The Royal Brothers' Mate

Chapter 8

Chapter 8.

*****

“Eden... Eden.”

I let out a cry asI my eyes shot open when something wet touched my face following the whispers of my name.

“What – what was that?!” I wiped my cheek with my sleeve as I looked up at Rowan shocked. He smirked and I grimace. “What was it?! Did you – Did you kiss - no, did you lick my face?! Ew, Rowan!” I yelled. I guess it could have been worse.

“You taste good.” He licked his lips and I tried to ignore how hot it looked with the smirk on his face and his suggestive eyes while my face began to heat.

“Shut –”

“Do you taste as good everywhere?” I was dumbstruck for a second by his bold, and frankly a little too racy, question as he raised a brow at me. It made me realise that he was basically leaning over me, his hands on either side of my head to keep him balanced while he stared down at me. His wolf needed to calm down a little, or was this just him?

“What - what are you doing in my room?” I ignored his question as I slid under his arm and climbed out of bed.

“I did not want to have breakfast alone so I came to see if you were awake. Will you eat with me?” He asked with an innocent, sweet smile now that made my heart skip as he stood up straight. I frowned. When it was not racing, it was skipping. If we could have heart attacks, I would have been dead. It was hard to believe the adorable guy staring at me now was the same one that woke me up.

I grabbed my phone to check the time and was surprised to see that it was just past 8am. He let me sleep in? He was all dressed up in a white shirt and black trousers, the shirt’s first two buttons were undone letting his pack tattoo peek out just a little and he wore Gucci slippers over his black socks instead of shoes.

“Um…” I drifted remembering how lunch ended yesterday. I felt my face heat. I was not ready to have that happen again.

“It’s just breakfast, Eden, we’re not getting married yet.” Rowan’s voice drew my attention back to him, “And I won’t come onto you again, I can control myself… I think.”

I gave a scoff thinking yeah, right. That’s why I woke up with him leaning over me in bed. No werewolf could really control their wolf when it came to their mate, so even if he tried it was not guaranteed. He raised his brows.

“Um – sure.” I said quickly, “I’ll wash up.” I added.

“I’ll be in the dining room…” His eyes drifted over me, “Later we can have someone measure you and get some new clothes.”

“No, I’m fine –” I began but he had already walked out. I frowned. I did not like the idea of someone suddenly buying everything for me. Though I was sure they got most of their clothing for free, or were being paid to wear what they wore publically.

I walked into the bathroom, which was very large and just slightly smaller than my room. It was ten times better than any of the hotels that I had visited, but my little family was quite big on saving despite the success of Brandon’s restaurant and we usually went to the best least-expensive hotels we could find.

I showered before I tried my curly hair into a bun wondering if I could ask one of the staff members if they had a hair drier and flat iron that I could borrow. My curls weren’t the ones that turned into waves as it dried. No, they just got bigger. I usually did not wear my hair naturally because it was a lot of work to control in the wind or tie up once it was dry. After dressing into the most expensive-looking jean and shirt combo I had, I slipped my shock-covered feet into my sneakers and made my way downstairs. I figured no matter what I wore, the king and queen were not going to approve of it or me, but I still had a huge urge to try to look presentable to them... or as close to what I thought they would find presentable. It made me feel bad about how I usually dressed, which was dark clothing, usually oversized sweaters paired with jeans or pants that resembled the Adidas soccer pants.

I followed the smell of food to the dining room feeling on edge despite knowing the king and queen were not in the palace. It made me pay attention to every sound I heard around me. Corin still was not back either, I actually missed the feeling of him being somewhere nearby. When I walked into the dining room, I found Rowan at the table sitting up straight, his food untouched.

“How long have you been sitting like this?” I asked.

“The half an hour you’ve been upstairs.” He replied. I nodded impressed by his posture despite knowing full well it was what was expected of all pack leaders and Royals. It was still impressive, I would have been leaning on the table the entire time while Liana scolded at me continuously not to lean on the table. “I would pull the chair out for you, but it’s all the way on the other side of the table.” I laughed and sat down.

“You’re quite the gentleman.”

“So I’ve been told.” He grinned before he motioned to my food. I narrowed my eyes at him before glancing down at my plate. Why was he making me eat before him? What was in the food? He chuckled. “Nothing is wrong with the food. Would I hurt you, Eden? Guest always eat first.” He said.

“After you would not even pull out my chair.” I shook my head faking disappointment as I took the fork from beside my plate and he laughed. “How old are you?” I asked curiously.

If he had just recently returned from abroad because of school, he had to be younger than I was or about the same age.

“How old would you like me to be, Eden?” He asked.

I frowned at him. Corin was twenty-four according to Google, and the firstborn son always became king. I paused as I remembered something they had said when I first arrived, that Corin was fifteen minutes older than him, “You’re twins.” I stated. “How… did no one notice?” I asked confused. Surely she could not have hidden twins, especially when they made one of the ultra-sound pictures public.

“Magic.” He replied simply.

“But there are werewolves mated to witches, they would be able to tell that she had magic surrounding her.” I said.

“Mother always has magic surrounding her, everyone living here does for protection, other witches just could not tell what type of magic.” He shrugged, “When I go to school, we use magic to change my physical appearance and the sound of my voice, this is me.” He fished his phone from his pocket and tapped for a few seconds before he held it out to me, the screen facing my eyes.

I raised my brows seeing someone that looked nothing like Rowan in the picture. The man had a slight stubble and curly blond hair that framed his face, his lips were narrower than Rowan’s and his eyes blue. He was really handsome, but not as handsome as Rowan actually was.

“Whoa, you look so much hotter in the picture.” I lied earning a gasp from him.

“What?” I heard his seat scrape the floor as he stood up and leaned over the table towards me so that I had to look up at him. I leaned back slightly automatically remembering the previous day’s lunch, but I was having fun messing with him.

“Yup, especially from this angle.” I said pretending to study him in disappointment and nodding to myself. He moved to launch at me going around the table but I grabbed my glass of juice and raised it in my hands between us. “No – no, we’re eating breakfast.” I smirked as I turned away from him and took a sip of my juice, but my smirk fell when he did not move and instead put his hand on the back of my chair. “Hey! What are you –?” I cried out confused when he began moving my chair back and turning it until I was facing him.

I looked up at him suddenly feeling like the glass of juice in my hands was useless as he towered over me. He leaned down and I looked sideways to his arm as he gripped the sides of the back-rest and ended up leaning a little too close for me to breathe properly without brushing his face with my breath, so I just held it in as I looked back in front of me but refused to look up to meet his eyes.

“What?” He repeated in a lowered voice, his voice bordering on the tone of voice Alphas used to scare people and command them to do things. I swallowed nervously before frowning. Did he think he could use his height and his rank to scare me?

“You definitely don’t look as goo –” My words disappeared into his mouth as it met mine mid-sentence. I lifted my hand to his shoulder intending to push him away but ended up just resting my hand there as we kissed softly before he spoke, his lips barely leaving mine as he did.

“I decided to stop you because that is definitely not an argument you want to start, Babe.” My eyes widened at the nickname again and I felt him smirk against my lips.

Part of me wanted to challenge what he said, but most of me was too distracted by the feeling of his soft lips on mine to even think clearly enough to create words. I felt his tongue run against my lips gently and for a second was confused as to why our wolves seemed to be much more relaxed than the previous time our lips met. This kiss was much less terrifying and quite pleasant. I bit my lip to tease him and he let out an annoyed groan making me laugh, he chuckled as he slipped his tongue into my mouth. It tasted like the apple juice we were having for breakfast. I pulled back slightly to smirk at him.

"I thought you said guests have to eat first?" I said.

"I was drinking, not eating... so technically I waited for you." He replied making me laugh lightly as I lifted my face back to his.

The tone of the kiss seemed to change immediately once our tongues touched and became much more urgent, much hungrier but it still did not feel like I needed to jump him like it did yesterday. I felt him smile against my lips and my heart fluttered at the thought of him enjoying kissing me, but I immediately shoved him away as I leaned back when we heard a throat clearing and I felt my heart stop considering that it could be the king or queen, or worse… Corin.

I was too afraid to see who had cleared their throat so I kept my eyes ahead as I bit my lip and watched Rowan straighten up looking quite deflated. I felt the same, even though I was afraid of who walked in, I was disappointed they interrupted us.

“Yes, James?” He spoke looking across the room. James?

“You have a call, your highness… from Prince Corin.” Rowan glanced at me and I felt bad seeing him smirk.

“I will take it in a second. Thank you, James.” I heard feet shuffle as the man left and grabbed Rowan’s hand as he attempted to follow James out.

“Don’t tell him.” I said standing up.

“Don’t? Why not?” He asked frowning.

“Because… He’ll be mad.” I said.

“That would be the point, you know, so he knows what’s happening. It’s inevitable.”

“‘What’s happening’ that he needs to know?” I asked half confused. What was happening? It was just a kiss. He frowned.

“He needs to know I’m winning, and that you’re mine.”

“No –” I let his wrist go when he raised his brows at me, looking incredibly intimidating for a second before I swallowed and continued, “It’s not a competition.” He rolled his eyes.

“It isn’t? Then what is it, Eden? You cannot have both of us. That kiss shows you’re more into me, why drag it out? He will be hurt, but he’ll get over it. Dragging this out will only hurt more.”

“The kiss was just…” I can’t say just a kiss, it would hurt him and piss him off, undoubtedly. Of course it was more than a kiss, he was my mate but it a spur of the moment and yes I loved it but…

He tilted his head.

“You just go around kissing everyone you meet like that? So when Corin gets back you’re going to be doing this back and forth until you decided which of us is worth your time?” He sounded angry. Worth my time?

“No, I meant –” I tried again.

“I won’t mention it.” He cut me off. ‘Please refrain from kissing one of the staff members while I’m gone.’ My jaw dropped as he linked to me but he just left.

I clenched my teeth angrily. I may have hurt him by implying that the kiss was nothing more than that, but that was unnecessary, rude, and disrespectful, not to mention childish. I let out a breath of disbelief, turning my seat back to the table, but as I looked at the food I realised I had completely lost my appetite. I frowned, I had not been here very long and I never felt like eating. I intertwined my fingers on my lap as I stared ahead of me annoyed. How could he think we could mate when we did not even know each other and I was mated to someone else as well?

I got up deciding against eating and had just stepped out of the dining room when someone grabbed my arms. My eyes widened seeing a man I had never met before in front of me, grinning.

“Uh –” I began to speak confused.

“Hi, you must be Eden, I’m Francis. I’m the head tailor and designer to the royal family, you must have heard of me.” He said.

“Oh – y-yeah.” I glanced awkwardly at his hands, which were still on my arms and he laughed. I had seen him in a few TV shows and fashion magazines.

“Oh, sorry, honey. I’m just so close to everyone here, I’m basically family and touching is nothing new.” I was glad when he let me go, because it was weird having a stranger hold onto me for that long. “Anyway, Rowan told me earlier you were in need of clo…” He drifted as he looked over me before he grinned, “a makeover.”

“What? No, you were going to say clothing.” I protested.

“Was I? Because I’m certain he said something needed to be done about your hair –”

“Nope.” I turned to walk away but he grabbed my arm.

“Fine. We’ll start with clothing.” I frowned. We’ll end with clothing as well, I had not signed up for a makeover. “I need to take your measurements, your skin tone would look good in chestnut, you’re a little on the short side but I guess I can work with it –”

I looked around helplessly wondering if there was anyone I could pretend to have to help as he dragged me through the palace. I did not mind clothing, I liked shopping with Liana, Olivia and Brandon who usually took forever in shoe stores because he loved oxfords more than he loved most things. I just was not looking forward to pins and measuring tapes in weird places with a man standing way too deep in my personal space bubble since he seemed so comfortable invading stranger's personal space. I did not find anyone I could use as an escape and soon I was in a room filled with tables topped with swatches of fabric, mood boards, and clothing as well as a roll of fabric or two.

“You work here?” I asked.

“No, I have a studio in town, this is so that I can tend to the royal family in the comfort of their home. I also store the expensive fabric here because it’s just safer and easier to reach.” He said. “If you cooperate, I might just make you something in the silk.”

“And if I don’t cooperate, I get cotton sweatpants?” I asked raising my brows. That sounded so much better, though I had no intention of making his job hard for him and was just joking. He frowned at me and I laughed raising my hands in surrender. “I’ll cooperate.” He grinned.

“Alright, let’s begin, stand up straight.”

I pushed my shoulders back to straighten up as I looked into the mirror ahead of me. I smiled remembering Liana telling me to do the same when I was trying on countless prom dresses, I had gone with a bunch of my friends and instead of going to the after-party we ended up at Uncle Brandon’s restaurant at 1 AM because one of my friends had to move away to college two days later. Despite the fact that I was wearing a blue prom dress, Brandon still had me carry our food to our table, and he even made some of my friends help. It had been a fun night, even after I spilt sauce on my dress while delivering nachos.

I blinked as fingers snapped in front of my face.

“Eden, Honey, are you there?” Francis asked.

“Um – yeah.” I said giving him a smile.

“Your phone.” I looked down confused until I realised my phone was ringing and my eyes widened. How was I deep enough in thought not to hear it?

I grabbed it quickly and stopped as I saw the screen. There was the word ‘Mate’ with wolf, a heart and crown emojis beside it. Behind it, on the caller screen was a simple picture of Corin smiling that made me unintentionally smile back at it. The picture looked like one he had taken quickly just to set it on my phone. I slid my finger over the green answer button slowly and brought my phone to my ear.

“You added your number to my phone?” I asked before he could speak.

“Yes, the first night you spent at the palace while you were asleep.” He replied. I furrowed my brows. I should lock my phone... “Hey.” He said.

I bit my lip nervously as I realised how much I missed his voice. He had only been gone for a day and I had known him less than a week but I had missed his voice a ridiculous amount. “Hi.” it came out softer than I intended.

“How are you…? Is it weird that I... I miss you… so much.” I heard him sigh and held my breath feeling my stomach flutter. Stupid mate bond. This was ridiculous. I shut my eyes suddenly feeling incredibly guilty and disgusted. How could I feel this way about both of them at the same time? “Also, I just called Rowan, you must know that, I doubt he’s leaving you alone,” He sounded annoyed, “He sounded off… Upset or annoyed, I think. Why? What happened? Does it have something to do with you?”

My eyes widened and Francis’s eyebrows raised in question in front of me. How had he gotten that from just the sound of his brother’s voice? No way. How close were they? I opened my mouth to reply with a ‘no.’ but he spoke again in a chillingly cold tone.

“It does." He muttered.

"Um, no -"

"What. Did. He. Do. To. You?”

*****