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Ever since my face was scarred, the only females who have shown any interest are the ones desperate for title and wealth. I want to see how my fated one regards me without knowledge of my royal status.

Mine.The word ripples through me again as every instinct I possess sharpens to razor-edged awareness, the need to claim her burning through my veins.

I move to reach for her, only to discover my wrists immobilized. My eyebrows shoot upward. What in the gods—

Glancing down, I notice thick green vines binding my wrists and ankles to a four-poster bed. I’m sprawled out and entirely naked beneath a small, embarrassingly inadequate blanket covering only my most essential assets.

Well, this is interesting…

“Hmm.” I arch a curious brow. “I can see you like to move a bit fast.” I lightly tug at my bindings. “I’ve never considered being tied up before for a mating, but for you, I accept.”

Her delicate features scrunch in confusion.“What?”

I flash her my most charming grin. “I accept your claim on me, and I graciously wish to claim you in return.” I give the vines around my wrists another experimental tug. “Though there's truly no need to tie me up. I'm entirely willing.”

Her mouth opens, closes, then opens again. She sputters, blinking rapidly. “This is… you’re—”

“Charming and handsome?” I offer helpfully. “Positively irresistible?”

I flash her a confident grin, even as my heart pounds with uncertainty. Female Fox Shifters have admired me from afar, yet their smiles inevitably fade the moment they glimpse my facial scar. I’ve heard humans are not put off by such things, and I pray she doesn’t turn away from me too.

I continue. “If you remove these bindings, however, I promise that I will dedicate myself to worshipping every inch of your lovely form, and—”

“Are you mad?” She stares at me as if I’ve grown two heads. “You’re a bandit! I’m not going to untie you.”

CHAPTER 3

REN

“Abandit?”I frown. “What are you talking about?”

“You broke into my home.”

“I did?”

Thoroughly confused, I glance at my surroundings, struggling to recall how exactly I ended up here. My memories of last night are still hazy. I’ve never been one to partake heavily of alcohol, but perhaps I overindulged and don’t remember.

“Wait a minute.” I tilt my head, grasping at wisps of memory and wincing as the slight movement makes pain ripple across my skull. A vague image resurfaces of something flying toward me, hazy but increasingly clear. It suddenly all comes back, and I gasp in shock. “Did you hit me with a candlestick?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because you’re a bandit.”

I give her an incredulous look. “Iam nota bandit.”

She crosses her arms and narrows her eyes. “Then why did you break into my home? And how did you even find this place?”

Frowning, I struggle to piece together the broken bits of memory from last night. “I remember searching for shelter. It was raining so hard, I could barely see my hand in front of my face,” I explain. “Suddenly, I stepped through some sort of magic barrier, and when I looked up, I saw a tower where there had been none before.”

I don’t tell her that it’s the same one I’ve seen in my dreams or that she’s my fated mate, because I’m not quite sure how she’d take this. I thought she recognized the fated bond between us, but now I believe I was wrong.

Her eyes widen. “How did you pass through the barrier?”

I resist the urge to glance down at the pendant hanging from my neck. The green gemstone hums faintly against my chest. It seems my grandfather’s stories were not exaggerated. He claimed this charm could pass through almost any magical ward.

I could tell her the truth, but then I’d risk her possibly taking my necklace and tossing me back outside the barrier. And that is not something I want. I’ve only just found my fated one and I’m not eager to leave her anytime soon.