Alpha’s Black Furred Slave Mate
Chapter 58

The kingdom's army was getting ready for battle; they obviously had no idea that the war was because of a slave and the slave's baby, but they were ready to fight alongside Marlon. He even managed to get some of the kingdom's strongest wolves to join the army in battle. The kingdom had heard rumors of a slave, but Marlon managed to convince them that they were just rumors and that the only slave there was ended up attending the noblemen's school in disguise and was caught. Bob was seen taking her into the woods and killing her; there's been no sign of the slave since so nobody questioned anything more.

However, the duke is arriving with his army and is wanting to overthrow Marlon, the highest-ranked nobleman. The kingdom won't allow that to happen; especially because some of the nobles in the kingdom want that ranking and don't want the duke to end up with it.

With Deonna being a prisoner in his dungeon, this should steer the duke, or at least the king, away from the idea that Marlon is having relations with her. Mateo should be well out of town by now and will be preserved as dead.

He wasn't going to stop until Deonna was protected. He wasn't sure what the plan was for after they win this war and he's able to release Deonna from the dungeon. But he was planning on taking one step at a time and right now he needed to focus on winning this

war.

He sat in his study, staring down at the rose garden. it was empty; he wondered where Petra was. She was supposed to be doing the duties that Deonna wasn't doing. Before he could think too deeply into it, his study door swung open.

Marlon was surprised and angry to see Bob standing there empty-handed. He was supposed to be far out of town with Mateo and keeping him safe. But the fact that he was standing in front of him, without Mateo, proved he did the exact opposite of what he was told. Marlon could feel the blood boiling in his body as he stared at his son with dismay.

"There was a problem," Bob said, trying to catch his breath.

Marlon noticed that Bob looked a bit banged up; he had a bite mark around his shoulder blade and a few bruises along his jawline. He also had some blood on this armoring, and he couldn't tell if it was Bob's blood, or someone else's. "Where's Mateo?" Marlon asked instantly, disregarding the fact that Bob was clearly hurt.

"Alex took him," Bob told him; Marlon's eyes widened at his son's words.

"You let him take him?!" Marlon hissed, storming towards him.

Bob recoiled, afraid of any further attack.

"No, I didn't let him take him. He caught me when I was distracted. Petra linked Alex and accidentally included me in the link. She was about to kill Deonna." Marlon stopped storming towards him, halting quickly in his tracks.

He stared around Bob's face.

He was serious.

"They were working together?" Marlon asked.

Bob nodded.

"It appears so. I tried linking Petra back and telling her to leave Deonna alone when Alex took Mateo. By the time I noticed they were gone," Bob explained. "And you didn't go after him?" Marlon hissed his top lip curling up in anger.

"It was either I safe the infant, or I try and save Deonna. I chose Deonna. I thought that's what you would have wanted," Bob argued, defending himself.

He was wrong.

Or maybe he wasn't.

Mateo was out there somewhere with Alex, probably dead by now. Deonna will never be able to live with herself if she knew about that. But would Marlon be able to live without Deonna if anything happened to her?

"Where's Deonna now?" Marlon asked, walking towards his study door, shoving past Bob.

"Still in the dungeon. I locked Petra away in the slave shack. Deonna's pretty beat up; she'll need some aid," Bob explained.

"Find Alex," Marlon ordered.

"But..." Bob tried to argue.

Marlon swung on his heel to quickly face Bob.

"FIND ALEX!!" He yelled; his noble voice booming and bouncing off the walls of his study.

Bob gave him a shaky head nod and ran out the door.

Marlon followed behind; except he was going in the opposite direction. He needed to get to Deonna and make sure she was alright.

...

He got to the dungeon grounds quickly; Deonna was nearly passed out from the amount of blood she's lost. His heart sunk into his stomach seeing her in that kind of state. Her gown was completely torn at the seams, leaving her completely bare and vulnerable. What kind of sick things was Petra doing to this poor girl.

Marlon ran towards Deonna; he placed his fingers under her chin, lifting her head slightly. Well, as much as he could considering her neck shackles were still intact.

"Deonna?" He whispered.

She stirred uncomfortably; her eyes fluttered open and adjusted to the dimmed lighting of the dungeon. At first, she looked as though she didn't recognize him; but then a sob escaped her lips and tears fell on her already tear-stained features. "Mateo..." she whispered, her lips quivering.

She already knew.

Of course, she knew; she saw Bob without Mateo. She must have already asked questions about where Mateo was. She wasn't stupid.

"It's going to be okay. Bob is going after them now," Marlon assured her; but she didn't seem so sure.

She looked ill and for a wolf with tanned features, it looked as though she was getting too pale for her own good.

"I brought the first aid," Marlon told her, pointing at the small first aid box that he grabbed from the bathroom before coming down to the dungeon.

She glanced over at it weakly and said nothing.

Marlon took his keys and unchained her, unshackling her neck. As he held onto her to help her off the wall, she nearly tumbled over coughing. The shackles must really be cutting off her air supply. It even left a reddened mark around her neckline. She had blood around her torso coming from her breasts and down her arms from her fingers.

Marlon saw a knife catching his eye; the tip of the knife and the handle were covered in blood, and something told him it wasn't Petra's blood.

His stomach turned; he felt disgusted that Petra would do such a thing. Then again, what maids could do didn't always surprise him anymore. It was a maid that took out his late wife, Ashley's, life.

He opened the first aid kit and grabbed alcohol bad; she winced and groaned miserably as he placed the pads on her chest, covering the knife wounds.

"I know..." Marlon said softly as he cleaned the blood off her using the pads. "It's going to be okay though."

"He can't be dead..." Deonna said in a broken whisper.

Marlon knew her head was stuck on Mateo; it wasn't easy for a mother to lose her child. But Marlon also refused to believe that Mateo was actually dead.

He couldn't be dead.

As a mother, Deonna would be able to feel it if Mateo was dead and she wouldn't be sitting here questioning it. She would be much more broken than she is now. She has never been a mother before, and she never had a strong relationship with her wolf, so maybe she didn't recognize the motherly wolf intuition. But she will if Bob doesn't get to Alex in time and save Mateo from a fatal ending.

"He's not," Marlon assured her. "He's going to be alright."

"You don't know that," Deonna said between her tears. "What if he doesn't get to him on time?"

"You can't think like that," Marlon told her.

He applied another alcohol pad to another of her wounds and she groaned out miserably again. He winced knowing how much he was hurting her. He didn't like the fact that he was causing her harm; what was happening to him?

Once he finished cleaning her wounds, he finished cleaning the rest of the blood on her skin. Then, he took some white bandages and began wrapping them around her bare body to keep her covered and her wounds clean. "Do you have to put me back on the wall?" Deonna asked, peering up at him through her long lashes.

She already knew the answer; he didn't have to say anything. It was the only way he could keep her safe.

He lifted her off the ground and began walking her towards the chains once again, but she struggled. He almost dropped her.

"No!" She barked to him. "I need to find Mateo!"

"Bob is going to find him," Marlon assured her.

"I need to go. I can't stay here and do nothing. I need to go find my son," she cried.

"I promise; Bob will find OUR son," Marlon argued back.

She struggled some more, this time Marlon put her down and she recoiled away from him.

"Marlon please," she cried, tears streaming down her face. "You need to let me out of here so I can find him. I can find him. I know where he is. I can feel him."

He frowned; maybe she did have a mother wolf intuition. But he couldn't allow her to go free with war approaching at sundown. It was only a few hours away.

"The duke will be here in a few hours..." Marlon tried to explain.

"I don't care," Deonna shot back. "I need to find Mateo... he needs me. I need him."

"You sound insane..." Marlon tried to say.

"I sound like a mother," Deonna hissed. "A mother without her son. Please, you need to let me go..."

"It's too dangerous," Marlon said softly, trying to calm her down.

He noticed her breathing was growing rapid; she looked as though she was about to go into a full panic attack.

"Deonna, you need to calm down..." Marlon said, motioning for her to relax.

"Don't tell me to relax, Marlon, Deonna cried. "Not with Mateo still out there in the hands of your son. I can't stay here. If you care for me and I mean really care for me, you will let me go and protect our son."

That wasn't fair that she was throwing the fact that he cared for her in his face as she was. She saw it in his face that he was hurt over her words.

"Marlon, if you love me, you will help me..."

"I'm trying to help you..." he said in return.

"By keeping me prisoner?" Deonna cried. "By keeping me away from our son? I would rather die fighting for those I love than be shackled up like a prisoner. I spent my life being a prisoner. I'm done. Look at me..." she motioned for her bandaged body. "Do you really think I'm safe here?"

Marlon was at a loss of words.

"I..." he tried to say but couldn't get anything out of his mouth.

She was right; she wasn't safe here. She wasn't really safe anywhere.

"This isn't the first time Petra tried to kill me. She was the one who drugged me the other day. She was the one who gave me the food. Beatrice knew about it and was protecting her," Deonna informed him.

His eyes widened in shock; he trusted Beatrice and she betrayed him by keeping that knowledge to herself. He breathed out defeated and took a step backward.

"I'm not safe, Marlon. Despite your efforts at protecting me. It isn't good enough. I will always have a target on my back. I'm not afraid anymore. I'm not afraid of losing my own life. But I am afraid of losing Mateo. I'm terrified of losing him. I can't lose him. I know he's alive; I can still feel him in my soul. My wolf can still feel him. Therefore, my wolf knows exactly where he is and I can get to him if you just release me and allow me to do that..."

Marlon knew she was right.

"You fight in this war to protect the kingdom; let me fight to protect my son," she begged, taking a step closer to him.

He sighed. He felt defeated; he had no more fight towards her left in him. She made valid points and he knew he couldn't deny her this wish. She was Mateo's mother and she wanted to protect him. She was right when she said she wasn't safe here; he needed to release her.

He reached his hand out to her; she stared at it with dismay lingering in her eyes. But with one look into Marlon's eyes, she hesitantly handed her arm over to him; he took her arm gently in his hands and pressed his thumb against her cufflink.

She gasped as the cufflink came to lose and clattered on the ground around them.

They both stare at it before staring at each other.

He was setting her free.