Chapter 10:

DPOV

I had to work really hard not to laugh at the look on Rose's face even if the topic wasn't funny at all. I think she needed to know about my connection to the King, because I saw the look in his eyes. He could go after her on a whim. She needed to be prepared.

It took Rose several moments to gather her mouth off the floor. "You don't look anything alike" A pause as she tilted her head. "Except for the power."

It was true. I hadn't inherited anything from the Ivashkov line except my power. My coloring, even that of my wolf, had come from my mother and her roots in Siberia. I was grateful. If I had to look in the mirror every single day and see that reflected back, I would have gone insane years ago.

I could see Rose had so many questions. She seemed to have trouble picking one to start with. Most people did. It wasn't a secret I was his son, but it wasn't advertised either. Often it didn't come up. The people that had been at the palace for long obviously knew, but slaves and soldiers get rotated out, the knowledge leaving with them.

It took her all the way to the clearing we drew out her wolf last time before she had settled on a question. "Even the King's son is still a slave?"

I sat down on a three trunk and I let my wolf out. He had been restless ever since we came face to face with him. He always was when the King was around. Because my instincts screamed to take him down, to dominate him, to rip him to shreds. My wolf knew he was capable. But it was my higher cognitive functions that knew that was a bad idea. The fall out would hurt so many people, I wouldn't do that just because of revenge. I wouldn't let him make me into a monster like him.

"I am the King's bastard. As you stated the term son is only used as a means to subjugate me, not to indicate the actual blood link."

She sat down beside me."Your mother?"

"She was his concubine."

She pulled her breath in through her teeth. So she knew the kind of man he was. She had probably seen other girls return from having spent the night in the King's bed.

"I think in some weird twisted way he liked her. She was exclusive with him. She may have even liked him back. When I was little she used to talk about him in a gentle tone that indicated some sort of affection… then she came back to me bloodied and broken. Always so broken after seeing him."

She would always make excuses for him, would say it wasn't his fault, he was just under a lot of pressure. Or that his wolf got the best of him, happens to the Alpha's. But the result was always the same. The same cycle of pain and violence until I put an end to it.

"It didn't stop until I was thirteen. I had been training at the military for years by that point, but I was allowed to visit my mother. One full moon I was supposed to stay with her, he had come and taken her to his room."

I hadn't been there when he had taken her from the concubine garden. I had been the rookie left in charge of scut work for the full moon. It had taken me longer than it normally would have to finish up. I knew my mother wouldn't begrudge me the tardiness. In a way I was glad I was late. If I had been there when he took her from the garden, his humiliation would have been a lot more public and so would my execution have been.

"The last full moon he had nearly killed her. I had seen her a week afterwards and she could still barely walk. And when he took her again for another full moon, I knew I had to do something."

I had walked the distance to the royal chambers. No guard had stopped me, they were all down on their knees. At the time I had thought it was because his power had peaked during the full moon. In hindsight I knew better.

"When I entered he had my mother pinned to the bed. His body and that of his wolf holding her down. She already had a couple of bruises."

Something inside of me had snapped. I knew it had been the same for Rose. "My wolf came out that night, tore him off of my mother. I had him on the floor, my wolf had his by the throat. He tried to fight me, but I was too strong. I realized only later that I wasn't supposed to be that strong."

Part of me still doesn't believe it.

Rose leaned in close to me and grabbed my hand in her own. My hand was clenched and the skin had turned white from the strain. Her soft hands, with still a few calluses here and there moved over my skin until I could let go enough of the tention to allow blood to flow again to my hand.

"I kept hitting him. His blood coated my hands and face… But he liked it. There was rage in his eyes of course and disbelief that a thirteen year old could do that to him... but there was a sense of pride in his eyes and he smiled at me."

I can still feel the shivers run down my spine at the look he gave me. That night was forever edged in my mind.

"I had always been my mothers son. I think it was the first piece of him he had seen in me."

And I made sure that piece never got out again.

I leaned back against the tree trunk, my hands behind me. I closed my eyes and just took in the rays of sunshine and the sounds of birds in the trees. After several moments I opened them again to look at the blue sky overhead. None of my nightmares of blood could reach this place. It was why I always came here.

Rose leaned into my chest and joined me in staring at the sky. Her warmth seemed to center me, her soft hair tickling against my arm. "Did you get punished?" She asked after a while.

"No. Not in the traditional sense. Sometimes I think he was too drunk to remember or to beat up. Alphas sometimes rage during the full moon, he might have thought his wounds were self-inflicted."

It had been my first thought when the next morning I had woken up on the floor of my mothers apartment instead of in a cell. It had taken me weeks to be able to sleep properly again, without worrying someone would lift me from my bed in the middle of the night for my crimes. But I had had a decade to think about why he let me go and the answer seemed to be far more disturbing.

"But I doubt it. I think he liked what he saw that night. I was too valuable to him even if he knew I was stronger. He could have me as a powerful pet. His Guard dog. He always made sure I knew he was the boss. He seemed to enjoy making me crawl knowing I was stronger, the humiliation all that more sweet."

Although he never spoke of that night, my mother had been reassigned to the fields shortly after. Apparently she was getting too old and she had lost his favor. I had returned to the military for training. It wasn't until I returned as a high ranking officer in my late teens that I understood why he might have let me go.

'Never go for the kill, if you can go for the pain.'

He had said that to me more than once when he told me to torture an alpha that disobayed him. They would all eventually die of course, he wasn't a patient man. But he would like them to suffer. I think that is what he has done to me all those years. Stripping me off to the bare minimum accepted for a General.

With me he had little choice. Even if I was his bastard, killing your own blood would have been frowned upon. And to openly oppose me could lead to people discovering that I was indeed stronger than him. Instead he had been cunning enough to attack me in other ways. If he was sober he could be a great strategist. He had been groomed for the position his whole life. Luckily for me, he seemed to be perpetually drunk these days and I mostly went about my business. Maybe deep down he knew if he pushed me too far, I would retaliate.

RPOV

He had been silent after that. I hadn't known what to say and neither had he. I don't know what it is like to have parents but I had been raised with people who cared about me and had my back. He would have had to sleep with one eye open for the past decade. I can't imagine what that did to a person.

He had moved on to training as if he hadn't just poured out his most damaging trauma. I let him. He seemed to have needed it more than me. I had practiced letting out my wolf and it felt natural now to summon her.

He showed me some exercises in synching and unsyncing with my wolf's sensations. That part was still hard and it told me even if I now could release her and call her back without effort I still had a lot to learn.

The walk back to the palace was a much easier affair than the way to the woods had been. Dimitri seemed a little lighter. I had noticed that many might respect him, but he didn't have a confidant here at the palace. No friend to talk to, no one he could be honest with.

"You can take the bath first." He said as he pointed towards the bathroom.

My cheeks blushed. The last time I had bathed he hadn't been in the room. Now he would be mere meters away while I sat naked in that large tub. And the reverse was also true once I was done he would probably bathe as well with me just outside of in the library or on the bed, where I might have a view of his naked back.

"Rose? You alright?" damn I must have let my mind wander a bit too much.

"Uh yeah thanks. I need to wash off my stink." I joked.

A small tugging at the side of his lips informed me he was amused but otherwise he remained ever the stoic General.

"When you are done, I have a present for you."

"Really?" I perked up. Nobody had ever gotten me anything.

A real smile graced his feature at my enthusiasm. "Yes, but you need to be clean first."

I made my way to the bath in record time. In our absence someone had filled the water and by the very scalding temperature they hadn't finished long before we arrived back from training. The bath was filled with some scented oils, but they smelled fresh and vibrant. Not perce femine or masculine. Otherwise, I couldn't detect any skin enhancing products in the vicinity. It seems Dimitri's soft skin was his own.

I cleaned myself off and relaxed a bit in the huge tub. I knew why it was huge, it had to house a General. But honestly he could slip in the tub with me and there would still be room. But without him I could practically swim in it.

Making sure I didn't stay in the tub long enough for the water to get cold I dried myself with the biggest softest towel known to man. The sheer size could be explained easily, but the softness spoke that Dimitri did indulge in some aspects of his life. Maybe it was his silent rebellion to the King. I doubt the King would be petty enough to take away soft linens.

After I dried I wanted to put on clothes, but they were no longer there. I poked my head out of the bathroom but hid the rest of my body. I knew the towel was more than big enough to cover me, but still I felt a bit shy with only one piece of fabric between me and my General.

"Where did my clothes go?" I asked.

Dimitri had a box on the bed and motioned for me to come over without looking at me.

"This is…" He angled his head to look at me, momentarily speechless. "Your gift."

I suppose I wasn't the only one who felt a bit scandalized by the towel. His eyes darkened and the heat in his eyes had me torn between tightening the towel further around my body or removing the piece all together.

I walked over to the box and he seemed to take a deliberate step away.

I made sure the towel was securely fastened around my chest, leaving my hands free to open the box. When I did I nearly cried. He had gotten me leathers. Like proper leathers. Including a top with reinforced arms and even some arm gauntlets. The arm gauntlets were sleek and held a hidden pocket for some knives.

I took the package and went back into the bathroom to get dressed. I put them on in record time and walked out of the bathroom amazed. He had settled on the bed and looked me up and down. More out of appreciation than out of lust.

"How did you know my measurements, this fits like a glove."

He smiled at my reaction. He seemed to be doing that more and more in my presence. I liked his smile. I would make it my mission to make sure he always had something to smile about when I was around.

"The tailor from the garden had them. He doesn't make these leathers, these were made by a real craftsman, but the information had been given easily enough."

I know some girls got gifts from their clients. Dresses were a good gift for a concubine. Certainly if those were slutty dresses the clients wanted their girls in. In a sense Dimitri had done the same, except he had gotten me leathers.

I flew in his arms and hugged him. When I pulled back I was face to face with him even if I was on my tippy toes. How easy it would be to kiss him now. We seemed to linger there a bit before I pulled back.

"Thank you. I really appreciate it." He inclined his head in acceptance of my gratitude and left for the bathroom. He took off his shirt in the doorway and threw it on the bed. His naked back did things to me and I felt my heart quicken and my core throb. This was truly the first time I had felt that way around a man. I bit the bottom of my lip to stop myself from groaning out of frustration because the irony was that I was here to please him. But he seemed to be the one who didn't want to pursue this any further. Maybe out of principle, or maybe out of some misguided sense of chivalry.

Dimitri let out his wolf, apparently needing his instincts further away from him. Maybe he was feeling this too.

I heard a small splash and he was in the bathtub. Naked. I couldn't see him from here, but that much was obvious.

His wolf jumped on the bed with me and started to nuzzle my hand. He laid down around me with his snout in my palm.

I chuckled. Message received. I began stroking his head and scratching behind his ears. Occasionally I moved my hands from his head down his back in long lazy strides. I could hear a rumbling sound coming from deep within the wolf chest. I hear the soft echo of that noise in the bathroom.

I smiled to myself. Dimitri had his sensory link wide open. I knew he could regulate how much he could feel his wolf when it was out. I was still learning how to modulate the intensity. It was one of the things Dimitri and I were focusing on in training. He said he could even see through his wolf's eyes if he wanted to. I could either feel everything or shut the connection off completely, but anything in between was beyond me. But he had about a decade more wolf training than me.

A decade. Dimitri wasn't even that much older than me, but he had released his wolf when he was thirteen. Against the King. I was still processing that fact. It showed me just how strong Dimitri really was. It also showed me how broken he was. The last two years had been no picnic, but I had survived it intact because I had a strong base. But he had been looking over his shoulder, second guessing everything for a decade. I can't imagine that.

I continued to pet his wolf hoping to elicit a reaction from Dimitri. There wasn't anything sexual about stroking the wolf, but if you imagined me stroking Dimitri in the same places, the outcome changed dramatically.

DPOV

I was gripping the sides of the bathtub hissing through a breath. I should close the link. Then this torturous feeling would go away and I could bathe in peace.

But the feeling of her hands on my legs, on my back, on my shoulders and chest, even on my head as she scratched my wolf's ears. It felt amazing. It was addictive and I didn't have it in me to close the connection to my wolf, to her touch.

I gritted my teeth as she was stroking his hindlegs. I had half a mind to think she was doing it on purpose. I could feel her skillful fingers move from his back to his thigh and back up towards his tail. Except I didn't have a tail, I felt the movement resonate deep in my longer back. I closed my eyes as I struggled against the sensations. I was painfully hard, the tip of my cock just reaching the air above the water. And still I was enthralled by her ministrations. I couldn't close the link, because even if this was torture, I hadn't felt anything this real in a long time.

But that was also precisely the reason I couldn't continue. I closed the link with a reluctant heart. I immediately felt the loss of her touch. It took another couple of minutes before other parts of me had calmed down.

I couldn't afford her so much power over me. I was stretching it as it is, training her, claiming exclusivity. I was painting a target on both our backs, but I also couldn't leave her as she was. The way my father had looked at her had me enraged but did remind me that I wasn't in control. I would never be in control.

'Don't you have something, or someone to fight for. To be free for?'