Chapter 21

Gabriel pov

Rhea’s attitude completely changes when I tell her she cannot phone her brothers, but I shouldn’t be surprised. She’s a spoilt princess, she is used to getting exactly what she wants, when she wants it. It’ll take time for her to adjust to this change, and I know at first she will fight the way of life I have planned for her.

But I will not back down, I will not give her what she wants just because she bares her teeth and stomps her foot. It’s not how the world works, she’d have to learn it even if she didn’t become my bride.

But she is my bride, and I am not going to let her frolic around and waste my time, she is here for a reason, and that reason is because I require children. I need multiple heirs to ascend the throne when I’ve decided I’ve had enough. That is her only purpose in life.

If she’s lucky, I might even let her have a chance to raise the children with me, but first her attitude needs to change.

I stand outside her bedroom door, waiting for her to get changed, a mortal life is so short, just a glimpse of the time I have. If she wants it to mean something, then she better learn to do as she is told.

And if she doesn’t, she will go right back down into the cells until her attitude changes for good.

She thinks I am cruel, she thinks that I stole her life from under her, and perhaps I did, perhaps she should have been told about the arrangement sooner. But there are many other she wolves on her position, and eventually, they all adjust to their new life. Whether they want to or not.

She will come around and see things the way that I do eventually, I may just have to get her pregnant first.

She opens the door slowly, and from the way her eyes are swollen and red, I can tell that she’s been crying. She hates this, they all do at first.

But unlike the other she wolves my people have taken, Rhea will become Queen, and a queen cannot be seen as weak.

I shove her back inside her room, and slam the door, pushing her body up against it.

She gasps, her eyes wider than I’ve ever seen them, but I’m too angry to focus on anything other than my own rage. She’s so fucking beautiful, too beautiful.

I want her to bend her will to mine, I don’t want her to shatter like many others before her have. I want to give herself to me willingly.

I want to selfishly take the parts of her body that belong to me, but I won’t, not until she freely gives me them.

“You’ve been crying.” I manage to say, my voice harsher than I intended.

She nods, not even trying to lie.

Good. I will always be able to tell when she lies to me. I can smell it.

“Why?” I ask, forcing my voice to be softer this time.

I’m not trying to scare her, I’m trying to understand what is going on in her mind.

You cannot break someone until you know their mental state.

But do I want to break her? Is that truly why I am asking?

“You have to understand….”

“I don’t have to understand anything, you belong to me Rhea, heart, body and soul.” I watch as she flinches and I take another breath to calm myself, “go on.” I say softer, “tell me why you are upset, I thought you would be happy that I have decided to take you out into the gardens.”

“I am.” She says quickly, “but when you said I couldn’t phone my brothers, it upset me.”

I nod, starting to make sense of it. “of course, you were crying Because I stopped your chance at gaining allies for your eventually attempt to escape.”

She shakes her head, “No, that’s not the reason.”

“I’m slowly losing my patience Rhea, if that isn’t the reason, then what is?” I growl, wrapping a hand around her fragile neck.

I don’t squeeze, I don’t need to in order to get my point across.

“Because I miss them!” She screams, panicked. “I miss my brothers.”

I frown, slowly letting go of her neck and stepping back, “you wanted to phone them because you missed them?” I ask, laughing, “do you really expect me to believe that?”

She looks up at me, tears sliding down her cheeks, “I didn’t get to say goodbye.”

I stare at her, weighing her answer in my mind. She isn’t lying, I would know if she was, so why was it so hard to believe her?

I wanted to, I wanted to give her this change to prove her loyalty to me, but I wasn’t ready to. I wasn’t ready to believe her. Not when so many others had tricked me in the past.

“Three days.” I find myself saying, my tone softer than butter, “if you follow my rules for three days without incident, then I will let you phone your brothers to say goodbye.”

She looks up at me, uncertain and afraid, she doesn’t want to believe me either, and she has no way of knowing if I am telling her the truth or not.

She will have to wait three days to see if I am honest.

I have no intention of deceiving her, but I am not going to assure her either. It isn’t my job to chase away all of her fears. It is my job to get her pregnant.

My heart tells me that this she wolf is different from the rest, but my mind tells me that I am a fool.

She isn’t someone I could ever fall in love with, she is an object to be used and then discarded, nothing more.

She will never be anything but a womb to me.

No matter how many times she looks at me with those bright eyes.

“Let’s go.” I say, taking her by the arm.

“Where are we going?” She asks, but she doesn’t resist.

“We are going for a walk in the garden.” I say, my voice low, “perhaps then we can chase away those tears.”

She stares at me for a long time, never offering a response, and I was grateful for it. I didn’t want her to say anything else, not right now.

I needed the silence.

And more than I would like to admit, I needed her beside me.