A silent sound escaped my throat before the bear clan raised an interested brow up. His massive had stopped Damien's before he could even make the hit, and my breathing stopped. My widened eyes darted between my mate and the predator which still had his shifted claws in his hold. Angus was still looking at me, and Damien was wincing in pain. For a moment, I realized that without his father, Damien wasn't ever going to be anything.I should have known though. Why else would the alpha of the bear clan walk into his palace without any fear of repercussion, especially after he'd nearly taken his life, and captured his mate once. To Alpha Angus, Damien was weak. "Stop it." I whispered harshly, not sparing my mate a glance. "You're still out guest." The massive man squeezed his hand tighter, and Damien raised his second hand at him, again. Angus knew what he was doing. Damien would never signal his guards over here, because then he would be seen for what he was—weak. And as long
The hair on the back of my neck stood at attention, a sliver of awareness slithering through my skin, until it felt like I was shaking from it. Damien's hold on me tightened by a fraction, and I let myself inhale the warmth he was exuding. It wasn't enough. Damien wasn't the one who had saved me from this man when he'd captured me and nearly had his wicked way with me. He wasn't the one my body craved when I felt like that danger would engulf me again. My inner wolf wanted—no needed someone else to feel safe. But all I had right now was Damien, so I needed to make do with it. I tried to relax just slightly, forcing my head to remain held high, as I and my mate turned at the same time, to the voice who had spoken. "Alpha Angus, it's a pleasure to see that you've received our invitation with much grace."I droned out the words like a corpse who—without any feeling at all, and all three of us knew it was a lie. Damien created some distance between us, and shot s venomous look a
Damien was too worried about my bleeding that he didn't notice the mockery in my words. Susan picked up on it faster, and her bored gaze turned stony with hatred. It wasn't my fault that she no longer saw me as a daughter in law. If she knew that the reason I had jumped from the window was to avoid laying with her husband, how would she feel? And to think I had refused the mage's offer to try killing Alpha Chris, yet here she was, treating me like some stain under her royal feet. I thought she would call me out on it, hit me maybe, and tell me to mind my place in the palace as simply Damien's mate. Only a fool would expect to make that kind of jab at Susan and get away with it. I was no fool. I was prepared for whatever she had to say, because I didn't believe I was at fault here. But to my surprise she didn't say anything. In fact, a strange look appeared on her face, before her lips
I broke apart from Damien much faster than he was willing to break apart from me. It was clear that only one of us was thankful for the interruption. Susan's face was hard, her lips set in a thin line that didn't do anything to hide her displeasure. Clearly, she hated seeing us in such a compromising position—except it wasn't really compromising when this was my mate. I let Damien keep his hands on me, trailing the back of my shoulders with his soothing touch. Goose bumps didn't break across my skin like they usually did whenever my mate touched me. My stomach tightened up some more. I needed to find a cure for this madness. What kind of Omega didn't want to be around her mate? Even when Damien had dragged me through hell with his mistress, my body had been greedily desperate for his. Wanting Damien was part of my
Runa's eyes met mine, before they widened by a fraction. I tried to compose myself—I took a deep breath, and glanced back at the mirror again. "Do I look presentable enough, Runa?" I asked, trying to distract myself from the sound I had just heard. Another blasting sound filled the room, before my lady in waiting shot off the bed. "I think you look splendid, my lady. There is not a woman in the whole kingdoms that look as gracious as you do." My cheeks heated at her words, and I smiled despite myself. I knew Runa was just flattering me, and probably trying to ease the obvious tension I was feeling. For the event, we were to host some of the other packs in our palace, and I knew the environment might grow a bit unpredictable. It was too much to hope that the bear pack wouldn't attend, after everything they'd done, but alpha's didn't think like everyone else. Damien being attacked by the bea
Sunlight shone through my room and burned behind my eyes, but I didn't want to open them yet. Every part of my limbs ached, and the last thing I wanted was to stand up and do anything today, but I couldn't just sit here and do nothing either. It had been almost a week since I'd practically rejected Damien from entering my body. Yes, rejected was the word he was using for it too, and things had been... I didn't know how to put it yet. Damien hadn't taken kindly to the rejection, and I knew it'd taken everything he had in him not to punish me for it. A part of me still felt angry too. Why could he be upset because I didn't want to sleep with him, when he had spent months cheating on me with someone else? He'd even gotten her pregnant. But it seemed Damien had simply expected me to just dance to his tune, after all the mate bond would ensure of that.