CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Rave
Before I choke August to death, I get the hell out of there, zipping back to our bedroom. Starting to pace, I try to control the darkness, knowing Astrid doesn’t want me leaving the castle in the shadowy hell it’s been in every time she leaves me. Does she know how hard it is and how it goes against my every instinct to let her be out there without me protecting her? The bond demands that she’s near me, and it fucking hurts when she’s not. It hurts more to see her spend time with men who would take her from me if they had the fucking chance, especially knowing how I fucked everything up by not telling her the truth about Vale and Vera.
I should have.
I fucking knew it the entire time.
But I was scared.
She was already a flight risk, not wanting to be here with me, and I didn’t want to drop anything else on her. And by keeping that from her, I shattered our trust. And now I’m trying to build it back from the ground up. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for my mate. And yes, it might have started out as being about accessing my full magic, but from the second I laid my eyes on her, it became about a lot more than that. I just wanted her. She is the most beautiful female I have ever seen, with her long, brown hair and big, sometimes hazel, sometimes green eyes.
And the most deadly.
And the fates have given her to me.
She’s a match for me in every way, created just for me.
She is mine .
And I will fight until my last dying breath to keep her at my side. Unfortunately for me right now, that means giving her space and letting her spend time in another fucking kingdom without me. I will fucking kill Bane if he tries anything with her. The exiled demon prince would be a worthy opponent, but with my mating to Astrid, he wouldn’t stand a chance. Reaching behind, I strap my swords to my back and get ready to go out and distract myself—my go-to when my mate isn’t here. I need a fight, and I’m going to find someone who will give that to me. Soren has started hiding from me whenever Astrid leaves because I turn ruthless. I’m about to step through the dining hall when Vera appears, standing in front of me.
“Alone once again?” She smirks, crossing her arms over her chest.
“What do you want, Vera? I told you not to come to the castle anymore. You have your own house. I’ve given that to you, and you want for nothing, so you have no reason to be here, especially without my son.”
“Vale is with his tutor, and I wanted to come see you,” she replies, lifting her hand to touch my chest. I gently grip her wrist, stopping her.
Her eyes flicker with anger. “Whether you like it or not, we are bound together for life.”
“That doesn’t mean letting you touch me. We aren’t together. And you don’t have any boundaries. You don’t respect my mate, and until you learn how to, you won’t be around either of us.”
She sniffs. “Then Vale won’t be coming around here, either. If you want to see him, you must come to my house. Alone .”
Gritting my teeth, I let go of her wrist. “I’d like to see you try to stop Vale from coming here. If it were up to me, he would be living here.”
“Not going to happen,” she replies, smirking. “Unless you’re moving me back in here, too, that is. And keep your little mate away from him.”
“He likes her,” I say, remembering how he only wanted her to take him fishing and how he broke her out of her damn room. The kid has more loyalty to her than he does his own father. And I’m not even mad about it. Seeing them both interact with each other thaws my cold heart every damn time.
“He likes anyone,” she grumbles, tucking her red hair behind her ear. “Astrid isn’t here, Rave. She doesn’t need to know what happens when she’s away. Just like you don’t know what she’s up to over there. The Incubus Kingdom, isn’t it? I’ve heard people call it the Lust Kingdom…” She bats her eyelashes. “Imagine all the sexy men there with their incubi charm. Hard to resist, don’t you think? They are literally created to draw women in for sex.”
I school my expression so she doesn’t know that her last comment made its mark.
“Listen to me and hear my words, truth-sayer,” I demand with a deadly calm tone. “I’m saying this one more time. You will never touch me again. We are over. We will raise our son together and respect each other for that reason alone, but other than that, we have no other relationship with each other. I’m in love with my mate, and there is no one else I want to be with.”
Her eyes flash with hurt and anger. I don’t want to upset her, but she’s not getting it and has kept trying to get me back into her bed. I’m tired of it, and I’m not tempted in the least. I don’t want Vera in that way. All I want is the fiery succubus with her full, smart mouth and her big, wide eyes. I see no one else. I crave no other. Astrid is the only one with power over me.
“Does she even please you in bed? Does she know what you’re into? That you like to share your women with Soren?” she asks, running her tongue along her lower lip. “We had such fun times, didn’t we? The things we did…” She laughs to herself, then adds, “She doesn’t look like the type. How boring for you.”
“I think that’s what the difference is, Vera,” I say, my jaw tightening. “I don’t want to share Astrid. I would kill another man before I did. She’s it for me. She’s the love of my life. And I belong to her. Completely. I will never need another woman.”
I remember when Astrid found out that Soren and I had shared women in the past, and she asked me if that’s what I wanted with her. She even hinted that maybe she was interested, but I knew she was testing me. Pushing me. The woman knows how to get under my skin like no other. The truth is, no one is fucking touching her, and for the first time, that includes Soren. I’m sure he wouldn’t say no if he had the chance, but this is my mate. It’s different. I’m not fucking watching any other cock slide into that sweet, wet cunt.
Vera’s face drops at my admission, her eyes flickering with pain. Despite what most people would think, I don’t relish in it. This woman is my son’s mother, and I’ll always want her to be her best, so she can give the best to our child.
“Please, go home,” I say to her, my voice gentling, then I slide past her.
I find Soren sitting in the gardens with a maid on his lap, his lips trailing down her throat. He lifts his face, wincing when he sees me. “Fuck’s sake.”
Smirking, I nod my head toward the vampire borders. “You coming?”
He murmurs something to the maid, who giggles as she slides off him, and he stares after her longingly before standing up with his hand on the hilt of the sword at his waist. “Can’t let you go out alone. The princess is gone then?”
I nod, looking out into the forest, my fingers clenching into fists.
“You still got eyes on her over there?” he asks.
I nod. “Yes.”
I’ll always have eyes on her, and if they can’t be my own, it will be one of my trusted connections. Nothing will ever happen to Astrid. I don’t give a fuck if she hates me and continues to torture me for the rest of our lives for my deceit, I will protect that woman with everything I have until my last dying breath. Even with her in another kingdom, I still feel her through the bond, although nowhere near as strongly as when she’s close by. No matter how much she tries to escape me, we are tied together for life, and the sooner she accepts that, the better.
The princess is mine, and I will end anyone who tries to get in the way of that.
Soren’s hand rests on my shoulder. “Let’s go fuck up some vampires and then drink our weight in ale.”
We get our horses and ride off into the night.