“Separate bedrooms until the mating ceremony,” she said, and with that she closed the door and totally put a wet blanket over my plans to seduce Kade every night for the rest of my life.
I barked out a nervous laugh. “Wow. Yeah. I’m sorry about that. She’s like my second mother, and … I mean, you and I haven’t even talked about mating or any of that, so this is just her being—”
Kade halted my explanation with a kiss, warm and passionate, and had the tension in my belly kicking into overdrive. When he pulled back, he met my eyes. “Don’t worry about it, Arianna. I’ve been waiting for you for five years. Ever since that kiss you’ve dominated my thoughts. My world. My bear was determined to find you. Your fire, loyalty, and passion called to us both. Your wolf has always been a den mate to my bear.” He caressed my face with his hand. “We will be mated.”
And just like that Kade had declared his intentions. No hesitation. No worry for protocol. A man who knew what he wanted and would stop at nothing to make it happen
“What would have happened if I went through with my plans to take a wolf mate?” I asked, lifting my head up to see him better. “To mate for the good of my people.”
Shadows washed over his features, darkening them further, and I found myself waiting with an unhealthy level of anticipation for his answer.
“Your wolf would never have let you, Ari. The queen in you wanted to follow protocol but our royal title is only one part of us. We’re also shifters. We might look human, but we’re ruled by so much more … by instinct. I was just waiting for you to realize it.”
“You’d have waited? Watched me date other wolves, experiment with the concept of a mate?” I had no idea why I was pushing him on this, but a part of me needed to dissect his emotions, his anger, his withdrawal ever since I’d mentioned my possible mate.
One of his hands wrapped around the back of my neck, the other slipping across my waist. His voice was a low rumble: “Anyone who touches what is mine, dies. Simple. Effective. You are mine, Arianna of the red line. You have been since I was a teenage bear rebelling against my royal life.”
Holy shifter babies. He was channeling woodcutter and cave bear tonight. And why did my wolf and I like it so much? She was practically purring.
When his hand trailed up inside of my shirt, caressing my back, I decided one thing right then and there. There was no way in hell I was following all of Calista’s rules. I was totally sneaking into his bedroom. Tonight.
Chapter Thirteen
Queen of hearts.
All of my people were on the same floor as me. I had my own suite and the others were in smaller rooms around me. Even though I was no longer a queen or heir, old habits were hard to break, and everyone thought they needed to protect me above all else.
I loved them, but I also knew it was going to be extremely difficult for me to sneak out tonight. But I was determined. Kade’s floor was the one above, and I was getting there even if I had to scale the damn side of his beautiful brick home.
I wanted to speak with my dominants first. We needed to clear the air between us all. Blaine had been distant since the whole Kade and me thing came out – polite, but not like my best friend. A cavern of space was opening between us and I didn’t know how to bridge the gap. Becoming queen had been one thing to separate us, and even though I hated it, I accepted that as my duty. But the Kade thing … I felt Blaine’s disapproval, but so far he had not voiced anything about it to me.
And Victor…
The box inside where I stuffed all those dark emotions started to rattle. I was worried about him, really worried. And even Monica and Jen, who were the glue to our group, as most women were, were fraying at the edges. I needed to make sure everyone felt their voice was heard, and I wanted to start with Blaine, privately.
After a soft knock he opened the door.
“Your Highness.” His voice was low, without inflection, but I knew my old friend; he had everything bottled inside. Sooner or later he was going to explode. Might as well make it now.
“I wanted to speak with you,” I said slowly. He just stood there, allowing me to wait in the hallway like a stranger. Why was he doing this? Acting so weird. The only thing I could think of was to proceed like I normally would, so I pushed past him and strode into his room. When I was in the main part of the living area, I turned and crossed my arms, giving him a glare.
I’d totally pulled some queen moves on him, and I could see the smile fighting to break out across his face. Eventually he chuckled, shaking his head. “You don’t change. Still a hothead. Still a princess.”
The old nickname was soft gauze to the wounds rocking my body, like for a second we went back in time and were six year olds running in the boroughs. Back to simpler times. I couldn’t hide in the past forever, though. Nope. Despite the fact I was no longer officially queen, I was still taking responsibility for my people.
Blaine shut the door, crossing to me. His height dwarfed me, and I realized this had been the first time in ages I’d taken a second to really look at him, to see the male he’d become. He was not as tall as Kade, but in the wolf world he was massive. Strong. His face had matured in the last year into chiseled lines. He was all man now, no sign of the boy that once was. Those light green eyes of his were boring into me, assessing, judging. Blaine was not going to take any crap from me tonight, and I for one was glad that we could hash this out.
“Just say it,” I said. “Get it all out there. You disapprove of my relationship with the king and you’re mad I’ve pulled you into all of this.”
Those green of his eyes went murky as his features softened. He took a step closer to me. “Princess, the only thing I disapprove of is when you’re unhappy.”
My heart, which had felt oddly hollow since losing the crown – except for the Kade love – was suddenly bursting again. “I’m happy, Blaine. Despite everything else, happy is exactly what I am right now. You must see that, so why are you being weird? Kade is … look, I know it’s not conventional, but … I love him.”
There. I’d said it. To one of my best friends. Next step: say it to the man himself.
Blaine offered a small smile, but those fine creases that had suddenly appeared between his eyes told me he was hurting. “I know you do. I’ve known since the first time I saw you two together. I guess, knowing it was forbidden, I thought one day you’d be able to move on. One day you might somehow love me instead. It’s okay. I get it now, though. Love doesn’t work like that and I’ll get over it. I just need time.”
Oh. Oh crap! That’s what I was noticing between us, Blaine had … fallen for me? When? How? I felt awful and sort of uncomfortable being with him in this small room as he laid his feelings bare. Was this my fault? Sure, I’d been flirting with him on and off, which was what we always did, but I’d hate to think I gave him the wrong impression. I should have taken more care with my actions.