Filed to story: The Wolf Prince’s Fated Love
Sergei clapped me on the shoulder as we passed him, giving Leigh a polite nod. “I’ll see to the rest of their discipline.”
“Thanks.” I liked Sergei fine, but I didn’t like how close he was standing to Leigh. It was absurd, because he was happily mated and had his own pups older than I was. Yet somehow… any male but me was a threat.
I’d appreciated that Kane, Reed, and Dirge had kept their distance, letting the women cluster together in the center.
I wasn’t sure if Reed had had the time to tell them what we’d discovered… but it didn’t matter. My pack mates knew something was brewing.
Probably needed to make it a priority to fill Kane in, though. A task for later.
We dodged the main entrance at the back of the castle, instead taking a hard left and slipping in through a smaller-though still obscenely grand-door that let us cut through the knights’ hall.
Leigh sucked in a surprised breath and gaped up at the vaulted ceilings, or perhaps the gleaming suits of armor. They looked like they’d been polished and waxed this morning, and knowing Cristian, they probably had.
“You haven’t seen much of the castle yet, huh?” I paused, giving her a moment to absorb the grandeur.
“No, mostly just our rooms, the library, the gym, and… what is this place called?
“The knights’ hall. This place is so old, they used to have honest-to-Goddess knights and hold contests. This was their feasting hall, after they’d defeated their foes and wooed the fair maidens.” I whispered the last part close to her ear and delighted in her little shiver at the closeness.
She wasn’t immune to this thing between us, and I was hanging on to every little crumb she gave me to prove it. The distance between us these last few weeks had eaten away at me like a corrosive slowly drilling its way through my chest. But now… now all bets were off.
There was no reason to stay apart. Everything was pushing us together, as if Fate was serving her up on a silver platter.
So why didn’t she look happier?
Awe at the castle, yes. But happy… not at all.
I tugged on her hand, and she kept walking, following me as she kept her eyes trained on the painted ceilings. So much so, she didn’t notice at first that I didn’t take her back to either of our rooms. One side hallway, and she finally paid attention as we left the jaw-dropping hall behind.
“Where are we going?”
“I thought you might like to see a few more parts of the castle. You know, since you’ve been holed up in the rooms since we got here.”
“Denned up, more like,” she muttered.
“You don’t like it? My wolf finds it soothing, but if yours doesn’t?-“
“She does,” Leigh admitted a little begrudgingly. “It makes us feel safe.” Her free hand dropped to her stomach absently, the subtle reminder of who else was with us making me want to put my hand over hers. Would she let me? Or would I be pushed away?
I was scared to make a wrong move, scared to send her running for the hills again.
So I didn’t, even though it killed me.
“Good.”
I led her through a few more twists and turns before stopping at the door.
“What is it?” she asked.
“This is my favorite room in the castle.” I smiled at her warmly, simultaneously excited to share it with her and also nervous that her first experience of it would be ruined by the ugliness that I had to tell her. I would do my best to say it gently.
“Well, are you going to actually show me, or…” She grinned at me then, and the weight in the middle of my chest lifted.
We were going to be okay. It might take a while to work through all the crap. But in the end? I got to keep her. Which meant the rest was just details. The journey.
I grinned back and pushed open the door, a small wave of humidity hitting us as I ushered her through the door with my hand on her lower back.
She didn’t push me away after all,
I mused as I watched her experience the atrium for the first time. The ceiling was round, vaulted glass high overhead, with plants growing from every available surface, save for a few seating areas clustered here and there.
“Oh, this is gorgeous, BD.” She breathed the words so softly, I couldn’t even bring myself to care that she’d used my least favorite nickname.
Fine, it was growing on me. I was her baby daddy. But I wanted to be a hell of a lot more.
Baby steps.
“I hoped you’d like it.”
She reached out and ran a fingertip gingerly over a fiery orange leaf nearby before turning wide eyes on me. “Who maintains all this?”
I shrugged. “It’s been this way since I was a child. Back then, it seemed like fairy magic, but now… I assume there’s a team of gardeners. Kane probably knows.”
She nodded, biting her lip as she took her time to circulate around the room, exploring the beauty of it. When she reached me again, she hesitated.
I watched as realization dawned on her that we were supposed to be having an uncomfortable conversation.
“We should sit,” I suggested, taking her hand again and leading her to my favorite nook. It was a padded bench tucked deep within a little grotto of sorts. Trailing vines dotted with flowers formed a series of arches, making it feel like you were inside a world of flowers and greenery. Even the light was tinted green from filtering through the leaves.
“This is oddly soothing,” Leigh said as she sat on the soft blue bench, running her fingers reverently over the silky fabric.
“A good place to have a conversation. Quiet, uninterrupted.” I sat right next to her, so that our shoulders were touching.