A Lover and A Liar

Just a Dream

It was rare, close to impossible for the Alpha King to walk anywhere near the kitchen and not order one of the servants about anything he might want.

However, all Julian wanted right now, at one o'clock in the morning, was to be left alone in this big castle he owned. Completely alone, just as he felt, despite being surrounded by the people he loved and cared about, one of them being his mate.

Yet the irony of it all was that none of them was Alina. Alina was instead in her own chambers, sleeping, or doing Goddess alone knew what, and all he could think about was her. Her beautiful face, her life-giving smile, her honey eyes, her apples and cinnamon scent that drove him insane for more, the way his heart pounded only when she was near... her lips so near to his, kissing even without touching. 

And mostly the conversations they had had just a few hours ago, which, instead of making things clearer for Julian, it had just confused him further more. But what he remembered from them now, in the middle of the night, as he drank from the bottle instead of bother for a glass, was that she hadn't been able to lie when he had asked her about the existence of another man, a man she loved.

The witch that was playing with his thoughts hadn't been able to look him in the eye and say that the only man she wanted was him.

Because it wasn't true. Apparently, she loved another. Julian had been the biggest fool there was to even worry about Cedric, when there was someone, most probably someone of her very own kind, out there waiting for her.

Would she go back to him?

Would she leave Julian? And whatever they had?

Not that Julian had anything to offer, he had a mate. And he wasn't going to cheat on Katherine despite how attracted he was to Alina.

Only that he had already cheated.

"Bloody witch," he cursed lowly, throwing his head back as the faint light of the moon reflected upon his face. Yes. This was how Alina felt to him. Like the moon was to a werewolf.

Completely and utterly necessary to exist.

"My King," a soft feminine voice spoke. Had he not noticed the low-rank she-wolf inside this room? If this wasn't an indication of how lost he felt, Julian didn't know what was. "Did you want something?"

Julian realized she was one of the assistant-cooks of this castle.

"I just needed a drink," he admitted, although he had forgotten what he had came for at first. Alcohol didn't work much for his kind, and especially for the King of them, as his tolerance to it was the highest, and sometimes, just like now Julian felt the urge to want to get drunk and forget everything else. But at least it would help with his nerves, and hopefully he would get some peaceful sleep for once. Since Alina had gotten here, he had forgotten what sleep meant.

The she-wolf served him a glass from a transparent bottle of alcohol, and Julian didn't bother to ask what it was. He requested the bottle instead, and asked her to leave him alone. And she followed every order.

Julian drank the full, large bottle, and it didn't made her leave his head, as he had hoped. No, if anything, it only filled it with thoughts of her even more. He was helpless.Strangely though, it did have a big effect on him. Julian didn't know how to be drunk actually was, but he was pretty sure he was drunk for the first time in his life. The room was spinning on his head and he barely found the way to his room, his feet limp and heavy.

What had the servant given him?

Once he finally reached his chambers, after wandering around the castle for what felt like hours, he was surprised to watch Katherine on his bed, apparently waiting for him, only a transparent white nightgown on her body and nothing underneath that. Perhaps Julian was really drunk, but her body had absolutely no effect over him. And once in his life, his intoxicated mind could approve of it.

His mate had no effect over him.

"Wha-what are you doing he-here?" he stuttered, finding his own words hard to get out of his mouth. His eyelids felt heavier the more seconds that passed. All he wanted was to lie down and wake up a few days later.

"Julian, my love. Are you drunk?"

How did she know? If he was sober he would have asked, but he wasn't.

"Katherineee," he groaned, annoyed. "Move away. I want to sleep."

Strangely, she did what he said, moving just for him to lie down on his bed, and as soon as he closed his eyes he felt her lips kissing his lips softly, but there were no sparks there. Julian had absolutely no strength to push his mate away, even though that was what he wanted to do. He groaned out in frustration, but didn't open his eyes as she kept leaving small kisses all over his face and his neck.

He couldn't push her away, but if he replaced her with Alina in his head, it would be easier to endure her kisses. If he thought they were the witch's plump, soft lips, calling his name and caressing his skin, it was okay by him. He could endure that.

"I'm here, my love," she whispered in his ear, and Julian wanted to tell her to stop talking. Her voice didn't sound like Alina's one bit. "I'll always love you, Julian. And you'll love me too. Always."

***

His face buried on her soft neck as he breathed her in.

Cinnamon and apples.

His wolf howled in his head in satisfaction. He wouldn't have any objection if he lived the rest of his life with his nose buried there, on her untamed curls, on her skin that he felt the urge to mark.

"Julian," her soft voice called his name in the way that only she did. She sounded desperate for him, with her naked legs wrapped around his waist, rubbing herself on him. She let out a moan, "Julian, please get inside of me. Claim me," she plead.

"Alina," he groaned, the urge to do as she said overwhelming him. He knew it was wrong, but it didn't matter. Her body underneath him felt the furthest from wrong. It felt so, so right. "Alina, I need you so goddamn much."

She nodded at him eagerly. "I need you too. Please."

It was heaven. Being inside of her was heaven; the way her body gripped him, tightened around him as she screamed his name without a worry of being heard, her hand roaming all over his back until then running through his hair desperately.

"Oh, Julian."

He pounded inside of her faster, just as she wanted him to, hearing her sweet pleadings that were the most beautiful music to his ears.

Satisfied, Julian let himself dream of it. Because even in his sleep, he knew it was just a dream.

***

As the days passed, Julian was becoming even more aware how insane he was going without Alina close to him. He had grown even more desperate after the dream he had seen, and after the distance she was keeping since their last argument.

Julian was confused, now slightly terrified of what her mere absence did to him even more than he was of what she could do when she was there.

Now he saw her only while having dinners, just him, his mate, Vincent, and Alina. And they mostly stayed silent anyway, especially her, so it was not like he could hear her voice a lot. All his wolf relied on now was the lingering of her scent in the hallways, in the library, in the gardens, everywhere she went alone, without him.

Feeling like this didn't make any sense, but Julian had stopped trying to make sense of it. He couldn't speak to anyone about it, not without sounding like a bastard that had betrayed his mate in the worst way possible, and he didn't want to talk anyway. He didn't want to give this an explanation.

He just wanted her.

But at least he had managed to stay away. Obsessing over Alina wasn't easy. She was going to leave one day, most probably leaving him with more questions than answers, so perhaps he had to get used to her absence.

So all he did instead was focus so much on the work he had to do that he could get so tired, so that he wouldn't have any strength to think of her even in his bed, before he slept. Yet the little witch managed a way to get to his head anyways, no matter how much he tried the opposite.

But he had over things to worry about too. One of them being the Rogue King and his army.

The door opened with so much force, and when he watching a joyful Katherine ran towards him, he was just about to yell at her about her manners. The day she was going to learn how to knock was the day he was going to rest in peace.

But as she threw herself in his arms, clinging to his neck, he looked at her with narrowed eyes.

Why was she so happy?

"Julian!" she exclaimed. "Julian! Julian! You won't believe it!"

"Believe what?" Gently, he pushed her away, because she was just too heavy in his arms.

The smile that had split her face grew even bigger as if it was possible.

"You won't believe it!" She covered her mouth with the palm of her hand, excited. "I have the happiest news ever."

Julian let out a sigh. If this was some small thing, he was going to get her out and keep working. "What?" he questioned, almost uninterested.

"Don't give me that look, Julian," she scolded. "You're going to be a father soon. I'm pregnant!"

He froze in the place, and his knees almost gave him up.

"P-Pregnant?!"