5

The morning between Belle and Layke had been rather awkward. Neither had brought up last night’s conversation during the journey to Avalon and it also hadn’t been brought up whilst Layke gave Belle a tour of his home. But aside from the animosity between them, Belle found herself to rather impressed by the castle of Avalon.

It wasn’t much smaller than her home and it was equally as beautiful. Once she got over the haunting gargoyles resting at the entrance of the home, Belle found the castle to be rather charming. Spiral staircases could be found behind corners, grand chandeliers hung from the ceiling, spotless white marble floor was carried out throughout the home and the doorways were tall enough to fit someone twice the height of Layke. If she had plans to stay, she would have been quite happy here.

After Layke did the exact opposite of what she did and took her inside practically every single room, he finally led her out to the castle gardens where most of the kingdom had gathered. Hundreds of expectant eyes landed on her, many recognising who she was and wondering what she was doing away from her kingdom. She could hear the whispers of the people, chatting amongst themselves as to their beliefs regarding her arrival.

Layke assisted her onto the podium, where 5 faeries were already waiting in the far corner. 3 men and 2 women, all dressed in training gear and booted up with protective weapons, causing Belle to assume the 5 of them were Layke’s best warriors. One woman in particular had her eyes fixated on the way Layke held Belle’s hand in his. She was a pretty woman, with long blonde hair and deep, chocolate eyes. She had a petite frame, yet the way she dressed her weaponry told Belle she was an at least adequate warrior and wasn’t to be underestimated. The woman’s gaze never lifted, like she was in a trance of disbelief over what she was seeing.

Belle politely bowed her head towards the rest of them as she flashed them a gracious smile, before turning her attention to Layke. “People of Avalon, thank you for joining us.” Layke began. “I’m sure many of you are wondering why Princess Belle of Midsummer is here joining us today and I have a very exciting explanation for this..”

Layke lowered his gaze to Belle, playing his part well as an adoring smile grew along his lips. If she didn’t know any better, she would have believed he was actually in love with her. Alas, it was all an act and although she was fully aware of this, for some reason it still stung. “I am excited to share with you all the news of our engagement. After falling in love with this incredibly beautiful woman, I couldn’t resit asking for her hand in marriage and she honoured me by saying yes.”

Cheers of congratulations filled the air as the bustling sound of excitement spread. For the most part, it seemed the kingdom of Avalon were overjoyed with the union of their future king and the hybrid princess. Princess Belle had always been known as a kind leader, despite her werewolf counterpart, and this was known across all the kingdoms. It was also known how much she loved her people and how she cared for them, so the people of Avalon felt as though they were in good hands.

Except one person in particular. Belle could feel the anger radiating off the blonde behind her in waves as her eyes pierced into the back of Belle’s skull. She had her suspicions that there was more to this woman than what met the eye and potentially, the warrior had a history with Layke. However, Layke hadn’t mentioned any potential girlfriends and had seemed strongly opposed to the idea of having a mate, so she couldn’t quite work out what the story behind the two of them may be. Belle wasn’t concerned though, not only was she a much more powerful faerie than most, she was also a royal wolf. She was practically unbeatable and if the blonde were to cause her any complications, Belle was happy to show her exactly who was in charge. As long as Belle was set to be Queen of Avalon, she would be respected.

“The wedding is in two days time,” Layke continued. “And we invite you all to join us in Midsummer to celebrate our special day. Belle will be setting in over the next couple of days but you will each get a chance to meet her and introduce yourself. I know you will all welcome her with open arms.”

Layke continued to share some further details regarding the pending nuptials and explained how the couples time would be split between the two kingdoms moving forward, before dismissing the people of Avalon and leading Belle back to his office.

“That went well.” Layke commented as he leaned against his desk.

Belle nodded, leaning her shoulder against the doorframe. “You play the part of the adoring fiancé well.”

The pair locked eyes, the tension between them that they had been subduing all day finally threatening to overspill. Belle watched him carefully as Layke twisted his lips, thinking of what to say next. The truth is, he wasn’t so much thinking of what to say but more trying to restrain his mind from focusing on how her chest raised, pushing the upper half of her breasts into his eyeline each time she took a breath.

After internally scolding himself, he finally spoke up. “I think we should talk about last night.”

Belle shrugged, pretending to be none the wiser. “What about it?” She pouted her lips as she waited for his response, filling Layke’s mind with dirty thoughts on where he would like those pretty lips to be.

Layke coughed, turning his attention away from her for a moment. “We need to agree on a plan for after the wedding, we’re running out of time.”

Belle narrowed her eyes, tilting her head slightly. “You think you’re in charge, so you come up with one Mr Hot Shot.”

Layke grinded his teeth, thinking about how that smart mouth of hers was going to get her into trouble one day and if she carried on, he’d have to find a way to teach her a lesson. Frankly, it didn’t sound like such a bad idea. Not that she would submit easy, but that was part of the fun.

“We need to spend time training the armies together, they need to learn one another’s techniques and my men need to learn how to control their newfound strength from the marriage.” Layke stated in a matter-of-fact manner.

“I agree.” Belle replied, shocking Layke to the point he fell speechless. “But I don’t agree with the nonsense you wafted about spending time researching. We need to try and track them now, whilst their trail is hot. If we leave it too long, we may miss our window of opportunity to gather helpful intel.”

Layke glared at her dumbfounded. “Do you want to get our men killed?”

Belle scoffed. “Do you want more innocent lives to be lost?”

Layke gripped the edge of his desk, he couldn’t believe she just said that. He couldn’t stop himself from seeing red at this point. “Of course not, but you have no idea what you are talking about! This is the exact recklessness I was referring to last night! We can’t just go willy nilly sending our men out into the unknown, with no idea what they are looking for and hoping they don’t get killed!”

“Reckless?!” Belle yelled back. “How about proactive! How can you possibly think you’re helping the situation by sitting behind your fancy desk and researching on your shitty computer? We need to be out there, searching for clues! The longer you spend thinking about how to handle this, rather than actually handling it, the more likely people are going to get killed! Is that what you want?”

“What did you just say?” Layke asked in a dangerously low tone, yet it didn’t scare Belle. “I said, is that what you want?” she repeated, leaning off the doorframe as her eyes challenged Layke for dominance.

In a sudden movement, Layke gripped her throat and squeezed as he shoved her against the wall. It wasn’t hard enough to stop her from breathing, but enough for her to know the strength he could have over her. Belle blinked, surprised by Layke’s sudden action, but there still wasn’t a single ounce of fear in her eyes.

“You will not disrespect me like that again.” Layke gritted through his teeth, his face only inches away from hers as he felt her warm breath fanning against his cheek. Her chest continued to rise quickly, but Layke knew it wasn’t from her being scared, but more the excitement of his challenge.

Her brow quirked as she traced her tongue along her lower lip. “Or what, charming?”

Layke sucked in a breath, using every ounce of his self-control to keep his infuriation with this woman in check. “You don’t want to find out, princess.” He warned, closing the distance between them as their bodies now pressed up against each other. They were both aware of their compromising position, yet neither wanted to pull apart. Not from anger, but maybe.. attraction?

Belle’s eyes pierced into Layke’s as the corners of her lips twitched. She knew right now she was dancing with the devil, but not an ounce of her cared. “Maybe I do.”

The pair stood like that for several minutes, challenging one another to look away, yet neither did. Belle had a smug look on her face when Layke struggled to reply to her last comment, but right now all he could think about was closing the tiny gap between them and slamming his lips on hers, claiming them as his own.

The thought shocked him enough to accidentally loosen his grip on her, catching him off guard, allowing her to pull away from her. “I knew you didn’t have the guts to do anything.” She chuckled. “You’re all talk, charming.” She taunted with a smirk, before leaving his office.