The Long Night of Valor [2]

[TAMIKO]

"The night is still young, Gabriel. And frankly, I want a lot from you tonight, but first, shut down the mind links you three share with your pack. Oh, and I'll know if you don't, and I'll break more than just bones," Igor said and Gabe looked at the man like he was bonkers.

He could also see that Tamiko was constantly face-palming in silence, like he wasn't sure what Igor Konstantin was playing with them. It was like Tamiko was the only one that could calm down Igor, but even that seemed to be a long gamble.

However, with the opinions that they currently had, Gabe was more than willing to go with whatever worked first.

Igor was dangerous and he had targeted Gabe and his friends. It wasn't something that could go unnoticed and the impossible quest or mercy had long made itself known.

Oh, how Gabe wished he had a mind link with Tamiko at this moment. Maybe he would use it to try and plead for mercy and appeal, but that was not possible this time.

"Done,'' Gabe said as he looked at his best friends who were nursing broken bones. Granted, their wolves were trying their best to heal them, but there was only so much that they could do at the moment anyway.

"Fantastic. Also, which one would you prefer, running into the woods while I hunt you down, or the three of you building a better shelter for my Tamiko in less than three hours?" Igor asked and this time, Tamiko made a comment in Gabe's head.

'You're fucked, Gabriel Grealor.'

Gabe looked at his mate, and for the first time he wished he hadn't been so cruel to Tamiko over the years. There was something about Tamiko, something that Gabe should have taken note of when they had been on the same stage before, but right now it was too late.

It was too late for him to start appreciating how powerful his mate was. No one ever got Igor on their side that easily and Tamiko had done it in an instant. That, to Gabriel, was some sort of insane power move.

But what if it was just the dynamics of the heart that was taking the lead?

What if the only thing that they could do at the moment was to pray? Then what?

"What?" Zakhar asked, the reality hitting him that this was a near-impossible mission. Running around the words in this state was not going to be easy, especially with Igor Konstantin on their tails.

It was a failed mission from the onset but it wasn't like Igor cared about them. The warrior was too busy fawning over Tamiko to even think straight.

All he wanted was to see Tamiko happy and at the moment, Igor could only just hope that whatever punishment he gave the best friends was a befitting one, otherwise he would do whatever it took to make sure they never pushed Tamiko around again.

"Well, then, I guess you choose to be hunted," Igor said and he smiled at Tamiko.

"You'll have to stay here, my soul. I'll hunt them and shoot them down so it seems like they were hurt by the rogue hunters. Just wait for me, I promise, I won't be long," Igor said to Tamiko softly like he was scared Tamiko would leave.

Sure, Igor would find him and bring him back, but that wasn't what the mad warrior wanted. He had taken a liking to Tamiko, and wanted to be Tamiko's source of happiness and not worry anyway.

"Kosta—" Tamiko began but strangely enough, he was interrupted by his very sacred mate.

"We'll build a shelter. I'll even get supplies from the pack house,'' Gabe said with a trembling voice and Igor looked at him like he wasn't about to believe a word that came off of Gabe's mouth.

He was right not to though, because this man could change faster than anyone could.

"Why should I trust you? For all I know, you could be going to tell father dearest that the mad lycan is here in your lands," Igor said with a smirk, even though he wasn't the least bit threatened by any alpha.

He just didn't want the first day he had found Tamiko to be riddled with a lot of issues that wouldn't be beneficial for him and his newfound crush.

He wouldn't want to ruin that.

"I won't. I swear on Tamiko's life," Gabe said and this time, Tamiko was the one who let out a low, dangerous growl. He was warning Gabe not to do something stupid because if he did, then Tamiko would probably forget that he was a slave in the pack and embrace who he was.

As much as he had always wanted that, he had shit to fix and Gabe's face was one of them.

Maybe this was the perfect chance to beat his mate shitless, right?

'You know I could kill you and feel nothing, right?' Tamiko said to Gabe in the mind link, his tone so cold and full of threats.

When Gabe had shut off the mind links, he hadn't been able to shut the one that connected him to Tamiko, because Tamiko had refused to accept him as his mate and well, Tamiko didn't exactly want to be part of a pack that had fucked him up more than once anyway.

"Don't try that again. Anyway, get on with it. And this time, I need a big shelter for my Tamiko. One that is as comfy as the pack house. It shouldn't be that big, but it should be good enough for Tamiko.

"I'll be paying him frequent visits anyway," Igor said and Zakhar held back the urge to roll back his eyes.

Usually, Tamiko was always the slave, and yet right now, they were about to slave away for the man. Maybe he was lucky that Igor was on his side. Because otherwise, it would have been a whole different case, right?

For the rest of the night, Gabe and his friends struggled to build a shelter for Tamiko. Igor was supervising them harshly, and every creak that Igor had, meant that the boys would bring down the shelter and start over.

By the time they were done with the shelter, it was already morning, and Tamiko was sleeping softly in Igor's arms.

Igor had stayed awake the whole night, as he silently swore to protect his Tamiko.

He had made sure that the noise wasn't an issue and he had made sure that no matter what happened, everyone would eventually know that Tamiko was his and never to be messed with.

He didn't care what the people would say because he had found someone he would kill for. Sure, he always killed aimlessly because he felt like it, but this time, he had been pointed unknowingly in the direction of Grealor.

"We're done now. Can we go home?" Judd asked as he looked at his fingers that were hurting.

They had done a lot of work in the night, like they were slaves themselves. Honestly, if they had known that ruining Tamiko's little cabin could have landed them in so much trouble, they wouldn't have bothered.

But then these were lessons that they would have to understand well. In the night, Igor had made them go to the nearest shopping stores and buy the best household for Tamiko. It was like he was revamping the shelter and he was using Gabe and his friends to do it.

"If my Tamiko doesn't like it, you will have to start over again," Igor said nonchalantly, like he hadn't seen the boys suffer as they made the shelter.

"Him?" Zakhar asked angrily as he pointed at the young lycan who was safely in Igor's arms. They knew that they couldn't do shit to Tamiko right now, not when their fate was resting on the young Lycan's hands anyway.

"Yes. Him. Do you have a problem with that?" Igor asked daringly and the three best friends gulped thickly as they stared at the harmless yet very dangerous innocent in Igor's arms. They were fucked, and they didn't even need Igor to spell it out for them this time.

"Are we going to wait till he wakes up? Why don't you wake him up, man?" Judd asked frustratedly. He was sick of this and just wanted to go back home, to his mate, but then that didn't matter to Igor, and seemingly, this was all just a game to him.

"Yes, you have to wait for him to wake up. You owe him so many nights of beautiful sleep. I would shut up if I were you," Igor warned.