Lycan Prince's Fated Mate

6

His hands were everywhere, holding me down, gripping my hips to grind me harder against him. He kissed me, nipped my neck and throat, sucked my n*****s and took me so hard and fast that all I could do was fall apart in his arms.

I came so hard I saw stars behind my eyes. My moans and whimpers escaped my throat despite my best efforts.

Dante followed seconds after, and with one last punishing thrust and a shudder, he finished inside me.

Then, he pulled away and walked straight into his shower.

Maybe if I had left then, things might have gone differently.

But that was only the beginning of our monthly conjugal visits.

It was always once a month on my “most fertile days” as dictated by the royal healers and physicians.

I grew to hate those days and the look in Dante’s eyes when we were together. But more than that I hated the way my heart raced in those moments in between where his cold persona faltered for even a second.

It was sick. All of it.

Because after those nights were over, we would slip back into our routine of ignoring each other’s existence.

No matter the amount of effort I put into us, Dante never let me in.

It had been a little over a year since my mating ceremony with Dante, and today was yet another fertile day.

But as I walked down the hallway toward his room, I felt sick.

Maybe it was because I skipped my meals again, but I felt the weight of a year’s pretense wearing down on me.

Each time I left Dante’s room after these visits, I died inside a little more. I wondered if I had really been saved from my fate as a breeder.

I pushed open Dante’s door and my world shattered.

Dante was kissing another woman, embracing her with a gentleness he had never shown to me.

My heart broke at that moment, and I must have made a sound, because the duo immediately sprung apart although Dante’s hand stayed around the woman’s waist.

The woman’s blue eyes latched onto me, hatred blazing in their depths, and I immediately knew who she was.

She was Miranda. The Miranda.

Dante didn't even have the good grace to seem ashamed.

“It’s good you are here. We were waiting for you. It's about time we put an end to all this pretense.”

I was livid, the cold sort of rage that slowly, quietly consumed a person from the inside out. I was hurt, the type of hurt that festered.

“What are you talking about?”

Miranda sidled closer to Dante, his possessive hold on her evident and it was at that moment I noticed the bump in her black dress.

Was that… Was she… no. No.

“Miranda is pregnant with my heir,” Dante said, confirming my suspicions. “My heir will not be born a bastard.”

Nausea clogged up my throat and it felt like the world was spinning out of control around me. But more than that, I was shaken as I slowly realized what Dante was telling me.

“You… You want to reject me.” I stared at Dante waiting for him to deny it, but he didn't.

“I have only ever cared for Miranda. You know that.”

I did, but I still couldn't accept it. I wanted the pretense to end, yet I… I couldn't let go of him.

“I am your MATE, Dante. Our relationship is fated, you can't just end things like this.”

It was sick, I knew it, but I wasn't sure I could live without Dante.

Dante’s gray eyes met mine, and for a second it felt like it was only the two of us in the room.

Just us, and all the hurt and pain we had put each other through. For a moment, it felt like Dante was really seeing me.

Then Miranda’s shaky voice cut through the tension and the moment was gone.

“She’s right, Dante. I shouldn't have come here. I'll raise this baby by myself.”

She tried to move away but Dante held her back.

“No,” he growled, and then he levelled a hateful glare at me. “Your manipulation will not work this time, Ivie.”

“I, Dante Orion, reject you, Ivie Morgan, as my mate.”

Excruciating pain slammed into me at Dante’s words severing our bond. Diana retreated into herself, but it did nothing to stop the intensity of her pain flooding through to me. My tenuous hold on gravity fractured, and I fell to my knees failing to hold in a scream of anguish as the world blurred around me.

Through the haze of pain that surrounded me, I heard a heavy thud and Dante’s panicked voice reached my ears.

“Miranda!” He gasped. “Guards, get the royal physicians!”

I opened my eyes long enough to see Dante carry an unconscious Miranda out of the room while I lay on the ground, broken.

I don't know how long I stayed there on the floor before I could gather enough strength to walk out of Dante’s room.

Every step felt like I was walking on needles completely naked, and I heard the whispers as the word spread.

“...knew it was only a matter of time...”

“...an omega AND barren, what was the Prince thinking…”

“...Miranda is one of us. She will make a far stronger queen…”

“...diluting our blood with inferior species…”

I stumbled forward, tears blurring my vision. If I stopped, I wasn't sure I would be able to continue.

My mate rejected me. He cheated on me while we were still mated. He was having a child with his ex-fiancé.

The nausea that had been building in me all day crested, and I puked on the flowerbeds just outside the palace.

I straightened, the bitter taste of bile in my mouth. I took another step forward, but the world moved with me, and I stumbled.

Then everything went blissfully dark and quiet.