When I reported for duty at the kitchen the next morning, Astrid stiffly told me I wasn’t allowed to work in the kitchen anymore.“I’m sorry about your antiques. I had no –“ I tried to apologize to her but she screamed before I completed my sentence.“Get out of this kitchen, you incompetent fool! Your lackadaisical attitude has gotten to the prince and he doesn’t want you anywhere near the food he eats. Go! Just go!” She bent forward as if to take off her shoe so I exited the kitchen at the speed of light before the shoe came flying at my head.I pressed my back against the wall when I got out of the kitchen, tears stinging my eyes. I knew Valens wasn’t bothered about the work I did in the kitchen but his mind still wasn’t at peace with me working with the food he and his people ate. How would I make him believe it wasn’t my intention to poison him in the first place? If I came out now to say Skylar made me do it, he wouldn’t believe me because my words weren’t worth anything to him.
“Be careful with Valens,” Clover said once she pulled into a parking spot.“Why? What do you mean?” The ride had been silent until she turned up the radio halfway to our destination.“He is complicated.” As if I didn’t know that already. “He is not someone you question.” I frowned at that. It wasn’t as if I didn’t think or know that even.“I never questioned him,” I said to which she smiled.“Not directly but when I told you he wanted to see you this morning, you asked ‘what for?’ Valens isn’t a man you ask to explain himself.”I’d only asked on reflex. He’d never sought me out for anything before so I didn’t expect him to send his former lover to me out of the blue.“I didn’t mean it that way.” I was actually questioning her but I didn’t add that part.“And he’s also not someone you argue with.”“That’s unavoidable, isn’t it? We can’t live together forever without an argument.”“Oh, you’re argumentative.” She grinned as she said that. “Valens likes it when people agree with him but I
“I – he gave it to me!” I exclaimed when the store manager came out to see what caused the ruckus in his place.“What is the matter?” The man was a slim and tall man with a stern face and a sterner personality.“She’s trying to make a purchase with a stolen card!” People around exclaimed. The cashier handed him the card and once he saw the name on it, his brows went up. He looked from me to the card then his countenance turned ugly.“This is the prince’s card, omega.” The way he snarled my title made my wolf angry. “How did you get a hold of it?”“He gave it to me!” I snapped, feeling my heart race faster as I spoke. I didn’t want things to escalate further than they already had because I could see some phones coming out of pockets and more people trooping into the store.“Why would the prince give you his card?” One girl piped from behind“He probably told her to buy him something and she’s here to buy clothes for herself.”“Can you imagine the audacity?”Voices from everywhere raise
*VALENS*I watched as my mate walked out of my office and it took a great deal of control to restrain my beast from keeping her glued to my side. With each day that passed, I grew less and less concerned about her past behaviour.She seemed too innocent to have tried poisoning me or betraying me. The person she seemed to be was not the same person I’d known her as and I kept trying to remind myself that she was more than met the eyes.She’d worked her way into my life in a matter of weeks to the point where I couldn’t string two thoughts together without her intruding into one of them. She occupied my mind on a daily basis. I knew it was the mate bond doing all these but no matter how much I tried to separate what was real and what was a projection by the mate bond, it became harder each day. I didn’t know where my true feelings began and where the mate bond ended. It felt like everything blurred together into one.One thing was certain. Mate bond or not, I would readily tear down any
I turned in the cocoon of warmth around me, trying to burrow into it. It felt safe and comforting, as if it stood between me and something unpleasant. I pushed closer into the heat as it wrapped around me."If you keep moving, I'm going to assume you're trying to get something in you." The warmth moved but it felt as if it was pulling away."Don't move." I grabbed the warmth, stopping its escape."You're giving me orders?" Something tickled my cheeks as it pressed against my face."You talk too much. Let me sleep." I turned around to hug the warmth instead of having it hug me. I heard a deep chuckle as my cocoon vibrated. It was so unfamiliar yet familiar and soothing that it made me open my eyes.The room was dark and the cocoon around me was Valens."You're awake." The prince's words were calm as he pulled away from me. I reached out and grabbed his hands to stop him from leaving."Sorry," I apologized when he paused. I let go of his hand when I remembered the embarrassing situation
LUCIEN"Are you certain she would want to do this?" I asked Skylar while we waited for Clover. She had this master plan and I swore to help her through everything as long as in the end, I had my mate back in my arms.It felt like someone poured acid in my stomach yesterday when I watched her walk hand in hand with Valens. My wolf clawed at me and fought to get out but I promised Skylar I wouldn't do anything to blow our cover. I had to make it seem like I'd given up on her so Valens would take his eyes off me."I saw the look in her eyes when Valens arrived yesterday," Skylar replied, tucking her hair behind her ears. She looked subdued today. As if it only just dawned on her the hurdle we had to scale to get what we wanted.They'd gone public with their relationship. The next thing would be to make it official with a ceremony. If they went through that ceremony, they'd be bound together as mates and more."What look?" I asked her."The same look you have in your eyes. The look of som
Not everyone's mate takes them to the sparing ground and arms them with knives but mine had to be special. "If I came at you with a knife, is this how you'd defend yourself?" I kept my mouth shut to keep myself from drooling. If anyone came at me with a knife, they wouldn't have such a magnificent chest on full display to distract me. "What was that?" His brow raised. "What?" "What is it you said about my chest?" My eyes darted to his face in time to catch a flash of a smirk which made my heart sink. I took a step back, burying my face in my palms when I realized I'd said the words out loud. Mortification made me burn from the inside out."Am I distracting you?" His voice was thicker; perhaps from holding laughter or something else. "Oh no, it's just –" I took another step backwards and tripped on thin air. I flayed about for a second before strong arms caught me and pulled me to a magnificent, sweaty chest. "Fuuucck," He exclaimed and let me go almost immediately. I steadied a
The men carried the scent of the Alpha Pack but I had never set eyes on them before then. Valens came up behind me and the men echoed their greetings in loud, cheery voices that were far divorced from their scary, domineering builds. "Alpha! Luna!" The largest man in the group echoed, then he stepped forward and on instinct, I stepped backwards, leaning into Valens. "A hug?" The big man asked. "I thought we all agreed on not hugging strangers?" Jabari stepped out of the mall. I frowned when I realized I'd been so caught up with Valens that I barely paid attention to Jabari materializing at different places around the mall, almost as if he was following us. Or me. "The Luna is no stranger." The big man took a step forward and I pressed into Valens. He casually moved me to his side, his hand draped around my shoulders and his actions plainly telling the newcomer to back off. "I see how it is." The man chortled before taking a step back so that he fell in step with the other men who