I Will Save You, My Princess

Golden Retriever Smile

Rhiannon

"You want me to what?" my mate demanded.

I took a steadying breath, keeping my eyes on his. "I want you to f**k me."

"Do you even know my name?" he asked, eyes wide. I did enjoy the shocked look on his face. At least that was some kind of emotion from him.

"Not important," I shook my head.

"Of course it's important! What do you mean?" The words rushed from his mouth.

"I need you," I took another deep breath, "to f**k me before your dad does."

That seemed to pull him up short, and he stopped.

"It doesn't matter whether you like me or not, whether you want me as your mate or not. The fact of the matter is that I'm facing rape and torture," I continued before he could say anything else. "I'm not going to let that man marry me, and I'm not going to let him take the throne. I don't care if he tortures me, I don't care if he kills me, I don't care what he does to me." My voice started coming out sounding desperate, but I didn't stop. I stepped toward him. "You really want to do something for me, as my mate? You really want to make this easier? Then let my first time be with my mate. It's supposed to be wonderful, right, it's supposed to feel great? At least give me that, so I have something to think about when the rest of it is happening. You can reject me after, whatever you want, I don't care. I just don't want my first time to be with that monster." I couldn't look at him any longer, so my eyes dropped to the cream shag rug on the floor.

He looked like he wanted to say something, probably to tell me no way, but before he could, his eyes turned green and he shook his neck. I could tell his wolf was coming forward.

"Who am I speaking to?" I asked carefully. Talking to someone's wolf while they were still in human form was a rare occurrence.

"Alaric," he said, his voice deep and unlike his human form. "I'm Luca's wolf."

Luca and Alaric, huh? Pretty good names, gotta give them that.

"What do you have to say, Alaric?" I asked respectfully. So far his wolf has not done anything against me, and any wolf, no matter whose wolf it was, deserved respect until proven otherwise.

"Please do not speak of rejection," Alaric urged. "I shall not allow him to reject you, so please, do not worry about it."

Now that was unusual. A wolf refusing to let his human reject a mate? That's unheard of. Plus, would Alaric actually be able to stop Luca if he set his mind to it?

"Does Luca want to reject me?" I asked a little defiantly. If he did want to reject me, then I didn't want Alaric to force him to keep the bond. I didn't want a mate that didn't want me.

Alaric hesitated, never a good sign, but he said, "No, he doesn't want to reject you. He's just obsessed with timing. I'm not entirely sure why. Time is different for wolves."

"Timing," I muttered, "Great. Because I have so much time left." I huffed. I wasn't really talking to Alaric, and he didn't respond to that. Wolves are very 'here and now' oriented and rarely plan for long-term goals. That's where having a human counterpart is important.

"Can you sense your wolf?" Alaric asked after a moment, sounding almost shy.

"Not yet." I frowned. "I've been trying."

"We'll need to do something about the wolfsbane," Alaric winced at the thought of it. "I imagine they'll keep giving it to you. If I can get Luca in charge of administering them, then that will help, but I'm not sure what I can do."

He hesitated and then asked, "What's your wolf's name?" His voice was wistful, and if it had been under different circumstances, I may have chuckled at his earnestness.

"Keia," I said.

"Keia," he repeated and smiled. It was interesting to see the smile of a wolf on the face of a human. It was a big, wide grin, almost like a golden retriever smile, but splitting open Luca's handsome face. I kinda wished I could take a picture of it.

"I'll speak to you soon," Alaric shook his head a little. "And hopefully to Keia too."

His green eyes melted to gold, and Luca was in front of me again.

Luca didn't appear to have anything to say.

I crossed my arms. I enjoyed meeting his wolf, but that didn't mean I had defrosted towards him. "So?" I asked.

I could tell by the look on his face he knew what I meant. He was turning a little red, which was stupid. He was my mate, we were mates, it shouldn't be awkward, it was perfectly natural. (Was I trying to convince him, or myself?)

I didn't want him to know how desperate I was for this to happen. How much I didn't want my virginity stolen by Alpha Bane. He had already stolen my life, and he was going to steal everything else, steal it, kill it, hurt it, destroy it, who knows. I needed something good first.

Luca rubbed the back of his neck, looking at the ceiling. "I really hoped you would ask me for something easier."

"Easier?" I snapped. "The f**k do you mean, easier? None of this is easy, and if you'd get your head out of your ass for a minute--"

"Whoa whoa sorry, sorry, that's not what I meant," he held up his hands placatingly. "That's not what I meant. That came out wrong. It's just that it could be--if we were under different circumstances--I want to make it special for you, and I don't know how to do that without alerting my dad that something's wrong. I don't know how long I'll have to sneak in here--"

I cut him off. "I don't care about special. That's not what this is about. It's not about feelings either." I felt a slight dissonance from Keia, and I could tell she didn't like my attitude about the whole thing, but honestly, if I didn't keep reminding myself that Luca was going to let his dad rape and torture me, I might start falling for his chiseled jaw and those golden eyes.

"I'll do it," he said finally, "but we're not just going to f**k; we're going to make love."

I rolled my eyes, but let him finish.

"We're going to do this right because if this is what you get, then this is what you get. I'll come back tonight. I'll handle it and all be back," he almost sounded like he was talking to himself, like he was hyping himself up for it.

"All right," I said mildly.

"I've gotta go make sure my dad sees me so he doesn't think I dallied here," Luca added.

I just nodded, and he left, muttering to himself.

That conversation went better than I thought it would, but as the door closed behind Luca, I was struck with a sudden fear. Was I really about to lose my virginity to a man I barely knew?