Chapter Twenty-Three
Prince Reed, Heir of the Maiden Pack.
Just some fun. Bored. What a fucking lie, and I know Blackfire saw right through my words. I just wanted him off my back, just for one fucking moment, and it worked. Blackfire punched me again and stormed out of the kitchen. I deserve it because I’m actually just as out of control as he suspects. Slamming my head back against the wall, I once again ask the goddesses why they decided to introduce me to her in the middle of the Folkland and make her so…perfect.
I am completely obsessed with Meredith Crone, but how do I tell Blackfire that I am willing to risk every plan we have had in place for a hundred years for her? He is right. A hundred years weaving lies, making a secret army, working together in the shadows so we end up becoming alphas of our pack withoutsparking a war. There are so many lives on the line, and I’m about to blow it all up for Meredith.
What is more frightening is that I don’t care. I only care that she is happy, safe and most importantly—mine. I want to mark her with mate marks and marriage marks, and tell the entire world that she is mine. Mine. Mine. Fucking mine. My wolf growls in my head, its possessiveness rivalling my own, and he has never once tried to claim a female.
Fifty years ago, we got Orion on our side when his brothers died, but his path to being alpha is pretty much set already. Orion might be the prince no one wanted, but he is all they have left. They will hate him, but he will rule. When I go back home…I can’t take her with me without starting a war.
Whydon’tI care? I’m not the man who wants to begin a war, fight to the teeth, and drown in blood. But I would, for her. I’d fight anyone who dared to take her from me, and I’ve only kissed her once. One more taste and I’d be hers forever. Fuck, who am I kidding? I already am. She only has to look at me, and I want to drop to my knees and crawl to her. Beg her to let me have her, to see me, to love me.
Is this love? No wonder everyone is frightened of falling in love. It makes you lose your mind and be thankful for it.
I just cannot find anything in me to care about the consequences. The only thing I care about is the fact that she is not with me right at this moment, and it’s pissing me off how much I miss her when she isn’t right next to me. I told her I wanted to sleep in her room to keep her safe. The fucked-up truth is my wolf won’t leave her side and forces me to shift when I’m tired so he can be near her. I want to be near her constantly. I smell her everywhere, and she smells just like cinnamon and frost.
I need some air before I do something stupid. I rush outside, deciding that shifting and going for a run is the best way to workoff my frustration over the little human that has me completely tangled up. I was not lying when I held her in bed, when I told her about fated mates, and I should have told her I wish that she was mine. I know it is not true. Blackfire, Orion, and I went to the priest himself and asked him where our mates were. It was then he told us that our mates’ souls are gone. That we would never find our mates whole in this lifetime and that he couldn’t help us.
I will not be finding my mate because she is clearly dead. Neither will Blackfire nor Orion. It’s not unusual to find out mates are long gone or dead; it’s the way the world works, but that sting stayed with us all for a long time. I stopped caring about wanting anyone for myself…and now I do care. Way too much. I am starting to wonder whether, even if my fated mate walked straight up to me, would I be thinking of Meredith?
Likely. She doesn’t even know that I’m hers and I’m practically on my knees for her, begging for a taste.
I clutch the necklace around my neck—small bones hanging off it of the men I slaughtered for daring to touch her—before I shift, letting the magic weave over me, strings of bright blue bursting before my eyes before I am in my wolf form. My wolf takes over with ease, the two of us becoming one. I relax back in my mind, letting him smell the forest, run through the trees, and begin to hunt our dinner. But he does not go far; no, he stays close to the cabin.
Close to her.
I am not the only one with a near full-on addiction to her, and no matter how many times I fist my cock, it’s not enough. I yearn for just her smell. I yearn for just her voice as she talks to me. I yearn for anything that she will give me. Someone might call me pathetic for it, but I nearly felt like whimpering when she looked up at me in bed and asked me to distract her. I thought about kissing her lips first, tasting her once again, and then findingout if her pussy tastes like cinnamon too. How the scent of her screams at me when she is turned on. I know she would taste so fucking good, and I’d come from just one lick.
My wolf howls to the sky in frustration, and I try to change my thoughts. It doesn’t work. I remember the river, the fear in my chest when she dived in and didn’t come back up. I trained my magic to the edge of madness to stop the flow of the river and find her. I kissed her to save her life, but it was more than that. I kissed her because I fucking wanted to. Now that kiss is drilled into my mind. She was hands-down the best kiss I have ever had in my life. She tastes like she is fucking mine, and I cannot get her out of my head. I want to mark her so thoroughly that Blackfire stops looking at her, thinking he has a chance.
We have shared women before, all three of us have, many times, but this is different. I didn’t care about them. I feel like I will kill anyone who touches her, even if they are my best friends. I know Blackfire wants her for himself. I can pick up on the changes in his scent even if he is very good at hiding it.No. Mine.
My wolf stops in a rush of leaves and turns straight towards the forest. He runs right behind the back of the cabin, following a scent of darkness with a low growl. We aren’t alone. I come out to a small clearing, and there he is—her monster.
The creature is somewhat human-looking, apart from the grey skin and wings. I’ve spent twenty years of my life studying in the greatest academy in our world, and I have never seen anything like him. It should be impossible, but this thing is alive, and it is stalking my woman.
I shift back, crouching before standing up and watching him. He is not alone. Two other creatures just like him stand behind him, their faces shadowed under hoods, and it’s clear he is their leader. All three of them are as tall as me, trained and lethal, and armed with daggers on a strap. Sharp fangs hang from theirmouths, and I remember that this one bit Meredith. He will pay for that. No one gets to taste her.
The monster does not bother hiding his face. “What do you call ugly fuckers like yourself?”
He smirks in a cocky way that makes me want to shove my entire fist down his throat. “Gargoyles, the oblivion-cursed and—mostly importantly—hers. You should be on your knees, wolf, bowing to Meredith. Your true ruler.”
I laugh, grinning as I take a step closer. “You can bow to her, but I will be at her side. Now, tell me why you’re here and why you’re stalking her. I scent you around the cabin every night.” I take another step. “And I don’t like eating bats, but I will rip you apart if you go near her again.”
The gargoyle, a name I have never heard before, doesn’t so much as blink. There is an arrogance to him I’d maybe find likeable. If he weren’t following Meredith. “You locked her in a room, scared her, and I’m here to warn you not to do that again. I cannot kill you in this land…but I remember every slight against my queen.”
His queen. The flying bat fucker has to die. “Not your queen. Notyouranything.”
He moves. Fast. The bat is in my face in a second, using shadows to blend and move it through the air. It is almost like he blends with the shadows around him, slipping into them, and his fist slams into my jaw. I hear a snap, and I groan in pain as he breaks my jaw with one hit. I swing my arm out and hit his balls in the kilt he wears and flip myself over his back, smacking my foot into his back. He spins, eyes flashing black and silver, and I curl my hand. I’m not even going to use my powers to beat him.
This might actually be an interesting fight. There is a whistle, and he stops, like strings hold him in place. The gargoyle snarls, but he steps back from me. “To be continued, wolf.”
He disappears through the trees, into the shadows, and I turn to see his friends have left with him. After spitting out my mouthful of blood onto the ground, I click my jaw back into place with a snarl and walk through the forest, back towards the cabin. My feet pause in the treeline, and I look up at the window, sensing her.
Meredith is sitting on the window frame, her gold eyes staring across the forest. Her gold hair falls around her in perfect silky waves across her shoulders and, fuck, she is so beautiful. How she was untouched—left alone in a human district—makes no sense to me. Any wolf or male that came near her must have smelt how fucking delicious she smells, seen her beauty and dropped to their knees. She is so unusual. I have never seen anyone with hair as gold as hers, and her eyes are like liquid gold itself. I don’t know how long I watch her, time seems endless as I lose myself in her beauty, and eventually she climbs off the window seat.
Orion is leaning against the back door as I walk up. “Did you walk into a tree?”
