My Mate

Caroline's POV

“Wait here until everyone has left.” Jarek said without staring at me. I watched as his eyes were already moving to the people who were in the courtyard.

I nodded, but he already turned away so Alexander caught my eye from where he stood beside his brother and I gave him a small nod, signifying that I'm okay.

He looked back at me. I could sense fear in his eyes like a life without me flashed in his memory.

I looked away before anyone noticed the exchange…

I watched Alex lean closer to Jarek and said something quietly and whatever that was, it didn't land well because Alexander frowned with something close to frustration while Jarek's demeanor didn't change at all, not even slightly.

After a moment, Alexander straightened and said nothing more…

***

The courtyard emptied slowly the way crowds left the racing field after the last competitive race. They all left in clusters and took the noise with them until eventually the lanterns were burning over an empty space.

“Let's go.” Jarek walked me through the east corridor of Elroi Lair and through a door I had only ever seen from a distance while carrying things for other people.

The room he showed me was simple but was thrice the size of the one I had. It had a proper bed, a window with curtains, and a wardrobe that wasn't falling apart at the hinges.

“You'll find everything you need inside,” He said and turned around to leave.

But curiosity held me so hard that I had asked before I knew not to ask any questions. “Why did you stop them from taking me away? I'm sure I meant nothing to you.”

He didn't respond, he just stared at me…

I wanted to ask him if he remembered what happened 10 years ago, but I knew his mother would have my head if I triggered any memory of what happened that night.

Before I could say anything else, he had turned his back on me and left without saying anything.

I stood in the middle of the room for a long moment before I sat on the edge of the bed. I pressed my palms together between my knees  and tried to understand the magnitude of the day I had just lived through.

I changed into my usual top and bumshort…

I was still in my thoughts when I heard a knock on the door. When I opened up, it was Alexander.

He was standing there with his hands in his pockets and that familiar look on his face when he had a very long day.

“You're two doors down from me.” He said.

I frowned my eyes like what I heard was foreign. “You live here?”

“I always have.” he said as he smiled a little.

I stepped aside so he could come in. “I thought brother's don't stay in the same place when one has been crowned.” I lamented.

“I'm not interested in being alpha. There was no competition to begin with.”

But that was the least of my problems right now. There is now an underlying fact and that is the person I had been quietly loving from a careful distance was now two doors away from me.

He sat in the chair by the window and I sat on the edge of the bed.

We talked the way we had always talked… But realizing he has a mate now weakened my whole existence.

“Shouldn't you be with your mate?”

“We are royals, they go for vetting for a few months then we can be together.”

So, I still have you close to me for a few months,”

“Yes, you can say that.”

And I knew I had to take my chance, but what if he doesn't feel the same way as me?

Before I could let my fear win, I said it. “Alex.” I said.

“Yeah?”

I looked at him and he was already staring at me. I had kept this locked down for so long. “I think I have feelings for you. Don't ask me when, it had been since the very first day I knew how to love someone.”

He blinked once — He blinked twice — then thrice and all these time, he was silent and that silence was deafening.

After a while, he leaned forward with his elbows on his knees and looked at me steadily. "Caroline," he said. "Why did it take you so long? If you had told me, I would have rejected my mate for you."

“You're not trying to cajole me right?”

“I meant it. I love you too.”

I had imagined what it would feel like to hear that and the reality of it was nothing like what I had imagined because it wasn't relief.

Neither was it joy…

He closed the gap between us by shifting closer to me on the bed.

Slowly, he brought his head closer to mine… Then he kissed me, but I didn't pull away because for the first time in my life, I wasn't thinking about the consequences or about what the pack would do if they found out.

I didn't think about ranks. All that was in my head was I'm with the only person who ever treated me like I was worth something.

I pressed my lips deeper into his. His hand came up to cup my face with his thumb brushing my cheeks as if he still couldn't believe this was real.

I leaned into him as my fingers slid into his hair and a soft sound escaped me while his tongue brushed mine.

Suddenly, he pulled back just enough to look me in the eyes. “Caroline… If we do this, there is no turning back.”

“I know,” I whispered. “I don't want to go back. I made up my mind already.”

“Mine too.” He said.

He kissed me again…

His hands moved to the hem of my shirt. I lifted my arms and let him pull it over my head, revealing my nipples which are all hard now.

He brought his head closer to my nipples and as if he'd get lost wandering through it, I held his head and pulled it at my left breast.

He sucked hard and I retaliated by pulling his hair. He didn't flinch, he just continued sucking and I kept pulling.

“Fuck.” I whispered under my breath. I felt my dry lips and sucked them before placing my hand under his chin, pulling it up to kiss me.

The kiss was harder now as my hand had an adventure roaming his chest slowly.

The more I felt his build, the more I felt my pussy getting wetter.

He tasted like sin and I will not regret this action that I took…

“Alex…” I whispered, hoping he heard me. Instead of saying something, he muffled. “I'm still tight.”

“Don't spoil the tone. I know you're still a virgin,” He grabbed my left breast tightly. “I need you to follow my lead and I'll stop if you want me to.”

He laid my back on the bed as his body covered mine. He kissed down my throat, then my collar bone, then lower…

When he reached the waistband of my pants he paused. His eyes met mine for permission and I nodded, lifting my hips so he could slide them down along with my underwear.

I was completely naked beneath him now. He sat back on his heels and just stared at me. His fingers traced my breasts, down to the curve of my waist, farther down to the dark patch of curls between my thighs.

Finally up close, his fingers grazed my pussy.

“Fuck, you're a walking work of art.” he said. “Your body is so perfect and I'll treat it so well.”

He stood long enough to strip off his own clothes. My eyes widened in surprise when his cock sprang free.

He was bigger than I'd imagined in my secret fantasies and the sight made my pussy throb with aching need.

As he wanted to kiss me, I heard a knock on my door.

Neither of us moved for a moment. Then Alex sat up and I reached for the sheet. I pulled it around me and went to the door.

I opened it and Jarek was standing on the other side.

I don't know what my face did at that moment, but I felt what I felt when he stood in front of me back at the courtyard.

But, now the feeling got deeper and completely outside my control. And all I wanted to do at that moment was pull him closer to me and kiss him.

I gripped the edge of the door and held still…

He stared at me without blinking with his hands in his pockets. The silence stretched further between us.

I opened my mouth to kill the silence in any way that I could, but he beat me to it in the most surprising way.

“You felt it too right?” He asked..