Page 122 of Unclaimed Bonds

She kisses my cheek. “Don’t worry about Luke.”

“Gary, you’re early as usual. Thank you for coming,” my father says as he walks in.

I glance behind him. There are no guards.

“I told them to take a break,” he explains. Then, he hugs me. “Plenty of guards to go around.”

“The paparazzi weren’t a problem?”

“No. I’m a recluse Alpha King—too boring for them to waste their time.”

Gary clears his throat. “I’m happy for this little reunion, but time is of the essence here. Thanks to the Princess revealing her alter ego ‘G’ and an anonymous source who spilled the “tea” regarding the Princess’s past, I now have to develop a media control plan.”

“Wait. You want me to do what?” I shout.

“Well, you agreed to move forward with finding a mate, so we thought this would be a suitable alternative,” my mother explains, sipping her tea.

“So, the three of you—four, if you include Gary—get to choose random men who I date, and I pick one and mate them before midnight on my birthday?”

“They’re not random men,” Anders counters.

“We know them and approve of them,” my father adds.

Gary shrugs. “You have had two proposals and shut both of them down so I think your parents’ alternative is good.”

“First of all, Gary, the betrothal contract is null and void, according to my lawyer, because, for one, there is no birth certificate of a Grit DuPont. Grit DuPont was never born or existed on the LS or anywhere else in the world. Two, they were dumb enough to fake a death certificate. So, in either case, Grit DuPont does not exist. I am not obligated to fulfill that contract. And Luke… that’s personal and none of your business.”

“Sorry to burst your pink twinkling bubble, Princess. There is a shitshow of crap going on just outside the territory boundary.Your life is my business, especially if you need me to clean up what you started,” he sneers.

Fuck him. I’ll give him a pink princess bubble. “You know what, Gary? Because you hate your job so much, why don’t we just save you some time and paste my crappy life on some reality TV show for a tell-all? While we’re at it, just throw in the men I need to meet so the entire world can see just how incapable I am of choosing a mate for myself! At least that way, you don’t have to lift a finger and do what you actually get paid for.”

This time, Gary frowns and leans back in his chair. “Actually, that might work. I can make the arrangements.”

“No, Gary! I was being sarcastic, suggesting I want to get rid of your ass!”

He laughs, snapping his fingers and wagging his index finger at me. “I’ll be right back. Let me make some phone calls.” He leaps from his chair and exits the back door.

“You’re fired!” I yell after him, even though I’m pretty sure he can’t hear me.

My parents chuckle. “I know he has an attitude, Little One, but he’s really great at his job. Or I wouldn’t have kept him around as long as I have,” my father defends.

“Attitude? More like a personality disorder,” I scoff.

Gary returns shortly, crashing through the door with a bag hitched over his shoulder and a huge smile from ear to ear.

“What the hell is that?” I ask, gesturing to his satchel.

“You, Alpha Princess, are going to be the new star attraction on the popular reality TV dating show,A Game of Heart’s Desire!” he exclaims, clapping his hands together.

“The hell I am!” I shout, standing from my chair.

He laughs. “Oh, yes, you are. This was, after all, your suggestion.” He waggles his eyebrows. “And whether you like it or not, you and I will be spending quite a bit of time together. Filming starts in less than two weeks.”