Alpha’s Black Furred Slave Mate
Chapter 66

It's been about two days since we were prisoned in the king's jail. There was still no word on what was going on out in the kingdom, other than the fact that thousands of slaves and commoners have died in battle. I still felt sick thinking about it. They've been feeding us scraps of food and dirty water, as though we were back on the slave farm. I wasn't sure why they were keeping us alive, but part of me was glad that I wasn't alone. As terrible as the conditions were, I was glad to have Kamala with me. Once we started adapting to the change of environment, she started becoming more herself again. Well, as "herself" as she could be. She was still frightened and skeptical of everything around her, but she wasn't coiling in the corner anymore. She was the voice of the region and kept me calm when it mattered the most.

We spoke to the queen once when we first arrived, and she was the most intimidating woman I have ever met. Yet, she was also the most beautiful. I was able to stand my ground and stand up to her; I think I even might have gotten through to her a little bit. Then again, it was hard to tell.

Her expressions were hard to read; one minute she was furious with me and then the next minutes she was nearly speechless and lost in her thoughts.

"How do you think they are going to do it?" Kamala asked from the corner of the cell.

Neither of us had slept so she looked utterly exhausted. I could only imagine how I looked.

"What?" I asked, I knew what she was talking about, but I didn't want to answer her question.

"Kill us," she elaborated. "How do you think they'll kill us."

"They won't," I told her; that was a lie though.

I honestly wasn't sure how they were going to kill us or when they were going to kill us, but I knew it was going to happen sooner or later.

"Do you think they are just going to leave us here to die?" Kamala asked; she sounded weak.

"They're keeping us alive for a reason," I told her. "They wouldn't feed us if they were planning on leaving us to die."

"Maybe poison," she suggested.

I pressed my lips together and stared at her.

"Stop," I ordered her. "That's enough of that."

She sighed and nodded.

We couldn't die in here; I couldn't die in here. I needed to get to Mateo.

I heard the latch of the door, which made us both jump in surprise. It wasn't time for them to feed us again; this must be them coming to collect us to get ready to die. I stumbled backward close to Kamala, both of us afraid of what was approaching. I recognized the scent of the rosy perfume.

The queen.

Directly after she was another familiar musky scent; they were both murmuring with one another and then I heard him.

A small whine of a child.

Mateo.

I ran towards the bars of the cell and pressed my face against them so I could see around the corner better.

They all came into view; the queen and Mateo being held by Marlon.

His eyes widened as he saw me; he ran towards me and pressed grabbed onto the bars to shake it, trying to open it. I stepped backward as he was tempted to get the gate open.

The queen stepped beside him and dangled the keys.

"These might help," she said, rolling her eyes.

He grabbed the keys from her and unlatched the lock. He pushed the cell door open and rushed inside to embrace me. I was instantly entangled in his arms and pressed against his chest. Mateo pressed between the two of us. My body was trembling, and tears poured from my eyes as I stared up at Marlon and Mateo.

This couldn't be real. How was this possibly real?

I grabbed Mateo from Marlon and kissed him gently on the head; I was relieved to see that he was unharmed. I held him close to my chest and sobbed.

Kamala stood to her feet; she was just as shocked to see them all standing there.

"What's going on?" I asked Marlon, my voice barely loud enough for him to hear.; it cracked slightly as I continued sobbing.

"We are getting you out of here," he told me softly; he pressed his lips against my forehead and I instantly felt my wolf waking up and jumping with excitement.

The queen came over to me and unlocked the chains around my wrists.

"Why are you helping me?" I asked her; sniffling and wiping the tears from my face.

"Because you were right," the queen stated. "I would do anything for my children, so I can't blame you for that."

"What about the king? Won't he be angry with you?" I asked her.

"Don't worry about the king. I will deal with him. You will be safe once you leave the castle grounds," she assured me.

I opened my mouth to say more but I heard Kamala from the corner, backing into the wall. She was still terrified and unsure of what was going on. I didn't blame her for not trusting the situation, but I needed her to trust me. "Her too," I motioned for Kamala.

The queen stared over at her with a frown and then back at me.

"Please," I added. "She's my friend..."

The queen sighed and walked toward Kamala to unchain her as well.

"We need to go before the guards come back. The queen was able to get them to take a walk, but they won't be gone much longer," Marlon said as Kamala came to join us.

I looked over at the queen; gratitude was written all over my face.

"I could never thank you enough," I said softly, choking on my own words.

She glanced up at Marlon and then back at me.

"Don't ever mention this again," she said, keeping her tone low.

She didn't have to tell me twice.

...

The queen helped us leave the castle grounds without being detected. Marlon said his goodbyes to her; I made a mental note to ask him what their relationship was later. We made it back to the manor to everyone's surprise. The queen was right when she said the kingdom was destroyed; it was practically a wasteland. The commoners were still cleaning up the deceased from the streets. I recognized some of the slaves and my heart went out to them. They were so young and didn't deserve to die.

I was thankful that no one from the manor was hurt though, besides Bob a little bit. He had a gash on his forehead from when the duke's men bashed him in the head with their gun, knocking him out completely.

Marlon had told us on the way back to the manor that the duke was dead and will no longer pose a problem to us. I was relieved to hear that, but I also worried that once the king realized we were gone, he was going to come after us.

The queen said she was going to deal with the king and not to worry too much about it. I still couldn't believe she helped us escape.

Apparently, Marlon had a meeting with the king and queen, and he agreed to ease up on the treaty; he wasn't going to release us though. The queen stored Mateo in a small shack outside of the castle and wrote instructions for Mateo to meet her there. He had as the instructions stared, following the directions she had written down. Then, she snuck him into the king's prison where she convinced the guards to take a walk and that she would watch their post.

I couldn't believe they fell for something like that but I wasn't going to question it. I was just relieved to be out of there with my life. I knew Kamala was grateful as well. She wasn't expecting to make it out of the castle alive.

Once we got back to the manor, Marlon brought all of us to his study. I was able to fully examine Mateo to make sure that he was completely okay and unharmed. Marlon ordered Winston to gather what was left of the guards because he wanted to have a meeting about what was the next phase in their plans. He ordered Beatrice to clean the mess of the battle around the Roessler grounds with the other maids.

He needed to keep everyone busy or else they would just lose their minds with worry. He brought on all this danger, and he wouldn't blame them for longer trusting him. Before they could think to start scheming against him, he needed to keep them busy. Once everyone was busy doing their assigned tasks and I found Mateo to be unharmed, Marlon finally turned to me to speak with me while Kamala sat in the corner of the room, playing with her fingers nervously.

"I'm giving you a choice," Marlon finally said after a brief pause.

I looked up at him, confused at what he meant.

"You are free to go if you please," he began; my mouth dropped open. He spent so long trying to get me back and fighting this war because of me, and now he wanted to release me? "Your village is a couple of hours north from here. If you travel in your wolf form, it won't take you long to reach it. The house you grew up in has been vacant since you left. You can return there and raise Mateo there if you so please."

"What?" I asked; my voice getting caught in my throat. He stared down at his feet; uncomfortably. I got it. He was trying to get rid of us. "You want us to leave."

It wasn't a question.

He shot me a look and his frown deepened.

"Of course, not," he argued. "But it's dangerous here. I would never forgive myself if anything happened to you..."

"So, you just throw us away? Like that?" I asked; I could hear the pain in my voice.

His eyes widened as pain shot through his face.

"No, Deonna. I'm giving you a choice. If you want to stay here with me, then you can. I would be happy to have you with me and be able to raise my son. You know how I feel about you..." he said.

He stepped closer to me, closing the small gap between us.

"I want nothing more than to be with you..." he whispered.

Tears formed in my eyes as I stared up at him.

I looked over at Kamala who was watching us curiously but with tears in her eyes. She was so frightened about being here. I felt awful I was putting her through this. Mateo stirred uncomfortably in my arms as he could feel the tension I was feeling. I hated putting him through this too. "Deonna..." Marlon whispered. "I love you..."

I opened my mouth to say something back, but nothing came out. I was so conflicted, that I didn't know what to think anymore. I felt like he was just throwing me away like I was useless garbage.

Maybe I was useless garbage.

"You mean everything to me..." he said to me.

I couldn't tell if he was trying to convince me to stay, or to go.

"I know," I said to him after a long pause.

"I don't want you to get hurt. If the king is to find you..."

"We would all die," I told him, finishing his thought.

He thought about it for a moment before nodding in agreement.

"We would all die," he agreed.

"You think it's better if I leave?" I asked, tears falling down my cheeks.

"I want you to be safe," he said softly. He looked at Mateo and kissed the top of his forehead gently; then he glanced over his shoulder at Kamala before turning back to me. "I want all of you to be safe," he clarified. Kamala's eyes widened at his words.

"Take her too," he said, motioning for Kamala. "Go back to your village if you wish. The king's treaty is no more as of right now. So, you should be safe there for a while."

I had nothing more to say; I adjusted Mateo, so he was closer to my chest. Kamala stood to her feet and joined us.

"You are letting us go?" She asked, peering up at him.

He nodded.

I couldn't deny her the chance of freedom and I had to do what was right for our son. He was right. I needed to go.

"Okay," I finally said after a long pause. "We will go..."

He nodded slowly; tears filling his eyes. My wolf was crying for me to not go; she wanted me to stay and be with him. I had to push the feeling deep into my chest.

I was foolish to believe that a slave could be with a nobleman. We could never have made this work. I wasn't anything but a dirtball. A dirtball with a baby. There was nothing left for me here.