Amber's Game

Edrian's POV

The sting from earlier had not healed yet. The marks of Xander's hands still clung to my body, the stinging blows that had left me burning and aching, but God help me, I had desired more. The shame of me wanting more throbbed within me as pain had melted into pleasure, and I'm not even going to lie, I despised myself that I wanted it. 

I could still hear his deep, commanding voice when he shouted "Get out!"

He had sent me out of his chambers shaken, my wolf impatient, pawing the ground within me like a cage bird. 

Berry had whined and wondered why our mate should hurt us and afterwards dispose of us like rubbish. I attempted to fall asleep, gripping the sheets as if they could cover the storm that was inside my heart. But then...

A knock.

“Lord Edrian,” a soft voice called. I quickly stood up to check who it was and when i pushed the door open, it was a servant. 

Amber’s servant.

“His Majesty summons you.” she said and turned back to leave immediately without getting a response from me, but what response would i give. 

My stomach clenched, even after he threw me out, he wanted me again? 

Foolish hope flared, enough to make me forget my sore muscles as I hurried down the quiet halls, but when I reached the door of his chambers—

I froze.

Moans and screams filled the hallway. I know that voice anywhere, i never forget people's voice and this one in particular belongs to Amber.

Amber moaned all the way through the wood, shameless and high-pitched. The breathless pleasure that came with her voice was dripping with lust.

“Harder, Xander! Don’t stop! Gods, give me more—”

My chest caved in.

I had a sensation of shredding my soul with the claws. 

Berry whimpered in a pitiful fashion, and crept away into the shadows of my mind. 

Our mate, doing what we craved for with someone else.

I supported myself as my legs almost failed me. My hands were trembling and I pressed them against the wall in an attempt to hold myself steady. 

It was miserable...I, who had been humiliated by the courtiers, sneered by the palace, could not stand to hear my mate fucking the brain cells out of someone else.

I quickly made my way to my room. 

Before I reached my room all the hope I had rushed down the hall with had died.

I lay on the bed trying to wonder why Xander would summon me when he knew he wanted to fuck another and why did he sent Amber's servant and not someone else. 

I didn't even know when sleep engulfed me. 

The following day, I came to his room early in the morning. I had decided to keep everything highly professional between us which includes coming to his chambers early for training.

I didn't want to put myself in the position where he would punish me and put me in a state of shameful desire. But what I saw tore me once again.

Amber was sprawled in bed with Xander, the silken sheets falling around her naked form indicating that they just finished devouring eachother. Her golden hair swept everywhere over his pillows like it belonged there. She looked smug and satisfied.

Xander with his shirt off sat next to her with a stone-cut face. His eyes were not filled with afterglow, no tenderness, no warmth, just the cold indifference he always armored himself, and yet he did not push her away. He allowed her to hang on to him, to mark him with her lips on his shoulder.

Amber’s gaze flicked to me and the smirk that curved her lips was venomous which made me believe she is aware of the mate bond. She knows Xander is my mate and this is her way of punishing me.

“Oh,” she said sweetly, though her voice was poison. “The stray is here.”

My throat tightened.

“You should really learn to knock, pet,” she continued, her words light but edged like a blade. “Or perhaps that’s your role now—standing outside his door, listening, wishing.”

Berry growled inside me, low and dangerous.

“Amber.” Xander’s voice was a warning rumble.

But she ignored him, turning her cruel smile back to me. 

“Did you hear us last night, Edrian? Every sound? Every cry? I told you before, you’re out of your depth here. You don’t belong in this palace, and you certainly don’t belong in his bed.”

And that was the cue i need for me to be sure she knew.

My chest ached, but I forced my face blank. I would not give her the satisfaction of seeing me bleed.

“You’re nothing but a collar away from what you truly are,” she purred. “A servant. Maybe I should gift you one, something simple, leather, to remind you of your place.”

Berry roared at that, my wolf clawing to the surface. My lips curled, a growl escaping before I could stop it.

“Enough.” Xander roared

The single word sounded through the room like thunder. There was no defiance left in Xander's tone. The smug smile on Amber's face disappeared.

He looked at her with cold, hard eyes. 

"You will never talk to him like that again."

For a moment there was a heavy silence. Even I blinked, I was stunned.

Amber made a dry, forced laugh. 

"Xander, you can't be serious." He’s—”

“I said enough.” Feris's eyes glowed slightly, the power rolling under his skin. He was not just angry, he was about to snap. “Edrian is not a servant. He is a free man who is under my protection and no one, not anyone puts a collar on him."

Amber's mouth opened in shock and her face contorted in anger. 

“So you defend him now? This… nobody? What about me?”

His eyes sliced into her with deadly coldness. 

“Your games end here.”

My breath caught. My heart was pounding so hard I was sure they could both hear it. He was defending me. He was standing between me and her cruelty, and gods, I didn't know what to do with that.

Amber scowled in anger, but read the warning in his eyes and moved down off the bed, wrapping the sheets around herself. Her heels clicked angrily against the marble as she stormed out, the perfume of her retreating heated the air long after she was gone.

Silence settled. Heavy and suffocating.

I looked at the floor, my emotions knotting up beyond recognition. Relief. Confusion. The thinnest, most dangerous ray of hope.

“Edrian.”

My head shot up at the hearing of my name. Xander stared at me, his eyes unreadable as his jaw tightened. He seemed to want to say something else, but whatever it was, he swallowed it down.

"Go," he growled instead, looking away.

And just like that, the fragile moment of defense, or something almost human, was gone.

But I carried it with me anyway, the memory of his voice, sharp and final. "Only me could treat him that way."

It was twisted. It was cruel, but for someone like me, starving for even the scraps of his attention… it was enough to keep me tethered to him, no matter how deep it hurt.