Chapter 22
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Gage and I walked hand-in-hand down the hallway of the ship, headed to meet everyone in the training room for more obstacle course training.
“Do you think there will be swimming? I haven’t gone swimming in a long time.”
Gage shrugged. “Not sure, but as long as you’re able to keep yourself afloat, you should be fine.”
“Your Highness, it’s been so long since we saw each other and yet you’re treating me so coldly,” a female said ahead of us.
Gage and I slowed as we approached a turn and I peeked around it.
One of the female Dragonkin stood facing Wayne, her shirt unbuttoned more than necessary to show off her very ample chest. She was taller than me, more muscular, and very beautiful. She batted her eyelashes at him, and smiled seductively.
Jealousy surged through me so strongly that I had to grip the corner of the hallway to keep from rushing over and tearing her head off.
“I’m sorry, Norma, but I’m meeting my pack for training and can’t be late,” he replied and sidestepped around her.
Not to be deterred, she followed him. “There’re rumors that the High King and Queen are going to alter the alliance agreement now that we know the Caltyrelan princess is alive. That they’re going to free you from the ridiculous betrothal.”
“Who did you hear that from?” Wayne asked and spun around to look down at her.
She preened at his attention and said, “Oh, one of the princes let it slip to a maid. Personally, I’ll be ecstatic if it's true.”
Gage wrapped an arm around my waist and pressed a kiss to the back of my head. “Easy. You can’t kill her just for flirting with him.”
“I could, technically,” I muttered.
“Once you’re free from the betrothal, you could have your pick of Dragonkin females. Myself included,” she purred and tried to move closer to him.
Wayne looked down at her with a frown. “If I wanted a Dragonkin female, I could have bedded you or any of the others anytime over the last two decades.”
Her mouth popped open in shock at the same time that I had to bite back a snicker.
Wayne may not be great with people, but sometimes his honesty was better than any snark.
“W-Well, now you could take one as a permanent mate,” she said, trying to get the topic back in her favor.
“I don’t understand why you think I need the betrothal broken for that. If I wanted, I could have a dozen concubines.”
“So, you are interested in taking concubines?” she asked, hope lighting up her face.
“No.” He sighed heavily. “The only one I’m interested in having as a mate is Princess Xoe.
I don’t want a concubine or other female for any dalliances.
Perhaps I’m too much my father’s son, but I’m programmed as a one female dragon.
Xoe is my betrothed and I won’t do anything to jeopardize that relationship.
Just because you have a symmetrical face and body doesn’t mean you’re a better choice. ”
“Ouch,” I whispered and flinched on behalf of her.
Gage laughed and pushed me forward so that I was in the center of the hallway and visible to the other two now.
Wayne saw us and immediately smiled. “There you are, mate.”
“‘Mate?’” the woman asked, and her mouth dropped open.
Wayne pulled me into a hug and nuzzled my neck.
Her eyes dropped to my neck and widened at the sight of the marks.
“How are you feeling? If you’re too sore from earlier, we can wait to practice.” Wayne ran his hands down my arms.
“It seems that I’m getting used to being knotted, so I’m not too sore currently,” I replied. Normally, I wouldn’t have even mentioned our bedroom activities, but my jealousy was stronger than my embarrassment at the moment.
Linking our hands together, I tugged Wayne down the hallway. “Come on, we don’t want to keep Zeke waiting long or he’ll assume we got into trouble.”
Gage chuckled. “It is surprising that you haven’t gotten into trouble recently.”
I narrowed my eyes at him, which made him laugh more.
We turned the next corner of the hallway and Gage grabbed my arm, pulling me to a stop. He and Wayne caged me in against the wall.
“Isn’t it cute when she’s jealous?” Gage asked Wayne.
Wayne’s eyes widened. “Is that what that was? You were jealous of that woman?”
“She was flirting with you,” I grumbled.
Wayne kissed my cheek and whispered, “You’re it for me, Xoe. I don’t care how much they beg or what they say, I only want you.”
I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him down for a long, toe-curling kiss and he pressed into me, trapping me firmly against the wall. “After training, I’m going to reward you for your responses to her.”
His erection flexed between us and he purred softly. “I don’t know what I did to make you this happy, but I’d do it again in a heartbeat.”
“Alright, come on you two. We have training to get to,” Gage said and pushed Wayne off of me.
As we walked down the hallways towards our destination, we saw several more Dragonkin.
“Why didn’t you guys have any crew on your ship?” I asked, realizing I’d never questioned them about it before.
“We didn’t need them,” Wayne answered simply. “We were all capable of handling the small ship on our own. The only time we hired anyone was for moving heavy supplies from the dock into the cargo hold. Aside from that, we just did it all ourselves.”
I guess that did make sense.
“Plus, it was easier to keep things secret and avoid more Dragonkin politics by refusing to allow anyone else on the ship,” Gage added.
“What took you so long?” Zeke asked as soon as we stepped inside.
“I had to wait for Wayne to finish flirting with a female,” I said.
“What?” Zeke demanded.
Gage laughed. “Norma was trying to persuade Wayne to take her as a concubine.”
“Oh, Norma,” Zeke grumbled. “She’s … persistent.”
My jealousy returned. “So, she’s tried with all of you?”
“Yes,” Preston answered as he continued his stretches.
My hands clenched into fists and Preston noticed, arching a brow a second later, but then smiled wide as he asked, “Jealous, pet?”
“No.”
“Lie.” Preston laughed and walked towards me.
As soon as he got close, I grabbed him using a hip throw, and flipped him onto his back.
He laughed and said, “I think jealous Xoe is my favorite version.”
Zeke pulled me away from Preston and towards the mini obstacle course that they’d built. “Stop taunting her and let’s get to the real training. We don’t have that long before we arrive and there’s still a lot we have to teach her.”
“Do you think the rumor has any truth to it?” Wayne asked Gage, distracting me.
“Focus, Starlight,” Zeke ordered me, though his tone was soft.
“She could have been telling the truth,” I whispered.
“There will always be rumors, you have to be able to focus no matter what is being said around you,” Zeke said and tugged on a strand of my hair. “Focus so you can avoid getting hurt. The last thing we want is for you to get hurt.”
“Right, focus,” I whispered and stretched a bit more before I started my first run around the obstacle course.
After my third run, they agreed to stop for dinner.
“You’ve improved a lot,” Zeke praised.
“Well, as much as I’d like to take credit, it’s mainly from my upgrades,” I admitted. “I don’t know everything that he did or everything he put inside of me, but my muscle memory is much better now than when I was younger.”
“You know, some of your improvements might be simply from your hard work and not your upgrades,” Wayne said as he walked behind us towards Preston and my room.
“What do you mean?” I asked and walked backwards so I could look at him.
Zeke walked closer to me, like he was worried I would fall over by walking backwards.
“Your last comparison of your body is from being ten or eleven years old, right? A Caltyrelan body hits puberty at thirteen or fourteen on average, so you hadn’t even hit puberty yet.
So, not only did you get ‘upgrades,’ but your body also hit puberty and went through significant hormonal and physical changes.
Many of your improvements could be your own training and body.
So, I think you should be a bit kinder to yourself and also try to acknowledge your own hard work. ”
I hadn’t thought if it that way, but he was right.
It wasn’t fair of me to only praise the upgrades Charles had installed.
I had trained a lot on my own, done a lot of working out and improving my cardio and strength.
Yes, things like my ocular enhancements could only be from Charles’s intervention, but my fitness and my ability didn’t all necessarily stem from the same place.
“Thank you,” I whispered and stopped walking so I could kiss his cheek when he met me.