"Did you really give Asheron the jacket I gifted your ungrateful ass?" I text Justin one-handed, still holding Georgie's body. "And why didn't you tell me he was still alive, by the way? Seems like something one should mention.”"I also want to apologize for my mother's behavior," Asheron continues, standing up again and drawing my attention away from my phone. His voice sounds just as I remember it, slow and secure, as if he's used to having everyone's attention on him, all the time, "I can't even imagine the hell she went through, thinking I died, so... I beg for some consideration. I already called off the war that should’ve never even began. My pack is retreating as we speak. Alpha Dean was under my mother's instructions to keep going, but I took charge in this matter because, I promise you, I do not want any kind of war, especially not with my mate's pack.""My mate, you mean," I correct him, making the vibes around the table turn extremely tense and deadly awkward, "She's no lon
{ Georgette }Asheron is alive. He’s back home. I've been awake since Cain started slapping my face and my dad threw water at me, but I decided, for my own well-being, to keep my eyes closed as I process this information.Asheron is fucking alive. Alive. Alive. Alive. He never died; his buddy Jonah did. He was in a coma, not dead. He has been alive this whole time. God, I want to run to him and grab him in my arms... and I will. But not like this, and not right now.My wolf is not as surprised by this as I am, but she is very, very relieved. All this time, she had a feeling Asheron wasn't really dead. I used to think she was demented, but now I will never doubt her again. She can feel him, after all. Of course I shouldn’t have doubted her. She might be a slut, but her instincts are never wrong. Or maybe I will doubt her, actually, because she still chose to fall in love with someone else even knowing her man wasn’t dead. And because of that, I'm currently stuck between a rock and
I know this building like the back of my hand at this point, so I manage to turn left to the stairs and then run down... however, Asheron knows this building just as well."Georgette, what are you doing?" He asks, running behind me until we get to the garden, but then he stops, "Ouch, my leg..."That makes me stop immediately and look back at him. Never, ever, ever have I ever heard Ash complaining about pain. "What happened?" I ask as I approach him. He groans and grabs his knee, "Baby, what happened?""I..." he looks up at me. And as soon as I'm close enough, he grabs me, making me shriek, "I'm fine, sweetheart, but my leg is actually going to start hurting soon. I just needed you to stop running.""Oh, my god! You played me!" I complain but I'm not really angry. He wraps his arms around my waist and pulls me up until I'm wrapping my legs around his legs just by muscle memory. But I know I shouldn’t let this happen, "Ash, I need you to let me go or I'm going to pass out again. This
Cain is looking at us with narrowed eyes and crossed arms while sitting next to his parents. He looks mad and I really don't like that, so I make a heart with my hands at him, to show him nothing has changed in these ten minutes. It's stupid, but it works. Cain rolls his eyes at me, trying to stop a smile from forming. "Alpha, Princess, please sit down. We have reached a possible solution for this situation," King Erik says. My dad nods with a sigh, and King Aldo just looks mildly annoyed. I really want to hear what they have to say, so I sit down in the empty seat, and Asheron sits next to me."We think this is possibly the only fair way to go about this, for all of you involved," Queen Alicia starts. "Alpha Cain is right; this isn't just about love. Whoever you end up marrying is a decision that will affect the whole country."I know they're right, and that's the hardest part about being royalty. My decisions are never really only mine. I always have to think about my pack, my peo
Georgie orders both me and Asheron to go to her palace tomorrow morning so we can stay there for a whole month, then she leaves with her dad.I guess that means my first council meeting is over. This was eventful. I get up to walk to Asheron as he’s walking to the door with his dad because I want to get some things straight, but my own dad grabs my arm before I can do that. "Don't do anything stupid, boy," he warns in a whisper, "You think she's going to forgive you if you hurt the guy she thought was dead? No. You have to be smarter than that. You have to play the same game he's playing. The good guy game, that's obviously what she's into."That makes me stop and just blink. He's right. There's no way Asheron is as perfect as we all think; I'm sure already he's fake. So I have to be fake, just like him. Apparently, that's what Georgie likes.And while I'm at it, I should make sure he shows his true colors to her at some point. I'm good at making people lose their temper, after all
{ Asheron }The next morning, I walk into the Colucci palace with Adam, my assistant, carrying two of my suitcases. I'm finally wearing my own clothes and I sent Justin the jacket he gave me. He was an idiot for giving me the one with his initials on it, but now I get why he asked for me to give it back. Cain gifted it to him. Cain, the guy I'm supposed to hate the most... but I don't. Maybe because I know he's Justin's little brother, maybe because I know Georgie has loved him forever so this doesn't even feel that different from normal. Or maybe because he's just a fun guy. A big kid, just like I said. But whatever it is, my wolf doesn't feel violent towards him and I guess that's a good thing, because I'll be sharing a palace with him. I'll be... sharing a mate with him, for a month at least. Not sexually, though, not at all. Just romantically, I guess. "Georgette!" I shout as soon as I walk into the palace so she knows I'm here, "Thanks, Adam, just leave them there. I'll cal
Both boys murmur some form of ‘yes’, so I lead them to the garden, reminding myself not to touch either one of them, no matter how much I want to.If I were a selfish person, I would ask for one hour a day with each of them, locked away in my room. I haven't had sex in months and I'm starting to need it. Badly.But I'm not selfish, and I know this situation sucks for my boys, so I won't make it even worse by asking for too much.The fresh air cools my skin and the greenery of my garden lightens my spirits after that awful fucking dream I had. But I don't have to worry because both boys are right here with me. They both exist, they're both alive, and they both love me.And I love them. I just have to choose which one I love more, I guess. No pressure.The outside table is already full with our breakfast, so I sit down when Enrique opens the chair for me."Thanks, Enrique," I say as the boys sit beside me, still in silence, "Everything looks great… by the way, can you make sure we have
I quickly lean forward and I try to kiss his lips, but Cain moves slightly back… I lean more until I reach him and I can finally claim his lips, but then he moves away again. I'm literally chasing him until I get tired and decide to grab his rebellious head in my hands to hold it in place and devour his lips. This kiss is, of course, different from Ash's, but it's just as good in its own way. Cain doesn't try to take control of me or dominate me; he even lets me take the lead and just plays with my tongue, smiling against my lips as if he’s enjoying this game.I’m enjoying it, too. I'm almost on top of him at this point. And I could keep kissing him like this for hours, but Asheron clears his throat."You know what? You’re right, Cain. Let's implement the no kissing rule. I didn't like that," he mutters, his voice and shoulders very tense. I immediately let go of Cain and return to my seat. My lips are tingling because of the kisses and my underwear is uncomfortable now. And it's on
"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