Chapter 30
CHAPTER
THIRTY
Stephan
“ P rincess, breathe,” I whisper.
I know she’s going to try and run. I lock eyes with her and then, pitching my Alpha voice low to her, I command, “Stay. Please.”
I don’t know where the please comes from. It isn’t necessary, but there’s something so fucking heartbreaking about her that I’m compelled.
She’s gorgeous. A dream.
I know she would rather us be doing this in a tiny chapel with just family. She doesn’t like this fanfare the Monarch insisted on. But the dress, though, the dress is perfect.
“You’re beautiful. Stay. Be my mate.”
Her eyes shimmer and a small smile breaks free. “Okay. ”
One of the Council members, someone under Sophine, is dressed in robes and heavy gold jewelry and officiates the ceremony. Sophine is in the front row, staring directly at me, with all the other Council members. But Penrith is with the Gardeners and there’s something about that which makes me happy.
The officiant begins the vows, offering us the platitudes about the importance of the mark, how she must now mark me after we’re mated to complete the unbreakable bond, the bond that means she’s mine to protect, to breed, to love forever more. And she’s there to bear my children, remain loyal, and to honor me.
It’s archaic bullshit and yet…the words resound through me.
“You may mark your mate, Violet.”
I lift her veil, dotted with tiny violets, and I can see her pulse throb and leap near my mark. I reach out, pushing into the reddened flesh there.
Her eyes flare at my touch, her cheeks turn a pretty pink. I take a step closer, and at the officiant’s nod, I offer her my throat.
For a moment there’s panic, but the lust my touch and small bite set off crushes that, and she puts one hand on my waist and the other on my cleanly shaven cheek, and then…
Oh, fuck me.
Violet bites me, her teeth setting off a fire, scratching an itch as she then sucks. It’s like she’s sucking my cock, taking it all the way down to the back of her throat, on her knees and naked in front of me, everything mine for the taking.
The bite, her soft licks and sucking motions, reverberate through every cell and go on seemingly forever yet only for an instant.
When she stops, I think I look as dazed as she does.
“Now you may kiss.”
When I kiss her, she’s even sweeter, and that circle of connection from the fresh bites is strong. Her desire is mine. It beats in me even as it flows in her.
“Ashford,” Heath hisses, and I dutifully break the kiss.
But the fresh memory of her tongue in my mouth licks at my cock, and though I’m managing not to have a scandalous erection in the cathedral, I can feel her temperature rise, her slick juices flow, and honestly, I’m not sure how I’m going to get through the reception without ripping off her dress.
But the ceremony is done, and we head down the aisle together as mates.
I can’t stop touching her. My princess is a vision, and I’m dying to get at whatever she’s wearing under her dress.
Of course, I’m going to have to work out sex. I can control coming, I know that, but with her…
Clea’s here, and I’m hoping she brought the thing I asked her for late last night when Heath had finally gone to his room and passed out. There are some things you never want your friend to know about, especially when he’s the overprotective brother of your mate.
Mate … The word washes through me, in all its meanings .
“How are your first hours of being my mate?” I whisper in her ear. Thank fuck for some traditions, like dancing at the reception; it means I can touch her all I want. Within reason.
“Surreal.”
I frown, turning her as we dance, and I then bring her in close. “Surreal? Happy surreal?”
There’s a moment where she’s about to slide into her people-pleasing mode, but I hold her gaze and her fingers tighten on my shoulders. “It’s… We don’t know each other. Not really.”
“We have time to find things out.” I go closer to her, brush her ear with my mouth, and breathe in her personal perfume, that heady sweet floral burst of violets that’s her and has me hooked. Because it does. She does.
I care.
I really fucking like her, and I didn’t ever expect to. “I know you like it when I go down on you, and I bet you want that again. Be my personal good girl.”
“Stephan…” My name’s a soft moan, and it slides against my skin.
“I know you like it when I finger you, taste you, kiss you.”
She grips my hair and pulls me closer to her, and we touch intimately far more than is decent, even for a mating ceremony in Sabine. There should be a tiny smidge of space between us, and I fucking love that the good princess doesn’t care when she’s lost in me.
And all we’re doing is dancing.
What’s it going to be like when I get her naked?—
“You can’t speak like that, Stephan.”
“Why not?”
“If someone should hear…” She grips me harder, and my mind heads all the way south, gutter-bound.
“Good. Let them. You’re mine now.”
With that, she turns her face and kisses me, tongue and all. It’s a wild ride of a kiss. It’s naked and new and a little all over the place, but it’s also the most exciting kiss I’ve ever had.
Because it’s from the real Violet, the brave girl who when she gives herself a chance doesn’t care what others think. It’s the most perfect kiss, and I want to sink down into the magic of it.
But she breaks it seconds after she starts it and pulls back as the music ends. “I like you clean shaven, but I think I like your scruff more. It’s the real you.”
Then she surprises me even more by walking off to her sisters who are sitting at the family table. And I…I stare after her.
In fact, I’d probably still be standing there in the middle of the room if Clea didn’t come up and hand me a drink. With it, though, she had palmed me the very thing I’d asked for.
I transfer the pills to my pocket and take a sip of the bourbon before anyone can see.
“Are you sure about those?” she asks.
“Not yet, no.”
“You know what I think?—”
“Now isn’t the time to repeat the lecture, Clea.” The pills are insurance, a way to do things. I don’t want children. I don’t want to risk Violet. And I…I’m not lying to Clea. I don’t know if I’ll use them. That’s a tricky situation.
“Buying something like that here is impossible for me.” I have another sip. Clea knows. Then I look at Violet and nod. “She told me she prefers the scruff. That it’s the real me…”
I smile.
“She seems sweet, and she’s very pretty. I see why you’re doing the besotted act…” She stops, takes me in, and slowly smiles. “Stephan… It isn’t an act.”
“She’s…nice.”
“Nice.” Her smile gets wider. “I’m so glad I pushed the mating plan. With a girl like her for a partner, you can step back, create mystery. It’ll allow you to shift your career trajectory. Hell, maybe you can get that script made, if we clean it up.”
“It’s fine as it is.”
“Stop talking like you wrote it. You like it, I know. And the part’s perfect for an actor who’s risen above rom coms. Felicity, you should know, is having a field day with the mating ceremony. Back-to-back interviews. I think I’ll take her on as a client.”
“Turncoat.”
“Her agent sucks, and Felicity needs to back off with the interviews soon or she’ll over-saturate and self-sabotage. Now, be a good friend and introduce me to your mate’s brother. He’s delicious.”
I should correct her on the mating plan. That went out the window for me as a catalyst because I got to know Violet. Like her. Want her with a ferocity I sometimes don’t know what to do with. I think… Shit. I think I still would ha ve marked her as mine even if that bite meant the end of my career.
I’d find something else.
The princess chats with her sisters. Pen is beaming, and the battle-ax has shifted to the shadows to observe. Violet’s relaxing a little.
And me? I want to get the fuck out of here. She’s mine, and I’ve waited long enough already. I want to go. Get started on the honeymoon I made Heath help me plan. It’s short, three days, more symbolic than anything. Mainly because I don’t trust the battle-ax to demand a weekly appearance from us or threaten shunning Violet and her family from society.
Call me a paranoid Alpha, but I don’t trust that woman. At all.
“Heath,” I say when I catch up to him. “This is Clea, my agent. Clea, this is Heath. Have fun. I’m taking my mate.”
“That’s my sister.” Heath narrows his eyes.
“My mate now, dude.” I slap his back and walk off before he can say something else.
Not that he’d do a thing to disturb Violet’s perfect day, but it’s also Heath and he’s protective. He knows me. But not the me with Violet. No one knows that me.
Except perhaps the princess.
Clea’s dragging him off. She’ll probably get him to bed, too, but it isn’t my concern.
Getting out of here is.
Sneaking out is impossible, I realize when I reach Violet. No one’s about to let the Luxe of the Season go quietly. A group of Omegas follows us, and Violet throws the bouquet, right to her sister Iris.
I open the front door of the Gardener townhouse, and picking up my princess, I carry her to the waiting limo and we get inside.
“Ready to start a new life, Princess?”
She smiles at me. “Yes.”