Chapter 0003

Neil & Raven

Neil

My senses had to have been deceiving me.

This woman was my mate? This… frail, skinny little thing was the one who was tied to my soul?

I almost laughed out loud at the notion.

“It’s true,” I felt my wolf’s familiar voice echo inside of my skull. “She is our mate. Can’t you feel it?”

I released the girl’s face and turned away. “You must be confused by her scent. Her kind wears that strange perfume that clouds the senses; there is no way she can be my fated mate.”

My wolf huffed. “Whatever perfume she may have worn was washed off in the ocean. Do not question me. You know I have never been wrong in my judgment.”

Frowning, I folded my arms across my chest and glanced over at the girl. She was so unlike the women from my country—the strong, sexy, curvy Lycan women that I preferred to indulge in.

This girl… She was pale. Skinny. Not an ounce of muscle on her frame. She had wide enough hips, good for birthing I supposed, but her low body fat made her breasts small. And she must have done something to her hair, too, because that color could not have been natural for someone of her complexion.

And I didn’t even want to think about her attire.

How does one even move in pants so tight? Everything about the way she dressed seemed purely decorative, from the ridiculous little shirt to the skinny pants and the long, pink fingernails.

“No,” I said out loud. “You cannot be my mate.”

The girl scoffed and folded her own arms across her chest, mirroring my stance. “The feeling is mutual.”

“Good.” I walked over to the door and knocked, indicating to my subordinate that this interrogation was over. “Then I believe we are done here.”

The door swung open, and my broad-shouldered guard—Castor—strode in. “Take her back to her cell,” I growled, jerking my chin toward the girl.

The girl’s arms fell back to her sides, her face going even more pale than before—if that was even possible. “But I told you I’m not a spy!” she protested. “I just want to go home!”

I ignored her cries as Castor threw her thrashing body over his shoulder and carried her away.

Once they were gone, I shook my head and headed down the hall, where a skinny young male with a shock of red hair waited for me. Eric—one of my oldest friends and another member of my retinue.

“Any sign of Serena yet?” I asked as we pushed through the door and out into the bright afternoon sun. The courtyard was bustling with people this time of day, vendors peddling various wares and children running about beneath the shade of thick trees. A ball came rolling my way, and I gave it an idle kick back to a group of kids as Eric and I made our way past.

“Not yet,” Eric said, running a hand through his red hair. “I suspect it has something to do with the conflict near her pack.”

I pursed my lips. She should have been here by now—conflict be damned.

“This is important,” I growled.

Eric sighed. “I know. We’re doing our best to keep an eye out for her.”

“Well, try harder.”

My subordinate’s face flushed somewhat at that. Truthfully, I wasn’t mad at him—but Serena, my fianceé, needed to be here. And fast; because without a proper female companion by my side at my father’s sixtieth birthday celebration, I would not be eligible for my inheritance.

“We’ll find her,” Eric said, offering me a tiny, tentative smile. “Before the feast.”

I merely grunted in response.

…

Raven

I sighed as I stared down at the plate of untouched food in front of me—an apple, a heel of bread, and a few slices of hard cheese. It looked edible, albeit not the usual thing I’d eat back home, but I still refused to eat it.

I’d been sitting in this cell for hours now. A guard had come to bring me this meal, but that was it.

Mate…

I didn’t want to believe that that… brute could be my fated mate. The ‘Prince of the Lycans’, or so they said. Never in my wildest dreams had I ever thought that a Lycan might be my mate. They were so far removed from our world, so cut off from us despite sharing our ancestry, that I’d never even considered it to be possible.

My wolf had gone back to sleep after recognizing him, unfortunately, so I couldn’t question whether she was mistaken or not. But he seemed to have recognized me as his mate as well, so it might not have been a mistake after all, no matter how badly I wanted it to be.

I wasn’t sure how much longer I was sitting there before I heard footsteps again. Great, I thought as I saw that hulking guard step into view again. Another interrogation.

“Alright, alright,” I said, holding my hands up as the guard opened my cell door. “I’m coming. No need to toss me over your shoulder like a sack of potatoes this time.”

We followed the same path back up to that room, just as before. Only this time, the guard glanced at me over his shoulder.

“You didn’t eat.”

I curled my lip at him. “Why would I eat your food? Maybe it’s poisoned.”

He didn’t reply to that, just huffed and turned back around. I stuck my tongue out at the back of his head and continued following him up the steps.

Once again, I was taken to that same interrogation room from before. I walked in without needing to be shoved this time.

“Like I said before, I’m not a sp—”

My words cut off as I saw what was waiting for me.

Neil was there, of course, in that fur cloak again, black hair cascading down his shoulders and almost blending in with the black fur on the cloak’s collar. But it wasn’t him who I was looking at.

It was the extra cloak that was folded up on the table.

“This is for me?” I found myself asking.

Neil merely shrugged. “You seemed cold last time. Maybe a bit of warmth will make you finally tell me the truth.”

Ah. There it is.

I folded my arms across my chest and stuck my chin out. “I already told you the truth.”

“Is that so?” The Lycan prince cocked his head, causing his silky dark hair to slither across his shoulder. “And you expect me to simply believe you? How do I know that this so-called ‘mate bond’ of ours wasn’t concocted by your country to try and manipulate me?”

Throwing my hands up in the air, I said, “Are you kidding me? As if I’d ever want to fake a mate bond with someone like you.”

Neil pulled his shoulders back, puffing his chest out. “Funny. One would expect a delicate little petal such as yourself to be glad to have a mate who’s a prince of the Lycans. Did your employer tell you to pretend like you don’t want me? Figured it would strike a nerve and make me open up to you?”

I couldn’t help but laugh. “First of all, there is no ‘employer’. And second, I’m not pretending.” I took a step closer, speaking slowly, enunciating each word. “I. Don’t. Want. You.”

“Ha. We have a comedian in our midst,” Neil retorted, stepping toward me as well. “I see the way your breasts heave when you look at me. Even now, your pupils are dilated. I can practically smell the lust on you.”

“Wishful thinking,” I growled in response, closing the distance further.

By now, we were mere inches apart, just as we had been when our wolves had recognized one another. I willed my fangs to drop again, but it was still no use—my wolf was too weak, too exhausted from the whole ordeal to even pick up Neil’s scent.

“If only I’d drowned in the ocean today,” I murmured, my words laced with venom. “Then I never would have had to find out that my fated mate is a barbarian.”

The prince’s eyes flashed. Suddenly, he was on me—caging me against the stone wall, palm pressed into the rocks above my head, nostrils flaring. I must have struck a nerve.

“How dare you,” he hissed. “Perhaps I should reject you this instant.”