Page 9

Chapter Nine

Colbie

I ’m still stressing about my new extra mates when the royals insist we take a break for lunch. I agreed to tell Watch Team One about the bond mark and Nox this afternoon during my shift training with them. It doesn’t seem fair to hide it from them. Lucas insisted they are just going to become more confused and their animals will be harder to handle when they are drawn to me and don’t know why. It would be unfair to leave them perplexed.

Before we get to the dining room, though, I decide to head back to my room to change. I don’t want to wear a dress to self-defense, so I separate and wind my way through to my wing of the palace.

I’m lost in my head and not really paying attention to my surroundings when someone steps into my path, and I literally bump into them. I put my hands up to steady myself and feel hard, hot, silky smooth skin beneath them.

“Look what we have here, a queen all on her own. Do you think it’s such a good idea to wander around unprotected, little girl?” a voice growls at me as I look up and find Liam glaring down at me. “Especially with rogue magic just randomly flowing through the kingdom.”

I’m instantly annoyed as well as incredibly turned on from feeling his bare skin on mine. Liam is the perfect outlet for my frustrations, because he doesn’t even seem to like me, which just pisses me off. I’m his mate, there is supposed to be instant attraction, but he’s been nothing but aggressive and downright rude since day one.

“Who the fuck are you to tell me what to do?” I snap at him and give him a shove, but he barely budges. In fact, he crowds me, and I step back, not wanting to be any closer to all the delicious naked skin in case I do something stupid, like stick my tongue out and lick it. He may be a dick, but he’s a hot dick.

“I’m the person who has to keep your pretty ass safe until your useless mates get their heads out of their asses and present themselves to the castle, and you aren’t making it any easier by being careless with your safety.” He backs me up until I’m pressed between the wall and the solid surface of his body.

I almost scoff at him calling my mates useless. Man, he’s going to kick himself when he finds out the truth. “I’m perfectly fine, as you can see. I’ve been walking since I was one and can manage to get around without falling on my face. We also know what that damn wave of magic was about,” I argue, and he leans down, his lips a hairsbreadth from my own.

“You know what the magic was about? Tell me. What caused half of the kingdom’s warriors to lose control over their animal. What put everyone in danger?” His eyes flash with anger as his body presses me to the wall. His delicious scent, frost and pine, whirls around me, and it’s all I can do not to lean in and take a bigger breath. “Was it something you did?”

I put my hands up to push him away again, pissed that he’s blaming me for the magic, but he cages them with his own, pressing them against the wall. “Tell me,” he demands. “The barracks just about burned down because of that magic and a dragon shifter who wasn’t able to hold out against the magic’s call.”

Fuck. I didn’t even consider the magic affecting anyone else. I just thought it was localized to the palace. “It was the goddess’s magic. She somehow decided she needed to fuck me over even further,” I snarl at him, angry at both the deity who just made my life even harder and the asshole who decided I was to blame. “I had nothing to do with it, and if you think I’m happy with the outcome, you’re fucking delusional.”

His eyebrows jump, and I feel some of his anger seep away. “The goddess? What did she do now?”

A bit of my anger recedes, and my body slumps. I’m tired from the overload of emotions that have been bombarding my body for over a week now. I can’t believe it’s only been a little more than a week since my life changed beyond recognition.

“I have eight mates instead of six. There are now two more crowns in the throne room,” I mutter, and I see him flinch, but he doesn’t release me or move away.

“Eight mates? And none of them have bothered to show their faces?” he growls. “What the fuck is wrong with them? If I had been marked, nothing would have gotten in my way of getting here as quickly as I possibly could.”

My heart skips a beat at his unexpected confession. Liam has been nothing but antagonistic toward me, but then I remember him jumping to my defense when my mother was here. He was protective and effectively ran interference, and I can’t deny that we have some intense chemistry. Maybe having him as a mate won’t be so bad.

I make a split-second decision, one that could backfire on me, but I’m sick of pretending. Need is riding me, insisting I tell him the truth.

“Well, that’s kind of lucky then,” I remark, and his brows furrow in a confused but adorable frown.

“What is?”

“That you would be honored to be my mate, because surprise, you are,” I say lightly, bracing myself for his reaction, because I know it’s going to be spectacular.

There’s a moment of silence as he tries to process what I said. Before he can reply in any way, I push him, and when he steps back, I pull down the side of my dress so it’s halfway down my arm and turn, showing him the mark on my back.

I hear his sharp intake of breath, and then his finger runs softly over the mark.

“That fucking explains everything,” he mutters before turning me to face him. His mouth claims mine, and his body presses me back against the wall. I moan as his hands slide to my ass, and he lifts me. I wrap my legs around his waist, and he grinds his hard dick against my core. His kiss is punishing, his tongue licking and exploring like he can’t get enough of me. I feel a ball of metal press against the roof of my mouth and shudder at the thought of it sliding across my clit in the same way. I thread my fingers into his short, spiky white hair and kiss him back with just as much enthusiasm. Sure, the guy’s been a dick, but he can kiss like a demon.

When we finally break apart, we’re both panting. He rests his forehead on mine and gazes at me with longing and fire. “Mate. But how?”

I shrug my shoulders as I drop my hands from his hair and clear my throat, feeling a little awkward and no small amount of turned on. “I guess the goddess decided the shifter realm needed some spice and blessed me with a bond group just to shake it up a little,” I reply, trying to make light of the situation.

“But we only have five members,” he argues, shaking his head and lowering me to the ground. He paces back and forth in front of me as I watch slightly bemused. He looks ruffled, and it’s kind of cute. “We can’t be your bond group. Let me look at that mark again.” Without waiting for me to respond, he spins me and tugs my dress down. I shiver at the feeling of his hands on my bare skin and have to stifle a moan as he leans in to get a better look, his warm breath washing over my naked flesh. The creature inside me writhes and pushes for his attention, despite me wearing the pendant that should block me from feeling her. It’s almost like being close to one of my mates is overriding the pendant’s capabilities.

“It’s not the same as ours. It has eight branches, and ours only has six. It’s a different mark.” My stomach lurches at the anger in his voice.

“What? No. How can that be? When I looked at it yesterday, it definitely only had six.” I push away from him and hurry in the direction of my room, determined to look at the mark on my back. Did Gracelin get it wrong? My heart sinks, and I feel the possibilities of our future drifting out of reach.

I push through my bedroom door, not stopping until I get to the adjoined bathroom. I strip off my dress, leaving me in just my underwear, and turn to look at the mark on my back. I count the branches on the mark, and sure enough, Liam is right. There are definitely eight branches now, and it’s bigger, no longer the size of a small apple. Now, it takes up a good portion of the upper half of my back. Not only have the branches grown, but there are also two new symbols at the end of both branches, and the roots look slightly longer as well. When did this happen? Something occurs to me. It must have been when the wave of magic washed through the palace and six crowns became eight. I sag, feeling disappointed, and I don’t bother looking up or covering myself when Liam steps closer to me.

“It changed,” I mutter flatly. “Yesterday, there were only six branches, which is why Gracelin suggested that you were my bond group.”

He shakes his head. “I’m sorry, but she got it wrong.” I see disappointment in his pitch-black eyes, and I tear my gaze away from his and look at the matching mark on his chest. As I catch sight of it and count its branches, much like I traced Nox’s with my finger, my eyes widen in shock.

“Yours changed too.” I point to the tree, and Liam steps closer to the mirror so he can see it unimpeded. His eyes widen in surprise.

Just like mine, his has sprouted two more branches. I step closer and run my finger over it. I never really got a good look at the one on Nox’s chest, but up close, the tree is stunning. I can see the veins on the few scattered leaves and the knots and swirls on the trunk and branches. At the end of each branch is a symbol. I want to study them closer, but a flash of red draws my attention to the heart in the middle of the tree. That is new too. The heart was previously black, or the one on my back was, so I’m assuming his was as well.

“Fuck, I hadn’t even noticed. We were so busy dealing with the fallout of magic, I don’t think anyone noticed.”

“Why are you half naked?” I ask him, and his lips twitch with amusement as I cross my arms over my own mostly naked form and scowl at him. “Were you off fucking Gianna?” I demand, my jealousy roaring to life at the thought of him giving any attention to that bitchy shifter, let alone his cock’s attention.

“Shredded my clothes when I shifted and went for a run. I picked these up at the barracks so I didn’t have to go into a meeting with the general with my dick out,” he explains, stepping closer and running his hands up and down my arms in a soothing manner. “Don’t worry. Ever since I met you, my bear has only had eyes for you. I thought we were going crazy.”

One of his hands cups my cheek, and his other arm winds around my waist, pulling me into an embrace. I lean my head against his chest and breathe in his comforting scent, my nose tickling.

“I can’t believe you’re our mate, but what does this mean? We have three more members of our bond group out there?”

He sounds as confused as I am, and I drop my arms and wrap them around him, snuggling into the warmth of his body. I take comfort in the fact that he’s as bewildered as I am.

“I have no idea, but it’s a good guess,” I reply, not mentioning Nox just yet. “The goddess is obviously playing games, but why?” I feel him press a kiss to the top of my head, and I snuggle further into his body, enjoying how it feels to rub my mostly naked skin against his. My desire roars back to life, and I tilt my head back and push up on my tiptoes, catching his lips with mine once more. He groans as my tongue swipes across his lips for entrance, but before the kiss can turn even more heated, he wrenches himself away, clenches his fists, and squeezes his eyes shut as if he’s trying to get control of himself. White fur rolls across his body like a gust of breeze across a wheat field. My stomach sinks in disappointment. He doesn’t want me.

“Trust me, there is nothing I want more than to shred those dainty underthings and shove my cock as deep as possible into your tight channel, but I owe it to my bond mates to tell them what’s happened,” he says through gritted teeth and opens his eyes. His blazing need for me burns in his gaze, and I let go of the hurt.

I’m surprised. I expected Liam to be more selfish than that, and I’m pleased he is putting his bond group before his own pleasure. It bodes well for us.

“Get changed,” he bites out and whirls around before stomping out of the bathroom. “I can’t stay here, otherwise my bear is going to eat you up. I’ll wait outside, and we’ll go tell everyone the news. I won’t let my brothers suffer any longer.”

My eyes follow him as he leaves my room, shutting the door behind him. I groan and lean against the cabinet, rubbing a hand over my tired eyes. That didn’t go quite as I had hoped, but it could have been worse. I only hope that when we tell the others, things will go better.