to the man who had never held one. ‘Never go near her again. Never do anything like this again,’ I demanded.

  "The Alpha began to snarl at me but his Betas stood at my back. ‘If you ever sink to this level of depravity again, I will take it before the council.’ I had recently learned about the council in my studies. They were the body of supernatural beings that governed all of our races. They had the power to take out my father, but at the end of the day, I was only a child in the eyes of the world."

  Power surged and Oberon was on his feet. "He got away with it? A threat from a child and he was left to carry on? What is wrong with your pack, wolf? I will send my Puck to deal with this," he turned to Robin.

  "There is nothing to deal with, my Lord," he said sadly. "It was done long ago by mortal standards. Kale, finish your story quickly before our Lord loses his temper."

  Oberon sat down and glared at me but I carried on. "That day he went unpunished. He did not kill or harm any more of our wolves though and four years later, I finished the job when I found him beating my pregnant mother to death. I saved her, but not my brother," I finished painfully.

  The king sat back on his throne and pondered my tale. "What became of Jasmine," he asked.

  "She was sent to Scotland," I told him. "Their healers were able to repair most of the damage but they do not know if she will ever be able to have children. He had beaten her badly,” I clarified. “It is a moot point, as she cannot bear the touch of any male. I speak to her regularly and she seems content. Jas has taken on the care of the pack’s children.”

  "Indeed," Oberon's eyes had turned calculating. He suddenly sat up and turned to Robin. "Puck, I believe it is your turn to share."

  Robin’s gaze was both sad and wounded as he stared at the milling Fae below us. In that moment I saw the lost little boy that he must have been at one point long ago.

  He looked at his king before turning to me with eyes now empty and dull. “Is this what you really want, my wolf? It is something I would prefer to keep to myself, but I cannot hide from my mates if they wish to see,” he said softly.

  Oberon waved a hand almost negligently. If it were not for the calculating gleam in his eye then you would think he had not a care in the world. However, the plotting going on in that head spun faster than the Earth.

  “It is only fair, my boy,” Oberon drawled lazily. “After all, he shared one of his stories. I can guarantee that you have never harmed a child, so it will not be as bad as you believe.”

  Robin did not blink at being called a boy and merely turned to face me with an almost unnoticed sigh.

  “This will change things,” he told me. “Are you ready for that? You will not see me in the same light again.”

  I wanted to joke and tell him that I hardly saw him in a good light now but the seriousness of the situation held me back. Instead, my head came down in a decisive nod and that was all the consent he needed.

  Chapter Four

  Robin’s face turned into a hard mask that left me facing the Puck. Elegant hands moved faster than I could track and grabbed both sides of my face, pulling me up against him. Our lips were only a hairs breath apart and he whispered to me. “Remember, pup, you asked for this.”

  Hard lips crushed against mine and teeth clicked. His tongue invaded my mouth and I was overwhelmed. The kiss fell away and millennia of hidden pain and horror assailed me.

  If pain could be described in colors, it would be prismatic. Burst after agonizing burst of sharp edged pain in glorious dying hues.

  I saw every atrocity that my Robin was forced to endure. He wore the cold-blooded face of a sociopathic killer while calmly taking life after life. At times in such ways that made the perpetrator suffer for weeks, months, years, and on occasion centuries.

  On the surface, there was no mercy. Males and females both screaming and weeping for a mercy that would not be shown. He never showed any emotion. Hate, lust, passion—nothing crossed that beautiful cold face. The Puck was always apathetic and without remorse.

  What the others did not see and never could was the heart of the man underneath that cold un-bearing mask. He was filled with anger, remorse, pity, and self-hatred.

  The things Robin had been forced to do tore at him and destroyed him piece by piece until he came to the cusp of being a hollow shell. I do not think even Oberon understood how close he had been to losing his Puck.

  The kiss broke and my Robin’s gaze met mine. “It was you, Kale. You, Dianthe, and Daniel that brought me back. I was so close,” he trailed off and his eyes closed trying to stop the single tear that slipped down his cheek.

  It was in that moment that what my wolf knew truly and honestly sank into me. This Fae, who was so strong yet so very fragile, was mine. He was as much mine as Dia was, as well as Daniel.

&n
bsp; My heart expanded and wrapped around this brave warrior. He had waited so long just to be loved and wanted. Poor bastard ended up with someone nearly as broken as him. Thank God, we had Dia to hold us all together or we would be in some deep shit. Luckily, for my faery, I was very good at being overprotective and jealously guarding what was mine.

  I would rip the beating heart out of any fucker that ever dared to hurt him again, and then shove it down their throat before they had a chance to die.

  There was clarity now why I could not deny their claim on Dia. That had really bugged the hell out of me. At least now it made sense. We were all part of one whole. Not yet complete but the puzzle pieces were coming together finally.

  “Mine,” I whispered. Robin’s eyes shot open and peered at me in shock. It was truly a day of firsts. I swooped down on him and consumed him in a fiery kiss. Damn, looked like I wasn’t so straight after all.

  An amused chuckle interrupted us after several minutes. Oberon’s expression was relaxed but watchful once more. “As entertaining as this is, children, I have the feeling you are not into sharing.” He shifted and the bulge of his obvious arousal strained against his trousers. “I do enjoy playing the voyeur but, alas, I am a hands on kind of king. As much as I like to watch, eventually, I want to play. I assume you would be adverse to this,” he raised an eyebrow.

  I drew Robin closer and nodded my head in affirmation. Oberon shrugged with a wry smile. “Somehow I am not surprised. You two should go now and spend some time together. Talk and do more fun interesting things,” he winked at us.

  “However,” the laughter left his voice, “my Puck, I was not aware of the depth of your grief and remorse. Or of how close you had come to fading. I am not pleased.

  “The fact you hid this from me is worrisome. We will discuss this at a later date, do you understand?”

  Robin lowered his head respectfully and murmured a quiet, “Yes, my King.”

  Once again, the demeanor of the king changed and the seriousness melted into sultry indulgence. “Good.” He grinned. “Now let’s see what we can do to relive this,” he motioned to his straining hard-on.