Theodore banged his fist on the office desk before letting out on a growl, “I risked my life for that damned information, Liam. My mate almost lost hers in a desperate attempt to save me. And now, you’re telling me Princess Tatiana is the one you slept with four years ago?”
Liam hung his head low in something akin to shame. “How was I to recognize her? I never met her, remember?”
Theodore growled out his next words, “You really are a fool. You were all hung up over that one-night stand that you wanted to break things off with the werewolves… and we almost did – again! And now, it turns out that your one-night stand is in fact your betrothed. You do realize that this is beyond messed up, right?”
“Hey, I basically had to replace you at the altar,” Liam spat out angrily.
“I never asked you to,” Theodore said in an annoyed tone. “I made my choice all those years back, and I was more than willing to go to war – again – should her foolish father provoke me.”
Liam shook his head negatively at that. “Well, forgive me if I didn’t want you risking your life on the battlefield again. It is an ugly place. And war changes people.”
“Really now?” Theodore bit out.
“Yes, really,” his younger brother said with a sigh. “Correct me if I am wrong but you became a recluse afterward.”
“I did because I was tired of being lonely,” Theodore said, exasperated. “I much prefer being alone out of free will, then feeling lonely even when I am in a crowd.”
The confession took a lot out of him, but he needed to make his brother understand.
“You, too, have been sulking away since four years ago, much like a jilted bride,” he went on, uncaring of his brother’s grimace.
“Well, I was basically thrown into an arranged mating that had all the best reasons to fail,” he retorted bitterly. He paused and then he added, “and then I met her four years ago. She was splendid. Our connection was out of this world…”
“Do spare me the gory details,” Theodore groaned. “I have no wish to have that kind of information.”
“Well, imagine being wham-bam-thank-you-madam’ed by your own fated mate,” Liam barked a laugh.
The mere idea almost made bile rise in Theodore’s throat.
“Well then, you should rejoice, brother,” he said after a while, “for your fated mate is in fact the one arranged for you.”
“Do not even think about it,” Liam said threateningly.
“What?” Theodore tried to play the gullible act.
“Do not think about how things would have been complicated had you gone through with that arranged mating,” Liam shook his head negatively, almost in warning.
“Well, it would have been easy once you two were introduced to one another at the party,” Theodore said. “I would have happily stepped back and enjoyed the show. I never cared for an arranged mating. And maybe if I hadn’t backed out of it, you would have been mated to her for nearly a decade now…”
“You are impossible,” Liam told him as he shook his head again at him, even as a small smile came to adorn his face.
“So, what are your plans, Liam?” Theodore asked matter-of-factly since both had cooled down. “Will you proceed with the arranged mating as if nothing had happened, or will you seek out Tatiana, and come clean about your feelings towards her?”
Liam clicked his tongue in dismay “I will let things run their course. She left four years ago, claiming she had obligations. She expressed no desire to fight for me – her fated mate. I am not even sure why I told you I wished I could back out of the arranged mating, just because of that one-night stand.”
“Because you obviously care for your mate,” Theodore shrugged.
“Easy for you to say,” Liam taunted. “Emily is all over you and truly loves you.”
“When you truly love someone, you don’t expect anything in return.”
“But you do wish that your feelings get reciprocated,” his brother countered immediately, not missing a beat.
“True,” Theodore nodded at that. “Well then, all I can say, brother, is best luck conquering your scorned princess.”
“Do not call her that,” Liam growled.
“My bad. That was uncalled for,” Theodore conceded. “I just wish you the best of luck wooing your rightful mate.”
“Thanks,” Liam flashed him an uncertain smile.
Theodore could feel his little brother’s apprehension – his doubt and his longing too. And he truly hoped the rumors regarding the princess were unfounded. She was said to be fickle, and a spoiled brat after all.
** ** ** ** ** ** ** **
That evening, when Theodore joined Emily in their bed chambers, he found her pacing impatiently while Serena merely observed her from a distance.
He cast his sister a perplexed look and this latter narrowed her eyes on him.
Emily didn’t stop pacing when he arrived.
“You’re making my head spin, dorogaya,” he said softly. “Shouldn’t you be getting ready for dinner?”
“Oh, I’ll make your head spin,” she spat at him. “I’ll even make you see stars in broad daylight.”
He smiled awkwardly, and said hesitantly, “I’m sorry?”
His sister gasped. “You never apologize!”
“Out,” he hissed at her.
She held her hands up in surrender and was soon leaving the bed chambers.
“What’s wrong? What did I do now?” He asked after his mate carried on pacing.
“I want to hit you… that’s what’s wrong,” she told him angrily. “And I have never ever been violent before.”
“You can hit me,” he said softly as he grabbed her wrist as she passed by him again. He made her body collide with his, and then added, “I can take it. I can take everything, save for your hatred.”
Her eyes widened at that and they shone with tears even as she rained down punches on his chest.
“You don’t play fair,” she accused him as she sniffled. “And you’re much too strong.”
“Tell me,” he urged her. “So that I can make it all better between us.”
“I met yet another noble today. She is blond, beautiful, witty, and head over heels for you. She had one very interesting and detailed story about you two…” she trailed off, punching him some more, and then carried on, “about you two, hooking up, here, at the palace, here, in this very same bed chambers.”
“Let the past be the past, dorogaya,” he told her softly.
“I wanted to strangle her and you both,” she admitted as more tears escaped her eyes.
“I love you,” he said as he tried to claim her lips.
She kissed him back with a passion that had for only equal his own passion for her.
“I still want to kill you,” she said once they parted for air.
Her eyes flashed crimson shortly after, and she growled out her next words, “You’re mine. And I don’t share.”
“Fine by me,” he agreed with a smile.
“Let me mark you,” she then growled.
“I would love to bear your mark,” he told her softly. “But you have yet to fully awaken.”
“Why am I not changing?” She said in a sad and yet exasperated tone at the same time. “I want to change.”
“Camille,” he uttered the one word that unleashed the beast within her at long last.