"Ryder." When I hear the voice I press myself closer into the hard warmth next to me. The warmth growls and wraps an arm around me, holding me in closer to his chest as a sheet is pulled up further around my neck. Hang on. Ryder? When my eyes open I see that the warmth I'm asleep on is Ryder's naked chest. He's lying on his back and I'm more on his chest then the bed. When he tightens his arm around me again, I notice Maxon standing at the end of the bed his arms crossed over his chest as he glares down at Ryder. When I bury my head down into his neck trying to hide from Maxon I feel a small pain shot through mine. As I let out a groan at the feeling Ryder's other arm comes to wrap around me and he presses a small kiss to the top of my head. "You were supposed to be in the councilmen meeting an hour ago." Maxon continues from the end of the bed. "They are growing incredibly frustrated about it. You need to be present." "I've had other things more important to be present for." I can feel the movement of Ryder's chest when he speaks. "Tell them I'm unable to do it today and postpone it to tomorrow or you know my views on what they want to speak about, do it yourself and mindlink me if you need." I'm confused on what's happening but I don't disrupt their conversation. By the sigh Maxon gives I'm guessing that he's going to do what Ryder says even if he doesn't like it. "Fine, I will give them your views and if they aren't happy with it they can wait till tomorrow." He finishes almost defeated. When Ryder lets out a little chuckle at the tone of Maxon's voice I glance I look up at him. He's still stood at the end of the bed with his arms crossed but his stance has slackened. "Thank you, Maxon." "Yeah, whatever," Maxon scoffs his arms dropping. "Nice mark Lottie. I'm spending the day with Ellie after the meeting." He leaves the room after that and Ryder's grip loosens but he doesn't let go of me. My hand shots up to press it to the side of my neck at Maxon's words and I flinch at the slight discomfort I feel from the fresh claim. The skin is slightly raised, yet to go down and to blend in closely with the colour of my skin. He claimed me. When I dart back out of his arms he allows me to but he keeps a hand around my wrist. He's watching me carefully from where I'm sat on the opposite side of the bed. When I pull my hand back away from my neck I don't know if I expect to see blood there or not but it's clean, even the cut has disappeared, not even a faint scar left behind. Ryder pushes himself up on the bed and slowly he wraps his hand around mine that has begun to shake. He's warm. He's always been warm but now there's something different to his touch. It feels not as if his touch is warmer but it feels more powerful. "Relax," he whispers, meeting my eyes. "My wolf is connected to you now. He can use that connection to heal you and give you all the ability's that I have. Your strength will match mine. You just have to stay calm, your emotions will be heightened as well, ok, relax." "You claimed me." I breathe out sliding my hand back from his. "Why?" I'm openly crying now, I've never felt so much pain from something he's done before. He lied. For a week I allowed myself to fall for him, to feel something I had never felt anybody before and yesterday it all came crashing down when I realised that nothing could become of us, he had a mate out there and she would always be above me. He caused me so much pain for a lie. He allowed me to think there was someone else when really it was me the entire time. "Lottie its ok, just relax please baby." He whispers ignoring my question. He tries to pull me back in closer to him but I slide away. I shouldn't have. I slip from the edge of the bed but Ryder's quick enough to catch me and slide me back up to sit on his lap. "No, don't touch me." I yell at him trying to fight my way out of his arms. He tightens an arm around my waist and lifts the other up to wrap around my shoulder and hold me to his chest. His breath is fanning over the back of my neck. "Stop, I'll explain, I just need you to relax." When his fingers tickle over his claim, I breathe out sinking into his chest like he wants me to. When he notices that I've calmed down, he lies back down and shifts me so I'm still on top of him but he can keep eye contact with me as well. It took no less than a second for me to calm down at his touch. I'm not sure how to react to it but I liked it. "I'm sorry." He whispers, his fingers threading through my hair. "A royal werewolf has never been mated to a human and when I realised, I was scared. You were on the streets and the first thing I thought about is how you would react to the sudden change from what your life was before to what it's going to turn into. I did notice how you felt and I was happy that you were falling for me without knowing about the bond. I should have told you, you were mine when I told you about mates."