{ Asheron }I'm honestly surprised by the way Cain took most of that conversation without making a big drama out of it or trying to punch me. He knows I'm right, even if he doesn't like it. And he must know I have good intentions to help him, even if he's my competition."So… what if we watch a movie?" I offer because both Georgie and Cain look are weird after that last comment she made. And I don't want to spend the whole day with these two looking like sad puppies, "Or some of those shows you like, babe? There must be a lot of new ones.""Oh my god, you haven't seen anything in six months, right?" she exclaims, suddenly remembering I was in a coma. I nod, "There are so many movies you would like. I saved all of them and didn't watch them because I knew I would have a mental breakdown if I did. There are also so many new episodes of the housewives show I like. God, it got so juicy.""You both watch those?" Cain laughs, looking at me as if he's making fun of me, "Me too.""Let's go th
Someone knocks on the door as we're making plans for the wolf run tomorrow, so I walk to the door to open it and let a worker carry our suitcases into the room."I'll show you your designated rooms later, but I want you to get comfortable for our lazy day," she says and kicks off her sandals to get into bed. Then she just... watches us, "Go ahed."Cain opens one of his suitcases and starts looking for comfortable clothes, so I do the same thing. Georgie finds the remote for her tv and starts looking for something to watch, but I can feel that her eyes on us while Cain undresses without any care in the world. He's actually smiling, as if he knows he has Georgie's attention.I'm not going to let him win, so I unbutton my shirt and take it off, then I continue with my shoes and pants. But as soon as I’m down to my boxers, Georgie gasps in horror. Right, I forgot I look different now."Oh, no," she says with a worried tone and gestures for me to come closer to her on the bed so she can
{ Cain }It felt good to spend most of the day in my wolf form. I let him take control and do his thing, running around with his mate and his competitor. Luckily, there was no fighting between us at all, so I consider the day a success. I'm completely exhausted as we walk back to the palace, but I'm not hungry. I don't want to think too much about why that is. "That was very fun, right?" Georgie asks, walking between the two of us. I nod but don't say anything and just let the two of them talk for the rest of the way because I have a lot on my mind. I really want to stay positive, even if my instinct is telling me to burn everything down before it burns me… but it's very hard to ignore my instinct. I've always loved Georgie as a friend, and of course, I've been attracted to her since I was twelve, but that's nothing compared to what I'm starting to feel now, thanks to this bond. The kind of love that's growing inside me is something I've never felt before. I never even thought i
Once I manage to get Cain up, he looks for something formal in his suitcase - which he hasn't bothered to unpack- we wait for him to get ready, and then we all go out to have dinner together. I'm wearing a sexy short dress and more makeup than usual, and despite Cain being in a terrible mood, I'm excited for our date.As Oliver drives us to Asheron's favorite restaurant, I hold a hand from each of the boys and smile when they both squeeze me at the same time, as if they’re synchronized. So cute. Today I'm very grateful to have them with me; my wolf feels more content and fulfilled than ever. This is exactly what she wants, to have them both. It's selfish and slutty, no doubt, but at least she's happy.And I'll let her enjoy it while she can.When we walk inside the restaurant I have to spend ten minutes greeting people while standing next to my boys and laughing fakely when people make jokes about them fighting over me because apparently, everyone knows about our arrangement already
"Cain," I complain, but he's already looking straight ahead with unfocused eyes. Is he literally dissociating right here, during our date? What the hell is wrong with him? "I can't believe it.""Is that the guy you want to marry?" Asheron murmurs, his voice full of judgment, so much that it makes me look at him in disbelief, "What? He's a damn kid. Justin was right when he told me he wasn't ready for this shit. Are you listening to me, kid?""He's not listening, he literally shut off his brain. He's always done this shit. And I've always hated it," I complain, remembering all the times when we would fight and Cain would ignore me for hours while staring ahead without being present.Now that I think about it, we've always fought a bit too much. Cain has always had zero ability to deal with problems or frustration, I don't know why I thought that had changed."Ash... Cain is a bit right, it's not fair that he can't have sex with me," I say very quietly, making Asheron look at me with of
{Georgette}There is only one thing worse than not getting what you want: getting it. When Asheron gives me his blessing, I don't feel relieved; I feel scared of what that might cause. Just the idea of me and Cain having sex made Ash angrier with me than ever before, so I don't want to imagine how he would feel if I actually did it. But, on the other hand, I really want to be with Cain and touch him, to be connected to him in that way. These past two days, I've felt like we are the same old Cain and Georgie, just like when we were kids. And that's good in a way, but not so much. We're not exploring our bond as we should, we're still acting like friends. And I don't want that. I want him to be my man, just like Ash. "So," Asheron continues and grabs his phone. Just then, I see a car that I recognize parking right in front of the palace. Ash's assistant's car, "I'm going to leave for a few hours to give you guys privacy. We can see each other tomorrow and pretend nothing ever happe
{Asheron}I wake up extremely early, so I go out to sit in the garden and watch the sunrise while I think and think.Maybe I should’ve waited a little longer before coming back home. That way, Cain and Georgie could have had more time together than just a couple of days, and I wouldn't feel so conflicted about this. I wouldn't feel so guilty for competing for my mate. I wouldn't have spent almost two hours last night talking to Cain and trying to convince him to compete against me, too, not just accept the fucking defeat. But Justin was completely right when he said that Cain wouldn't think to challenge me or fight me. I really wish he would. At least that way I could fight back. "Hey, what the hell are you doing here?" I hear from behind me and I turn around. Cain walks up to me wearing nothing but a pair of tight boxers. I roll my eyes, "I thought I could sit here and brood for a while.""Well, I got here first, so…" I mutter and shrug, turning my gaze away from him, expecting h
{ Cain }I can't keep letting my bad emotions and inferiority complex ruin my future. Asheron is right, I have to be more competitive and stop assuming I’ll lose. But in order for me to actually have a chance at winning, I have to keep the spark alive with Georgie and change the perspective she has right now. I can’t just let her be Ash's girlfriend all the time. I can’t keep acting as just her bestie. I have to remind her that she belongs to me, too. And maybe I’ll give it to her so good that she’ll decide she wants me after all, not him. I know I won't be able to have full on sex with her, but I don't have to be inside her to make her feel good. I trust I have enough experience to make a woman go insane just with my fingers… and tongue, but I don’t know if that’s against the rules or not. "After breakfast, then," Georgie agrees, smiling big and looking much more excited than just five minutes ago when she was sobbing in my chest because of that mysterious dream she had. She find
"I don't like you, what are you doing in my palace? I thought I told you, your family is banned from my territory," she says that directly to me. "He showed up unannounced, babe." "I come here in peace," Cain says and takes something out of his pocket. It's a card. Nina frowns, but she can't fight her curiosity so she walks closer to grab it, "It's a 'shut the fuck up' coupon to use on my mom. You can give it to me at any point if you ever need to tell my mom to shut the fuck up. I will do it for you and I will be aggressive about it. She deserves worse for being such a bitch that day. I'll take the fallout for you." "To be honest, I'm not that scared to do it myself," Nina murmurs, but a smile starts to grow on her face, "However, this is appreciated." "Can we start over?" He asks, taking a step closer, "I am actually very, very cool. I swear." "Mhm, I’ll be the judge of that," Nina says, punching his arm like she usually does when she's play-fighting with her brothers. Cain tu
"I can't fucking believe I said that," he says, covering his face in shame, "It was extremely disrespectful, I'm truly sorry. And I guess you're right, this isn't new, I just haven't fully gotten over it. Of course I will one day, this is still new. But you're my girl, I do desire you a lot, you are very pretty in my eyes. I just can't wait for you to grow up some more." I nod with a sigh. "I'm not angry, not like last time," I assure him, Justin takes a deep breath in relief, "But I don't love to know I make you feel guilty or bad. It's good that we haven't had real sex yet, I don't want it to be a bad experience for either one of us. I want to feel wanted and loved. So, I think what we should do is... put a pause in the sexual aspect of our relationship." "What?" He gets tense and looks at me like I'm crazy, "That's not what I want." "Yeah, but it's what I want," I say, clenching a fist. It's not what I want at all, but fuck him for making me feel like wanting me is wrong, "Not
"I'm sorry you had to hear all that, I really am sorry," the King says, looking down in embarrassment, "My wife..." "Don't worry, I get it. Justin shouldn't have surprised any of us with this news, it's not something easy," I say, eyes set on my mate's. He's totally freaking out, "I think I've caused enough damage, can we just go now?" "Yes," he almost whispers and just gives one last look to his dad before grabbing a suitcase so we can leave, but he stays silent as we walk out, all the way to the car. And even when he starts driving, "I'm sorry, Nina." "You should be. This was 'that bad' and then some," I mutter, looking out the window, "About everything else you said… don't even say sorry. It's simply what you feel and I understand, let's leave it at that." "No, no, I don't want us to be at odds again," he says, his hands tightening on the steering wheel, "I want to clarify, I didn't mean I'm not attracted to your or that I don't like you, that's the opposite of the truth." "I
"Let's go," Justin wraps an arm around my waist and he leads me outside. "Wait, son, I'm sorry I haven't said anything. I was just processing and..." the King finally speaks and I try to stop and hear him out, but Justin keeps me moving. He doesn't even give his dad a look, he takes me all the way to the foyer. "Wait for me here, I'll go pick some stuff, then we're going back to Fox," he says and leaves, almost as fast as he brought me here. I sigh and look for a chair so I can get comfortable, but when a couple minutes pass and I realize Justin is probably going to take a long time, I start wandering a bit. It's so weird that this place has so many corridors and different living rooms. Like this one. It's exactly the same as the last one I entered. I don't know what specific purpose it serves but... I stand very still when I hear footsteps coming closer and then two different voices. I gasp and look around for a place to hide. I find a little closet and run to hide in there.
"Cain!" Justin roars and a couple of seconds later I feel some relief and I can breath again as the huge man gets lifted and my fated mate comes to my rescue. He grabs my arms and picks me up, "Are you okay, Nina?" "No," I complain, my whole body hurts, especially my ass and my chest. The guy crashed against me like he had a personal vendetta against me, "What the hell? Who is that hippopotamus?" "Nina," Justin sighs, still not happy with me. He moves away to let me see the guy and points at him. I know who he is as soon as I look at his face, "This is my brother, Cain." He looks like a younger, less manly version of Justin. "I'm so sorry, kid, I totally didn't see you," he says with a grimace, he's still trying to recover too. He looks at me deeply and frowns, "Since when do we hire minors, dad? Isn't child labor illegal here?" Great. Amazing. So, Cain is an asshole. I sigh and look at Justin, he looks even angrier now. I don't know how this is going to play out if my ma
During the drive to his pack, Justin tries his best to make me feel less nervous. I'm sure he can smell my stress, fear and nerves all mixed up in my scent. Thankfully, he assures me over and over everything is going to be fine and he asks me so many questions to get me rambling that I actually start to get distracted. Until we get to Kallistar and I enter the pack for the first time in all my life. I swear it's like a new filter is unlocked to my eyes. So much color, everywhere. There's even a big welcoming mural, as if a lot of people travel from Fox to Kallistar. The grass is really greener over here, the sky is bluer, the roads are so perfect and clean. This is a whole different world for me. I'm almost scared. Because I know this is basically my pack now. But I kind of like my ugly, old, messed up pack. It has character. It's full of working people who are always willing to help one another. No one thinks they're better than other people in Fox but I'm sure over here everyon
"So, that means... I have to be the one to do something about it?" I ask, swallowing in nerves. Justin lies down next to me. "Not necessarily if you don't want to. All I'm saying is... I need to relieve some pressure," he says, "I've been so stressed about the conquest and scared about my brother possibly being in danger. And you being mad at me. I was so fucking tired and stressed." Oops. I guess that's my fault. Or his, for pissing me off to begin with. "Well... if you tell me what you like, I could help you," I offer, excited again. To touch him, make him feel good. It's my right, after all. But again, Boring Justin gives me a look that says he's not that sure, "Do I really have to beg a man to let me make him come? That's not fun, Fated Mate." "No, no, it's not like that. It's not like I don't want you," he rushes to say. I squint at him. He keeps saying that but not showing me, "I just... don't feel... okay. Tell you what. If you really want to touch me, you can do it."
I wish we could do it again (and again, and again) but I have a feeling Justin will get in his own head again. He just can't accept me for some reason. This past few days I've been doing research in fated mates. It's always what I thought it should be... instant love. Instant passion. Instant love-making. Obviously, because what else is it going to be when you find the literal love of your life? People never fight it... except for him. And why? Because apparently he doesn't like the way I look. Or, he does, but then he feels guilty about it. I sigh and roll in bed. My nose catches his scent in the sheets and I moan, feeling all tingly again. I gulp and my hand moves down south to relieve the pressure, but then I gasp when I remember why I woke up so early today. I jump up and run to put on my clothes on go to work. ➿➿➿➿ Justin and his brother were successful. When I get his text in my new super fancy phone, I almost pass out with relief. He told me a few times that it wasn'
That makes her look up at me again, confused. "We're going to get the territory today. I could technically die out there," I say, even though I know the chances are slim to none. I guess I just want a little kiss. For me, but for her, too. { Nina } One little kiss. This man who has been practically ignoring me even though he invaded MY home is asking me for a little kiss? After grinding his dick against me last night? He has some nerve. "Okay," I say, because... what am I to do? I've been waiting for this opportunity the whole fucking time. I’m not the one who hates this bond. I know I shouldn’t be so easy, but I am. I want that kiss so bad. Justin licks his lips and ends the distance between us, but not too fast. He takes his time, looking into my eyes for a few seconds. "I'm really sorry I made you mad," he whispers, melting my insides, "We've only been mates a few days and I already fucked up, I can't even begin to explain how shitty I feel. I'm just trying to do t