My Stubborn Soul Mate

Miguel's POV

To say that I was disappointed was an understatement. I obviously failed to kill myself and Paul had moved locations are re-caged me. The cage was much larger but it was still a cage. The only thing I was happy about is this new location didn’t resemble a lab at all. I looked around and realized that some a bed and chair were also in the cage with me.

I suddenly had this awful feeling in the pit of my stomach that Paul was up to something far worse than what he had done in the lab. Why else would he put a bed in the cage with me? I wasn’t going to allow him to use me that way again. I wouldn't hurt Tara that way again. I looked around for ways to either escape or finish what I had started in the lab.

After rejecting several idea's I finally decided my best opportunity would be breaking apart the bed and lodging one of the pieces of steel through my worthless heart. I lifted myself on my back paws and slammed my large body into the bed. To my surprise it held. I lifted myself on my rear paws again and slammed into the bed. Again it held, I threw back my head in rage and roared my frustration and anger out. I moved towards the bed again with the intention of shredding the mattress with my claws and teeth.

I had taken no more than two steps when the most beautiful female I had ever laid eyes on walked into the room. Something was very different about her, and then I realized she smelled of both wolf and vampyre and most importantly she smelled like the jungle after a long cleansing rain. This woman was my true mate.

I allowed myself to take in everything about her. From her warm shoulder length brown hair, to her chocolate eyes that had gold sparkles flaring off within it. I was mesmerized by everything about her including her full but sensually soft lips. She was perfect.

I found myself shifting into my human form without really knowing why. I guess some part of me wanted her to see me the way I was seeing her. I felt my cells vibrate as I shimmered between forms then finally settled on human.

I watched her eyes widen and her pupils enlarge for just a moment. That’s when I remembered what Paul was capable of. What he could make me believe. What I could be capable of under his influence. I recalled the last time I thought a woman was my true mate. I suddenly remembered the truth from the lies and how badly I’d hurt her.

She was not my mate, and chances are the female before me is also not my mate. This is another one of Paul's sick and twisted mental games. He wanted me to hurt another woman and get her with child. I was on to him this time, I would not fall victim to him again.

I turned away from the female and moved to the bed. I climbed under the covers and squeezed my eyes shut. I wanted to think about how I had hurt Tara so that I would be able to fight Paul and his powers. If I held onto the truth of what happened last time he wouldn’t be able to do it again.

FLASH BACK

I watched as they drug her in kicking and screaming and threw her into the centre of the camp. I remember her scent drifting up to me. It was clear she was in heat and the smell of her heat was driving me and every male in the camp wild. Her cat fought for its freedom with wild abandonment.
Elder Paul and several others had approached me and beseeches me to consider blood bonding with her. I was the dominant male in this were-cat pride it was their Leo. As a Leo and as a male that was still capable of fathering cubs, I felt as though I could have the pick of the litter and yet the elders wanted me to blood bond with her.

Being capable of having children was a big deal to my people. Prior to them finding Tara it was thought there were no females that were still capable of producing offspring. However in order to have children we either had to be true mates or had to establish a blood bond. Knowing what it would have meant to my people I wouldn’t have minded having sex with her in an attempt to make offspring, but the elders were insistent on a blood bond. Once I blood bonded with her we would be unable to bed other were-cat. I would no longer be able to choose when and with whom I had sex instead we would be driven by the mating ceremony and her heat.

I remember clearly declining even going so far as to say terrible things about hurt and abuse. Things that the elders of my people would never allow to happen. Our females were always treasured and to have a female capable of having offspring would have made her even more precious. No elder would want any harm to come to her.

I remember him saying that he would leave it alone and give us time to get to know each other better without pressure. Then he left to help her to turn into her human form. I turned with the intention of heading towards my home when I heard her cat sheik with pain. By then, Elder Paul must have already put the whammy on me because when I looked down at Tara’s human form I remember thinking she was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen.

She had the most exquisite characteristics. She was tall for a woman of the were-cat species with a slender waist, long neck and raven black hair. I found myself almost mesmerized by her soft gentle face that had firm supple lips and the largest doe shaped bright blue eye.

I had actually thought she had to be my true mate. I felt my heart skip a beat then begin to beat a little faster. My pulse sped and my blood rushed. I smiled and realized I would be a fool not to blood bond with my true mate. I rushed back to my home to shower and prepare for the ceremony. I knew my true mate was perfect for me.

By the time I returned for the ceremony my mate was cleaned and smelled of fresh wild flowers. She was magnificent. I walked towards the centre of the camp where she waited for me to complete the bond. I looked into her crystal blue eyes and felt my pulse quicken with anticipation of the bond.
I held the ceremonial knife in my hand and reached forward and made a small shallow cut in my mates arm. Then I sliced a long thin one across my own arm. I wanted to be sure that I would bleed enough to create the bond quickly.

I leaned in and placed his mouth on my mate’s arm I carefully lapped up the blood and swallowed. I could feel her fear and wanted to help her so I gently placed my hand on the back of her head and guided her to my arm. The moment my mate tasted my blood she became confident and immediately accepted me as mate.

Since she was in her heat, she became feisty and I needed to quickly remove her from prying eyes and take her to my home so that we could satisfy her body’s needs. I had thought we’d made love multiple times that night. I even somehow believed that she initiated every single one of them.
None of that however happened the way I thought it did. In fact, not long after her vampyre soul mate saved her from us. I started to realize that something was wrong. How could a female that had been raised in the wild agree to anything? How did she tell me she wanted me to make love to her? The more I questioned myself the clearer the truth became in my mind. I realized I had been a monster that forced myself on her for the sole purpose of breeding.

There had been no mutual pleasure, I hurt Tara and stole her innocence. I deserved to be punished and killed. I had no right to happiness or life. She was an innocent young female were-cat that should have been treasured and loved and I abused her. I allowed a weaker were-cat to enter my mind and control me.

I was a Leo and should have been stronger and smarter. I deserve all the pain and suffering I get; Tara had deserved none of it. This time however Paul wouldn’t fool me. I knew better, the woman was either Tara again and he was tricking me or she was another female that he wanted to ruin. Either way, I would cut off my own body parts before I ever hurt another woman that way.