FOUR

SCARLETT POV

I laugh as he steps up the dance we are doing, which makes everyone move slightly and watch as we move around the dance floor. When the music stops, he bows, and I curtsy. I start to giggle as father holds out his arm. I take it and he leads me back to the thrones.

"That was good, when did you two learn that?" mother whispers as I sit back down, I smile "You know the private classes father was giving me?"

"Yes"

"Well, they were private dance classes because I kept tripping over my own feet every time I tried to dance."

Once I had sat down after dancing with Father, more and more males approached me for a dance, I had a duty tonight and that was to be the kingdom's princess and possibly be someone's mate, the only thing that I didn't like was I already knew I was someones mate and he was standing just behind father on protection duty. I sneak another look at Phoenix whenever I can, in any normal circumstance anyone that finds their mate shows everyone as soon as they do but Phoenix and my father made an agreement that if it happened during an official event, then he would wait until after as not to take the light or focus off of the event, and as we already knew about us being mates anyway, so tonight I needed to be the vampire princess.

I hid a smile every time I heard a low hiss coming from just behind Fathers chair, at one stage after another male had just asked me to dance and we heard that low hiss again, I heard father clear his throat and then a soft "Sorry Sir!" come from Phoenix.

Once the event has slowed down and most people were getting ready to leave father gave Phoenix a small nod and held his hand out to mother, they made their way onto the dance floor, while Phoenix comes up to me and holds out his hand "Can I have this dance?"

I smile and stand, taking his hand. I let out a small gasp at the sparks that travel up from where he is touching my hand. As we get onto the dance floor, he whispers, "My Butterfly! You look absolutely beautiful tonight, I'm sorry I couldn't say it sooner but your father is right, we agreed, and this was an official event and until you are of age or we are mated, I have a duty to address you as I would any member of the Royal family."

"It's okay, I understand. Did you see some of those males' faces every time you hissed low and threatening in the background as they asked me to dance?"

"That was more Soren, you are ours and we should be the only one touching you, so watching other unattached males put their hands on you makes us just a little agitated." I see his eyes flicker red, showing how that Soren wanted control.

"Soren, I am yours and always have been."

His eyes stopped flickering, we then went on to dance and dance until he whispers "Butterfly I want to be alone with you, do you want to get out of here?"

I smile and nod. He takes my hand and we head back to the castle. Once we make it to his room, he closes the door and grabs me around the waist, pulling me in for a kiss that is full of passion and dominance. He backs us up, pushing me hard against the wall. With Cara and Ruth hissing and growling in my head, to relax that he is our mate, and this is what is meant to happen between us, I return his kiss with just as much hunger as he has. This is what we wanted, what we had been waiting for, but as he slides his hand down the side of my body and he reaches my thigh, I start to feel a little scared. We have never gone this far or been this serious before. As he moves his hand back up, he moves it under the hem of my dress, sliding it onto my bare thigh, making me shiver. When he reaches my hip, I feel his claws extending. While he is doing this, he moves his kiss from my lips and trails them down my neck. He starts to scare me more, as he uses his claws to rip my underwear; I tense and move my arms from around his neck to place my hands so they are now resting on his chest. I take a quick gasp of breath as I feel him scrape his fangs along my skin.

"Nix?? I.. I.." he lifts his head and I see that his eyes are a bright red, "Soren?? Please..."

"You mean after all your teasing and whining that you had to wait, you now don't want me to touch you???"

"No! Soren it's not like that... I.. I.." I feel a tear start to slide down my cheek, I also feel fear start to rise as I see the anger in his eyes. He raised his hand, and I flinched for the first time, ever fearing he was going to hit me.

"Soren... I'm sorry please..." I whisper.

He hits the wall behind me and takes a step back. He goes over to the door, opens it, and stalks out. I slide down the wall and cover my face as I let the tears fall.

After a little while, I slowly got back up to my feet. I follow the pull of the blood bond, wanting to apologize, but what I find makes me pale, while Cara and Ruth whimper inside my head. I can't move as I watch Phoenix or is it Soren pushed up against the side of the castle with another female wrapped around him, I couldn't tell if he was kissing her, if he was just drinking from her or if he was doing more with her but whatever he was doing, she looked like she was really enjoying it with her legs wrapped around his waist.

The female looks up and over. When she sees me, she smiles and whispers something into his ear. He lifts his head, looks over at me, and runs his tongue over his lips as he smirks. I see the moment he realizes who I am as horror slides into his eyes. I turn around and run to my room. I lock my door once I am inside and head into my bathroom. I strip slowly out of my dress, climb into the shower and break down into sobs again.

I can't believe we find out this morning that we were right and Phoenix and Soren are our mates but after everything, after waiting for so long, I get a little scared, I just wanted him to slow down a little but he runs off to be in another female's arms instead. I can't believe everyone was right. I am not good enough for him.

I slowly get out of the shower and crawl into bed, still sobbing. I hear a knock on the door, but I just can't bring myself to go and answer it.