A Lover and A Liar

Jealousy, Jealousy

In a second her eyes were closed, one big hand cupping her face and bringing it closer to his, soft lips brushing over hers just slightly but enough to drive her insane, and in the other his touch and his lips were missing. However, Alina didn't dare to open her eyes and face the truth. Him. The fact that he didn't want to kiss her.

"Alina," the deep voice she had grown to adore spoke. "We have company."

That made her eyes fly open instantly. Realization sank in in full force, understanding washing through her as she saw Julian put even more distance between them, probably considering the fact he was fully naked in front of her.

Alina cursed herself under her breath as soon as she saw three other wolves approach them, curiosity written in their eyes as they took them in. What was she doing? How could she be this careless when there were people, people really close to Julian that wanted the worst for him, and wanted to use Alina for that? She had to doubt every single wolf in the castle, no matter how kind they appeared. And she couldn't have anyone thinking there was something going on between her and the King. That would destroy absolutely everything, including her mate and his reputation.

The wolves turned human in a blink of an eye, three handsome men appearing right in front of her. For a second she froze; everywhere she looked, there were naked men. She recognized the other Prince that didn't want to be called a Prince; Arthmael, if she remembered his unique name correctly, and Cedric too, her newest friend.

"My Lady," the three said, almost in union with each other.

Without waiting for anyone to say anything more, she closed her eyes and focused her powers on the tree behind her back. Leafs flew in the air, drawing their attentions, and in a second they were all over the sculptured bodies, hiding them from her sight.

The men looked at each other in shock. "Did she just covered us with leafs?!" asked the other man she didn't recognize, an amused smile spreading on his face.

"Too many naked men for a witch's poor eyes," she explained, thankful her breath had evened enough after the almost-kiss she had with her mate.

Surprisingly, Julian was the first who chuckled, who had gotten to learn her nature by now, and the sound wakened up her poor racing heart. He looked so ridiculous covered in green leafs, yet the most handsome man she had ever laid eyes on. For a second, getting lost in his emerald eyes that were lost to hers, she almost forgot the other men if only one of them wouldn't cough after laughing at her silly attempts to cover them.

"I like her," the same man said, offering her his hand. Alina didn't know much about how their manners worked, but thankfully she caught right on time that she had to place her hand in his for him to kiss. "Dominic, my Lady. The Beta."

"Oh, you're Annie's mate." She smiled at him sincerely. "I'm glad to finally meet you. She talks a lot about you." Alina had met Annie just two days ago, and in other circumstances, she could even call her her friend.

Dominic laughed for just a second, bringing her hand to his lips. "Don't tell her you told me this." He winked at her, as soon as she withdrew her hand, Cedric approached her, instead of kissing her other hand how he was supposed to, he left a sudden small kiss on her cheek that silenced everyone in a second.

Alina didn't have to look at Julian to hear the growl that rumbled on the depth of his throat, not to feel the way he shifted closer, almost challenging his friend in silence.

The tension was thick in the air, it could be cut with a knife. As she looked in the other men's faces, she realized they were kind of confused. In all honesty Alina couldn't blame them. She was confused too.

"Hi Cedric," she whispered almost guiltily.

"Avoiding me now, aren't you, Alina?" he said, obviously teasing her like he did most of the time, but she felt the weight of Julian's eyes on her shoulders, heavy and dark.

"Of course not. Julian, I mean His Majesty―"

"I see you've met Lady Alina, Gamma." It was the first time his voice sounded cold, almost expressionless. And Alina couldn't help but narrow her eyes at him. Cedric had talked a lot about Julian when they were alone, how he had raised Cedric's rank, stood up for him when no one else hadn't. She could bet their relationship was more than an Alpha-Gamma one, and by the way Cedric looked taken aback, he thought the same.

"Yes, my King," Cedric said, obviously not pleased with the titles. "I have, a few days ago, and we have left the formalities behind. Haven't we, Alina?"

How had she ended up in the middle of this? She gulped, her eyes almost pleading the two other men for help. "We have. We're... friends."

"Loosen up, brother. You look tense today," Sir Arthmael came to her rescue, fortunately.

"I remember you used to be the funny one," Dominic added. "Remember? Back then when you weren't a King."

"I was seventeen, Nick." Julian sounded as upset as he seemed to be, but Alina simply could not understand why. If it was because of Cedric, if he felt somehow jealous, it meant he felt something. It meant there was a loophole, however small on her spell, that let him feel any kind of connection with his true mate.

That filled her with a kind of hope she hadn't felt before. And with some new feelings as well, however selfish they seemed to be. If jealousy made him realize he wanted her, then so be it.

He had to.

He had to know there was something between them he could no longer deny. It would make breaking the spell she had herself pulled easier to lift. Or at least that was what Alina wanted to believe. The closer Julian was to the truth, the better.

"And it's not easy to be King, is it?" Alina cut in. "None of you have tried so leave our King alone."

"Fair enough," Arthmael answered, chuckling lowly.

There was this ghost of a smile on Julian's face too, and she realized he had liked her answer.

"Where were you heading to, anyways?" Alina tried to changed the subject.

"My house," once more, it was Arthmael who answered with a smile on his face at the mention of his house. Alina figured it had a lot to do with his wife.

"Evelyn wanted us to pay her a visit. She had said the twins miss us," Dominic clarified.

"She specifically wanted you to come along, little brother," Arthmael told Julian. "She complained you had forgotten about her. Focused on your new guest. She said she was jealous, or something among the lines."

Alina was standing there, dumbfounded. Had the previous Queen really been jealous about her? No matter how much she tried, Alina couldn't unravel the way their friendships worked.

What if the Elf Princess was scary? What if she really hated her?

Dominic laughed at her shocked face. "Come with us, Alina," he suggested.

"Me?!" she asked. "But the Princess doesn't like me."

"Of course she does." Arthmael grinned. "She wanted to meet you too."

Alina thought this through. A day away from this twisted castle, from Katherine and her father would do her good. And it would clear her mind as well.

"I have to go and get a horse then, not everyone can turn into a wolf." She turned to look at Julian, as if to read in his eyes if he was okay with this.

But before she could say anything, Cedric beat her to it. "My wolf can hold you easily."

This time a full growl left Julian's mouth, his eyes darkening a shade. He grabbed on her wrist, pulling her to his side. "No!" he declared, not leaving it up for discussion.

Cedric's eyes opened wide in surprise. Or confusion. Alina was so shocked herself, she couldn't wrap her mind into it. All she knew was that she was so close to his body, and he was possessively hiding her from another male. Her knees felt almost too weak to hold her.

"My wolf will hold her. She will travel with me," he demanded in his Alpha tone.

A shiver ran down her spine. Her heart had started beating so fast, she could almost hear it. "Julian," she whispered. As much as she felt hot, needed, she realized they were causing a scene. And Julian would regret it as soon as he was himself again. "Let me go."

"Why?" he snapped at her, the green on his eyes clouding over because of his wolf on the surface.

Alina warned him with her eyes only. As much as it pained her, she realized they had crossed the boundary. "I'm going with Cedric," she told him, but her voice almost betrayed her when she looked at the hurt in his eyes.

Julian didn't say anything more. He let go of her wrist as if it had burned his palm, and smiled bitterly. "Of course," he said. "Why not?"

His beautiful wolf took over immediately, and the other confused men shifted too, after their Alpha. She noticed Arthmael was a graceful black wolf, big and even though she didn't know much about werewolves, she would understand he was a royal Alpha blood. Dominic was a bit smaller as a wolf, grey in color, and Cedric in a normal size, she supposed, another shade of grey.

But her eyes, her entire being was drawn to Julian's wolf as if with magic. He was a light shade of a beautiful brown. She would never get tired of looking at him. However, his green eyes that were just the same with his human form's looked both hurt and angry.

Her feet sent her to Cedric's wolf, that sat down on the ground as he could make it easier for Alina to climb in his back, but her heart wanted to go back at Julian.

She didn't. Because it would only make things worse.

She wrapped her arms around the wolf's body, but her eyes never left the green eyes, apologizing to them silently.