The Crown Thief and Her Alpha Prince

CHAPTER 15 - THE INTRUDER

Prince Edmund Harrow’s Point of View

“f**k, Amelia!” Edmund growled as he came, warm spurts of his seed coating his fingers.

In his mind, his little crown thief was coming undone too, her delicate face contorting with pleasure as he deeply pushed one last time into her burning heat, filling her with his release.

Edmund sagged back down on the four-poster bed, aftershocks from his c****x still hitting him in waves. It had barely taken the edge off though, his body still desperate for something, for someone, it could not have.

The past evening had been pure torture. To pretend to be making boring chit-chat with equally boring nobles, when Amelia was inches behind him… When he could just turn towards her and see her tempting body clad in that devilish green dress that matched her fiery eyes so well… When he had to constantly suppress any hint of desire towards her, because another shifter might pick up on his changing scent and wonder who had triggered his mating instinct... 

Wolves were not good at suppressing their instincts to mate. It was a miracle no one had picked up on Edmund’s predicament. Throughout the whole dinner, Edmund had wanted nothing more than to pick his little crown thief in his arms and whisk her to his bedchambers. 

The feast the kitchen staff had prepared might have been delicious, but there was only one thing the prince truly wanted to taste.

Her.

He knew she wanted him to, knew she would welcome him if he ordered her to come to his bedchambers and bend over his desk so he could take her hard. She was feisty, but she would submit to him - he would make her, he would be her Alpha and she would be his female. 

Her unmistakable desire for him only made things worse.

If he were to mate her, Edmund would never be able to stop himself. He would bite her, mark her, make her his in every sense of the term. Even if her frail human body could survive the process, what would happen afterwards? They could never be together. He was a prince. His life mate needed to be a high-born shifter, not a peasant human. 

And if she did get hurt because of him… Could he ever forgive himself?

If she was not human, he would swore she was his fated mate. That was how wild she drove him. Even now, he could still distinctively smell her desire in the room, as if she had truly been with him just as he had imagined her as he was f*****g his own hand. 

But the only thing he would ever have of Amelia would be his fantasies, in which he pleased her over and over again until she begged him for mercy, the unique scent of her desire filling the air. That was the only thing he could allow himself. 

Edmund groaned, the damp and sticky blankets on his over-sensitive c**k growing more uncomfortable by the second. Hopefully, now that he had reached completion, he would be able to actually get some sleep and not wake up in sweats every few minutes, plagued by dreams about his little crown thief. He sat on the bed, looking for something to clean himself, when his eye caught an immobile silhouette near his bedroom door.

Edmund startled and readied himself for an incoming attack, when a soft, feminine voice spoke timidly and awkwardly.

“Um… Good evening, Prince Edmund. I…”

Realization hit him. Amelia’s intoxicating scent in his fantasy had not been part of his imagination at all. She was actually in the room with him. She was the one now standing in his room, frozen in place. 

Amelia was freshly out of bed, her red hair messy and tangled in a way that made him want to brush the strands with his hands. She was wearing her nightgown again, not the tempting green dress, but she still looked ravishing. She was nervously playing with the fabric with one hand, the other hidden behind her back. She was shifting her weight from one foot to the other, her green eyes not quite looking at him. 

The little maid was nervous, that much was clear. Her pink lips were slightly parted, her breath short. Her pupils were dilated, even more than normal in the darkness. And her scent… Now that Edmund knew she really was here, it was even more intoxicating, pure desire and arousal. 

She had clearly seen the whole scene, or at least, she had seen enough. She had surely heard him scream her name. The prince ought to feel embarrassed, but all he felt was desire to possess her. Underneath the covers, he was hardening again, ready for another release but, this time, with her actually being in his arms, under him. 

Edmund had no idea what game she was playing, coming in here in the middle of the night. But it was a game she was sure to lose. It was one thing to control his instincts in the presence of other shifters. It was another challenge entirely to control himself when she was offering herself to him, alone in his leir when he was already starving for her. 

“You are here,” Edmund managed to say, his voice a low growl. “You are real. You really are here. In my room. That is pretty bold, little maid. Was there something you wanted to ask of me?”

He lifted an eyebrow and offered Amelia a smile - one he knew looked cocky and predatory. It could not be helped. If Amelia had come here, without Edmund even ordering her too… It meant to acknowledge the tension that had been mounting between them. She wanted him to take her virtue. Edmund had tried to drive her away, tried to pretend he was not interested in her. But still, she came to him.

Edmund would not reign in his mating instinct anymore, not tonight, not when she was offering herself to him. He just hoped he had enough self-control not to completely break her.

“I…” Amelia began nervously, shifting her weight once more. “I wanted to apologize for the dinner today. I feel like it is partly my fault if the alliance with the Ivory Kingdom broke down and…”

She trailed off, looking anywhere but at him.  

Did she really come in to talk politics? The broken alliance was a major inconvenience to say the least, but Prince Edmund did not really care. Edmund did not think the Ivory brat was good enough for his brother. Besides, what was done was done. The Onyx kingdom could burst up in flames for all he cared. 

His vote might have doomed his kingdom but he had made him a hero in Amelia’s eyes. He had seen the happiness in her eyes when he had voted to save the rebels. In that instant, Edmund had understood one thing. He did not only want to possess Amelia, to mate her and have her. He wanted to please her, to make her happy. He wanted her not to see him as the monster everyone saw when they looked at him. It was the first time he ever felt that need, to be kind to someone else.

His pity on the intruders must have been what had turned her opinion of him, what had made her come into his room tonight.

His wolf constantly begging to mate his sister’s maid was a far more pressing problem than some silly alliance.

A problem that would soon be resolved. 

“The alliance? It really doesn't matter. But surely, you did not come to my room in the middle of the night only to apologize…” Edmund purred.

“I…”

As if drawn by a magnet, Amelia took a few steps towards him, licking her lips. She was still not looking into his eyes, but her gaze was trailing on his naked chest. She was as hypnotized by him as he was by her. 

Then, she abruptly stopped and shook her head. Her heart was beating so loudly Edmund could hear it from across the room.

“I did,” she blurted.

She took a step back and glanced towards the door. Underneath her undeniable arousal and desire, Edmund could now smell a hint of fear.

Something was odd.

“You did what?” he asked, confused.

“I did come here only to apologize for the dinner. I see it was a misunderstanding and not necessary. You are very gracious for forgiving this misstep, my Prince. And so, I will bid you goodnight.”

She took two other small steps back.

It was obvious she was lying. Her excuse made no sense. Why would she wake him up, despite it being clearly against the rules as a servant, and risk his wrath only to apologize? She could have done that at any moment.

Was she playing some weird game he did not understand? Did she want him to refuse her apology and punish her instead? That thought conjured images of her on all fours on his bed, his large hand striking her pert naked bottom again and again as punishment for speaking out of turn. Edmund’s c**k gave an interested twitch at that vision. Was that what she wanted him to do? 

He was about to rise from the bed and give her exactly what she wanted, when a metallic glint caught his eye. There was a mirror on the side of the door, and Amelia’s back reflected in it. In her current position, the hand that she held behind her back was visible in it, clearly holding something small and metallic. 

Edmund’s crown. 

That little b***h. 

Of course she was not here for him. No one would ever care for Prince Edmund Harrow, the Prince of Darkness. This was a good reminder. Amelia might be attracted to him, because she was a weak human female, but the little crown thief was only here to steal. It did not matter that he had spared the rebel brutes for her. He could not trust anyone. Hadn’t he learned that lesson already?

Why did it sting so much?

“Amelia. What did I tell you about lying?” Edmund said coldly, masking his hurt with anger.

The prince rose from his bed and advanced until he was a mere feet away from her, not caring that he was naked and sporting a half hard-on. Amelia’s eyes widened at the sight of him, then, the next second was not looking at him, fear of his reaction now more powerful than her desire.

“That if I ever lied to you again, I would regret it,” she swallowed.

She looked at her feet, her whole posture submissive before him. She held the crown, his crown in front of her.

“Then why are you in my room?” he growled.

“I… I came to take this,” she said shily, waving the crown in front of her, then throwing it at his feet. “Guess that part did not work out. Sorry about bothering you. I’m leaving tonight.”

And just like that, Amelia turned away from him, cracking his bedroom door open. Edmund closed it with his fist, making the thief jump. Edmund kept his weight against the door. She was trapped.

“This is not our deal,” Edmund roared. “I kept your secret.  I lied to my pack for you, I protected you. And what have you given me in exchange? You tried to betray me and steal from me. And you think you can just leave like that? You have given your word. You cannot leave this castle until you have completed your end of the bargain. You cannot leave without the Golden Crown of Skavon.”

She looked up into his eyes, anger flaring up in her too.

“Be reasonable. The alliance is off, which means no wedding. Your Father won’t be here for months. I can’t steal the Golden Crown of Skavon if it is not here.”

She was, of course, right. It was pointless and dangerous, for both of them. This thing between them, whatever it was, primal attraction or something more, was radioactive, and would only end up hurting them both. There was no happy ending to their story. There was not even a story to begin with. 

Maybe he could let her leave. It would be the sensible thing to do.

But his wolf would not let her go so easily. 

“You can’t leave now. I forbid it. Our deal is not done,” he growled at her.

“Well, the deal is that you protect me in exchange for me stealing your Father’s crown. I could always leave for the summer palace and steal it there.”

“How would I know you will not simply back off, and not go to my Father’s summer palace? It is at least a day away by horse. You might just disappear in the wild without a trace, betraying our deal. I can’t allow that.”

“You do not own me,” Amelia scoffed. “I will simply leave this castle another night. I’ll be far from here before you even realize I am gone.”

“Ah, but you forget that I am a shifter, little thief,”  Edmund said. “If you break our deal, wherever you go, I will track and find you. You can’t escape from me.”

Amelia crossed her arms, annoyed. 

“Then what? I am to stay your prisoner until your father comes back? Which might take months?”

“Precisely,” he asserted, leaning more heavily against the door. 

“That is ridiculous. I am a poor excuse for a maid. I will never last that long here, even with your protection. Let’s strike a new deal.”

“For a deal to be made, both parties need something the other wants, little thief. If you won’t steal the Golden Crown of Skavon, then what do you have to offer to me?”

“One night,” Amelia said, looking straight into his eyes. 

Edmund blinked, surprised. He could not have understood that correctly. There was no way she meant that she was offering herself to him, for one night, in exchange for her freedom.

“What?” he blurted.

Amelia’s color was high. She was looking so fierce, so alluring in her fury… She turned him on when she acted contrite and submissive, afraid of his might, and she turned him on when she resisted him like she did now. 

“I will spend tonight with you,” she enunciated. “You can do whatever you want with me. Then, in the morning, you will let me go with your crown.”