I thought.
I can see it in your eyes you don’t want him. Why don’t you call your precious council and have them send another witch out to talk with Astrid.”
He flinched at the accusation that he didn’t want Astrid or that he couldn’t take care of him. “Don’t pretend to know what I’m thinking and feeling. You don’t know me, so you have no right to pass judgment on me.”
“From what I hear, you’re a killer. You use your magic to get your desired outcome. You don’t care who you hurt as long as you get what you want.” Miles pulled against his mate’s hold.
“I’m not an innocent, but this world needs people like me to clean up the messes others would rather soon ignore. Without men like me, chaos reigns down on your precious little world. I’ve seen things I would rather soon forget, but I can’t because if I do, people die.”
“Whatever you have to tell yourself so you’re able to sleep at night, but I won’t allow you to mate with Astrid, and by god I will not let you take him from us. We’re his family. We’re the ones who are helping him pick up the pieces of his life. You’ve no clue how he’s suffered. No clue.”
His chest puffed with every breath. This man had the ability to anger Klaus like no one had before, and that was saying a lot since they’d just met. They continued to stare at one another in silence.
Klaus couldn’t help but wonder what Miles meant by “suffering.”
Benedict told him that the young witch had been held prisoner for over a hundred years, but he didn’t give any details.
“Miles, calm down. You cannot tell him he can’t mate Astrid. It’s not our decision.” Ben turned Miles to face him. Klaus’s heart ached at the closeness the men displayed. “I love Astrid just as much as you Astrid’s Wish
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do, and I would rather cut off my own arm than see any harm come to him, but this doesn’t involve us.”
“But…”
Ben held up his hand. “No buts, babe. This is Astrid’s decision just as much as it’s Klaus’s.”
“How do you expect Astrid to know what all”—Miles waved his hands around frantically—“this means. He doesn’t know what being a mate is, and the only type of sex he has experienced was forced upon him. He’s too fragile to deal with all this right now.”
Klaus’s head snapped up. “What do you mean “forced” on him?
What exactly has he been through?” He wanted to know but was afraid to hear.
Miles’s eyes started to water at the corners. It took him a few minutes before he could speak. Whatever had happened to Astrid must have been really bad.
“I thought my father told you what happened to Astrid? Didn’t the old man give you a report?” Ben asked.
“He did, but not a lot of details since no one has even spoken to Astrid yet. All I know is that his mother sold him to Malcolm when he was thirteen, and they raised him from that point on until he came to live here.”
“Raised? That isn’t what I would call it.” Miles swiped a hand across his cheek. “He was beaten daily by Lucian. But that isn’t the worst. The worst is that Lucian also raped Astrid as often as Malcolm would allow.” Miles’s voice cracked on the last bit, and he started to cry.
The heart beating in his chest threatened to stop. The blood in his veins ran ice-cold. Astrid had been raped. Not once but several times.
His lungs screamed in agony for breath, but Klaus forgot how to breathe. The torture the young witch had endured must have been horrific. It was nothing if not miraculous he survived to tell the tale.
“Baby, don’t cry. We need to be strong for Astrid’s sake.” Ben hugged Miles close and kissed the top of his head.
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Klaus’s knees gave out, and he fell into the chair. Why had fate been so cruel? No one’s life was perfect, but there wasn’t even a chance for perfection with Astrid. It made sense now why Astrid was frightened of him. The things he must have endured in the past