*“... and the prince found out the orphan girl was his soulmate. They had their soul-bond ceremony, and they lived happily ever after!” Mina finished telling* *the story to her best friend, Prince Liam.*
*While Mina was fifteen, Prince Liam was nineteen and yet to marry. She knew they weren’t soulmates, but she hoped that when she would be of age, he* *would ask for her hand in marriage.*
*‘Prince Liam can have all of me, not only my hand,’ she thought and smiled.*
*It was a late afternoon, and Mina accompanied her uncle, Duke Tedric, to the Royal Palace for a brief visit to King Baswein. When Rosalyn was home,* *Mina kept her company when Duke Tedric visited the Royal Palace. Like each year, Rosalyn attended the best school for young ladies from Athea and* *was home only for a weekend every other month. Mina had an old private tutor who came twice weekly to teach her. Since Rosalyn and Hugo were not* *home, Duke Tedric took Mina with him, and when he was not paying attention to her, she sneaked out with Prince Liam into the Royal Gardens.*
*Mina was sitting on the ground, her back against a tree, Prince Liam lying on the grass, his head on Mina’s lap, and eating some grapes while listening to* *her reading the story. “A soulmate is rare, and while I want to find mine, I will be happy to find a woman to fall in love with and get married to,” he said* *once Mina finished the story.*
*Mina’s heart drummed in her chest. ‘What if it’s me?’ she thought and bit her lip. Since her parents’ death, Prince Liam had been her unconditional* *support, and her love for him only grew. Even if they couldn’t meet as often as they did back when her parents were alive, Mina and Prince Liam sent* *letters as often as they could.*
*Prince Liam sat and looked at Mina with his gentle blue eyes. He looked confused. “What about you?”*
*Mina couldn’t believe she had said that out loud. She never confessed her feelings to Prince Liam. Perhaps she should. “What if you were to fall in love* *with me?”*
*Prince Liam laughed, and Mina felt like a fool. “I will never love you, Mina!” She felt so tiny and insignificant. “Imagine getting married! Kissing you would* *be like kissing my sister if I had one!”*
*Mina laughed, pretending it was a joke on her part. “I know, right?”*
*“You are my friend! I could never marry you, Mina!” he laughed and flicked her forehead with his index finger.*
*What a fool she was for believing Prince Liam could love someone like her. Had not Rosalyn and her uncle told her repeatedly that no one would look at* *her? Mina felt as if someone was stabbing her heart repeatedly. She knew Prince Liam didn’t have the same feelings for her as she did for him, but she* *hoped he would love her back one day.*
*Mina forced a big smile onto her face. “Who will be your wife, then?”*
*Prince Liam shrugged. “One day, I will find a beautiful woman and marry her! You will be at my wedding, right?”*
***I could never marry you!***
***You are not beautiful enough to attract a future husband!***
*She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. Maybe if she had been beautiful enough, he would have loved her. “Of course!” she replied, her heart breaking.*
Jayden was still waiting for Mina to reply. Clouds hid the moon, but light was coming from his room, and Mina could see his face. His forehead was furrowed, and he bared his teeth, his sharp canines showing. “Who upset you, little mate?” he growled out his question.
‘Love is for fools and dreamers,’ Jayden had told her in the King’s office.
Was she a fool for wanting to be loved?
‘I will not love you,’ Jayden said more than once to her. Hundreds of knives stabbed her in the chest, and she wanted to claw the words out of her head, not wanting to hear them again.
How could someone love her when she didn’t?
The most important men in her life—the one she had been in love with for a long time and the one that became her husband—were in love with Rosalyn.
Looking into Jayden’s golden eyes, Mina put on her mask and smiled sadly. Over the years, she became good at hiding her feelings, but Jayden already saw her crying. “I miss my parents.” She didn’t want to burden him with her foolish hopes.
Mina did miss her parents. More than she could say. Would her life have been different if they had not died in the carriage accident?
Jayden’s eyes returned to their natural color, and he kissed her forehead. The cold disappeared, and the moon was back in the starry sky. “I am sure you do. While I will never fill the void that formed in your heart on the day they died, I want you to know I am your family now, little lamb.” His hand kept rubbing her back. “I know it is not the time to repeat this, but please don’t leave our room at night. Not until I mark you, little lamb,” he said calmly, his free hand resting on her thigh.
Mina had tried to understand why Jayden asked her to stay inside during the night. While she only met one of Jayden’s wolves, she was sure the rest were as tame as Aksel. While thinking, she chewed her lip, Jayden watching her intensely. “I don’t understand how a mark will keep me safe from your wolves. And why should I fear them only during the night?”
“My wolves are not like the normal wolves that live in the forests, Mina. They might appear like them, but they are more. It is true that we are married, and Addanos has blessed our union, but for my wolves, a woman without a mark is a potential mate to claim. During Yeltane Festival and Litha Festival, the unmated wolf suffers a—” Jayden drummed his fingers on her thigh while he searched for the right words. “You are young and fertile, and your scent is so inviting, and their minds will be mostly in a haze during the night. They will seek to mate with you and fight each other for the right to mark you. And if someone touches what’s mine, little lamb, not even the Gods can stop me from killing him! Or them!”
Mina didn’t understand Jayden. Even if he denied it, his heart still belonged to Rosalyn. Mina tried to ignore the gaping wound forming in her chest. Jayden was a caring husband to her. “A wolf can’t mate with a human!”
Jayden chuckled. “You caught that, haven’t you? As I said, they are not normal wolves. They might approach you in their wolf form, but they will look different when they want to mate you.”
“Another form? Can they shapeshift? Won’t the wolves be a problem for the city? And what’s stopping them from entering the house?” Mina asked, thinking the wolves could very well attack her in Jayden’s room.
Jayden listened patiently to her questions and tried to answer them. “You will understand soon what my wolves are. I have forbidden them from entering the house at night or leaving the garden. Most nights, they guard our estate, but tonight they remain here. Had I not woken up from my slumber, they could have been in danger of being torn to pieces if they had come near you.” Something flashed in Jayden’s eyes.
“What woke you?” Mina asked, wanting to change the subject.
Jayden kept drumming his finger on her thigh. “I don’t know. I felt a sharp pain in my chest, and I jolted awake only to find you were not in bed.”
Mina blinked. Was Jayden suffering from an illness? “Does it still hurt?”
Jayden smiled, his lips touching hers. “It stopped the moment I had you in my arms. But when I saw you crying, little lamb, I wanted to kill the one who made you suffer!”
Mina’s heart skipped a beat. “I am better.” She was far from being better, but if she pretended long enough, perhaps she would start believing. She thought of what had happened earlier. “Is Aksel a shapeshifter? Can he take the form of a wolf?”
Jayden smirked. “Aksel is—Have you seen the Ruxman Mansion?”
Mina hadn’t. Except for the story of the Ruxman Baroness killing her husband and the maid before setting the manor on fire, Mina knew nothing about the estate, nor had she seen it. “No. Until the day King Baswein gave you the title of the late Baron Ruxman, people barely mentioned the mansion.” Jayden stood suddenly, with Mina still in his arms, a hand behind her back and the other under her knees. She wiggled her legs, one of her slippers almost falling. “What are you doing?”
“I was thinking of showing you the mansion we will live in if we can’t move to Ora Dorei,” Jayden said as he walked, leaving the bench behind.
The house Jayden rented was ten minutes away from the Ruxman Mansion, and Mina was afraid someone would see them. “But I am not properly dressed!” Mina protested. “And you are not even wearing a shirt! Someone might see us!”
“It is night; most people are asleep.” Jayden lowered his head, his teeth grazing her neck, shivers going down her spine. She bit back a moan. “You are still wearing too many clothes for my taste. When we return, I will show you how you should wait for me in our bed.”
“Fully dressed?” suggested Mina.
Jayden’s eyes turned black. Or was it because of the night that she saw them like that? “Wearing only the bracelet I gave you, Baroness Mina Ruxman.”
Mina changed the subject. “You can put me down; I can walk fine by myself.”
Before turning to his left, between a few tall trees, Mina saw him winking. “Of course, you can, but it is night, and you might trip over a fallen branch, and I don’t wish for you to hurt your little feet.”