Bound by fate, destroyed by choice

♤

Power is everything and with it, things get done without fail.

That is why after two centuries of coming to this land for a fresh start, I still remain king of all Demihumans. Even those who oppose me, stay in check.

Until she came stumbling in my life.

♤♡◇♧

♧

Love is the strength you need to keep going. It's that joyful feeling in your heart that makes everything look so beautiful.

That has always been my thoughts until I stumbled upon the most fearful feline creatures known to mankind on the deepest part of the Daybreak Forest.

Although, that wasn't even the scary part. The most unrealistic and terrifying thing was to watch how a panther shifted into a tall gruff man. With disbelief, I stared at the naked

man before me, and amidst my confusion, the man knocked me unconscious; turning everything black and taking me to the unknown.

♤♡◇♧

♤

When I came to this land, away from my homeland located on the other side of the world, it was to forget everything about my past that had happened. To forget the face of the woman I loved. The same woman that betrayed me. The same woman that killed my entire family, making my kind, the snow leopards demihumans extinct.

I had managed to cloud my past and store it in the depths of my memory until this day.

My most trusted informant had notified me of an intruder on my domain, but I never would have guessed it was a young human with the same face as that woman who had betrayed me. All that pain came rushing back with her presence.

♧

As the gruff man put me down, he removed the blindfold with too much force than necessary. Once I adjusted to the light, a beautiful man with honey-gold eyes, strong and demanding posture was sitting atop an altar-like platform looking directly at me. His expression was that of hatred mixed with disbelief.

Before I could finish processing, he spoke in a very domineering manner. "Who is this harlot?"

My blood boiled. "Is that how you treat women? Then you are no more than a barbarian from the stone age."

"Feisty one."

He rose from his seat and in the same instant, the gruff man along with another grabbed my arms.

The man kept approaching and once he was within reach, he grabbed my chin firmly.

"Why where you trespassing?"

"That is my own business." His grip tightened; his eyes locked with mine searching for other answers than those he was asking.

"Do you even know who you are standing up against, little kitten?"

"Yes, of course. A barbarian brute who doesn't know how to treat women."

"I was considering showing you mercy seeming you are just a human." He lowered his face so that our eyes would be at the same level. "Now I won't. I will break your spirit first. Amuse me, little kitten."

♤♡◇♧

♧

The first few weeks the "King" of these Demihumans, Alaric Stavros, had made me doubt my life a couple of times. The thing is, getting under his skin and defying him was much more satisfying than I thought, for some reason.

At first, every time I would bicker he would take away my food portions, increase my workload in his hub from the most basic tasks of stocking liquor for the night and serving at the bar area to cleaning all the blood and body parts of, what Alaric calls, the Martyrdom Room.

Now? I was only doing simple serving jobs at the bar and, at times, he would command I stay by his side. Those moments didn't last, of course. Even so, I enjoyed those moments a lot more than it would seem.

♤

While sitting at my throne I could see Althea Melisande serving my men by the bar area.

In the first weeks, I couldn't bear the sound of her name as it was the exact same as that woman. Even her voice, her green emerald eyes, her lips, the curves of her body, even the phew freckles on her cheeks and the mole beneath her left eye was the same.

I was going crazy, but I couldn't stop looking at her. She was driving me mad with lust and at the same time, I hated her for being the reincarnation of that woman.

I admit those were my reasons for giving her tough chores at first. Until I heard her mourn the dead from the Martyrdom a few nights ago in her room. My heart ached for the first time, in what felt like, forever.

After that, I told her to just tend to the bar. For some reason, just watching her interact with other men angers me, even more so watching her get drunk along with them.

♧

Working at the bar isn't so bad. These tough-looking Demihumans are actually more trustworthy than most humans. I think.

The man that brought me here, the black panther, invited me to sit at his table for a while to listen to his stories. He was the right-hand man of Alaric.

In his drunken gruff voice, he told me a phew dumb stories about the phew encounters of trespassers and then he stayed staring at me for some reason, keeping silence. Then after a while, he spoke again. "You look a lot like the princess. More like, you are the exact copy of her, except the part of being a black leopard."

"What happened to her? I keep being compared to this princess."

"She...got what she deserved."

"That's pretty dark."

"What can I say. She did a heartless thing; especially to Alaric."

"Is that why he keeps changing his mind about me?"

"Exactly. It must be hard on him too, you know."

"Sure. It is so hard to keep staring me in an I-want-to-kill-you-where-you-stand way."

"Little human, you—"

"Althea. Don't keep calling me names. My name is Althea. Don't look so sour. I heard that this princess also had the same name."

"That's right."

"Then...call me Thea."

Right then, a drunkard hit our table, startling me. "Hoarding the little human to yourself, Donovan?"

The black panther, which I just learned his name is Donovan, didn't look at the man, only spoke and kept his eyes on his glass. "Go away, Shawn."

"Or what?" The drunk man was about to grab my hair, to pull me towards him, is my guess; instead, the sound of bones breaking could be heard. His bones. The ones that were in his hand that was reaching towards me.

When I look a little more towards my left, Alaric was standing there. His hand squeezing even harder the drunkard's hand. "Don't. Touch. My. Property."

"Fine, let me go already!"

"Get out."

The poor man didn't think twice and left hurriedly without much balance to go faster than his stumbling.

"Oh, so now you pretend to care what happens to me? That was unnecessary."

Alaric didn't say anything against my quip, which was very odd. He would usually start waving his power over my fragile human face. "Follow me."

"What? No. I'm staying here."

To my surprise, again, he smiled at me in the most handsome way I have ever seen him. "Don't blame me if another drunk assault you." With that said, he left.

♤

"What am I doing?"

I kept asking myself for more than an hour after leaving the bar. The sight of her talking to another man was making me mad, but the thought of someone hurting her drove me insane.

A moment later, there was a knock on my chamber door. To my surprise, Althea was standing there, fidgeting with a pale silver ring on her index finger.

"I... apologize. For earlier. I should have thanked you but instead I just—."

That is a first. Is what I thought.

♧

Too nervous to keep talking, I stopped fidgeting with my ring and looked at Alaric in the eyes. His poker face revealing nothing. "Is that all?” He closed that distance between us, only a breath away, his lips inches away from mine, his hand touching lightly my chin.

"That was all I came to say." I felt like he was stealing away my breath.

"Don't defy me again or the next time you will hear your bones break." With that said he pulled away and slammed the door.

♤♡◇♧

♤

What am I doing?

That question hasn't left my mind lately.

After what I almost did last night, I had been avoiding to see Althea, but it was not too hard to do when she was in reality taken hostage hours later.

My most loyal man, Donovan, had just returned covered in blood after fighting off the people who had kidnapped her.

"How exactly did they get in without notice?"

"I can't say how only who did it."

"Please tell me and add a reason to not think that I need a new right-hand man."

"It was Shawn. He was working as a spy for the resistance."

Rage was too short of a word to describe how immense it was. "Where?”

"Northwest from here, there's a warehouse."

"I'll head there first. Round the strong and fast, try to catch up." I shift to my leopard form and headed to the warehouse as fast as I could in hopes that she was unharmed.

♤♡◇♧

♧

Great. I got kidnapped. After Alaric slammed his door in my face and I left, my memory of what happened afterward was a blur. When I came to, I was tied up to a chair. By the mention of the men that come and go, I was unconscious for almost an entire day. They were hoping to lure the King, meaning it to be Alaric, but I doubt it would work by his constant behavior towards me.

Proving me wrong, a snow leopard, bigger than an average one, broke through the iron doors of the place I was taken, hostage. I could only assume it was him. Even as he was killing every man in his path his animal form looked so beautiful and majestic. Fit for a King.

Once he noticed his men arrived and handled my kidnapers, now in their respective animal forms, Alaric slowly approached me, still in his leopard form. With his sharp claws, he cut all the ropes that were tying my hands and feet to the chair.

“Thank you.” I stood in front of him admiring his animal form before his bones started to break and rearrange until he was in human form.

He then touched my cheek and stared into my eyes, for the first time, I could see his emotions crystal clear on his own golden eyes. Fear. Worry. Regret. He was an open book.

Not holding back any further he kissed me as passionately as he could, taking my breath away.

♤

Once our lips part, I stare at Althea once more as she catches her breath.

Stealing her attention once more I said: “I love you.” Her emerald eyes were wide open staring in disbelief.

I place my hand on her chest, feeling her heart beating as fast as it could.

♧

His hand revealed his claws and I felt my chest begin to cave in, bones breaking slowly where his hand is pressed against my chest.

♤

Her expression fills with betrayal, horror, and grief as she realizes that her pain is no longer emotional.

♧

As I take my last breath he whispers to me with pain in his eyes. “But love is a weakness.”

♤

Tears streamed her cheeks before her body fell lifeless to the ground; her heart beating for the last time in my hand. “Let us meet in another lifetime where I am no longer King.”