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“I am your Alpha,” Rogue Prince says sternly and crosses his arms over his naked chest. My mind darts to his sword on the floor. Not a toy anymore. Definitely not a toy. I wonder how quickly he can get to it, but then realize there are at least a few knives hidden around the bed we are on, so I am screwed anyway.

“I am your Luna,” I try to reason with him.

“Are you, though? Are you?” he squints his eyes like Thor questioning Banner in… never mind, they don’t watch movies in this Goddess-forsaken land.

“What do you mean by that? You recognized me as such when you had a wedding with me in front of your pack. And I can…” I trail off, thinking about my alpha commands to his pack that did work on everyone but alpha-blooded officers—but that was the strength of my wolf blood and not my place in the pack, I realize. Would a true Luna be able to command Officers too? I don’t know.

“You are an alpha-blooded royal wolf and my wife, but technically speaking, you are not a Luna-ranked wolf yet.”

“Why?” I ask, wondering if that was the reason my new pack could hurt me.

I don’t have any physical wounds anymore, but mentally? I realize now I’m scared of everyone here, and the crowd can be worse than one, even the most brutal man.

“Technically, your Luna bond to the pack is not completed until we are marked and mated.”

I didn’t think about that being a rule because true mates were usually already marked before the wedding, or just after. Even if it was normal with arranged marriages to wait, I haven’t heard about one with any Alpha since I was a little kid—so I didn’t know how it actually works.

Marked and mated …

“Yeah, like that would ever happen,” I sigh and roll on my side, ignoring how wet I am.

“Why do you think it won’t?” he furrows his brows and moves his arms under his head.

“Because then I could always find you and feel everything. I would be hurt and know whenever you had sex with other people…”

I could probably find him with our true mate bond if I concentrated enough, but he doesn’t need to know that.

“Why would I have sex with other people?”

I look at his emotionless expression and sigh loudly, a little bit irritated by him playing dumb. I hate it when people do that.

“Yeah, right, because you don’t have a castle full of your personal whores.”

Or an entire kingdom dreaming about his gorgeous body, for that matter.

“You would smell other women and sex on me.” He chuckles at me. “Come on, you know I haven’t had any other women since we met.”

He gives me a half smile, looking amused.

“All I know is, you always smell fresh and clean and that the bathing takes off the smell after sex, so…”

“Excuse me, what are you suggesting? Do I look like a guy who would do a secret romance? I would flaunt it before you in the open just to mess with you. You can be sure.”

True.

“Okay, that is weirdly reassuring and disturbing at the same time.”

“Exactly what I was going for.”

I laugh, and he smiles at me again but rolls his eyes.

“Okay, but seriously,” I try to return to the topic that I couldn’t leave alone. I have to understand it so I can convince him it’s not such a good idea. “You want to mark each other at some point. Why?”

“I wanted to do it from the start, to strengthen our alliance, but… don’t you have to love each other for it to actually work?”

I stare at him dumbfounded. Another thing I didn’t know—being raised in a perfect world where people fall with their true mates.

Why did the hidden fact in his question hurt me? I don’t love him either!

Well, the wolf part of my consciousness probably does—unconditionally—because he is my true mate, but I don’t dwell on it. I try not to feel it. I try not to think about it. Ignoring it so it won’t spread to the rest of me.

I realize he looks at me expectantly.

“I don’t know,” I shrug my shoulders. “No one back home marks anyone that is not fated to them, and I think that’s love by definition.”

Oh, my Goddess. Does he love me back? No, wait. He doesn’t feel the mate bond yet, and hopefully never will—so he definitely can’t feel the still non-existent love of his wolf.

He wouldn't have been able to attack me back in the woods if his wolf had felt the bond.

“You still know more than me, but I guess we’ll just try and see someday,” he says, and it takes me a full minute of staring at him to realize he’s talking about trying to mark each other either way.

I don’t like it at all. I don’t want to be bound to him even more than I already am.

“We would get all the perks of being mated.”

“Despite the scent,” I say, trying to think about other differences between a true mate bond and a chosen one. Maybe I could make him believe it’s not worth it .

“And super healing, right?” he asks, and I realize that making him knowledgeable is not safe for my secret at all.

Especially if he learns that wounds inflicted by your true mate can be lethal after the marking. I don’t need to be seen as a weakness and a threat.

I just nod to finish the conversation and look down absently, instantly regretting it.

His cock is back to being hard and ready, and I don’t think I can handle him again. I’m too sore. Apparently, even a werewolf needs a little bit of healing time after their first time with someone that big.

He bursts out laughing.

“Why do you look so terrified? I thought you liked your first time.”

I’m instantly back to being annoyed.

“Do you seriously think you can tell if I have ever had sex before?”

“Well, if you insist on being difficult here—I don’t—just a hunch, but I have a way to be one hundred percent sure.”

I can feel I will regret burying myself deeper in this stupid not-a-virgin lie, but I am committed to it now—so I just huff at him and start making my side of the bed so I can go to sleep.

It was an eventful day, and I am fucking tired.

I move to my side under the covers, ignoring my lack of underwear, wetness, and all the lemon pieces. I’m used to the smell after sleeping beside Cain for a few nights now. His t-shirt, which I still have on, smells like a lemon to me anyway.

I can hear some rustling and then I feel the dip of the mattress behind me. He spoons me and wraps his arm under my shirt around my waist, pulling me closer. He inhales the smell on my neck and then throws his alpha aura on me, which makes me gasp in pain. It feels nearly as strong as an alpha king’s would, and I wasn’t aware he had it in him. Was mine as strong before he made me pledge to him?

“Who was your first time with?” he asks with an alpha command in his low, husky voice.

Shit! The question almost opens my lips, drawing his name in answer, but I am committed and smart, so I turn it in my favor.

“My true mate,” I’m putting everything on one card, lying without actually lying. He is my true mate. He just doesn’t know it.

I feel his body tense when he hears that, and I have to actively remind myself to breathe… waiting for him to ask more questions, exposing my not-lie and my biggest secret. I start to regret this stupidly bold choice… it could cost me my life.

“Hmm, interesting,” he relaxes after a moment and burrows his head in the back of my head.

Surely, he thinks my elevated pulse is caused by thinking he would be jealous, which works in my favor.

I wake up in the middle of the night, horrified by the sticky fluid leaking between my legs. We didn’t use any protection! I guess we should have talked about it first, but it was too… spontaneous.

I try to check my phone, even feel my nightstand in the dark for it, but then snap my eyes wide open and try to get up. I don’t have a phone anymore.

How am I supposed to check what day of my cycle I’m on without my app?

Shit, shit, shit! I bring my hands to my head with rising panic.

Meanwhile, Cain is sleeping hard with an arm around my stomach. I take his warm limb away, and he doesn’t even stir. Well, killing him in his sleep will be easy if I decide to do that after all.

I rake my hands through my hair, trying to remember when my last period was.

I ate strawberry donuts. That’s not helpful. I ate them too often before moving here. Wait, I ate them on my bed with Ella! We were… what were we doing? I groan with frustration. Think, think!

We were planning what to wear for her 18th birthday. Yes! Okay, so it was just before July 18 th . Maybe on the 17, 16, 15? The 16 th , I think. What day is it now?

I look around like it could help me. It cannot. It’s dark, and there’s no helpful electronics anywhere. Ok, focus.

I met the rogues and had my wedding on August 14 th . I vividly remember that day in the letter they sent us before. How long have I been here? Two days? Three? It doesn’t matter. It's been a few days, so I know my current cycle is already past thirty days—I realize with relief.

I should get my period any day now. I’m even a little bit late. Either way, I’m definitely at the end of the luteal phase now, and I won’t get pregnant in the luteal phase, there’s like no chance. Right? I try to calm down.

I lay back again and try to go back to sleep, but in vain. I can’t, not after the adrenaline rush I’ve got while panickly mathing. I even consider putting Cain’s arm around me again, but that thought just makes me shudder.

If I’m already used to him touching me so much that I can’t sleep without it, then no sleep it is!

I stand up and go to the double glass doors, wiping myself with a washcloth on the way. I can see the sun rising behind the vast forest and decide to start the day.

I turn around to the room, and my eyes stop on my too-handsome husband. I can’t believe I slept with him after all the things he did to me for the past few days.

Hmm, I have a weird feeling between my legs. I’m not sore anymore, but I can feel I had sex. It’s not comfortable, but it’s not bad either. It kind of makes me think about it, and that makes me want to do it again… no. Bad idea.

I don’t regret having sex with him.

He is a damn attractive man, and men are not the only ones allowed to have sex whenever they feel like it, right? And I did feel like it. I guess I was in a really good mood after all that exhilarating lemon-cutting fun… his body is arousing… there’s nothing wrong in wanting him like that…

I realize I’m staring at him like a creep, so I shake my head and go to my wardrobe. I did sleep with him, but I’m still mad at him. I can do both, I was always good at multitasking.

I chuckle at my own inside joke.

I’m about to pick a dress to wear today when I decide, screw it . I tried to be good. I tried to go by their rules. What did that give me? Humiliation in many forms. Why would I wear these stupid dresses when they rip them off of me anyway?

Fuck it. Fuck them.