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Vincentius Dante
I WAS NERVOUS. What was the mate bond doing to me? Why did I suddenly act so defensive around my mate? Oh, Bellamy. What are you doing to me?
"You have a crush on her, brother," Lukas said from behind me. I turned around and saw him wiggling his eyebrows. Seriously? A crush?
"No-not at all. I don't do these crush things," I instantly replied. I turned my back towards Lukas so that he couldn't see me.
"Oh, really, brother? What do you do then? Wait, I know. You care about your mate and then act as if she's the last person you're bothered about. Or wait, how about the fact that you stay in your office a little longer so that you don't have to face her? Oh no, wait, how about that you asked Damien to go and ask Bellamy if she needed anything when we came back from the forest?" Lukas said as he tried proving his point.
I was stunned for a moment but put in my best efforts to cover it up.
Why did you have to cover up, Vincent? A voice in my head said.
"No, I didn't say anything to Damien and-and I have extra work going around that I need to handle. Whatever you have in your mind is foolish. Now I need to see how my wolves are doing and don't even think about following me around!" I snapped.
Momentarily, Lukas stared at me silently and motionlessly, and then he snickered like a little kid.
"Whatever you say, brother," he said with a teasing smirk playing at his lips. I sunk back into my chair as I recalled the conversation that I'd had with Damien the other day:
"King, you called?" Damien had said as he entered my office and stood in front of me. His face had oozed concern.
"Yes, I did. I-uh I want you to do me a favor," I said as I racked my brain for a less suspicious way of wording my concerns.
"King, pardon me, but did you say favor? I mean do you want me to do you a favor?" Saying Damien had looked confused would be an understatement. He looked like he'd just discovered that fish can't live out of water.
"Yes, Damien. Am I not allowed to ask you for a favor?" I raised one of my brows intimidatingly.
"Haha. No, I was joking, King." He chuckled nervously. I'd let a smile flicker onto my face.
"Relax, I am just kidding." I chuckled.
"King, are you okay? You're quite in a mood today," Damien had said. His words had irked me and I, too, had begun to question my behavior.
"Yes, I'm perfectly fine. I just need you to go check up on Miss Bellamy; see if she needs anything. And you will utter nothing of this conversation to anyone." I said and hurriedly looked away, dismissing my wolf general.
I came back to my senses and realized that my feelings for my mate were transforming into something else. Something that frightened me.
The big bad wolf can get scared too...
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Bellamy Rose
It took me a few minutes to come back to my senses. My mate had shown his concern for me which was quite normal for a normal mate. Something that my mate was not.
Princess Genevieve looked at me with a smile that only I understood. I felt genuinely happy. Was my mate feeling something for me? The thought brought a blush on my face. Damn, I was acting like a kid that has just developed a crush.
I mean, there was no doubt that I liked my mate. I liked him a lot which was terrifying and exciting at the same time.
I saw my mate eating his food quickly to get away from the awkward tension that had made its way around.
Cute, I thought. Abruptly, my mate stood up and muttered that he's done, and walked away as quickly as he could. Queen Aurora, seeing the behavior of her son, chuckled to herself.
"This is the first time that I've seen Vincent shy away," she said looking at me and expecting a reaction. I blushed.
"Bellamy looks like a tomato. She's all red." Lukas pointed out, causing everyone at the table to laugh. Even Prince Hernandez had a smile on his face.
"Hush you idiot, let her blush. You'll experience this too," Princess joked and now the attention was diverted towards Lukas.
"Hey, don't drag me into all of this. I think Vince has a teeny-tiny crush on Belle," Lukas said, which made my heart melt a little bit.
"And he'll soon fall in love with our sweet child here," he continued as he patted my head like a father. I rolled my eyes at Lukas's childish behavior.
I hope so, I thought.
After dinner, we all went back to our rooms. I couldn't sleep properly. Every time I closed my eyes, those electrifying blue eyes would look back at me and I'd groan. I wanted to sleep but the thought of my mate had taken over my entire head. My heart was already locked with sentiments for my mate but now my brain seemed to also function differently.
I got up from my bed and started walking back and forth in the room, thinking that it'd help me feel tired and sleepy. This was something I'd done as a kid and I still do this. But unfortunately, it didn't seem to work today.
I was getting bored too so I decided to go to the balcony and just look at the stars in the sky and just feel a moment of peace. Soon, I saw myself leaning on the balcony rails as I looked at the sky where the stars twinkled brightly. I was too engrossed with the stars that I didn't notice a presence behind me.
"What are you doing, mate?" A voice behind me said almost in a whisper and I yelped. The air got caught in my throat and all the vocabulary I knew seemed to be nonexistent.
"Nothing, King," I mumbled and looked towards the ground. Great, Now I felt shy. I needed to gain some confidence if I wanted to talk, of which I wholeheartedly did.
"King?" My mate asked. The emotion in his voice seemed to have vanished. I stared up at him and noticed that his face held a hardened look.
"Why are you addressing me as a King, mate?" He questioned, his voice strained. I didn't know whether it was the cool wind or my mate's voice that had given me goosebumps.
"What should I say then? I mean you never seem to notice me," I thought to myself as I looked away towards the mountain that covered the whole kingdom.
"I don't ignore you, mate. And call me anything except for King," he said. The confusion came across me, and it soon faded as I realized that I had indeed voiced my thoughts out loud.
"You don't ignore me but you don't also acknowledge me, mate," I said with more confidence as I looked into his eyes.
He looked a little startled by my reply and he looked away. The moonlight perfectly shined on his face and he looked so perfect. Too perfect to be real; A dream.
"Uh-uh, it's complicated, you won't understand. No one will," he whispered the last part to himself.
"Then make me understand," I whispered back. My face held a look of the plea. My mate looked at me with an emotionless face and said nothing.
"Why did you bring me here if you can't acknowledge my presence or treat me like your mate?" I said back.
I probably looked way too vulnerable to him, but I wanted my mate to know that I knew about his past and that I wanted to help him get through it.
"Mother. She wanted you here," he replied. His voice held no emotion. My mate was an expert in masking his feelings.
"And what about you?" I tried to show him that I still had hope.
"I have many enemies, and now that I've been uncovered, I know my enemies will do something. With you around, not only you're targeted but my entire kingdom is in danger too.
If Mother holds a ceremony for you then everybody, every enemy will charge for you. You have no idea how dangerous it is for you," He argued by now, tears were welling up in my eyes.
"Moon Goddess has destined us for a reason, mate. If something has to happen; whether good or bad or awful, it will happen. You can't stop what's written for us. Why are you pushing me away?" I asked with a longing look as I wiped the tear that was threatening to roll down my cheek.
"I am not pushing you away! You won't understand it. I can't give you the sole thing that you want from me," he said as he looked behind me.
"I don't want anything from you. Make me understand," I cried.
"You're already making your way through me. I have my demons. I can't let you be my weakness but you're becoming one," he said, and just like that, he vanished into thin air.
I didn't blame my mate for his actions. He was holding himself back to protect me. Princess Genevieve had already told me that my mate had built such high walls around him, but I-was a mate-and I was adamant to break those walls. I was grateful that he wasn't giving me any false hope or lies to make me happy, but at the same, I feel empty.
And at that moment, I realized that I was falling for my mate...
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Chapter twenty six!
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-blackburnfire