Page 26

Back to Asher’s POV

I lean on the railing, glass bottle of sugar cola in my hand, looking down at all the servants spending their free time in the shadow-hunted garden. The only lights are the ones shining through thick white curtains from the ball hall where we had dinner. That and the moonlight of a waxing gibbous.

“It’s the first time in my life I’m glad to be King’s cousin’s daughter and not the King’s daughter,” Ella says with a theatrical sigh, hinting at the fact that I was the one married to some rogue brute.

Yeah, right . She always takes full advantage of being a werewolf princess without any real responsibilities or consequences for her not-so-princessy actions, so I doubt it’s ‘the first time.’

“Where are your parents? Where are any proper adults except my parents and their beta? I feel kind of bad for leaving Cain in there.”

I hear the doors open, and I see with the corner of my eye, some maid leaving a tray with mini sandwiches for us. I say, “Thank you.”

“I miss your night-time routine affirmation,” Ella says with a sigh, and lowers her voice in a funny way, “Kill the Rogue Al—”

“Shh!” I shoot my hand to cover her mouth before she says the whole thing out loud in public. I don’t want us arrested for treason. She giggles and pushes my hand off.

“How old is he, by the way?” Ella asks, taking a sip of her cranberry juice.

“I don’t know. Did you catch him saying he’s older than his father was when he had him? That would mean he is over thirty… I thought he was like twenty-eight or nine.”

“What do you mean you don’t know?”

“He didn’t want to tell me when I asked.”

“Yeah, but you used to spend hours looking at his creepy birth announcement!” She reaches into her pocket to fish out a phone.

“Your dress has pockets?!” I almost scream with a healthy kind of envy.

She ignores my enthusiasm and sends me a picture.

“I don’t have my phone with me.”

She rolls her eyes and shows me a photo of the glass case with the birth announcement of Cain.

“See,” I point my finger, “The corner with the date is folded over the year, and the text only says he was born on December 12th.”

“Despite not knowing how old he is… you seem pretty close.”

I shrug my shoulders because, honestly, I have no idea what I should say to that.

“You like him,” she states, still watching me.

I want to shrug again, but I know she’s trying to have a heart-to-heart conversation like we always do—so I swallow my pride and really think about her question.

“Well, he is kind of toxic, but I guess I also do kind of like him,” I admit finally.

“Okay, but how toxic? Do you mean the murderous future-rogue-king kind of toxic that we already knew of, or some overly-possessive-gas-lighting-alpha-idiot kind of toxic?”

“Isn’t it the same, though?” I take another sip from the glass bottle and give her a grin.

“I hate to admit, he kind of does have big dick energy going on there. Even if he’s jealous, the confident way he answered my question about your mate—”

“Yup, he does,” I cut her off before she could grill me more about my true mate. I’m sick of lying. “It’s actually a nice change after all the territorial alpha bullshit I am used to.”

“Is he not territorial?” She narrows her eyes at me and drinks her juice.

“Oh, he is, but he is so sure of himself that I think he doesn’t feel the need to prove anything to anyone. If you know what I mean,” I sip my Coke.

“Well, he doesn’t need to prove anything. He is the Rogue Prince, everyone knows what’s his, and they know better than to question that.”

“Exactly.”

“Hey, what’s going on?” She watches me carefully.

“It is a nice change,” I shrug my shoulders again, and we are quiet for a moment. “You know better than anyone that I hate possessive assholes, but it would also be nice if he acted a little bit… I don’t know. I don’t feel that safe with him, I guess.”

The memory of Cain leaving me for his men to touch and attack me, invades my brain.

“Oh, you mean he’s not acting possessive toward you in front of other wolves? Come on, everyone knows you are his. No one will touch you.”

Maybe here. But I don’t say it out loud. I don’t want to tell Ella how he let his men attack me in front of the whole pack. She would be so scared for my safety and probably tell my dad.

“Okay, let me rephrase that first question then. If you didn’t know his story, and you met him at the bar, and well—true mates don’t exist for the purpose of this scenario… So, if you met him at the bar, a total stranger, would you date him then?”

I sigh deeply and imagine this with details. Cain in a biker jacket, with a beer in his hand and that sexy smirk of his… He would say something wildly inappropriate but funny, and I would laugh and start talking with him—a little bantering, flirting for sure because he is a gorgeous-looking guy, and the talk would be good, I know it would, I like our talks. And if he asked me to come with him? I would. And then we would kiss, leaning on his motorbike…

Yes, I can almost see it as if it was happening for real.

“I can’t say I would think he is husband material, but… yeah, yes, yes I would,” I try to say with indifference.

“Oh, my Goddess, you would totally date him, wouldn’t you?!”

Totally. I laugh at her not-so-princessy, but totally teenage-like language.

“I could see it in your eyes. You were imagining it!” She doesn’t give it a rest.

“No, I wasn’t,” I blush like a fucking schoolgirl and she laughs at me.

“You did, you totally did! You were quiet for so long…” She sits on the chair by the small table in the corner with a massive grin on her face.

“Fuck.” I shake my head lightly, “But he is hot, isn’t he?” I take another sip.

“Maybe stop drinking before you start telling everyone how hot I am,” Cain says behind my back suddenly. Fuck!

I had no idea he came out to us! When?!

I look over my shoulder. He is standing casually behind us, leaning against the doorframe like he’s been standing there for a while now.

“Everyone knows you are hot, Your Highness,” I say at the same time as Ella, we burst out laughing.

He takes a step toward me with a lopsided smile.

“How much did you hear?” I ask, and lick the lemon juice from the rim of my bottle.

“Everything,” he stares at my tongue with desire. “Seriously, stop drinking.”

“It’s not alcohol. It’s just Coke with lemon juice. I squeezed it myself, you can still taste it on the top of the bottle. Do you want some?”

“I had coke and it’s not that.” He takes the bottle from me, only to put it away. I hear a knock of glass on a wood surface .

“You don’t know what cola—” My question is cut short by his mouth crushing over mine, his hands roaming over my body.

He pushes me to the table by the railing with ease. I let him. I kiss him. I touch him back. He rolls my dress up and I can feel his fingers brushing my labia.

I forgot about Ella being here with us until she says with amusement, “You are totally at it.”

Thank the Goddess, she’s already eighteen and sexually active. I don’t want to have to pay for her therapy—

“Ah!” I’m shocked by Cain thrusting his hard cock right into me. He starts moving painfully slow.

“Oh, my Goddess,” Ella shrieks, “You are totally at it!”

I don’t have to look to know she turned around with unnatural speed and a blush. I would too.

“Alpha,” I try to rebuke him for taking me in front of my cousin, but it sounds like a moan, and he growls at me with lust.

I can hear Ella sigh and start opening the doors leading back inside, thank Goddess.

“I’ll guard the doors so Alpha King won’t walk in on you, Your Highnesses. Have fun.”

“Let him see,” My Rogue Alpha Prince says hoarsely, while picking up his pace, before she shuts the doors after herself.

“Ah, no, no, no, don’t, aah, don’t let him… Mmmm!” I feel so much building pressure I can barely say anything other than a loud moan.

What does he do to me?! Is he hitting some magic spot I wasn’t aware of? Seriously…

I arch my back, leaning on my forearms on the table behind me, tilting my head back. I moan again.

Fuck, we can’t do this here , I think, knowing deep in my heart it’s a huge mistake. Everyone will hear us!

Cain moves his right hand roughly over my still-dressed waist and breast, then over my throat, until he stops over my opened-in-pleasure mouth. He blocks my moans with his palm, fingers spread on my face, and I can’t help but bite him.

I didn’t want to, I barely registered it. With his thrusts and the whole nature of the situation, I completely lost control over my actions. The only thing left in my mind is chasing after this overtaking pleasure that is burning my body.

Yes! Yes, Cain, yes! I can feel my muscles clenching over his cock. My legs, which I must have wrapped around his hips at some point, are trembling—my face tingling with a weird sensation.

I’ve never felt tingles like these before.

He is letting me come down from my climax, slowing his pace, and takes his hand back to my hips.

I lay myself down on the table, completely spent, panting, and touching my face with both of my hands. I don’t know how I will suffer through more of his life-shattering thrusts.

But I don’t have to. He stops completely and slips out.

“You want me to bend over the railing?” I ask, knowing he seems to like taking me from behind.

But there’s no answer. I open my eyes to look at him.

He doesn’t seem pleased, and I don’t mean sexually. I know he hasn’t finished yet. I think. No. He looks… almost angry.

“What happened?” I ask confused, and get my back up off the table.

“Do you want to tell me how the hell you just mind-linked me like that?” Cain is so angry I can see his canines elongating.

“I didn’t… what are you talking about?”

Did I? Every werewolf knows only the Alpha can start the mind-link in human form. Unless you are true mates… but we are not marked and I wasn’t trying to… Oh, my Goddess, I need to c alm down before I start looking even more suspicious.

Cain looks down at the garden with tightly pressed lips.

“Is it the same reason your wolf didn’t want to fight me in the woods? Because that’s what happened there, right?”

“No, I don’t know what you are talking about!” I lie with conviction. How did he even catch onto me so fast? No, no, no, it’s not happening right now—

“Is that why you fell in love with me? Because you feel the mate bond?”

“Excuse me? I’m not in love with you!”

He laughs at me, but it’s a bitter kind.

“You are such a bad liar, Asher,” my name rolls from his lips like a parseltongue.

He looks at me with such intensity that I start to melt with fear under his navy-blue gaze.

Why is he even asking me all these questions about love? We’ve known each other for a week, and there is no way either of us—

“Are you… do you like me?” I ask sheepishly and turn my head to the right, not ready for an answer, no matter what it is.

“You can’t even ask if I love you back?!” He shouts, seething with anger at this point.

Back? I scowl. He does have a huge ego, being so sure I have fallen in love with him already.

I don’t fully get why he is so vexed right now! He seemed to have fun intimidating everyone at dinner. He even seemed to be at ease with me by his side, and he seemed to like observing everyone’s reaction to me with him. He wanted me so much that he didn’t even wait for Ella to leave before taking me. And now we are back to our too-vulnerable states from after the shower in the Gray Room .

We are both great at many things, royal alpha blood makes sure of that, but being vulnerable is not one of them.

“Why are you even mad at me?!” I shout back, standing up from the table and pushing my dress back down.

“Because you think you are too good to be with someone like me, and we both know it,” he growls at me.

I freeze in the spot, dumbfounded.