72: Ultimate Distraction

Quincy St. Martin

He doesn’t bother to deny it, but I can see it in the look of his eyes and the set of his jaw that he’s not willing to talk about it.

“It’s nothing for you to worry about. I’m going to deal with it,” he answers curtly.

His response pisses me off.

“You’re forgetting something. You have a mate now, or am I here just for your amusement? I thought we were supposed to share our burdens and deal with everything together?”

“You know you’re more than just an amusement,” he says, sounding exasperated.

“Then tell me,” I insist stubbornly.

“~Moya printsessa~,” he groans, running his hand through his hair. He grips the back of his neck. “I don’t want a fight with you.”

“Then tell me what’s going on! Tell me what’s bothering you. Don’t you dare tell me it’s nothing, because I can feel it. You’re trying to shut me out.”

“I’m not trying to shut you out,” he says, his voice is rising. “I don’t want you to worry. I just want you to be happy. Let me deal with everything. Let me take care of you, okay?”

He’s standing up now, pacing the floor in agitation and frustration.

Okay, I’m getting nowhere. We’re just going to end up yelling at each other, and I’ll be none the wiser if we keep this up. I might end up saying things I might regret too.

I sigh and soften my voice when I say, “I ~am~ happy. You do make me very happy, my prince. But I want you to let me in. I need you to treat me like an intelligent person, instead of a mindless doll who lives to shop and look pretty and is only good for some fun.” I can hear it, that annoying, whiny tone in my voice. “Please tell me.”

He might be stubborn, but so am I, and I’m not above begging, whining, guilt-tripping, and annoying the crap out of him into opening up.

If that doesn’t work, I’m going to seduce him into spilling it.

I can see the crack in his resolve, so I keep pressing.

“Let me in, my love. I want us to be partners, to take care of each other. It’s us against the world, remember? Please. Unless you didn’t mean it.”

“You’re not going to give up, are you?” he asks me.

“You know I won’t, so you might just as well tell me. I want us to deal with it, whatever it is, together.”

“Have you ever heard of the saying, ignorance is bliss?” he asks me.

“Whatever. I don't want bliss right now. So spill.”

He sighs. He sits back on the side of the bed with his feet apart and his elbows resting on his knees. He’s only in his pajama pants.

The delicious muscles of his arms and back bunch as he lowers his head to look at his feet. “It’s complicated.”

“Explain it to me. I’m sure I can keep up.”

“All these archaic rules and our damn pride…”

“We have all night,” I tell him.

He watches me crawl up to the headboard.

I make a big show of patting and fluffing the pillows around me before I rest my back against them, making myself as comfortable as possible to listen to his explanation, all night if I have to.

“Very well,” he says.

He runs his hands down his face then places them under his chin. I can still see his reluctance, but at least he’s agreed to talk.

“I suppose I have to explain to you certain things about the world of the lycan nobility I grew up in. It is rare among the lycan royalties to be mated to their erasthais. Most matings are arranged based on the convenience or the agreement between two powerful families. Mostly to gain more wealth and power, like my parents’ mating. Theirs was the mating arrangement made in heaven.”

A quick laugh bursts out of his mouth. It sounds bitter and full of derision. He shakes his head before he continues.

“Arranged mating ceremonies are the norm. Some of these agreements were made when their offspring were still in their diapers.”

“Like you and Lady Celeste?”

“No, ours wasn’t made that far ahead. My mother arranged it with her family the year my father expressed his intention to step down and hand me the crown. That was over thirty years ago. I have to claim a mate before I can take over the throne, and Mother is eager for me to step up and be crowned king as soon as possible.”

“Why can’t you be crowned king without having a mate?” I ask him.

“It is thought that a mated lycan is stronger than a lone one. It’s always been that way. That’s why my parents mated each other, so that my father could step up to take over the reign from his father. Besides, my mother was from a very powerful and rich family,” he explains.

“It only made sense. A strong lineage and the right pedigree, like a purebred horse,” he adds with a contemptuous curl to his lips.

I feel his growing agitation. His hands curl around the hair at the back of his head, tugging it.

I have a strong urge to take him into my arms to calm him, but I will myself to stay put and let him continue.

“The number of rebels has risen in Russia in recent years, and we suspect that it’s an inside job. Somebody from within the royal family is eager to take over the crown. When we went back to Russia a couple of weeks ago, I had to pretend to have mated Penny for her safety and to draw out the traitor. There was an attack at the palace—”

“You were attacked?”

“Yes, but as you can see, we’re all safe, sweetheart. The point is, after the attack, everybody now knows that Penny and I are not really mated to each other.”

“Duh! You and Penny are like siblings. Unless you two are very good actors, a blind person could see that Penny is more likely to kick you in the nuts than become your mate.”

“Yeah, well…”

“Come to think of it, even the adorable Genesis and the ever-sweet Serena would gladly kick you in the nuts.” Hmmm…

“Okay, you’re starting to sound like Penny. Maybe we should limit your time with her,” he mutters. “Do you want me to continue, or would you rather talk about my nuts?”

“Sorry,” I apologize. “Please continue.”

“Okay, anyway, back to Lady Celeste,” he says.

I feel his ire rise when he mentions her name, and I tense up.

“I found out that she called Russia and talked to her parents as well as my mother yesterday. That was before she came to our room to remind me of my duty to mate her.”

I’m not liking where this is going. “What did she do?” My voice is almost inaudible.

“She convinced them that she’ll be able to get me to mate and mark her before we’re due to go back to Russia within a couple of days. I don’t know exactly what she told them, but whatever it was, it made them decide to hold a mating ceremony as soon as we get back.”

~Mating ceremony~? “What does that mean?”

His fingers are now back to pulling the golden strands at the back of his head.

“That means, my love, there’s a big mating celebration for me and Lady Celeste waiting to happen at Banehallow Palace in a few days’ time.”

“But you’re already mated to me!” My voice is rising. I can hear my own heartbeat and feel the warmth in my chest growing. “They can’t do that…can they?”

He crawls over the bed to sit in front of me. “Listen to me, my love.” He cups my face in his hands and lifts it up so that I’m looking at him. “You’re my mate. Mine. I’ve claimed you. Forever.”

“Did you tell them that? Did you tell your mother that we’re mated?”

“Yes, I did, sweetheart.” He sighs and lets my face go. Frustration etches his face.

“Last night, I told my parents about being mated to you, my erasthai. But after the stunt that we pulled the last time with Penny, they refused to believe me. Mother also refused to accept my explanation of Lady Celeste’s injuries and my reasoning not to bring her home today. It’s like she’s gone deaf on things she doesn’t want to hear,” he says in frustration.

“Mother just saw that as another insolent act on my part; therefore she made the announcement of the celebration this morning. For me not to go through with it after the announcement is like jilting her at the altar. There will be a consequence.”

“What consequence?”

“Since it would shame her and her family, Lady Celeste will have the right to demand something from me as a compensation. I don’t know what she would want, but frankly, I don’t trust her not to claim something that I’m not willing to give.”

He moves closer and lays his head down on my lap. His cheek is resting on my thighs.

“I’m sorry, my princess,” he says quietly. “I’m sorry that you have to face all this just because you’re mated to me.”

“Well, I’m not sorry, because you’re worth it. I’ll go through this and a thousand more things if it means I get to be with you.” I sink my fingers into his golden hair and comb my fingers through the silky strands.

He lets out a big sigh at my touch as if he’s able to breathe for the first time in a long while, and his broad shoulders lose some of the rigidness.

“I promise you, my love, nobody is going to take you away from me. You and I belong together.” His arm curls around my waist possessively.

I keep running my fingers through his hair, willing him to feel my love for him. I smooth the lines between his thick eyebrows. He closes his eyes and his long golden eyelashes fan across the tops of his high cheekbones. He breathes in long and deep.

My feelings for this prince are complex.

He invokes strong feelings in me—love to the point of pain, anger to the point of violence, and most probably despair to the point of death if I ever lost him.

Most of the time he provides me comfort and protection. I depend so much on his strength. At times like this, I feel protective of him. It’s me who’s giving him comfort.

I’ll fight anyone who tries to harm him in any way. Fiercely.

I know that he’s so used to carrying the burden by himself, but not anymore. I want him to know that he’s not alone.

His eyelids flutter open, and he looks up at me. My big powerful mate with golden hair and the face of a fallen angel. His vivid green eyes are unusually vulnerable, the side of him that he never shows the world.

“You’re my ultimate distraction. Make me forget,” he says, so I do.