81__Mated, forever.

“Tell anyone I cried and I’ll burn your best royal robe!” hissed the little gremlin on Raiden’s back.

“I’ll tell them!” Raiden hissed back, struggling to get her off his back. It was the literal dawn of the day and Natalia was already behaving like an intoxicated hamster. What was even more ridiculous was how much he liked it.

She squealed as he threw himself about the bed in an attempt to throw her off. “It’s a secret, Raiden! You’re taking it to your grave!”

“I’m telling everyone as soon as I leave this room! I’ll announce it during breakfast!” he laughed, prying her arms away from his neck.

“No!” Natalia wrapped her legs around his waist instead. “Raiden, no, I’m begging!”

He yanked her arms and tossed her over his head so she landed with a bounce before him. “I’ll tell anyone with ears! The great Natalia loves me enough to cry for me, how could I not tell?”

“I never said I love you, you sly wolf!”

“You don’t? Then I’m telling everyone in Zaire too—”

She tackled him, knocking the breath out of his lungs. The bedsheets tripped her and she landed on his chest with a thud, making Raiden cough. Unbothered by his coughing, Natalia gathered fistfuls of his shirt. “I won’t let you ruin my reputation!”

Grabbing her around the waist, he slammed her into the bed, his heart soaring at the sound of her squeal of laughter. “You little gremlin!” he growled, locking her in his arms. “You’ve totally ruined me, Natalia, and I still can’t find a logical reason why I love you this madly.”

Natalia’s stomach bubbled with bats and butterflies and she scoffed loudly to hide it. “Yeah, right! You’re head over heels for all of *this,* that’s why.” She rolled her eyes sassily, fighting the smile that wanted to curve her mouth. “Couldn’t resist if you tried!” She bit her lip to hold off the smile. *He loved her madly.*

His eyes narrowed on her face and he paused their wrestling. “You know… you haven’t told me you love me yet.”

Natalia froze. Blinking, she pursed her lips.

Raiden raised a brow. “By the gods, look at that blush! It’s like a spreading wildfire.”

She slapped both hands to her cheeks and glared at him. “What blush? You must be imagining things.”

“Say you love me.”

Her eyes widened. “You’re awfully direct.”

“There isn’t time to waste any longer, Natalia,” he said quietly, leaning down to smack a kiss onto her mouth. “So tell me you love me. Or I’ll tell everyone you cried buckets!”

“Raiden!”

He roared with laughter and she resumed wrestling with full force, trying to pin him beneath her.

He was far too heavy to even move a nudge, but Natalia wasn’t a quitter. That her efforts were amusing him only made her want to succeed even more.

“Swear you won’t say a word,” she ordered, locking his arm behind his back. “Swear!”

Raiden must have lost his mind because he found her insane behaviour incredibly adorable, it was giving him heart palpitations! He grinned down at her. “Make me.”

With renewed strength, she wrestled him onto his back. “Swear—”

He snatched her back down, pinning her beneath him. Who would’ve thought, wondered Raiden. Who would’ve thought that he was the type to madly enjoy wrestling with his mate? Natalia had driven him mad and made him like it. “Shame on you, wrestling your Alpha this way!”

“My Alpha can *kiss* my ass!”

He pinned her arms above her head to render her defenceless but Natalia immediately attacked his chest, sinking her teeth into his left pec.

A sharp inhale sucked air into his mouth and then a deep groan filled his throat.

“Oh, we’re biting now?” he rasped darkly. The feeling of her mouth biting him was like a trigger, piercing his body with an explosion of arousal.

Natalia immediately detached her mouth from his chest and shook her head with wide eyes. “No, no biting.”

He bared his teeth and went for her neck, making her squeal with both fear and excitement as she tried to shrink away from his mouth. “No biting, Raiden!”

Suddenly, the door opened.

Raiden and Natalia froze, eyes locked on each other and limbs tangled in the sheets as they listened to footsteps approach.

“Dears! Good morn—”

Monica froze halfway when Natalia’s bed came into her view. “Oh, dear!” she gasped. “Oh, dear me, I‘m so sorry!”

Both their heads snapped in her direction. In a second, they scrambled off each other, Natalia kneeling on the bed and Raiden standing beside it.

“Mother!” she said shakily. “Uhm… it was not coitus!”

“Oh, God,” groaned Raiden, face-palming.

She looked at him. “What? Don’t we have to make sure she doesn’t misunderstand?”

“Oh, well, never mind, dear,” said Monica with a cheeky smile. “Even if it was.”

“Ma!”

“Come down for breakfast, you two,” said Monica. She winked. “When you’re done, of course. No rush.”

With a girly giggle, she hurried out of the room and closed the door behind her.

Natalia collapsed onto the bed with a long groan.

Raiden looked at her and gripped her ankle, dragging her slowly across the bed. “It’s all your fault for mentioning sex. Now your mother thinks we were fucking.”

Natalia whipped her head around, glaring at him over her shoulder as he dragged her to the edge of the bed. “I was trying to eliminate misunderstandings!”

He grinned, releasing her as she dropped from the bed, landing at his feet. “It wasn’t particularly a misunderstanding, was it? I mean… we were about to. Really hard.”

She looked up at him from the floor and noted the darkening of his eyes as he stared down at her like he was about to devour her. This man would be the death of her. “R-really, Raiden? Under my parent’s roof?”

“You weren’t thinking about that last night when you were moaning and cumming on my—”

“Okay, breakfast time!!” Natalia shouted, jumping up from the floor and dashing to her dressing room.

Watching her go, his mouth curved in a wicked smile. He’d let her escape for now. After all, he had some things to settle before they left Gadon for Zaire.

************

Natalia had gone with all three of her sisters to the property she would be claiming for them to live in. She had to have the place furnished and would hire specialists to take care of it all. Their mother would see to it that it was all taken care of well, so once Natalia was done today, she and Raiden could leave.

In the meantime, Raiden was using his time in Zaire wisely. It made sense to have a meeting with King Kendrick while he was here.

The heavily bearded man sat in a giant sofa besides his blazing fireplace, staring darkly at Raiden. Things had been horrible lately and it was all Raiden and Natalia’s fault. The insult. They did as they pleased, coming and going from his castle and though he, the king of Gadon, didn’t even exist! It was an insult to him and all his ancestors and King Kendrick would see to it that he got revenge!

Unbothered, Raiden glanced at the pouring rain outside and then returned his gaze to the Vampire Viking across him.

“You’ve awful weather in this kingdom,” he commented.

King Kendrick bristled. “I find my weather follows my mood, King Raiden.”

Raiden nodded. “Understandable. You’ve nearly lost your kingdom to your own daughter and now your entire family is finally out of your clutches. It must be a sad time for you.”

“You haven’t any idea,” muttered King Kendrick. “You and Natalia have caused me more trouble in a few months than I’ve seen in all my life!”

Raiden pursed his lips. He couldn’t deny that and neither was he sorry about it. He didn’t like the old man very much, him being Natalia’s father was the only thing keeping Raiden from being merciless with him.

“Why didn’t you kill her?” questioned the king of Gadon. “No Alpha King would be as tolerant of my daughter as you’ve been! She should be dead! Six feet under!”

“No,” growled Raiden, his eyes darkening with anger all of a sudden. “That would be you. Both I and my mate have had opportunities to kill you. That you’re still alive is because of our choice to let you live and nothing more.”

King Kendrick huffed in outrage, staring at Raiden. “Why… thank you very much!”

Raiden smiled tightly, ignoring the sarcasm. “That isn’t why I’m sitting here and choking on the stench of that fur around your shoulders, however.”

Offended, King Kendrick touched his fur with a glare.

“What I’m here to tell you is that you will longer seek alliance with any kingdom. Especially not through the marriage of your daughters.”

“But… that hasn’t got anything to do with you!”

“If it has anything to do with Natalia, it’s got everything to do with me. She doesn’t like it, so I won’t let it happen. Since you require alliance, my Kingdom will now be considered an ally of Gadon. We are the only ally you’ll ever need, so let the girls be.”

King Kendrick sat up straighter in his chair, leaning forward. “What? Alliance? With the werewolf kingdom of Zaire? Are you… are you being serious right now? You can’t take your words back later!”

Raiden’s distaste for the old man grew even more, but he only sighed it away. “Yes, I’m being serious. My alphas will meet with your Vampire Elders and will discuss a way moving forward.”

“Well… that’s excellent,” commented King Kendrick, his cheekbones growing rosy above his brown beard. “That’s truly excellent!"

Throwing his head back, he laughed heartily, clapping his hands in celebration.

Raiden stared flatly at him. “Zaire is strong. We have an excellent army and an even better army general. If you spark war with other kingdoms over something stupid, my army general will personally sever our ties with you. I might even have to hold her back from booting you herself.”

King Kendrick cleared his throat and puffed out his chest. “Natalia is your army general.”

Raiden met his gaze. “She makes my army invincible. She’s a powerful woman, the most intricate soul I’ve ever encountered and the strangest.” Raiden had never seen someone who could both cry and rage as well as his little gremlin. “If you see a sword in her hand while she’s crying, don’t assume her tears will weaken her. She will cut you open with a sniffle. That’s who your daughter is. A phenomenal warrior. It is your loss and your stupidity for having missed out such an irreplaceable treasure for your kingdom.”

King Kendrick pressed his lips together so tightly, his giant beard hid any hint of a mouth.

Satisfied, Raiden stood. “I won’t ask you for your daughter because she’s already mine. As for the girls, Natalia wants you nowhere near them, unless they wish, so if I hear that you’ve bothered them, Zaire will be cutting ties with Gadon and I will let Natalia destroy you. Actually, I won’t *let* her… I won’t be able to stop her.” With that, he nodded curtly and turned on his heel, marching out of the room and leaving a stunned King Kendrick behind him.

That was the last of what he had to take care of. It was just the first step, Raiden decided. The first thing he would do to please Natalia. From now on, his life would be filled with nothing but things to please Natalia. He wouldn’t dare risk losing her, not for a moment.

It didn’t matter that, in the beginning, he’d wanted to be apart from her. It didn’t matter that they’d hated each other at the start. Raiden couldn’t even remember what that felt like, all he knew now was how madly captivated his wolf was within him when he looked up and stared into her hazel eyes.

She was his, he was hers. Mated, forever. With souls intertwined and minds obsessed with each other, nothing could stand in their way.

Not even fate.