Lycan Prince's Fated Mate

8

I pulled her into a hug, her familiar rosy scent suffusing me.

“I would never blame you for that, Miranda. You didn't do anything wrong. I'm sorry if I made you feel otherwise.”

Miranda held on to me tightly, her sobs the only sound in our large empty room.

Ever since she lost the baby shortly after our mating, Miranda had become so much more sensitive and incredibly volatile.

Maybe I had done this to her by bringing her into this life. Maybe she would have been better off without me.

When I met her at the opening gala of one of Decadent’s subsidiaries, Miranda was stunning.

The perfect blend of elegance, compassion and confidence. After one conversation with her, I was besotted.

I was certain she was going to be my mate.

Until her.

No, I wasn't going to think of her now. But I already was.

The fated mate I never expected or asked for had barreled into my life at the moment I least expected it, destroying my best-laid plans.

If there was one thing I learned from my parents’ catastrophic mating, it was the fact that even the moon goddess made mistakes sometimes.

One’s fated mate wasn't necessarily a good match.

Both of my parents had been high-ranking Lycans, yet their personalities had meshed as well as oil and water. They had clashed and schemed against each other until Mother had passed away from ingesting poison.

The culprit was never caught, largely because Father had forbidden any investigations into the issue. For a long time, I assumed it was because he was behind it until he took my hand on his deathbed.

“Be happy with Ivie,” he’d said softly. Father seemed to have aged so much in just a matter of weeks with the illness ravaging him. “Maybe if we had, your mother wouldn't have killed herself just to escape me.”

But Ivie and I could never be happy. My heart already belonged to someone else regardless of the addicting attraction the bond built between us.

Ivie

Just the thought of her name ignited something within me, and for a moment all I could see was her dark brown hair spilling down her back in luscious waves and those expressive emerald-green eyes that tormented my dreams and nightmares.

Her scent of vanilla and jasmine bothered me more than I would have preferred; the way she stared at me unabashedly only to flush at the smallest contact we shared.

Miranda touched my bare chest grounding me in the present and suddenly it felt like too much.

I pulled away from her, ending our hug abruptly.

“I have to get back to work,” I said as I buttoned my shirt.

Miranda stared at me.

“But you just got here.”

I reached for my briefcase.

“The corporation’s expansion plans are being initiated. I must be there.”

Miranda frowned.

“You are the Lycan Prince, Dante. You don't need to work.”

It was my turn to stare at her.

The Miranda I had known would never have said something like that. Something so entitled and deliberately obtuse.

But I was beginning to suspect that I might never have truly known Miranda. Just the persona she wanted me to know.

“As supernaturals, we must maintain a significant hold on the major world economic industries.”

We lived in a world side by side with humans yet completely apart from them. Some of us lived amongst humans while others preferred their privacy.

While the supernatural community at large had its differences, one thing we could all agree on was that we need to keep an eye the development of humans.

Not only did they outnumber most of the supernatural species on earth but time and time again they had proven how unfavorably they reacted to change.

So, behind the scenes we guided their innovations, technologies, and discoveries and made sure our existence remained strictly confined to literature and soap operas.

Miranda shrugged.

“We are the apex predators. We shouldn't have to tiptoe around lesser species.”

Yet again I wondered if I’d ever really known Miranda.

“I'll be back as soon as I can.”

I was halfway out the door when Miranda suddenly came up behind me, her voice low and slightly uncertain.

“Do you still think of her?” she asked.

I paused.

“Think of who?”

At that moment, we both knew I was lying. How could I not think of her?

“Never mind,” Miranda said casually, too casually, as she embraced me from behind. “I love you, Dante.”

I wish I could have responded but the words hung heavy in my throat as I realized that I couldn't recall the last time I had told Miranda I loved her.

After checking on the health of the beaten maid, I made my way to work. But I was not heading to the company.

The situation at court was worse than I had expected.

“There is only so long the succession can be delayed. The council is convening as we speak,” Elder Frey sounded harried.

He was one of the oldest elders on the council and one of Father’s trusted confidantes. Whatever had him rattled couldn't be good.

He hesitated. “There are rumors of your cousin returning to court.”

I paused.

“They want to name him heir in my place.”

“Only as a last resort,” Elder Frey was quick to reassure me. “The continuity of the Lycan royal line must be ensured.”

Of course, the royal line had to prevail. Even if the heir to the throne that had failed to produce an heir had to be replaced.

Without an heir to validate my position, I was going to be replaced.

Of course, this would be the wrong time to inform the council that I couldn't even attempt to make an heir because I was repulsed by my mate; and I couldn't stop thinking of an omega I didn't care about.

I could see all my years of labor and hard work in service of the crown going straight down the drain.

“Thank you, Elder Frey.”

I ended the call.

How had it all come to this?

In the span of five years, I’d watched my mate slowly morph into a stranger, lost my child, my father, and now even my throne was at stake.

Maybe this was my comeuppance for all my past mistakes.

Unbidden, the image of Ivie popped into my head.

“Prince Dante, it's time for the board meeting.” Aiden, my aide, announced and I snapped back to reality.

I was thinking about Ivie a lot these days and I couldn't afford to do that, not now.

I needed to focus on work, my job, the one thing I could control.

But once more as it would turn out, I couldn't control even that.

I looked at my board of directors, a collection of the most powerful business-inclined minds in the whole of North America.

All humans save Aiden, but that had never stopped them from doing an exceptional job before. None of them could meet my gaze now though.

“What do you mean the deal with Delacroix won't work out?” I demanded.

It was an open-and-shut deal, a deal with a forgone conclusion that should have raked in millions of dollars of profit effortlessly. A deal we had still somehow lost.

Elvis, one of my financial advisers, spoke up first.