Chapter 64 - It's Better To Have Hope Than Nothing At All.

Two Weeks Later...

Natalia's P.O.V.

"That looks really bad, Nat"

"It is and it hurts like a motherfucker"

"Why aren't you healing?"

"Because your highness has been slipping me something every day since I got here to stop me from healing, shifting or mind linking anyone"

I say your highness mockingly because the asshole has got all of his lackeys calling him it and even tried to get me to call him it but I told him it'd be over my dead before I bow down to anyone, I haven't bowed down to my parents or brothers and they've earned my respect as well as their titles so why am I gonna bow down to this little bitch?.

Urgh!!, f**k this is really painful.

"Why did he do this to you? it doesn't make any sense that he'd hurt you like this especially if he knows you can't heal"

"Because he's crazy Dalton either that or he's a toddler trapped in a middle-aged man's body"

Dalton chuckled.

"You're mean Nattie, he's only thirty-five"

"Really?...jeez, he doesn't look it, he looks like he's heading into his fifties"

"Well, he's been plotting and scheming for eighteen years to get you"

"So"

I dragged out not understanding where he's going.

"So, it's not shocking that he looks older considering he's spent eighteen years stressing over you and the throne as well as battling to get it, not to mention that he's had to put up with you for two weeks which has probably aged him quite a bit as well"

"Ass"

I throw a towel at him and he chuckles.

"I'm only messing Nattie pie"

"Sure you were"

Jackass.

"So, how did this happen anyway?"

"Mason was drunk"

"Tell me something I don't know"

"Ok, he was an angry drunk"

"Again, tell me something I don't know"

Urgh!!, why can't he let it go?.

Dalton has been trying to find out what happened ever since he brought me my breakfast this morning but I don't wanna tell him because I know he'll get angry and want to attack Mason and I can't allow that to happen, I can't lose anybody else.

"Come on Nat you can tell me, you know that"

I nod my head as I look down.

"I know Dalton but I can't tell you about this, I'm sorry"

"Why?"

I didn't answer him.

I was silent because I knew that he'd become even more suspicious if I told him that I just want to protect him so it's best if I just stay quiet.

"Trust me, Dalton, it's best you just leave it"

He lets out a sigh.

"I remember there was a time when you would tell me anything, Nat"

"I know"

I nodded whilst smiling sadly.

"That was back when everything was normal and safe....and there was no complications in our lives"

"Yer...being an adult sucks, don't you think?"

I chuckled at him.

"Not all the time, there are moments when you're feeling nothing but happiness and love and..."

My mind started to drift back to the beach house and the couple of days that Cole and I spent there after our wedding, it was the most amazing time of my life...I never thought I'd be widowed not even a day after coming home from there.

"Hey, are you ok?"

Dalton asks placing his hand on my shoulder.

"Yer"

I shake my head a little and put on my strong facade, the time for grieving isn't now.

"I'm fine, I just remembered something that's all"

"It's ok to think about him you know"

"Not when I'm here, it's not"

My voice was shaky and I knew I was losing control of myself, I need to work harder on hiding my emotions which isn't exactly easy when you're a born empath, a power which has been heightened now that I'm preggers.

"I'm sorry, Nattie"

Dalton whispered as he cupped my face and wiped away a stray tear.

"It's gonna be ok, Nat, I promise you"

"I know"

I tried to say strong but failed.

I looked up at Dalton and saw that his eyes had glazed over, he's in a mind link.

"I've gotta go, Taylor needs me"

"Taylor"

I said with a smile.

"When do I get to meet the mysterious Taylor? she's all you ever talk about"

"She's my mate Nattie and you'll meet her when Mason stops treating you like princess Fiona"

Princess Fiona? princess damn Fiona? out of all the princesses in the world, he's calling me princess freaking Fiona.

"Princess Fiona?....why not Rapunzel?"

"Because you have a tendency to act like an ogre when you wanna be, especially when you're angry"

"Get lost jackass, go and see your mate"

I chuckled as I throw a pillow at him.

"See you later Nattie pie"

"Bye Dalty"

He smiles brightly at me before leaving my room.

Daltons been acting like a big kid whos had all of his favourite holidays come at once ever since I first called him my old nickname for him even though it sounds super freaking weird considering I was a six-year-old girl the last time I called him it.

I sit down on the bed as the familiar feeling of loneliness once again consumes me, I hate this feeling but I've got no other choice but to accept it and embrace it.

Every day for the past two weeks, I've been feeling this dreaded loneliness which normally I don't mind because if the other alternative is having Mason around me twenty-four seven then I'd rather be lonely and wallow in my own self-pity.

Mason has been a big, huge ball of anger for the past two weeks ever since he came home from the Dark Shadows pack, it's like he's got two different personalities one of which is a cocky, conceited Christian Grey wannabe whilst the other side of him...I can't really explain it, it's like it's the side of him that has got all of this anger and rage bottled up inside of him which has been left to grow and become more magnified waiting for him to explode and when he does, it's normally on me.

Take that night for example, when Mason came home from unsuccessfully killing Brody, he tried to attack me, he came bursting into the room literally looking like a wolf on the prowl and tried to forcefully mark and mate with me but luckily for me, he left the door open and some warriors who Mason forced to make a vow to protect me at any cost including against him, heard what was going on and managed to save me from their psychotic prince.

He was in such a rage for some reason and I knew it couldn't have been because of Brody because as much as I love that man and it pains me to say this, he's irrelevant, he's not even a factor in what's going on so why would he get so angry like that over Brody of all people?.

Anyway back to the point, Mason was in a blind rage that night and he even tried to remove both my wedding and engagement rings along with my Luna ring but he couldn't because whenever he'd touch them, they'd burn him and I mean that literally, my rings have given him third-degree burns, it's just a shame that the asshole has got the ability to heal instantly so it's not like he's actually suffering.

Sadly, that wasn't the last time he tried to forcefully mark and mate with me or hurt me for that matter, he's done so quite a lot over the past two weeks but I managed to put a stop to him wanting to mark and mate me by lying to him and telling him that I wanted to wait for the wedding night which the idiot believed, hopefully, he'll be dead before his filthy paws or canines get anywhere near me.

As for hurting me, well, that's an everyday occurrence, he's always finding some way to hurt me and he doesn't exactly need a reason to do it, like last night, for example, he came into the room all angry and drunk ranting about how useless his minions are and I was worried because he was swinging a chrome baseball bat around like it was a toy so I tried to calm him down and get him to talk about it but sadly that made him even angrier and he swung the bat at my face bruising the entire left side as well as busting open my lip, cheek and eyebrow.

BANG!!.

Here we go again.

"Urgh!!, do you have to do that every single time you come into the room?"

"Aww, sorry sweetness, I didn't mean to scare you"

"You didn't scare me, idiot, you just startled me...what happened to you anyway?"

I asked not really caring as I flipped to the next page of my book.

"Oh, I was just out abolishing a pack or two"

He said with a chuckle as I groaned in anger.

"Why would you do that?...Jesus Mason, I don't think Loki caused half as much trouble as you have"

"Who's Loki?"

He asked with a slight growl whilst looking at me confused.

I rolled my eyes at his stupidity.

"He's the Norse god of mischief, Mason"

"Oh"

He said sounding relieved.

"Maybe if you read more then you'd know more"

"I'm not a reader unlike you, my sweetness, speaking of which....what are you reading?"

I looked up at him briefly before flipping to the next page.

"Your grimoire"

"MY WHAT?"

He growled as he tried to approach me.

"Calm down Mason, what's the problem?"

I moved the grimoire away when he tried to snatch it from my hands.

"There's no problem Nattie, now be a good girl and hand over the book"

"Nope"

I say popping the 'p' as I smile at him.

My smile got even brighter when I saw how angry and scared he was getting.

"Natalia, do you know what that is?"

He growled whilst huffing and puffing like he was about to explode.

"Well, in the words of my favourite vampire, it's a witches cookbook, right?"

"Natalia"

He growled once again.

"Urgh!! calm down will ya, I know exactly what it is and reading it is my only source of joy lately"

I said whilst once again flipping through the book.

"But you're a witch"

"I prefer the term hybrid...it's much cooler"

I smirked knowing that I was not only pissing him off but scaring him.

"Natalia...."

"What are you so scared of Mason? you made me powerless right? so I can't do any magic...or are you just bluffing?"

In a flash, Mason was hovering over me and his face was an inch away from mine.

He looked me dead in my eye for a solid minute before narrowing his eyes to the grimoire, I tried to read his face to see if I could tell what he was thinking but I couldn't, even when he smirked as he licked his lower lip, I was unable to read him.

Mason narrowed his eyes from the book to me, his smirk was still pretty evident on his face and I felt so uncomfortable seeing it.

I flinched when Mason gripped my chin and rubbed his thumb over my lower lip.

"There's one thing you should know about me my sweet, precious Natalia"

He leaned in until his lips were dangerously close to mine and I mean one wrong move by either of us and they'd be touching, eww!!.

"I never bluff"

He whispered against my lips before moving away from me giving me instant relief.

"You can read that book all you want, Nattie but it'll never help you"

"What do you mean?"

I asked confused.

I know he's put some stupid spell on me to make my witch side dormant but from what my momma and my grams have told me, spells don't last forever and I assumed that I'd eventually be able to use my witch side again but I was wrong.

"You see for as long as I'm alive and you're here, you'll never be able to use your witch side again, every spell I cast on you will remain permanent until I either remove it or die and until one of those two happen which will be, hmm...never, you'll remain powerless for the rest of your life"

He smirked all cocky, f*****g ass.

"I know"

I lied through my teeth, I actually didn't know that.

Mason once again came over to me and moved my collar aside, I didn't understand what he was up too at first or what he was looking at but then he smirked and said something which broke my heart even further.

"It's nice to see that wretched thing has finally gone"

"What?"

What does he mean?...what's gone?.

"Your mark...it's finally gone"

"WHAT?"

What the f**k is he talking about?.

I jumped off the bed and went over to the mirror on the wall, tears filled my eyes when I saw it was gone...Cole's mark is gone ending all of my hope that maybe just maybe Cole was possibly still alive but he's not.

"Oh my god"

I whispered as my hands immediately shot to my mouth.

I didn't realise I was crying until I felt a hand on my cheek rubbing away my tears.

"Aww, don't cry sweetness"

He said all cocky as he came over to me and moved my hair aside, he looked down at my now bare neck smiling with glory before leaning down and kissing the area were Coles mark once used to be, I felt like baulking because of how close he is to me but I managed to control myself because I don't wanna risk him flipping his switch and attacking me again.

Mason looked up at me through the mirror and once again f*****g smirked, urgh!!, one of these days I'm gonna bitch slap that f*****g smirk right off his face and all the way into a f*****g coffin.

"My marks gonna be there soon and trust me, it's a hell of a lot better than that disgusting mutts mark"

He growled in my ear before kissing my cheek, he then walked away chuckling as he went into the en-suite bathroom.

"URGH!!"

I growled whilst trying to resist the urge to kill him.

I was doing everything I could to suppress my anger and not do something I'll regret even though the thought of sticking a knife in his f*****g jugular was extremely tempting.

When I heard the shower start to run, I picked up the grimoire off the bed and quickly flipped through the pages to find the spell I wanted, when I found it, I nervously looked over at the door to the bathroom before looking down at my stomach and gently placing my hand on it.

"Don't worry my babies, that evil man may have taken your daddy away from me but I won't let him take you three as well"

I take a deep breath before starting to say the words of the masking spell hoping to not only hide my pregnancy but also the change in my scent, Mason has come dangerously close to discovering my pregnancy quite a few times and I can't allow that to happen so I'm hoping that he hasn't made me altogether powerless and this spell will work.

I said the spell over and over again until it eventually worked and I smiled with relief, at least I can be happy that I'm not gonna lose my kids.

Half An Hour Later...

"Nattie...Nattie baby, wake up"

"Mmm, go away"

"Don't you tell your grandmother to go away young lady"

"Grams"

I sit up and smile when I see my grandmother smiling brightly at me, I immediately jumped up and hugged her.

"Grams, what are you doing here? wait, where is here?"

I looked around noticing that we're not in Mason's room anymore we're somewhere else.

"We're in your head, baby"

"My head?...why are we in my head?"

"Because that's the only way I can speak to you and help you"

My eyes snapped to hers with so much hope.

"Help me, you're gonna help me"

"Of course, baby"

She says whilst cupping my face.

"Do you really think that when my daughter called me up and told me my youngest grandbaby was not only expecting her first batch of pups but she was also kidnapped by prince jackass that I would just sit by on Kailua beach with Don drinking margaritas letting it happen?"

"Of course not grams, it's just...how can you help me?"

"Through your mind, my dear Natalia"

"How?"

I asked her confused.

"Just close your eyes and relax, honey"

I close my eyes as I relax my body, my grams hands went up to my temple and she started to chant, I didn't have a clue what she was saying because it was in Latin, a language I'm not familiar with.

After a few minutes, I started to feel like my head was gonna explode.

"Grams....grams, stop"

I continued to shout for my grams to stop but she wouldn't and just when I felt like my head was literally about to explode, she stopped and fell silent.

I opened my eyes and looked at her, she had a victorious smile on her face.

"What? what is it?"

"I know where you are"

"Really?"

She was smiling brightly, she then looked at me and her smile dropped.

"Wake up Nattie, you have to wake up"

"What?"

"WAKE UP!!"

She roared and I woke up from my sleep feeling very confused, that was one hell of a dream.

"You're awake"

I look over at Mason but immediately wished that I hadn't as I looked away.

"And you're naked, can't you put some clothes on?"

"Why, what's wrong? don't you like it?"

"Of course not, the sight of you and your d**k is repulsive to me"

"Don't say that Nattie, are you sure you don't wanna taste?"

He said with a smirk whilst motioning to his d**k.

"No thanks, I haven't got health insurance"

"So feisty, I like it"

"Whatever, Mason"

He goes into the walk-in wardrobe to get dressed as I sit up on the bed.

"So, I was thinking with Cole dead and the full moon fast approaching that we can get married this weekend"

"Urgh!!, seriously Mason just give it up, we're not getting married"

"Is that so?"

He comes out of the wardrobe buttoning up his shirt.

"Yes"

"Well, that's were your wrong sweetness, the wedding is gonna happen whether you like it or not"

"URGH!!, YOU'RE f*****g CRAZY, MASON!!"

I shouted as I stood up off the bed which I really shouldn't have done because my head was pounding and having my own voice shout in that way was like having a boombox blasting in my head.

"I know that Natalia, do you think everything I've done is because I'm sane?...silly little girl"

He said with a slight chuckle.

"I'm silly, are you kidding me? you're the one who wants to marry your own niece...you do realise that incest is illegal, right?"

"Only for humans, it's perfectly natural for wolves or any animal for that matter to mate with anything that moves even if it is your own family"

"Urgh!!, I think I'm gonna be sick"

Actually, that's an understatement, I actually thought I was gonna vomit and it wasn't morning sickness.

"Oh come on Nattie, don't tell me you've never felt an attraction towards Christian or Nathan"

"Urgh!!, shut up"

I felt bile rise in my throat and I knew I was gonna be sick if he carried on.

"Or maybe even your father"

"Oh god"

I run into the en-suite bathroom and threw up everywhere.

"Are you ok, Nat?"

He tried to touch me but I pushed him away.

"Don't touch me, don't you ever f*****g touch me"

I growled trying to get as far away from him as possible.

"Natalia..."

"Just leave me alone, Mason, please"

I begged him as tears rolled down my face, I wanted all of this to be over and done with.

"I can't"

He cupped my face and caressed my cheek.

"I can't let you go, my dear Nattie because I need you...I'm this close to being king"

Urgh!!.

I groaned as I slapped his hands away from me and glared at him.

"FOR f***s SAKE, MASON!!, SCREW BEING KING, YOU'LL NEVER BE KING, YOU'LL NEVER HAVE ME AND YOU'LL NEVER EVER REPLACE, COLE!!...AAHHHH!!"

He punched me in the face and I mean full on like how a dude would hit another dude.

"f*****g BITCH!!"

Mason started to scream obscenities at me calling me some of the worlds most disgusting and derogatory terms as he beat the living shit out of me.

I covered my stomach with my arm hoping to cushion some of the blows but it was a waste of time because I could feel my life slowly slipping away from me and to be honest...I was welcoming it, at least then I'll get to see my Cole again.

"YOUR HIGHNESS!!...YOUR HIGHNESS, STOP!!"

"WHY SHOULD I?"

"BECAUSE WE'RE BEING ATTACKED YOUR HIGHNESS, A HUGE PACK OF WOLVES ARE HEADING THIS WAY!!"

Oh please don't worry about me moron, it's not like I'm being attacked by my psychotic kidnapper or anything.

"WHAT?...HOW MANY?"

"More than a few dozen your highness, there's a lot of them and they're emanating quite a lot of power"

"f**k!!"

There was a lot of mumbling that I couldn't make out but I could sense it wasn't good.

"GO NOW!!"

Mason growled before coming over to me and grabbing me by my shirt lifting me up slightly.

"You better not die on me sweetness because when I come back, I'm gonna mark that pretty little neck of yours and ravish your body beyond ruin, do you understand me?"

I didn't answer the psychotic freak, instead, I groaned in disgust when he kissed me on my lips before throwing me back on the ground, banging my head in the process and leaving me for dead.