The Prince’s Mate (Fate’s Gambit)

Eleven

Caelan

I groaned as I came to, shaking off the last dredges of sleep that clung to me. My body felt like a block of concrete, and I wondered what I'd done last night to feel this worse for the wear. Had I gotten into a fight?

"Caelan? Are you awake?" Walker's voice filtered through my brain, the fog dissipating in its wake. I went still as I remembered everything. Andras. He was alive, and he'd captured me. Fuck, how had I been so careless? How could I have allowed myself to get captured?

And then...then Walker had come to my rescue. What did he think of me now? As if all the reasons he disliked me weren't enough, I'd now gotten myself captured in broad daylight, when no one in this realm was supposed to be able to hurt us. Could I get any more pathetic?

"Kitty?" Walker asked, and I was so surprised by the nickname that my eyes flew open before I could stop myself. I was in the bedroom of the apartment, I realized, and Walker was beside me. Was he... holding my hand ? "Hey, you're up!" he said, a wide smile overtaking his face, and I blinked stupidly at him. Since when was Walker happy to see me?

I reached up to twist my necklace, a habit I'd picked up over the last decade, and sucked in a breath that led into a coughing fit as I realized it wasn't there. I wasn't wearing my necklace any longer, which meant Walker...Walker knew .

"Shhh," he murmured, rubbing my shoulder. "Take a breath, Caelan. You're fine."

I sat up and took a deep, even breath, forcing my lungs to work properly. While I didn't need to breathe to live, it made it easier to pass off as human, and things like anxiety and panic still manifested in feeling like you couldn't breathe, so there was that.

"You know," I murmured when I could finally breathe, and he nodded.

"Da said that was why you left," he said.

"Reece was here?"

"And Kym and Dad," he replied. "Dad went back to where you were being held, but they'd cleared out."

"I can't believe I got captured like that," I said with a shake of my head, and Walker rolled his eyes.

"You weren't expecting it. Why would you be? We aren't supposed to be in danger here."

I shrugged, knowing I should've been more careful, more cautious. What if Walker had been with me, and he'd gotten captured too because of my carelessness?

"Do you know who it was?" Walker asked, and I debated lying for a moment before ditching the idea. We already had so many secrets and lies between us, I didn't want to add another one to the list.

"It was someone from my past. My human past. He was human when I knew him," I said, and he tilted his head.

"And now?"

"Now, he's a vampire and has people who use dark magic working for him," I said, and Walker swore under his breath.

"Wait. Is that who you thought you saw when we were getting back from the grocery store?" he asked.

"Fuck! I forgot about that. Yeah, I thought I saw him. Maybe that was when he saw me too, and decided to get me back."

"Get you back ?" Walker asked cautiously, but this wasn't a story I was willing to tell just yet.

I changed the topic. "You said Damien didn't find anything there?"

"No, they were gone before he got there," he said, and I swore again. Damn it all to hell. I could not let that man ruin my life again. He'd done it once already. While I wasn't the same scared kid who'd feared him the first time around, remembering my earlier interaction with him still gave me the chills. Why, why did he have to come back into my life? Why now?

"I'm sorry," I mumbled, glancing down at the blanket bunched up in my lap to keep from looking into Walker's amber eyes.

"For what?" he asked, sounding puzzled, and I shrugged.

"Everything?"

"This wasn't your fault, Caelan. But I will accept the apology for keeping the secret from me. Why didn't you tell me what we were?"

I'd assumed he didn't want to talk about the elephant in the room, but it looked like I was wrong.

"You were a kid when I found out, Walker. You didn't even know what being mates meant, and you weren't supposed to," I said, and he shook his head.

"No, not then. That, I understand. Though I still don't get why you had to leave. But what about when you got back? Why didn't you tell me then?" he asked, and I snuck a glance at his face to check if he honestly wanted to know.

"I wanted to. I didn't wear that necklace for the first two weeks after I got back, but you avoided me so you never had a chance to find out, and I realized I'd damaged our relationship too badly. I put it on again and decided to repair our friendship first, but there was no quick fix..." I trailed off with a shrug.

What was he thinking? Did he wish he still hadn't found out? Did he want to pretend he hadn't? Did he hate me even more now?

"Fuck, I'm so sorry, Kitty," Walker said, and my head jerked up, eyes wide as I stared at him.

"What do you have to apologize for?" I asked, and he scoffed.

"For being an utter dick? You've always been kind to me, even when I acted like an ungrateful brat, and I've treated you so badly over the past few years," he said with a shake of his head, and I sighed.

"You were hurting," I said, and he barked out an unhappy laugh.

"Even if I was, it didn't give me the right to hurt you in return. Why did you leave, Kitty? Did my dads make you?" he asked, and I shook my head.

"No, Walker. They had nothing to do with my decision. It was mine and mine alone. You were already so fond of me back then, and I was worried that if I stuck around, and you grew up with us being as close as we'd been, you'd one day think that I...that I groomed you, that I..." I trailed off, unable to voice all the fears that had clogged my mind back then.

The bottom line was, I hadn't wanted to be to Walker what Andras had once been to me. I'd been terrified that if I stuck around, I would turn into him and ruin everything. Ruin Walker.

Walker

I didn't understand his reasoning, but I could see it on his face that it was something that had scared him, and his fear had been strong enough to prompt him to leave his home. Even if I didn't understand it, I wasn't going to make light of his fears.

"Okay. Okay. Well, now we're both adults, and we both know," I said, and Caelan dipped his head in a nod.

I realized I'd dropped his hand sometime during our conversation—probably when I'd been trying to calm him down—and I reached for it again. He froze when I wrapped my palm around his hand, and then he turned it around and gripped my hand so tightly he would've broken my bones if I was human.

"Does that...does this mean you don't hate me?" he asked, and I decided he deserved the truth too.

"Caelan, I've never hated you," I said, and he scoffed, making my heart ache. If he truly believed I hated him, I was a better actor than I'd thought. "I mean it, Kitty. After you left, I wanted to hate you just so I wouldn't miss you so much. And after you got back, I acted like I hated you because I was angry, because it was easier to feel angry at you than to constantly wonder what it was about me that made you leave," I said, and Caelan made a sound of protest.

"You didn't do anything wrong, Walker," Caelan said, and I smiled at him.

"I know that now, but it took me a while to realize that. After what Dad said, I've been thinking about how you must've felt when you left, and if one of us has actual reason to hate the other, it's you. You had to leave your home because of me."

"I didn't leave because of you. I left for you, and I'd do it again if I had to."

Sighing, I tilted his chin up, staring into his beautiful blues. "I want you to make me a promise.”

"Anything," he answered in a hushed voice, and I leaned forward, kneeling in front of him, our faces inches apart.

"Promise you won't ever leave me again. Even if for some reason, you think it's best for me. Promise me you'll stay," I said, and Caelan's lips parted as he gazed into my eyes.

"I'll stay," he breathed out, his voice barely loud enough to be audible.

Then I did something that I'd wanted to do for quite a while now. I kissed Caelan. He gave a surprised little gasp when our lips touched, but then, he was kissing me back like he'd die if he didn't.

I slid my fingers into his hair, tugging gently as I brushed his jaw with my fingertips. I kept the kiss chaste and unhurried, still kind of worried that he wasn't completely back to a hundred percent.

"Finally!" An utterly familiar voice intoned, and we broke apart, turning as one to glare at Ro'Shassz, who sat on the bed on Caelan's other side. How long had he been watching us?

"Finally what?" I asked, running my fingers through my own hair as I slid the other to Caelan's hand, taking it in mine again.

"You two finally got your heads out of your asses," Ro said slowly, as if I was dumb. Maybe I was. Maybe Caelan had kissed me stupid.

"Wait, you knew too?" I demanded, before remembering Ro had told me he knew why Caelan left Otherworld.

"Kiddo, everyone in Otherworld knew," Ro said, sticking his tongue out to taste the air or whatever he did that for.

"They did?" I asked, turning to Caelan for confirmation.

"They're all a bunch of gossips. Of course they knew," Caelan said with a wry smile, and I rolled my eyes.

It was a miracle they'd managed to keep it a secret from me, but I imagined Dad had used his 'King voice' to tell everyone to keep mum about it. It was the only thing that would've kept them—especially Nox—from telling me.

"Okay, so I was the last one to find out who my mate is. No big deal," I said, shaking my head, and Caelan chuckled.

"I really am sorry I hid it from you after I got back. I should've had more faith in you," Caelan said, and I shook my head, glaring at him.

"You don't owe me an apology for that. I gave you no reason to have faith in me," I said, brushing my thumb over his knuckles.

Caelan sighed, leaning his head back as if there were answers written on the ceiling.

"Let's just...let's just stop mulling over the past, okay? We're here now, and maybe we should just focus on that," he suggested, and I smiled.

"I agree. Are you feeling okay now? Physically?" I asked, and Caelan glanced down at himself.

"Yeah, I feel fine. A little tired, but otherwise I'm good."

"Good," I murmured, staring down at our joined hands as I tried to figure out what to say.

My stomach grumbled right then, breaking the moment.

"You should go eat something," Caelan said, and I nodded. Squeezing his hand, I let it go and climbed off the bed before realizing I couldn't leave. I was afraid Caelan would disappear if I left him here, and it was an irrational fear, I knew. Caelan wasn't going anywhere, and yet my feet were rooted to the spot.

"I'll come with you. Gotta stretch my legs a little," Caelan said as he got to his feet, and I relaxed. He understood me so well, always had.

Ro'Shassz

My efforts had finally borne fruit. The two dorks were finally talking. It'd taken Caelan getting kidnapped to get them there, but at least they were there now. They'd finally crossed all the major obstacles, or at least I hoped they had. Knowing them as well as I did, I had a feeling we weren't past the worst of it yet though.

Step : Don't get icked out if they start making out in front of me.