Chapter 4
Darian
I’m not used to catering to women.
I’ve never had the need to. Then again, I’ve never been so thoroughly insulted by one, either.
Jerk? How dare she call me that?
And after I was being so nice to her! It’s not like I intentionally pulled her into the lake. It was an honest-to-God mistake. And on top of that, I saved her! She should be thanking me!
“Is there a reason you’re muttering to yourself?” My second-in-command, Jimmy, looks up at me from his phone, irritation in his eyes. “I’m trying to write a message. You’re not letting me concentrate.”
I sneer at him. “I’m so sorry. Was I disturbing you?”
He shrugs. “As long as you understand—”
“You do realize you work for me, don’t you?” I growl at him. “My problems are your problems.”
My childhood friend lets out a gust of air, giving me an exaggerated look of patience. “And what would be our problem today?”
“A girl insulted me.”
This has Jimmy’s eyes widening fractionally. “Really?”
“Yes. She called me a jerk.”
My friend leans forward, resting his forearms on his thighs and looking intrigued. “And did that hurt your feelings? Let’s talk about it. Should I get you a tissue?”
“Either you’re really enjoying this or you’re mocking me,” I say nastily. “Either way, knock it off. I’m not in a good mood.”
Jimmy snickers and leans back in his chair, returning his attention to his phone. “You’re the prince of the Wolf Kingdom, Darian. Women are throwing themselves at you. You’re going to be the highlight of the mating gathering next week. Why do you care what an insignificant woman said to you? Or is she someone important?”
I open my mouth to deny it, but the words get stuck in my throat.
Her vibrant red hair and those blue eyes come to mind. I’ve never seen a wolf shifter with those features. The most predominant hair colors among our kind are blond and dark. That red hair makes her look radiant. Her features are also striking. When I first saw her in the woods, yesterday afternoon, my wolf stirred in interest. There was something about her.
But she ran away, despair in her eyes.
And when I saw her next, yesterday evening, she looked and acted like a whole different person. I’m guessing that in that most vulnerable moment of hers, I saw a part of her that she normally hides from the world. Distress, agony, helplessness.
But the woman last night was sharp-witted, funny, and she made my heart pound.
“You’re not saying anything.” Jimmy leans forward again, curious now. “She must’ve made quite the impression on you.”
“It’s not that.” The anger deflates out of me. “She was celebrating her birthday, and I ruined it for her.”
The guilt is beginning to settle in now. It still doesn’t justify her calling me a jerk, but I do feel bad for ruining her celebration. That sad, little cupcake in her hands had seemed so precious to her, and she had given me half without any prompting, as if she wanted to share some of her happiness with me.
“Darian,” Jimmy say, interrupting my thoughts, “if you’re interested in her, just tell me who she is, and I will bring her to the palace.”
I give my friend a dirty look. “Thanks, but no thanks. I don’t think she’s going to enjoy being kidnapped and brought here. She already thinks I’m a jerk. I don’t want to ruin my reputation even more.”
“So, you care about what she what she thinks of you.” Jimmy grins. “Does Prince Darian have a crush?”
I glare at him. “Keep mocking me. I hear Lilith is seeing one of the royal soldiers from the palace. Isn’t she supposed to be dating you?”
Jimmy has gone through a string of females, but Lilith is the first woman who has rejected him, and he’s not taking it well.
My friend curls his upper lip in disgust. “You sure do know how to hit below the belt.”
I smile at him, but my mind is already on other things.
Getting out of the palace isn’t easy for me because I’m usually handling my father’s duties, especially since he got sick. He wants me to take over his title, but only once I take a mate. I have been given a list of acceptable females for me to choose from if I don’t find my fated mate.
I can only take the throne if I have strong backing, as well. Although I am the king’s only child, life can be made very difficult for me if I don’t have someone powerful behind me. So, I have to choose a strong mate. Either in terms of strength or status.
Yesterday, I stepped out on my own to deal with some personal things. I don’t like the fact that all my wealth accumulation is linked to the palace, so I have been building my own businesses on the side, including among the humans. Once every few months, I have to go meet with my investors and the people looking after my companies. That is what I’d been doing when I first ran into that girl. It bothers me that I don’t even know her name.
But I do know that she will be at the mating gathering next week. I need to see her once more. Not for any particular reason, but simply because…
I look out my office window, my hands behind my back. The least I can do is make up for the birthday I ruined. I could always ask Jimmy to look into her. After all, her features are distinguishing enough to figure out who she is. However, I don’t want to do that. She seemed like a very private person. A little direct, but private.
Besides, I don’t have to involve Jimmy in everything I do.
*****
A couple of hours later, as the sun begins to set, I pick up a box of cupcakes, along with some other snacks, and make my way to the lake. There’s no guarantee that she’s going to be there, but if I can track her scent from the lake and find her that way, I might be able to apologize—and get an apology in return. Maybe she’ll also overlook how stalkerish my behavior is.
It’s not very likely that she’ll return to the lake today, but I’m willing to chance it. When I walk out of the trees, I see a figure slumped on the ground. For a moment, I don’t understand what I’m seeing. Then, recognizing the girl, I drop the bakery bag and rush over to her.
Her clothes are dry, but she’s not wearing her shirt, just a bra. She looks fine, but she’s unconscious. I check her pulse, and it’s thready.
“Hey!” I give her a shake before reaching for my phone. I need to get a healer out here.
I’ve barely managed to dial the number when she stirs. A soft groan leaves her lips, and when she opens her eyes, there’s a confused and dazed look in them.
“What happened?” Her voice is husky.
“You tell me.” I help her sit up, and I see the puzzlement slowly fading from her eyes. “What are you doing out here, shirtless?” I cannot smell any male on her, which relieves me. At least she wasn’t assaulted. “This is not a great place to sunbathe,” I scold her angrily. I don’t know why I feel so frustrated and protective. Anything could’ve happened to her. How can she be so reckless?!
“I was—” She looks toward the water. “Wait. How did I get here?”
“What are you talking about?” I demand. “You were lying on the bank when I saw you.”
She stares at me and murmurs, “So, it was just a dream. Thank God for that.” She suddenly seems to notice her state of undress. “Where’s my shirt?!”
“I just told you.” I give her an exasperated look, reaching out and grabbing the crumpled top from beside her. “You weren’t wearing it. Why were you half naked out here?”
I expect her to look embarrassed, but instead, her eyes fill with a terrible fear as she stares at the lake. “I was—I took it off to jump in.”
“Jump in?” It’s my turn to look horrified. “Were you trying to kill yourself?”
“What? No!” She shakes her head and grips my forearms. “I–I went to the pack library to read up on the witches in the lake. I just wanted to see if they were really there.”
“Have you lost your mind?” I gape at her. “That was very dangerous! The lake is far too deep—”
“I saw them,” she whispers, her expression so frightened that it chills me to the bone. “I saw them, and I don’t know why, but I wanted to touch one of them and—” She shudders. “It wasn’t dead. The witch looked at me. She grabbed my arm, and she wouldn’t let go. Then, everything turned black.” She looks at me. “And I woke up with you hovering over me.”
The legend of the witches in the lake has been around for a long time, but I know for a fact that the Wolf Kingdom was responsible for removing their bodies and burning them.
“You must have been dreaming,” I assure her. “There’s nobody in the lake. I was just messing with you yesterday. The bodies were taken out and burned.”
She shakes her head. “I wasn’t dreaming. I went into the water.”
“Maybe you were planning to go in, but you fell asleep.” That’s the only explanation that makes sense to me.
She blinks at me and then at the water.
“Do you want me to go in and look?” I offer. “I’m a good swimmer. I can go to the bottom and check for you if it’ll make you feel better.”
She grabs the front of my shirt, her voice terrified. “No. Don’t go. I don’t know what happened, but don’t take the risk.”
“Why did you take the risk?” I ask her slowly. “You were having a difficult time in the water yesterday. You’re clearly not a very good swimmer.”
She shrugs. “If anything happened to me, nobody would miss me. You probably have people who care about you.”
I give her a baffled look. “That is the stupidest reason I’ve ever heard.”
She scowls at me. “You want to jump into the lake? Be my guest. But I’m not jumping in after you to save you. I’ve already had one near death experience today. I’m not looking to add any more to my daily quota.”
I feel offended. “So, if I were drowning, you wouldn’t jump in to save me?”
“No.”
I consider her for a moment before deciding, “You’re lying. You’d help me.”
“I just said I wouldn’t.”
“I don’t believe you,” I scoff, getting to my feet and walking over to where I dropped my bag.
She pulls on her shirt, muttering something nasty under her breath, and I watch from the corner of my eye. Her skin is pale and flawless, her generous breasts straining against her bra cups. My cock stirs, and I feel ashamed. Quickly turning around, I try not to think about what it would feel like to rip that flimsy-looking bra in two, or how her breasts would fill my hands if I were to hold them.
I close my eyes and try to imagine Jimmy in front of me.
Jimmy smirking at one of his lady friends. Jimmy being a wiseass about my real-life problems.
My erection vanishes as irritation floods me. He wanted to tag along with me to see this mysterious woman that I was seemingly enamored by. I’m not enamored by anybody. It’s guilt. And maybe I think she’s amusing, but that’s it. Enamored is the last word I would use.
The smug look on his face made me want to introduce it to my fist. Not that it would deter him. Jimmy is among the strongest fighters in the Wolf Kingdom, second only to me. While my specialty lies in strategy and brute strength, he’s wily and fast.
Frowning, I pick up the bakery bag from the ground. There is no way in hell I am introducing Jimmy to this woman. My second-in-command has a thing for exotic-looking women. I’ve had to drag him out of human bars more times than I would like to count. With this wolf shifter of such unique features, Jimmy wouldn’t be able to help himself.
I growl under my breath.
Looking over my shoulder, I see her sitting now, her arms around her knees. She’s staring at the lake. My anger fades. She looks so heartbreakingly young.
“If anything happened to me, nobody would miss me.”
I feel troubled by her words. Surely, that can’t be the case. She must have some family. Unless she’s an orphan.
But even then, orphans are well loved within packs. Even if nobody is able to foster them, they are given the best opportunities. She must have friends and people who care about her. But as I gaze at her, she appears incredibly lonely.
I walk back over to her. “Here. I ruined your celebration yesterday, so I got you something. It is your birthday today, right?”
She looks up at me, surprised, and then at the bag in my hand. “You got me something?” There is wariness in her voice. “Why?”
“Because that cupcake seemed important to you,” I admit.
She shrugs. “It was just a cupcake.”
“Either way.” I put down the bag in front of her. “Celebrating a birthday by yourself is boring. I thought we could celebrate it together.”
She gives me a cautious look. “What do you want in exchange?”
“Nothing!” I exclaim, her words stinging me.
“Really?” she says doubtfully. “People always want something in exchange for being nice to me.”
“Well, I don’t.” I pause. “No, there is something I want.”
A triumphant look crosses her face. “I knew it. What?”
“Your name.”
My words have her looking confused. “That’s it?”
“Yeah. Just your name.”
She studies me curiously. “Why do you want my name?”
“Because you know mine,” I point out. “It’s only fair that I know yours.”
“Alice Lane.”
I clear my throat. “Well, in the spirit of sharing our full names, I’m Darian Kassel.”
I sneak a look at her, wondering if she will recognize my surname, and when her expression stays the same, I don’t know whether to be relieved or disappointed.
She peeks into the bag on the ground in front of her. “So, what did you get me, Darian Kassel? Those are a lot of boxes for one cupcake.”
“Why don’t you open them and find out?” I suggest.
The first box she takes out and opens has six cupcakes of assorted flavors. The bakery I got them from is a special one that only caters to the royal family. Each cupcake is decorated in a delicately beautiful manner, and even I’m impressed. I’m also impressed by how sturdy the packaging was that the cupcakes are all intact despite the way I dropped the bag they were in.
Alice looks shocked. “They’re beautiful. I don’t think I could eat them.”
“Well, not yet.” I grin. “Check the other boxes.”
The next one contains a variety of savory snacks, and the last one has a thick tube in it. She picks it up and stares at it. “What’s this supposed to be?”
“It’s a sparkler,” I tell her. “One of the companies I ru—work with makes toys and decorations. Humans love these for birthdays.”
I can see that I have Alice’s full attention. “How does it work?”
I hold the sparkler away from our faces and twist the top. Nothing happens. I do it again but with more friction this time. It lights up, a shower of sparks and colorful lights exploding from it. It’s like a safer version of a firework.
I glance at Alice, and she’s smiling broadly, excitement and delight written all over her face. Her eyes are pinned on the little display, and for the first time, there is no reservation in them. She looks happy. My heart skips a beat, and my wolf rumbles in interest.
I meet plenty of beautiful women every day. Pack alphas like throwing their daughters at me in the hopes that one of them will catch my eye, but I’ve always steered clear of them. To them, it’s my title that is of value, not me. But Alice looks at me. She sees Darian.
It’s not just that. Being around her lets me relax. It’s like when I’m around Jimmy. We bicker all the time, but he’s my closest friend and ally. I trust him above everyone, including my father. Around my childhood friend, I can be myself. When I’m around Alice, it’s the same feeling. I don’t have to be Prince Darian. Just being Darian is enough.
It also helps that I find her amusing and unpredictable. And when I see her like this, smiling with her guard down, she looks ethereal.
I haven’t forgotten our kiss. It was impulsive, and I hadn’t expected anything to come of it. But when our lips pressed together, it felt like electricity was coursing through my veins.
I needed more. I wanted more.
In that moment, I felt like my heart would burst out of my chest. Her scent, her touch, it was all driving me crazy. I couldn’t get enough of her. Those feelings, invoked by a simple kiss, surprised me.
Touching her last night was like getting a hit of a potent drug, one that I haven’t been able to stop craving since. As I watch her beaming in excitement at this shower of sparks, such a simple thing, I realize how innocent she is. I want to be the one to corrupt that innocence, to claim it. I want her to be mine.
My mouth turns dry at the dangerous thought.
As the sparkler dies down, Alice looks at me in amazement. “That was incredible!”
I can’t help but feel a little proud. “So, I guess I’m not a jerk anymore?”
She flushes. “Right. Sorry about that.”
“Let’s eat!” I hold out one of the cupcakes for her, and despite her attempt to look stoic, her ears are still red as she takes a bite out of it.
Her eyes turn wide as saucers. “It’s really good!”
We sit on the ground, eating the cupcakes and the snacks, and I ask, “You’ll be coming to the mating gathering this weekend, right? Did you get a dress?”
“My friend gave me one as a birthday gift,” she tells me, munching on a puff pastry meat pie. “She also got me some shoes. She knew what would look good on me. She’s a romantic at heart.”
“And, I take it, you’re not?” I study her.
Alice scoffs. “I’m just going to the mating gathering because I can’t find a way to get out of it. It’s going to be a waste of time. I would rather be anywhere else.”
I frown. “Don’t you want to find your fated mate? You know, this is the only time, once a year, when our wolf spirits search for their mates. You let that chance go and you may have to wait an entire year to find your fated mate.”
A shutter falls over Alice’s expression. She takes another bite of the savory treat in her hand. “I’m not going to find a fated mate.”
“You can’t know that,” I argue. “And even if you don’t, someone might express interest in you. Not everyone mates the person they are fated to.”
She lets out a dry laugh. “Yeah. Fat chance of that happening, either.”
The conviction in her voice doesn’t make any sense to me. “Nearly everybody gets paired up during the mating gathering, unless a few of the attendees want to hold off and wait till the next year for their fated mate. What makes you so certain that you won’t end up with someone? You do know I’ll also be there, right?”
Alice’s body goes stiff. “You’ll be at the mating gathering?”
“Well, yeah.” I shrug. “I—”
I pause. I’ve never attended a mating gathering, despite the fact that I’ve been of age for two years. According to my father, my main focus has had to be the transfer of power from him to me. Members of the royal family always mate their fated mates. It is only now, with my father’s illness getting worse, that the urgency for me to find a mate has increased. Alice’s name is not on the list of suitable mates, but if she and I were to meet at the gathering, maybe fate would…
I don’t complete the thought. This is the first time my wolf has ever responded to someone. Given my sudden attraction to Alice, it can only mean that there is the possibility of a deeper bond between us. If she has just come of age, that means she’s twenty-two. We don’t have much of an age difference. I’m only two years older than her.
“I’ll be at the gathering,” I finally say. “How’s this? If neither of us finds our fated mate, we could choose each other.”
Alice freezes. “What are you talking about? You don’t want—”
“I have a good feeling about us.” I put my arm around her shoulders casually. “You already think I’m good looking.”
“I believe the word I used was ‘pretty,’” Alice says sarcastically.
“I refuse to be offended,” I decide. “If you like pretty, I’m pretty.”
Her face turns red, and I hide my smile as she glowers. “Aren’t you getting ahead of yourself? And even if neither of us finds a fated mate, you’d never want me. Trust me.”
I disagree with her. “Never say never.”
She makes an exasperated sound. “Look, I’m just going to the gathering to eat food and have a good time, as much as I can.”
“We’ll have a good time.”
“You keep saying ‘we.’” She pushes my arm off her shoulders. “There is no ‘we.’ There’s you, and then there’s me. You’ll be the center of attention because of all this”—she gestures toward my face—“and I’ll be at the back of the room, stuffing my face.”
“I can stuff my face, as well,” I point out. “It’ll be fun.”
She rolls her eyes at me. “Only you would call a mating gathering fun. It sounds exhausting, and since there will be a few of my packmates there, I know it’s going to be.”
My humor fades. “Alice, do you not get along with your pack?”
I see the troubled look in her eyes, which she tries to hide. “Don’t ask questions I can’t answer.”
“Yesterday afternoon, when you were hurt, did somebody from your pack do that to you?”
“It’s not important.”
“It is important,” I say angrily. “I’m going to give you my number. Next time someone hurts you, you’re calling me. I’ll make sure they never lay their hands on you again.”
Alice runs the tip of her tongue over her lips, which seems to be an anxious gesture for her and one I found very arousing. “Why do you care so much? You don’t even know me.”
I give her a half smile. “Maybe I like you.”
Instead of blushing as I thought she would, her eyes darken. “If you knew what I know, you wouldn’t like me.”
I let out an annoyed sound. “Just tell me. What is so bad about you that you think you won’t find a fated mate or that I couldn’t possibly like you?”
She opens her mouth and then immediately presses her lips together, silently shaking her head. “I think I’m a little selfish because I don’t want to tell you. I don’t want you to look at me the way everybody else does.”
The sadness in her eyes does not escape me. “Whatever it is, it can’t be that bad.”
She looks toward the water. “You work for the royal family, right? Look me up. You know my full name. All wolf shifters have records. Go find mine. I won’t blame you if you don’t want to see me again after that.”
I push a strand of her red hair away from her face. “You think too much. No matter what it is, I am not going to treat you like everybody else does. I promise not to find you any less annoying than I do now.”
She laughs lightly and just a little sadly. The childlike edge to her voice breaks my heart. “You say that now.” When her gaze meets mine, I feel my chest tighten. “You say nice things, and I like to hear them. But the truth is going to change everything. It’s best if you stop trying to be friends with me, Darian. I don’t plan to be here for much longer. I don’t like the way our kind looks at me.”
I wish I knew what to say to make her feel better, but my words are stuck in my throat.
How bad can her secret be?