Your Protector ✓

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Penelope

I'm surprised when the abusive males finally stop. I lift my head, trying to figure out where I am. There's lots of windows and tapestries and paintings. The room is huge with a super tall ceiling that goes on forever. I blink away the bright light as my eyes adjust.

I stare. Despite my predicament, I can't help the curiosity that builds over the obviously ancient castle. This is a room built for a King, or an Emperor.

My head snaps up at my name being called, and I'm shocked to see Jane running towards me with open arms.

"Let her go! Oh my gosh. Penelope, are you alright?"

She scoops me up into her arms, and I give a cry as sobs attack me. I can't breathe. I hear her yelling at the guards that had me, telling them to get lost. I let her lead me away while she continues to rage protectively. I haven't seen her in a week or two, but it feels like forever.

When I open my eyes again, she's looking at someone behind me. I blink away the tears, overwhelmed by how fast everything is happening. I want my mate. I need him.

"What is going on here?!" A booming voice demands, and my head snaps up to the Emperor. I've only seen him once, but he isn't someone I would forget. He's very handsome, his features unlike so many of the other Rytarian males I've seen. His face is made up of sharp planes, and right now they're twisted into a sneer.

Jane continues to fuss over me like a mother hen. I look back up at what's going on, and the Emporor is storming up to the males with so much anger in his step that I think he might hurt them. His guards come forward to get into position, prepared to protect their leader at all costs.

"We were just following Rashin's orders! He told us that the female needed to be saved, but that she would resist us." One explains, glancing nervously back and forth. I don't have any sympathy for him, and I wonder if that makes me a bad person.

"And you really didn't think to question why this female wouldn't come willingly?" The Emperor demands. He runs a frustrated hand down his face. "Why would you believe this Rashin? What did the male tell you?"

The question stuns them. The sight of them still standing there makes me want to cry harder, but I can only think of Elik. They said he was in prison. He couldn't have possibly done something so wrong to end up there. My heart aches for him, and I want to hurt these people for wronging him. I've never had a violent inkling in my life.

"He said that Elik would hurt her." He shrugs, and the other one looks just as bashful. The Emporor opens his mouth to speak, but is silenced when the doors to the throne room open again.

I sniffle, looking at the new arrivals, and then I wrench myself free when I see my mate among them. His face is towards the ground, his enormous figure slouched as he's carried through the doors.

I almost get to him when someone grabs me. It's one of the Emperor's guards, stopping me from reaching my mate as he's held hostage.

I sob, fighting with every ounce of strength I have left.

"Elik! No! Let me go!" I scream, so angry and so determined that I don't even think about speaking. I have to say something.

"What is the meaning of this? Are you Rashin?" The Emperor demands, and Rashin steps forward gladly, a gleeful look painted across his stupid face. I only glance at him for a second before I look back to my mate.

Elik looks up at me in quiet determination. His eyes are so intimate. He wants to be by my side, just as much I need him. I long to be with him, but it seems the world is against us.