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Chapter 3 - Anything but obedient

Adalyn locked eyes with the beautiful blue eyed prince. His jet black hair, a symbol of royalty or noble blood was tied back loosely away from his face, highlighting all of his chiseled features. Despite the dark and heavy royal regalia he was wearing it was clear to see that a lean and muscular body lay underneath all that heavy material.

Adalyn's wolf suddenly woke from her slumber and growled seductively.

"Mate!"

His piercing gaze made a swirl of heat pool in her belly and her heart rate quickened in excitement. Both terrified and mesmerized she stood frozen, unable to tear her sight away from his intense gaze. She realized she had felt this way before. The faint scent of peppermint and oak flooded her nose. Was it because of him? It couldn't be, why would a prince of all people be interested in her. As much as she tried to deny it, she couldn't reject the feeling that was surrounding her, consuming her. She felt like she would have been eaten alive if she didn't look away, but she couldn't break free from his gaze.

A bump from someone jostling in the crowd suddenly broke the spell, snapping her out of her thoughts. Gasping for breath she quickly turned and immersed herself in to the crowd. She kept pushing through, completely blind to what was in front of her until she reached the empty space on other side of the square. Once there, she collapsed to her knees and clutched her hand to her chest to try and steady herself. How could somebody affect her in such a way. Waves of lust still resonated within her and her wolfed howled in a desperate attempt to alert her mate of her location.

'Impossible! That can't be my mate, he's royalty for fuck's sake' Adalyn bellowed in her head.

Afraid that he might try to pursue her she steadily rose back up on to her feet like a newborn deer. Her wolf was not impressed and was thrashing wildly at her attempts to try and escape her mates attention.

"No, no no! Not now! Now of all times you decide to wake up and fight me," Adalyn protested.

The overwhelming need to shift was sweeping over her. It was almost painful. She feared that if she shifted too close by that her wolf might do something crazy, like leap in to the arms of the young prince. She had been having inner battles with her wolf for a long time and more often than not her wolf was able to break through most of Adalyn's attempts to contain her.

After a few moments her friend Leona suddenly came barreling through the crowd behind her. "Hey! What's wrong Ads?" She sensed the distress in her friend and quickly went to comfort her. As Adalyn's breathing became more rapid she mouthed to her friend that she needed to shift. Leona had seen Adalyn having these inner duels with her wolf before and without another word, she grabbed her friend by the the hand and led her quickly out of the city square to a small patch of forest..

Adalyn quickly undressed just before her wolf burst through. Her wolf shook its head and stretched having finally freed herself from the confines that Adalyn had tried to force on her. Her wolf was a beautiful tan brown colour similar to her hair. Long and elegant, each step that she took was measured and graceful. Her wolf sniffed and growled, annoyed that she could no longer smell her mate.

"Are you okay now Ads, are you still in there?" Leona interjected, sensing the relief in her. It wasn't uncommon for Adalyn's wolf to completely take over both her mind and body and put her in a completely dormant state, but this time around Leona could see a glimpse of Adalyn in her wolf's eyes. Whilst she wasn't fully in control, she was conscious in her wolf's mind.

Adalyn's wolf tentatively rubbed her muzzle across Leona's face to let her know that she was fine. Leona scratched behind her ear and she closed her eyes in grateful appreciation. Despite Leona's fire cracker personality she usually knew how to calm her wolf down when she was distressed.

Whenever her wolf got like this the best way to placate her was to let her have a run. Once she burnt off some steam, she would usually allow Adalyn to shift back in to her human form.

After giving Leona a quick nod to let her know that she was off, Adalyn turned and ran off in to the forest.


Back in the carriage Melody was still trying to get Kai's attention. When Adalyn took off back in to the crowd, Kai had to fight everything inside him to not follow his instincts and go chasing after her. Kai's wolf loved a chase, and with his mate as the prize he was riled up at what he could only presume were her attempts of trying to seduce him. Kai turned away in a vain attempt to stop his wolf's fixation on her, but it wasn't proving to be easy.

Numerous times he had secretly come within feet of his mate and numerous times he had denied his wolf it's right to claim her and make her his. This time was going to be no different as far as Kai was concerned. As he started to calm down his wolf, he realized that he had acted completely out of character in front of his brother and sister who were staring at him completely bemused.

"Kai, what's going on?" Melody peered in to the crowd to see if she could spot anything odd.

Despite being Kai's half sister, it made no difference to her in how she treated him. She was always worried about his wellbeing and could be a bit of a mother goose around him. She had never seen him riled up like this before.

Did you see something?' she enquired again.

"No, nothing" he turned his gaze away from the crowd and sat back down.

Elias, who had been quietly observing him the whole time, was suspiciously quiet. He had recognized the deep, hungry and needy expression that Kai had made when he stared in to the crowd. He'd seen it before with other friends of his who were fortunate enough to find their fated mates. Debating whether to question him further, Elias decided to bite his tongue for now. With Melody here he'd be very unlikely to get anything out of his usually calm and collected baby brother. He'd interrogate him later at his own convenience and possible amusement later.


Back at the palace Kai walked hurriedly into his quarters. As much as he tried to play off his abrupt actions and resulting reaction in front of Elias and Melody, he knew that it was most likely going to result in further cross examination from either one or the two of them later. Reaching his bed, he threw his heavy black jacket on to it and then undid the band in his hair allowing his chin length raven coloured hair to fall loosely round his face. The weight of the world on his shoulders currently felt heavier than all the regal wear that he had been forced to wear all day. He ran his hands through his hair and exhaled deeply. The tension is his body slowly started to ebb away.

'What was she doing there?' he mused to himself. He hadn't expected to see her there, not today. Caught completely off guard, he nearly leapt from the carriage to chase her in to the crowd and mark her as his in front of the baying mob. She was as beautiful as the day that he first laid eyes on her over a year ago. Her soft smooth skin, those smoldering green eyes and those plump full lips. God, what we wouldn't give to taste them, to kiss them, to bite them. He could feel his cock starting to twitch as he imagined all the things that he would do to her.

His wolf inwardly cursed him, not understanding why he couldn't have already claimed her and mated with her by now.

"No, remember why you're doing this," Kai chastised himself. He remembered everything that he worked for would have been for nothing if he just gave in to his desires now. He had to protect her at all costs, and for that he would need time.

Kai opened the door to his balcony and strolled out. He had hoped that the cool night air would calm his peaking arousal and frustration. He leant down and peered over the balcony edge and stared at all the bright lights of the city. The view from the palace was spectacular, even moreso after sunset. The houses all twinkled like stars. He could never get bored of this view. He wondered where she might be. She'd definitely seen him this time around. There was no way that the pull of the mate bond hadn't affected he either. She would know that it was him, that he was her mate and even worse know that it had probably been him who had been secretly observing her all this time. If she hadn't already ran a mile by now he'd be surprised.

Kai suddenly stood upright up sensing a familiar presence.

"Arrow, get your ass down here, you owe me an explanation!'

After a brief moment and a thud a dark haired shifter dropped down on to the balcony then slowly stood upright.

"Yo!" he called out cheerily as he casually started walking over towards Kai.

"Yo? Really? I think you owe me more than a yo! What the hell was she doing there Arrow?" Kai squared up to him with his nose nearly touching his.

Both of them were about equal in height but Arrow was a little bit scruffy around the edges with his short cropped brown hair and loose fitting clothes. Whilst Kai was broad shouldered and lean, Arrow was a bit more heavy set. A body perfect for doing dirty work. Kai's dirty work.

Whilst Kai looked furious, Arrow couldn't help but break out in to a small smile. They had been friends a long time and Arrow knew how quickly Kai could switch up his mood, especially when it came to her. "I was watching her exactly as you requested. And I watched as she headed to the square and locked eyes with you, whilst you stood there looking like a deer in headlights."

Arrow thew his hands up in the air and backed off a step not feeling evenly remotely intimidated at all by Kai's energy.

"She's a free woman Kai, what would you have me do exactly? Plus, you told me not to approach her unless absolutely necessary."

Frustrated at the sight of him Kai huffed and then started pacing back and forth across the balcony in sync with his wolf. "Why didn't you at least warn me that she was there? I could have hidden from her view or something."

"And how exactly was I supposed to do that? Dive in front of the carriage and halt the procession? Your dad would have hung me up by my balls at the palace gates. Whilst you might not be keen to use yours I have no desire to lose mine… your highness." he ended sarcastically.

Arrow couldn't help but look slightly amused seeing Kai in such a flustered state. For the 10 years that they had been friends, and more recently the last 5 as he served as his bodyguard and right hand man, it was rare to ever see Kai like this. This girl was the only one that could get him like this, and it brought him much amusement to see his conflicting emotions play out all over his face.

"Don't you 'your highness' me! You know I hate that shit, especially coming from you." Kai stilled at the other end of the balcony and rubbed the front of his head to try and calm both himself and his wolf down.

Seeing his friend resign himself, Arrow released the pull of his grin on his face and strolled over to him.

"Seriously though Kai, why don't you just claim her and be done with it. I know you're worried your position might put her at risk but until we have more hard evidence that the someone on the council is actually targeting you, you're getting worked up over nothing."

"Don't okay! I won't put her at risk Arrow. Whilst I have no intention of claiming the throne, the council will always see me as a threat. I can't expose her to that, not yet. I know that whoever is behind this won't hesitate to use her to get to me. The longer I can keep her off their radar the better." Kai's eyes showed fierce determination, as much as it pained him to keep his distance from her, her safety was more important. His wolf unfortunately had different priorities and was now currently blocking him out. Mating with her was as clear as black and white to his wolf. Mate with her, claim her, than keep her close and protect her. Kai knew it would always be a battle to try and keep him in check but he was getting good at it.

Realizing that he wasn't going to make any headway with his friend, Arrow dropped the matter. "Have it your way Kai, I am merely your most humble and obedient servant". Arrow leaned over and bowed mockingly.

"Obedient my ass!" Kai followed up.

"Well I'll be on my way… can't leave your lady friend unguarded now can we." Arrow winked, jumped up on to the ledge of the balcony and dove off.

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