Always Choose Dare

Chapter 17 - Travel Prep

The word “fiancee” nearly made me vomit. I watch Marek and Daire, drawing strength from having these two men, well, werewolves, on my team, even if we have only recently met. Daire’s entire body stiffens as the word I used sinks in, and he pulls his lips tight. I turn my eyes back to the phone, leaving it on speaker for all to hear.

“Remila, I want you to know that I do not want this any more than you do,” Dupree begins, his thick accent sounding less attractive than it once had. “That being said, in order to maintain our fathers’ alliances and political arrangements, I do believe we must at least put forth the effort to follow through with the wedding as a business contract, but we will live separate lives.

“Now,” he continues, “we both know that men of power are accepted pretty easily by the public for having lovers, so I plan to continue my romantic relationships with models and celebrities. You, on the other hand, will not humiliate me by being with another man. I figure at some point our parents will probably want a grandchild. We will discuss that when the time comes. I feel these conditions are beneficial to us both. It is best we agree so we can pull off this ball.”

“I have heard your requests. Here is mine: We don’t get married, or fake married, or have anything to do with one another at all. I’d rather bathe with a toaster than spend an hour with you. How does that sound?” I ask in my most sickeningly sweet customer service voice. “I will come to this sham of a ball and tell both of our parents the same thing. Oh, and you can meet my boyfriend then, too.”

“Remila…” his voice practically growls through the phone.

“I have said my piece. Considering you can’t even get my name right, I have no interest in hearing more from you. Do us both a favor and lose my number.”

I end the call on my phone before he has a chance to reply.

Gathering myself, I look at Daire and Marek to see the former’s eyebrows knit together in concern and the latter grinning like a kid at Christmas.

“If that was a preview of how you’ll be at the ball, I am seriously looking forward to this weekend!” Marek exclaims.

“Are you sure you want to go? I’m all in favor of avoiding this man at all costs. And if your father and his parents are anything like him or are as bad as you have said, then maybe we should just not attend and focus on finding our way out of this realm,” Daire says calmly, though his grip on his thighs is giving away that he is anything but calm.

“You know, it probably wouldn’t be a bad idea for us to go to the capital even earlier. I’m not sure that I want to stay in this house, considering what has already gone down. What do you think about leaving this evening? It will take three days to drive there. I would love to fly, but I assume neither of you has valid identification cards, so we wouldn’t be able to get you on a flight. We’ll be in the capital two days early, which would give us time to do research about the Moon Goddess temples. In fact, if there are any that you’ve already found that would be along the way, we can stop at each of those. We don’t have to tell anyone we are in the capital early. I will send my father an email now stating that I will be in attendance plus two and that if my two aren’t permitted, then I simply will not be there. We’ll let him decide how badly he wants this,” I declare. “I assume neither of you have tuxes…”

I look at their blank expressions, then do a web search and show them men’s formal wear. Both shake their heads.

“Then let’s go get our party attire. Something tells me my father will begrudgingly allow me to bring two people with me.”

Both men glance at each other before standing. I look down at my attire and realize I am still in my pajamas from last night. I groan, looking toward the stairs leading to my bedroom.

“Would you like for me to accompany you to your room so you can dress before we leave? You probably need to pack your bag as well if we are leaving this city this evening,” Daire gently suggests before reaching his hand out to me to lead me to my room.

“I’m really not the damsel in distress type,” I say, looking between his hand and the stairs.

“I would never think that of you. I saw you club that sorcerer myself!” He said with a broad smile.

I feel relieved that he doesn’t think I am weak or needy.

“I guess it would be nice to have backup in case someone else just poofs themselves into my room with me.”

Daire smiles and watches my hand clasp his, then glances up to my face with a look that I can only describe as adoration. It makes my heart flutter, but I’d rather sit on tacks than admit that to him. He did reject me, even if it was for a somewhat understandable reason. Still, if he wants this - us - to be a thing, then he is going to have to prove to me that it is worth the risk.

Once we enter my room, I grab an outfit and enter my bathroom. I shower hastily and toss on the change of clothes. In an effort to keep things quick, I put on just a layer of mascara and chapstick before tossing my makeup bag and toiletries into my travel case. I then go to my walk-in closet and pull out a suitcase, tossing in basic clothing essentials. I also pack a go-bag, just in case we figure a way to leave the realm. That thought alone fills me with more excitement than I’ve ever experienced in my life! I look at my two formal gowns and bring both out of the closet with me, along with my suitcase.

“Ready!” I exclaim.

“Faster than any woman I’ve ever met! You should see Marek’s mom or his sisters get ready to leave for a trip,” he groans and brings his hand to his forehead as if he is fatigued just from the memories.

“I’ve traveled the world all my life, so I’m used to showering in countries without hot water and jumping on a plane within an hour of hearing that I would be going somewhere. I pack light, I get ready quickly, and I have a firm understanding of what is essential in traveling,” I explain.

“The Goddess really did make you as perfect as she could, didn’t she?” Daire asks, adoration evident on his face again.

I feel myself blush and absolutely hate that he can fluster me so easily. Rather than give in to it, I do what I do best: deflect!

“So, are you and Marek ready to head out? I know of a shop nearby where we get your tuxes. Oh! If you are posing as my date, we’ll need to coordinate colors. Which color dress do you prefer? We’ll see if we can find a tie or bow tie in a matching color for you.”

“Well, that all depends on what we are going for. Are you wanting to look fierce, like you’ll not give him the option to force you to marry him? Then the black. Or do you want to look sexy, showing him exactly what the fu(k he is going to miss out on? Then the gold. I am good either way. It’s your choice.”

That big, devious smile of his spread across his face and instantly made me wonder how in the world anyone could be that beautiful - rugged, masculine, but so damn beautiful!

“Well, in that case, I need a different dress, because I want to do both - give him a proper ‘fu(k you’!”

Daire responds with full body laughter, his eyes pinched nearly shut and revealing dimples in each of his cheeks. I can’t help but smile at him and nearly laugh myself! Something about it brings me inexplicable joy. Never has someone’s laughter made me feel this way. Weird!

“I think we should find you a dress that is the same purple as in your hair. It will highlight those grey - hazel - eyes of yours for the fierceness, and the style will deliver the blow of what he could have had. And I? I will be so happy to show that weasel that I am completely, perfectly happy to be with you and only you forever.”

I truly have no idea what to say. I realize that I’m standing stock still with my mouth open, probably looking all derpy, but the words he just used have left me in a bit of shock. Never has any man said anything vaguely near that to me, and in all honesty, I have absolutely no idea how to reply, or even if I will reply.

“I’m sorry. I know you just met me, you just found out that magical beings are real, and this kind of sentiment is probably not how humans go about things,” he sighed, his face tight with guilt and embarrassment, but was obviously genuine.

“Honestly, I have never had a serious romantic relationship. I’ve never had anyone genuinely care very deeply about me, not my family or a boyfriend, anyway. I kind of suck at the whole relationship thing. Hell, I have one good friend, and I’m still learning to be a good friend to her! Right now, the three of us are teamed up unexpectedly to try to save the world, and because of this, we are kind of building friendships. Romance, however, needs to not be a priority or even a thought right now. I get we’re mates, you explained that, but since I cannot feel it and you’ve already made an attempt to reject me, I think we should table that for much further down the road.”

He nodded calmly, but his smile was gone. “I understand. Just,” he reached over to cup my jaw in his hand, his ring and little fingers sliding behind my ear with the others in front of it, “know that I will spend all the rest of my days making up for that mistake, and that is the truth.”

I watched him take a step back and drop his hand back to his side. My heart feels like it is going to beat straight through my chest, my lungs burning at how shallow I seem to be breathing while watching him withdraw from me. I know that I cannot feel a mate bond as a human, but this doesn’t seem normal. I’ve never felt anything like this, and to be honest, it’s terrifying.

“Are you ready to go downstairs? I’m sure Marek has our things ready.” He half-smiles as he tries to refocus us on the task at hand.

“Yes. I feel I have everything,” I say as I grab my things and head out the door of my room and down the stairs.

Glancing one more time at the bare floor of my room near my bed, I’m quite glad that the sorcerer was on my rug, which was easily removed. I can’t imagine what I’d have done if my room was carpeted!

We find Marek at the bottom of the staircase with his and Daire’s bags. If they were simply thrown out of their realm with nothing, then it’s somewhat surprising they have as much as they do. Marek looks up at us in surprise.

“I honestly expected it to take so much longer than that! Are the rest of your bags up there?” He asks me as we meet him.

“Marek, Remi is confirmation that the Moon Goddess does truly give us the perfect mate, tailored to our exact needs!” He motions with his hand toward me and my small suitcase. “She showered, dressed, packed, and is ready to go!”

“Holy s**t! Are you serious?” Marek asks, as though it is an impossibility.

“I have an even smaller go-back tucked into this in case we find a way out of this realm, too. I figured I’d have to travel even lighter then.”

“Absolutely perfect!” Daire beams.

“If that’s true, mine will come with an extra set of breasts,” Marek says dreamily.

I can’t help but laugh at him, then punch him lightly on the shoulder.

“Such a male thing to say!” I giggle.

“I’ve always been more of an ass and thigh man myself,” Daire says, looking at Marek like he was wrong for his preferences. “But I don’t care as much about her build as I do about her intelligence and personality.”

“So you don’t care about my looks? About my scar?” I ask, curious to see how he answers.

“Goddess, no! Your scar is a sign of strength, Remi. You endured pain and have that little scar to prove it,” he says with conviction.

“Your incomparable beauty is a bonus. Your strength, humor, intelligence, passion - those are what make you perfect for me.”

I feel a rush of emotion run through me. Half of me wants to celebrate, the other half feels like sobbing, and there is confusion in between. Not knowing exactly what to do, I rise up on my toes and peck Daire’s cheek before turning around and walking toward the front door, saying, “Let’s hit the road!”