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Chapter 7 - A double life.

Arora

After seeing Luke on the now empty battle field, I had made up my mind! I was going to rule the kingdom like a boss … That was until I stood in the middle of the ballroom floor! I gazed up at the moon. My eyes floated down to where my father was standing in front of his throne. A gasp escaped the moment I laid eyes on Luke. My eyes snapped at my father and I could only pray that he hadn’t seen my reaction!

Luke was my mate! Luke! My father’s best friend was my mate. I fought the urge to scream it out loud the second I saw the shock in his eyes and he shook his head. Luke didn’t acknowledge what I was feeling until I was outside on the terrace swearing at the moon goddess! He walked up behind me and breathed in my scent and a delightful shiver ran down the back of my spine.

“This can’t happen. We can’t be together …” His voice made me ache for him to touch me. I turned around and glared at him. I was still in shock. My feelings for Luke and the bond were pulling me closer to him with each ticking second!

“I know. My father will kill you.” It was breaking my heart. I just couldn’t bring myself to reject him and, by the looks of things, he couldn’t do it either! I sighed and turned to look out at the garden when I felt his hands softly touch my side.

“Your father will find you a suitable mate. Until then, I suggest we try our best to stay away from each other.” We agreed that we wouldn’t do anything. The safest thing for us both was to wait it out. Once my father had chosen a mate for me, and I was taken, our feelings would change. They had to. When he let go of me, it felt as if he was taking my heart with him. I didn’t look until I was sure that he was gone.

Fate, it seemed, had other plans for us. We kept running into each other in the darkest corners of the castle. No matter how hard we tried to avoid each other! My father kept insisting that Luke look after me whenever he wasn’t around! My father kept introducing me to male after male. I refused them all. None of them were Luke! None of them could make me laugh like he could.

I knew there was no way Luke and I could be together. None of the males my father introduced me to came close to what I wanted in a man. The attacks on our borders were becoming more frequent and it was becoming more difficult to hide the fact that I was almost leading our army. My life was becoming far more complicated than I had planned and I was on my way back inside after another attack when I ran straight into Luke.

“Dammit, Arora! You have to be more careful!” He hissed as he pushed me into a room. He closed the door behind me. I was standing glaring at the door open mouthed when I heard my father’s voice on the other side. My father was complaining because we had lost so many men. I rolled my eyes. He wanted answers as to why we were losing.

As soon as I heard their voices fade, I opened the door and rushed down the passage in the opposite direction. I knew he would be looking for me next. I had a very short time to get ready for yet another ball when a soft knock on my door stopped all the preparations.

My ladies opened the door and Luke cleared his throat as he walked in. The ladies disappeared quickly, for which I was grateful. There was nothing strange about Luke showing up at my door. At least, not if we didn’t show them any behaviour different to what we normally did.

“Arora, that was too close!” A soft growl escaped his lips. He didn’t sound angry. As a matter of fact, I could have sworn I heard fear in his voice.

“I know. I’m sorry. I just …” I stood up. Taking a couple of steps closer. I felt the pull and stopped. Our eyes met. Something happened inside me. Before I knew it, I was in his arms. Our lips were exploring the possibilities. He tasted sweeter than I imagined. His arms around my body felt so damn right! I felt safe. Protected. When he finally stopped so we could catch our breath, I saw the shock in his eyes that I was feeling. What had we done?! This couldn’t work! We could never be together!

There was no time to say anything because my father walked in. I was just grateful he hadn’t caught us just moments ago. He was so wrapped in finding me a mate that he didn’t even notice what was going on between me and Luke. He simply held out his arm for me to take and I followed him to the next damn event! Thankfully, I was ready.

My father would have strangled someone if I wasn’t ready on time. It was yet another night of meeting males that just didn’t interest me! I could feel Luke watching me all night. I was torn between feeling guilty that he was my mate and being angry because he was! By the time I could finally return to my room, I was ready to strangle my father! Or Luke! Dammit, I would have strangled anybody!

It was a pity there was no attack where I could just bash someone’s head! The girls helped me to change and they had just left when I heard my door open. I quickly closed my eyes, thinking it would be my father. He was trying everything to convince me to choose a mate. He even went as far as threatening that he was going to choose one and I would have no say in it.

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