The Alpha's Temptation

Taiyi entered the tent that was built for her with a whirlwind of emotions. The fact that Felis had kept her identity under wraps, moved her. Memories flashed across her mind of the day she had to leave him.

When she had last seen him, she was nursing him. He had opened his beautiful raven black eyes to see her as he grabbed her breasts with his tiny hands to suckle her.

At that time, she couldn't believe that Ukdah would take him away from her. While she was nursing, she came to know from a maid that her father had attacked the Hydra Kingdom and that she had to run. Her maid helped her run away to the border. Taiyi had swaddled her child into a fur before taking him out. Felis had slept after a good feed. Taiyi had bundled him across her chest before mounting the horse. The maid had followed them when they galloped across the kingdom to reach the borders.

Just before she was about to cross, Ukdah had come from somewhere in his wolf form. His tall dark gray wolf stood right in front of her horse, scaring it. The horse reared and Taiyi fell from it. But she wrapped her arms around Felis in order to save him.

Ukdah attacked the maid first and in a split second, he had ripped her head off her neck. Taiyi shrieked as she ran towards the border where her father's army was waiting for her. However, she couldn't reach there because Ukdah had come after her.

He grabbed her neck easily and growled as he pressed his naked body against her, "I won't let you go, Taiyi. You are my bride. And how dare you take my son with you. He is mine!"

"Let me go, Ukdah!" She had struggled against him. It was difficult for her to use her magic because she had just delivered and her energies were at an all-time low. If she used her magic, it would affect her child's breast feeding. "I swear I will never return to you! I hate you!"

"It doesn't matter whether you hate me or not, Taiyi," Ukdah said and he picked her up. "I will never allow you to leave Hydra Kingdom." He started to take her back.

Taiyi cried at her fate as she screamed at him. Baby Felis started crying as he clutched his mother for protection.

Suddenly, her father appeared. He called Ukdah from behind. Before Ukdah could turn, Izo had shot arrows on his back. Ukdah let out a ferocious snarl but didn't let them go. However, after the second arrow pierced him, his grip loosened and he dropped Taiyi. Ukdah grasped his son from her and snatched him away. He ran from there extremely fast, disappearing into the darkness of the night, stealing her child away. She had screamed at him, but Izo had dragged her away from there.

--

"Would you like to eat something?" Felis asked, snapping Taiyi out of her reverie.

She blinked away the tears and nodded lightly.

Felis went out of the tent, his chest constricting with his own emotions. He ordered for food and then slowly walked back in. He pulled a chair and sat opposite to his mother at a distance. They both were silent for a long time, each dealing with their own questions and emotions.

After a long time, Taiyi said, "The last I saw you was when you were a few days old..."

"I know," he replied immediately.

Taiyi gulped her emotions and the back of her throat pained. "Who looked after you after-- after I was gone?" She knew that Ukdah was always never at Hydra. He was mostly training his soldiers or traveling to other realms.

"A nursing maid..."

Taiyi pursed her lips and nodded. "Where is she now? I would like to pay my gratitude to her."

"My father killed her once her purpose was over," he replied. The real reason why Ukdah killed her was because Felis was growing attached to her.

Taiyi pressed her mouth with her hands and then tears came unbridled. "I am so sorry I couldn't save you from him."

"But you could have stayed... for me..."

Taiyi looked away. She had no answer to that. A servant brought the food and Taiyi wiped her tears. She didn't want to show her feelings to anyone.

Felis sent away the servant and served her food in a trencher. He piled salted and fried fish wrapped in a leaf along with wheat bread. Taiyi took it from him and thanked. She really didn't want to eat, having lost her appetite.

She chewed some fish and said, "Your father wasn't-- wasn't very good with me..."

Felis barely touched his food. "I know..." he said with a sigh. "I know you hated him."

"I still hate him," she added. "He shouldn't have done what he did." A shudder passed through when she remembered what he did to her.

Felis kept his food away. His father had made sure, ingrained in his mind that women could only be used as breeders and nothing else. And that was what he was following all these years. Yet he didn't know why it was that when his mother said it loud, he hated the practice. But... Felis had come a long way. It was not possible to change himself or his people. He was what he was. A monster created by his father.

"There were a few things I wanted to ask you, Mo--" He pressed his lips, as his eyes became wide and he looked at his mother. He wanted to address her as his mother.

Taiyi chuckled. "You can call me Mother. I am your mother."

A semblance of a smile appeared on his lips. "I don't want others to--" He shook his head.

Taiyi snapped her fingers and the tent got surrounded by thick mist. "You forget that I am a sea goddess. No one can listen to us." She smiled and said, "Now ask away whatever you want to. It will remain between me and you."