A Tainted Claim (Beholden Duet Book 2)

by Zoey Ellis

  "You will not leave this pavilion," he instructed, as he dressed. "At least not until your back is healed."

  Ana clenched her teeth as she glared at him. She turned away and laid down on the bed.

  Maddoc growled his displeasure but didn’t say anything more. Her punishment would be harder than she knew, and although he would suffer too, he would not accept her denial of their attraction anymore. Once she accepted that they belonged together, everything else would be manageable. So the next time they fucked, it would be because she begged for it, nothing less. And they had the rest of their lifetimes for that to happen, though he expected she wouldn’t last until tomorrow.

  He turned away from her and refocused his mind. Now that his Omega was safe in his pavilion and at his base, certain things needed addressing.

  When he exited his pavilion, all of his commanders were gathered by the local campfire talking amongst themselves. They quietened when they saw him, all of their faces grave. Maddoc knew what it was about and beckoned them to the meeting tent.

  Once they were seated at the table inside, he braced himself. "How bad is it?"

  “Bad,” Griff said bluntly. His second-in-command Alpha looked disheveled from being up all night, but his eyes were sharp. “Redcrest and Sterling are, of course, fighting for the crown, but they have all agreed that they must unite to retaliate.”

  Maddoc frowned. “How?”

  “By coming for us.”

  “Coming here?” Maddoc asked. “What makes them think they will find us when they haven’t before?”

  “They intend to make a good effort of it,” Walrick said gravely. “They are using all their own resources, the king's guard and… the people.”

  Maddoc tensed. “What do you mean, the people?”

  “They are rounding up everyone who might have seen any of us or seen the direction we may have headed and are questioning them,” Griff said. “Three families have already been killed… ones loyal to us.”

  “Fuck!” Maddoc stood abruptly, kicking back his chair in his outrage and pacing across the tent. He clenched his fists and turned back to the table, forcing himself to ask. “Who?”

  “The Bennetts, the Haywards, and the Wrights.”

  Maddoc cursed again, his anger turning to fury. All of those families had young children—most of the families who supported Maddoc’s cause did. And now they were all at risk.

  “We have to go home, Doc,” Bram said, though his voice was resigned. “We can’t stay and risk ’em findin’ us here. You have your woman. Let’s go now while we have the chance.”

  “I gave my word to those families, Bram,” Maddoc bellowed. “We cannot leave them.”

  “Then you shouldn’t have shot the king.” Raine’s voice was quiet but firm.

  The other commanders remained silent. Only Raine got away with pushing the boundaries by speaking to him like that, and she only did it when she felt there was a need. Maddoc still didn’t like it.

  “Where did they put him?” he asked.

  “Back at the palace.”

  “Did Agnes go?”

  Raine nodded. “I haven’t heard from her.”

  It doesn’t matter," another man, Percy, said. "This changes things. We never planned to assassinate the king. It will not bode well for us with the people, even those loyal to us. It will upset the balance too much."

  "And we have the heir to the throne," Griff pointed out. "They have an incentive to attack us until they get her back."

  "I'm not sure about that," Walrick said. "This is the chance for Sterling and Redcrest to take the throne."

  "It’s not that simple," Griff said. "There is no outside influence in this scenario. None of them will want to risk being usurped for taking the throne improperly. It is easier if they have the heir."

  "Well, they’re not going to get her," Maddoc thundered. "That should not be a surprise."

  Griff shook his head. "No, but they will try hard to.” He inhaled a breath. “I must agree with Bram, Maddoc. We have to go home sooner rather than later."

  “No.” Maddoc shook his head. "This just means we execute our plans early, all at the same time. We will still have success while the kingdom is in disarray, we just have to get it done quicker." He looked at all of his commanders. "I trust you will work to ensure that it gets done."

  Each of the commanders nodded, except Bram. Bram was a slim man, unassuming in many ways, nothing remarkable about the way he looked, but for his strategic mind. He tilted his head at Maddoc. "If we don’t leave now," he said slowly, "we risk never leaving at all. They will find us here, and they will be desperate to get her back. They will slaughter us and keep their actions hidden in this forest. The longer we stay, the more risk there is to everyone here."

  Maddoc gritted his teeth, annoyed at Bram's assessment of the situation, but he couldn't ignore him, not when he relied on him so much for all of his strategic plans.

  But Maddoc would not break his word to the people who had risked their lives to help him, to help them all, and he still had to open Ana’s eyes to the truth of her precious court. If he didn’t, she would never accept that what he’d done had been the best thing for them both.

  Part of Maddoc wished he hadn't been so cryptic with her during their two nights together, that he'd been able to tell her everything. But she was too much of a puppet, and still was, and had been conditioned not to believe anything he said. That he'd had to get her in his arms through the Royal Promise was already enough of a disgrace, but the fact she didn't even recognize what there was between them, that she fought him at every turn, was testament to how far and how securely she'd been manipulated by her parents.

  He walked back to the table. "It is the people out there in the kingdom who risk their lives, yet still help our cause, who are the bravest among us,” he began. “They risk themselves and their families and their livelihoods every day—we would not have achieved anything without them. I will not abandon them. I cannot—it was my arrow in the king’s neck yesterday. So all of you are welcome to leave now if you wish," he began. "I have never forced anyone to stay or to work on this goal with me against their wishes. The only one who is forced to be here is the princess. So if you want to go home, or go anywhere, go. Take any man or woman who wants to go with you and take the weapons you have built. See how you fare. You could survive better in the current circumstances." He leaned forward on the table, his hands planted firmly. "Just know that if you reveal anything about the guild, or our plans you will be killed as is protocol."

  All of the commanders were already shaking their heads.

  "I am not saying we want to leave," Bram clarified. "I’m saying we should, to avoid any possibility of being captured or killed.”

  “Plus some of the new highcloaks haven’t finished their training,” Griff said. “They’re still learning our methods and ways. This is not the time for us to rely on new warriors."

  "I agree," Maddoc said. “It should be awhile before they locate us. Finish the training of those who have already started but demote any who are not ready. If there is someone you wouldn’t trust your life with, they must go." He looked at all of his commanders. "Is that clear?"

  They all nodded.

  "Good. Then we move on with our plan. Just one more thing," Maddoc said. "We have an Omega at our base now. This is hers as much as anyone else's, but she is an unwilling resident. I assume you remember the protocols we talked about being in place for when she is here."

  All of the commanders nodded.

  "Good. That must be enacted now and at all times. Another thing, none of the highcloaks are to talk to her."

  There was a long silence. The commanders stared at him, a couple of them glanced at each other. "But we are all highcloaks… at least, in the active guild…."

  "Exactly,” Maddoc said. "Make sure all of them know.”

  The confusion on the commanders’ face smoothed out, but he could tell they didn't understand the request. Fortunately, they didn't
need to understand to carry it out. "Understood?"

  They all nodded, and Maddoc pulled forward the maps and began pouring over everything and discussing their plans. He needed to be careful with everything he did from now on, and it didn't help that in the middle of this, Ana was being so difficult. He understood she blamed him, and that she was grieving, but he couldn’t allow anything negative to fester between them.

  But it didn’t matter. He still had her, and once she realized the raw instinctual power of their attraction, her behavior would not last. Soon she would be begging for his cock, and his kisses, and to be by his side as his woman, where she belonged.

  6

  ANA

  Ana sunk deep into the bitterness of the gloom that smothered her.

  Everything in her life had changed so drastically in the last day and she’d barely had time to think about it, but as soon as Maddoc left and her anger faded, she was alone with her thoughts, and the horror of everything that had happened weighed her down.

  Father was dead.

  It was unbelievable. He’d had a long reign ahead of him, and of all the things he could have died for, it shouldn’t have been because he was trying to protect his daughter. She couldn’t even imagine how distraught Mother would be. As his fated mate, she would likely never be the same again, and that kind of loss was devastating, not just for them, but for Ana who had watched them all her life. The thought darkened her mood, bringing fresh sobs to her chest and an overwhelming sense of loss, guilt, and shame.

  This was her fault. She shouldn’t have left the palace. If she’d stayed with her parents and spent the last night with Maddoc as planned, they would still be alive, and Father may have successfully killed the outlaw on the final morning. Instead, her parents and her fated mate were gone. And she was alone in a strange place with an unreasonable, violent Alpha.

  She wasn’t sure what would happen with the royal houses, especially with what she had learned about them recently. She could only hope they would take on the responsibilities the Kingdom of Allandis required of them. The people needed them more than ever—they couldn’t let Maddoc win.

  He’d been one step ahead of everyone from the beginning, and if she was going to survive him, she had to be smarter. Even if she never escaped him, she would not give him what he wanted. He seemed to want to keep her as a trophy, an ornament of the kingdom he toppled, the last remnant of the king he murdered. But she wouldn’t allow him to do that.

  Granted, she couldn’t do anything about how easily her body reacted to him, how quickly she became aroused, or how eager she sought to have him inside her. He had ensured he’d be the first to fuck her, and he’d somehow tuned her body to his so she would find him intoxicating—his taste, his scent, the feel of him against her. The attraction was intense and addicting, and she was powerless against it. So she tried to push away all guilt and accept that this was her fate; to be his whore the way he’d always intended, after all, he had been right—it wasn’t only three nights. But now she may even escape that duty. It was laughable he thought withholding sex was a punishment that would force her to talk to him. It was actually an incentive to never speak again! He could wait forever as far as she was concerned.

  Regardless of being his prisoner, she couldn’t abandon any of her beliefs or values just because she was forced to share his bed or live among criminals. She had to be true to herself and still be Princess Ana, but now, she could be the Ana she wanted to be, the Ana she needed to be to help her people in whatever way she could. And the first thing she needed to do was find out more information. She wouldn’t take anyone’s word for anything. It was time to take her own learning in hand.

  Standing up, she took her time examining the different rooms of Maddoc’s pavilion. It was built well; it was similar to one of the small cottages in the kingdom’s villages, complete with its own washroom.

  Taking a scalding bath, she scrubbed all traces of the Alpha from her body, and dressed in one of the simple blue tunics with gold stitching that she found in the wardrobe. She then ventured outside.

  The pavilion was situated in some kind of village. It didn't look like any of the villages she’d seen in the kingdom, but that’s what it had to be. Firm, hut-like structures, similar to Maddoc’s pavilion scattered around the immediate area, and people milled around, walking between them and talking among themselves. The flat ground wasn’t road or farmland, but solid dirt that had been smoothed over and set with something to prevent it from sticking to her slippers.

  Nearby, tall, thick trees ran along the back of the structures, their branches intertwined so thickly that nothing could pass through them.

  So it was true—Maddoc did have a base in Oakenshire Forest. Her breath caught as she noticed the dense tree barrier extending far into the distance. The base had to be huge.

  She wandered around the immediate area, watching everyone carefully and examining the structures. Some of them were almost as large as Maddoc's, some of them were simple tents, others were shaped differently, but all of them were made securely and with lasting durability.

  Strolling in whatever direction that interested her, she suddenly found herself in a busy open space with lots of people, all talking and calling out to each other. It had the bustling energy of a village square, and huts with wide windows offered different goods to trade. She stopped to watch the exchanges, noting that no money exchanged hands—one item was given for another, and in some cases items were just given freely.

  Ana’s curiosity grew. What a strange type of base. It didn’t seem like the training ground for a band of hostile criminals who spent years terrorizing the kingdom. Why were these people here? Had Maddoc kidnapped them from their homes? They were clearly Allandis people, all different types and from different districts, but they didn’t seem unhappy. They wore very simple clothes; a variety of tunics, pants, dresses, but it was difficult to tell their status’—farmer, tradesman, merchant, peasant—because they all wore similar clothing, materials, and colors.

  As she kept walking, she was shocked to find children playing in one of the clearings. They ran round her to a nearby structure, circling round and zipping past her again trying to catch each other. Two of them jumped on one larger boy, all of them falling to the ground, rolling and laughing. She stared at them in amazement. What the hell were children doing here?

  "I’m sorry, Princess Ana, are they disturbing you?"

  A woman in a grey dress stood a few feet away, having just exited the nearby hut. A nervous expression dominated her pleasant features, and she leaned forward wringing her hands.

  "No… No, of course not," Ana said, glancing at the children. "I was just surprised to see children here.”

  The woman relaxed and smiled. She turned her gaze to them. "I wouldn't have the strength to leave them, Your Majesty. I think I would die before giving up my children."

  Ana frowned. "What do you mean? Why would you leave them at all?"

  The woman shrugged. "For some, shame from peers is to be avoided at all costs, but for others, it’s shame of self." She gave Ana a lopsided smile and turned to enter the hut, leaving Ana confused.

  "Wait," Ana raised a hand. "You called me princess, how do you know I'm the princess."

  She smiled. "It is obvious who you are." She gestured to Ana's hair. "You are unique in many ways, Your Majesty. We expected to see you here eventually."

  Ana stared at her. "You did?"

  The woman shot her a puzzled look. "Of course." She turned and made her way into the hut before Ana could think of anything else to say. The children’s yelling caught Ana’s attention, and she watched them as they dashed off again.

  Ana continued her journey through the village and was surprised how many people smiled or nodded at her, some outright greeted her warmly. It didn’t feel like when she usually visited a village—the people here didn’t want to talk to her beyond an initial friendly greeting. It was refreshing.

  She came across an opening in the edge of th
e village, where the dense wall of trees were exposed, and she took some time examining the trees and their network of branches. Her first impression had been right—there was no way anyone could physically go through it, at least not without causing themselves severe injury. Yet, there had to be a point where she and Maddoc entered. She couldn’t recall anything about it now—she'd been too distressed to notice. But it was something to think about. If she could find the entrance, then she could escape or find ways to come back with the full force of the crown.

  As midday approached, she noticed people gathering by the campfires that were dotted randomly around the base, stoking the fires and roasting or warming food. She passed one of the clearings as a large group were sitting down around the fire. "Princess Ana!” one of the men called. “Would you like to join us?"

  Ana paused and raised her palms, shaking her head. "I don't mean to disturb you. Please, enjoy your meal."

  "It's truly no problem, Princess," the young man said. "There is a rule ’ere that we all abide by, which is to offer a meal to anyone who chances to be passing by, even if they are heading toward their own camp."

  The rest of the people around the fireplace nodded and beckoned her, and their smiles were so warm, she couldn't find any reason not to stay. It wasn't as though she knew her way back, or that she had access to food.

  Ana headed to a space on the bench between the young man who had invited her and a young woman. Both looked to be about her age.

  They both beamed as she sat down, then grinned at the other people at the camp who also seemed excited by her presence. The chatter began again, this time all of them talking to each other as they passed bowls and plates around the fireplace.

  "We’re having a simple stew, Princess," a large Alpha with twinkly blue eyes called from the right of the fire from where she sat, his deep voice soaring over the small din. "But it was made by my Marjorie, and I can guarantee you is one of the best stews you will ever have."