CHAPTER SIX
1550 Words
f**k.
That was all I could think three seconds before my lips parted for Thorne’s hot and persistent tongue, his mouth moving against mine like he was drowning and I was air.
My back hit the garden wall, and the rough stone scraped through the thin fabric of my clothes, but I didn’t care.
There was no way I could bring myself to care about anything other than the way his hands gripped my waist, the way his body pressed against mine, the way it felt like the air around us was singing, charged, golden, and electric with heat so intense it almost hurt.
“Elara.” Thorne broke the kiss. “We can’t…”
“Shut up.” I fisted his shirt, pulling him closer. “Just shut up.”
He growled and crashed his lips against mine again, deeper this time.
I moaned as his fingers slid into my hair, tilting my head back. I felt the mate bond between us flare hotter, igniting a fire in me that demanded more.
I wanted more.
More of his touch, his hot mouth.
I wanted to feel his bare skin so badly that my hands found the hem of his shirt, and I gasped in satisfaction when my fingers brushed against his skin, loving how warm and hard it felt.
He shuddered, and another wave of satisfaction curled through me. I was thrilled that all it took was my touch to make this powerful man come undone.
I had never felt this way before, but to be fair, I had never gone this far with anyone before. Even then, I knew I could bet on it if given the chance, that it would never have felt this way with anyone else.
Never.
Thorne’s lips left mine, trailing down my jaw to my neck. I arched into him, a sound escaping my throat that I had never made before, needy and desperate.
“f**k!” He jerked back and took three quick steps away from me, as if something had burned him. I groaned in frustration at the loss of contact but froze when I heard footsteps crunching on the gravel, approaching us.
Fuck indeed.
I pressed against the wall, chest heaving, lips swollen. My body, my wolf, whined at the loss of his warmth, at the sudden cold where he had been.
A few seconds later, a guard rounded the corner, armor gleaming in the afternoon light. He stopped when he saw us.
“Beta Blackwood. Princess Elara. The Alpha requests your presence in the war room.”
“Tell him we’ll be there shortly.” Thorne’s voice was steady and controlled, as if he hadn’t just been kissing me senseless thirty seconds ago.
Well, at least I admired the fact that he was more in control than I was, because right now, I was still dazed with lust and need.
The guard bowed and left.
“I’m sorry,” Thorne rasped, dragging a hand through his hair, a gesture I had noticed he often made when frustrated. “That shouldn’t have happened. I shouldn’t have…”
“Please don’t ruin it with your words.”
“Elara…”
“It’s nothing, okay?” I pushed off the wall and wrapped my arms around myself, not wanting him to see how badly I was shaking. “It’s fine. We both got carried away, so there’s no need to apologize.”
“That’s not what I—” He took a step forward, then stopped. “Elara, this isn’t easy for me. You should at least know that.”
“I don’t know anything, and I don’t think I have it in me to care right now. You’re the one who keeps pushing me away when you obviously can’t stop this, which is very confusing. Please, just go.”
“Elara, listen to me, baby.” He stepped closer and grabbed my chin, tilting my face up until my eyes met his. His gaze was intense, almost pained. “You have no idea how difficult this is. Every time I see you, every time I am just a few feet away from you, I have to fight every instinct not to grab you and do things to you that are beyond your wildest imagination. My whole body yearns for you. My wolf is screaming to claim you, to mark you, to make sure everyone knows you are mine because every inch of you would be covered in my scent.”
I swallowed hard and clenched my thighs, his words painting vivid and dirty pictures in my head.
“But I can’t act on this, no matter how much it kills me. I can’t. Do you understand?”
“Why?” I demanded. “Why can’t you? I want you. You want me too, so make me understand why you insist on fighting something that is clearly meant to be.”
“Because it’s a taboo. And I will get killed for it.” His words came out flat, and he exhaled sharply. “Your brothers, the whole council, hell, the entire pack would have my head if they found out I dared to touch a princess. It’s a taboo, completely against the law. A crime punishable by death.”
I stared at him. “What?”
“Royals marry royals. Alphas marry alphas. It keeps the bloodline pure, the hierarchy intact, and everyone in their place. A princess taking a Beta as a mate is a death sentence, not for you but for me.” He dragged a hand down his face. “I would be publicly executed, and your brothers would be the ones holding the blade.”
“They wouldn’t.” But even as I said it, I remembered Aiden’s face that morning. The steel in his eyes when he had pulled rank. He looked like the kind of man who would do anything the law dictated. “They are your friends.”
“Aiden is my best friend.” Thorne’s voice cracked. “Which is exactly why he would have to do it, to prove he values the law over personal ties. To show the pack that no one is above tradition, not even his Beta. And Liam would stand right beside him because that is what loyalty means here.”
“This is insane.”
“It is. But it is also reality, as harsh as it sounds.” He would not look at me now. “And even if by some miracle they did not kill me, I would lose everything else. My position. My rank. My friendship with the two people who matter most to me.”
“So what?” My voice shook. “We are supposed to pretend this does not exist?”
“Yes, at least until the next moon. We just have to hang on for a few weeks. Then it will all be over.”
I bit my lip.
I found it hard to believe him, to believe that it would be that simple for this need, this craving, to just disappear because of some forced rejection.
As if reading my mind, Thorne leaned closer with a sad smile. “Whatever you and I are feeling right now is just a side effect of the mate bond between us. I know how strong it feels, like it has become part of you, but trust me, you will go back to normal once the rejection is done.”
“Fine,” I said after a few seconds of silence because I did not know what else to say.
What was I supposed to do? Beg him not to reject me?
My chest tightened at the thought of that word again.
No. I would not beg.
He seemed pretty convinced, and honestly, who would want to risk their life for a few moments of pleasure?
Definitely not me.
I would accept that this was just not meant to be. But accepting it did nothing to stop the anger and frustration rapidly building inside me.
I wanted to scream.
I wanted to shift and run until my legs gave out.
I wanted to grab him and kiss him again until he admitted that this was just as impossible for him to ignore as it was for me.
Instead, I wrapped my arms tighter around myself. “I understand you. It is just a few weeks anyway. I cannot wait to get this over with.”
Without waiting for a response, I walked past him. He did not try to stop me, and I did not know if that made it better or worse.
This was it.
I kept walking, even though every step felt wrong. Even though my wolf was howling inside me to go back, to fight for what was ours.
But what was the point?
Stupid mate bond. Stupid werewolf curse.
I had been living a perfectly normal life until this bond came and ruined everything.
Now I was standing here, heart breaking over a man I barely knew but somehow could not stop wanting.
“Stupid.” I wiped at my eyes, angry at the tears that threatened to fall. “This is so f*****g stupid.”
But I kept walking anyway.
Because what else was I supposed to do?
- Writer
