Page 21 of Princess Redeemed

“It’s not what you think.”Rogan threads his fingers through his long hair.It’s matted with grass and sweat.

“What is it, then?”

“I’m sworn to secrecy.”

I scoff.“Do I look like I care?If we’re truly the mates we both feel we are, there can be no secrets between us.I don’t want that.Do you?”

“No, princess.I don’t want that.”He shakes his head.“I didn’t ask for this any more than you did.”

“I believe you.I do.But the fact remains that you’re still fighting for your own team, and I’m not.Where’s the fairness in that?”

“There is no fairness in that,” he says.“It’s just the way it is.”

“I don’t accept it.If there truly is no choice for either of us, why aren’t we fighting for my side, Victor?Why don’t you fight with the vamps?”

“They won’t have me.”

“You can’t know that.”

“I do know that.Your side will never accept me, but my side will accept you because you’re only half vampire.”

“I’m not buying.You’re an alpha, and I’m your mate.Your side will accept me no matter what.”

“That’s not entirely true.Vamps and lycans are natural enemies.We always have been.If you were a pureblood vampire, you and I would be alone.”

I shake my head.“That doesn’t sound too bad from where I’m standing.I’d rather go off alone than fight alongside demons.I can’t do it, Rogan.I can’t.You don’t know how bad Richard treated Larissa and me.He hated us.Called us whores.Told us we were worthless pieces of ass.He was especially hard on me.He said if he and I were the last two beings in the universe, sentient life would die out.”

Rogan curls his hands into fists.“He saidthat?To you?His stepdaughter?”

“Yeah, he’s disgusting.Does he think I’d ever let him near me?”

“That’s not even the point,” Rogan says.“It’s repugnant that he would even think of you that way.”

“No kidding.He’s a fucking bastard.Always has been.Which is why I want to know… How the hell can you be onhisside?”

“I’m not on his side, princess.”

“Uh…except you are.”

“No.”He rubs his forehead, closes his eyes a moment, and then opens them.“Everything is not as it seems.”

“What are you saying, exactly?Are the demons going to overthrow him?”

Rogan widens his eyes.Fuck.Am I right?This war just got a whole lot more meaningful for me.

“Not exactly,” he says finally.

“What, then?Because mates or not, I will not fight on any side that includes Richard Tomlinson.You can’t make me.I may be drawn to you, and I may love you, but I will draw the line at fighting on the same side as the demon who made my sister’s and my lives hell.”

“If I tell you any more,” he says, “I can’t keep you safe.”

“Do you truly have so little faith in me?”I ask.“I’m perfectly capable of keeping myself safe.”

“Are you, though?Why do you think I tested you that first night?Sent Delacourt after you?”

“That was three against one, Rogan, and I held my own.”

“And how do you think it will be with the demons if you fight on your father’s side?Three against one?It may be ten against one, Hannah.Or more.And I’ll protect you.I can’tnotprotect you.”