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Arthur laughed as the others groaned.

“Well, I for one am very happy,” Harpy said. “We can never have too many of us non-royals there to help keep these princes grounded.”

“Um,” Arthur said, biting his lip. “I am a prince myself.”

Myve’s tower of pancakes chose that moment to tumble down on the table, but she didn’t even notice, too busy gaping at Arthur. “Really?”

He nodded. “That was why I kept away for so long. I was betrothed to a king from a neighboring kingdom.”

“Ugh,” Ryn grimaced with disgust. “We hate those arranged marriages. They should be made illegal by The Magic.”

“Well, we don’t know if it was arranged or not,” Jamie said pointedly.

Ryn’s eyes widened. “Oh! Were you like, in love with this king?”

And so, we told them everything.

Chapter Eleven

Sadly, I didn’t have any classes with Arthur on our first day as mates, but I did get to eat lunch with him and my family. They’d all welcomed him like I knew they would, making him feel like he was a part of our little family almost instantly. The fact that Arthur hadn’t made any friends here saddened me, but he’d told me it was to protect them and himself. He truly feared just having friends could hurt them. I hadn’t asked him any further questions about his upbringing, but it was clear he wouldn’t miss anyone.

“You ready?” Arthur asked, holding out his hand for me. We’d just finished dinner and were about to leave for the forest. I was extremely giddy about shifting to his hedgehog form and he in turn was excited to shift into a bigger animal. The others waved goodbye as we left the dining hall. Arthur’s fingers laced with mine as we slowly made our way to the forest, enjoying our time together.

“Maybe we should start with your form?” he suggested, letting me lead him further into the forest.

“I’m fine with that,” I grinned, feeling so damn excited.

The open clearing I’d envisioned this happening in, was just a few steps in front of us. The sun’s rays were shining down on the vibrant grass in the middle as the trees stood around us in a perfect circle, their leaves rustling gently in the wind.

“This is beautiful!” my handsome mate exclaimed, eyeing the huge trees with awe.

“I still can’t believe others don’t visit this place. It’s so close to the school, yet I’ve never seen another student here before.”

“They could visit when you aren’t here, you know,” he teased.

“No,” I said, shaking my head. “No scent has ever been here, just mine.”

“Seriously? You can smell that well?”

I nodded. “Something you can now do as well.”

He smiled wide. “Can we shift now? I don’t think I can wait a second longer.”

Grinning, I shifted in front of him, allowing my bear form to take over. I almost tumbled over as the scent of sweet apples hit me harder than ever before. Arthur was the best damn smelling thing in the whole world. I would bet my life on that fact.

I rushed forward, sniffing him. He stood frozen, eyes wide as he let me scent mark him, rubbing against his clothes and trying to get pets. I almost knocked him over because I got too excited. He laughed, righting himself, then he shifted. A brown bear, an exact match to my own blinked in front of me, eyes wide as he took in the scents around him. He then nuzzled my head and neck, scenting me back.

We stood there, just rubbing against one another for minutes until I found myself on my back, Arthur on top of me, a wicked look in his eyes. And that was how we began rolling around on the grass, each of us overpowering the other as we just played and had fun. Two bear mates finally meeting.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been this tired before,” Arthur groaned as I washed him with a small towel. We’d been playing for hours in our bear forms and it wasn’t until night had fallen we’d remembered ourselves and rushed back. We’d needed a bath, so even with the late hour, we were now soaking and resting, our muscles sore from the fun we’d had.

“I’m a little sad we didn’t get to shift to our hedgehog forms,” I admitted.

“We can do that before bed if you want?” he offered. “I love sleeping in that form.”

“That actually sounds lovely,” I smiled, running my hand up and down his arm, unable to stop myself from touching him.

“I have a question,” he began.