He heard a cough, then another, and then saw Isaac rise, hair covered with dust, looking like a ghost in all the powder, limping forward and brushing it off as he glared at Axel.
“You didn’t have to bring the whole house down,” he muttered, ignoring Axel’s confused glare. Isaac turned his attention to the oracle, who was still waiting. He jerked a thumb over his shoulder. “I’m not cleaning that up.”
“Yes you are,” she said. “This is all your fault.” She took steps down the stairs, arms folded, toward Isaac.
“My fault?” he asked, incredulous. “This was all your idea.”
“I told you to make it hard for him, not to go all dragony and throw him through the air. That’s on you.”
Isaac grumbled something and wiped more dust from his face as a trickle of blood made its way down his forehead.
“Excuse me,” Axel said in a terse voice, still in his lion form. “Am I missing something?”
Isaac disappeared from view, muttering under his breath, and Axel turned to the oracle. She moved toward him, gathering the clothing he’d left behind when he’d shifted and handing it to him, along with a key.
He glared at her.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I didn’t want to do it this way. You’ve always been such a good man, Axel. But I had to know you could be a good man on your own.”
“What?” he asked, looking around him, still stunned. He shifted back and put on his mangled clothing, not caring about modesty. He didn’t care about anything until his mate was safe. He walked toward her, limping slightly from his scratches. When he reached her, he found the cage was easy to unlock. He swung it open, and she ran into his arms, hugging him tightly and then looking him over in concern.
“Are you all right?” she asked. “That was awful.” She buried her face in his shoulder, and she stroked his hair. When she looked back up at him, her eyes were glowing. “You were amazing.”
“It was pretty impressive,” the oracle said, walking back to them.
“You still have explaining to do,” he said. “There’s still something I’m not getting.”
The oracle sighed. “I need a king who can make his own decisions, follow his own instincts. Unlike your brothers, you’ve always been willing to do the right thing. You’ve never fought your responsibility. Always hanging on my every word and command. But with things going the way they are, with the world hanging in the balance, I need a king who doesn’t need to come to me for everything. I need a king who can tell right from wrong, even in difficult, complex situations.”
“I still don’t get it.”
“I needed to know you would defy even me if you knew it was the right thing to do.”
He frowned as he held Lucy tight. He walked her to a nearby padded bench and sat down with her, pulling her into his lap as he leaned back against the cool marble wall behind him. “So this was a test?”
“I guess you could say that,” she said. “I would say more of an experiment.”
“Same thing,” he muttered. “So did you just give me a fake mate name, then?”
“No, that was the name of your fated mate,” she said.
“Then how is everything okay? I already told you I want Lucy. I’m not willing to take anyone else. I know that’s not right.”
The oracle grinned. “Right. Well. Maybe the two of you should go home and talk. Tell each other your secrets.” She looked meaningfully at Lucy. “And you can come meet with me in the morning.”
“So I’m not fired? Or whatever it is you do to a bad king?” he asked.
“No.” She laughed. “You’ll be a good king, Axel.”
“But—”
“You’ll figure it out.”
“Let’s go home,” Lucy said. “I know this is complex, but right now, I just want to be home with you. Any time in that cage was too long. More than that, it was terrifying to watch you in danger.”
“For what it’s worth, I wouldn’t have let Zack hurt you,” the oracle said, tossing her orange hair.
He gaped at her, holding up scratched arms. “Seriously? He threw me into a wall and nearly shredded me to ribbons.”
She smiled mildly. “Well, I wouldn’t have let him kill you.”
Lucy sighed. “All right. Take me home. Wait.” She looked at him. “I’m your mate? What?”
“We’ll go home and talk,” he said. “But yes. I told the oracle there was only one woman I want. So if you are willing to have me, I’m yours.”
She blinked at him. “But you don’t know anything about me.”
“I know what I need to.”
The oracle shuffled them toward the door. “As I say, you two have a lot to talk about. And if I were you, I’d get out before Isaac gets back.”
That got them moving. Axel helped her over the wreckage at the doorway, and they walked together toward the SUV he’d driven. It was still in good enough shape to drive away, and as soon as he pulled onto the main road, he let out a sigh of relief.
As long as she was beside him, everything was going to be okay. They could figure out everything else as it came.
14
“Well, that was exciting,” she said quietly, leaning back against the seat as they drove.
“That’s one way of putting it,” he muttered.
She bit her lip. “You smashed that SUV right through the gate. You destroyed half the front entry.”
“I’d do it all again if you were in trouble.” He looked over at her. “In case you haven’t figured it out yet, I’m in love with you. Totally and completely in love.”
“I sort of got it when you fought that dragon. What was up with him anyway? Aren’t dragons the good guys?”
“The ones I know are. That one seems to be sort of a work in progress. Though, apparently, that was all a setup.”
“I don’t get it,” she said.
“The oracle said we should go home and talk it out.”
“Right,” she replied. “Are you sure you’re okay? We should probably check out your wounds, too.”
He shrugged one bruised shoulder. “I’m fine if you’re fine. Just want to figure all of this out. I’m really sorry that happened to you. It never should have.” He took a deep breath. “One thing I haven’t been able to address yet is how you ended up on the front grass with a suitcase in hand.” He eyed her. “Were you running from me? Did I do something wrong?”
“No,” she said. “You did everything right. That was the problem. But can we finish driving before we get into that? I don’t want to distract you.”
“Okay,” he said, keeping his hands on the wheel.
She eyed his tense posture. She’d never meant to put so much on him tonight. He was bruised and scratched practically all over but healing quickly. A shifter benefit.
She watched his handsome profile, his strong hands that had protected her, all the way back to his castle. When they pulled up, they climbed out and walked up the front walk together.
He quickly told the worried, waiting staff that things were fine and they’d be going up to clean up.
Walking up the stairs to his room, Lucy felt a hint of anticipation. The last time she’d been in this room, he’d been pleasuring her and she’d been enjoying it. Right before she ran and got herself in trouble.
And now, after that huge fight, they were back here again.
“I…” She rubbed her hands over her arms as he joined her in his room and shut the door behind him. His bedroom was decked out in forest green and navy blue, with maple wood accents. Stern and masculine and very him. “I don’t know what to say.”
He sat in a chair across from her, folding his big arms. His handsome face was stern. There was still dust in his blond hair. His gold eyes were molten.
And everything about him felt like home.
“Just tell me why you were so scared of what’s happening between us that you ran out of here.”
“It was getting too serious,” she said, perching on the edge of the bed.
&
nbsp; “You think it wasn’t getting serious for me, too? When we were making love, I realized there was no way I could let go of you. That I’d fight for you, even against the oracle if needed.”
“I was starting to get that,” she said. “But I was also getting that you thought the oracle might possibly be able to pick me for you. And I knew that wasn’t possible.”
He raised an eyebrow. “How’s that? Is this about whatever you haven’t told me? Right, the oracle said we needed to share our secrets. You know mine. I don’t know yours. Time to share.” His tone was flat, factual, but there was nothing easy about this for her.
She twisted slightly, folding her hands in her lap. “I’m not who you think I am.”
“I think you’re exactly who I think you are,” he said. “Someone who came into my life and filled it with love and spontaneity and taught me how to love again. But I don’t know who you think you are.”
“I mean my lineage,” she clarified, her throat going dry. “I never meant to hide it from you. I guess a lot of the time, I convince myself it doesn’t matter, because I wasn’t raised with my family and never knew them. I tell myself they shouldn’t have any effect on my life. But then I think about something like the oracle picking the right mate for you and realize my blood can catch up to me after all. Catch up to hurt me.”
“Hurt you?” he asked. “By not being picked? I thought you didn’t want to take a mate. Wasn’t that the problem in the first place?”
“I thought that,” she said. “But then I just kept falling in love with you. Wanting to touch you more. I told myself it was physical at first, but it wasn’t. It was who you were. Your stupid worrying. Your crazy sense of responsibility. The way you put everyone before yourself. I told myself I just wanted to see you take care of yourself more. But I wanted to take care of you. Want to take care of you forever.”
“You can, I think,” he said. “I still don’t think the oracle will take it back. Whoever she named as mate, it’s not going to matter to me. I know in my heart what is right, and your face is the one that echoes there. The past few days have proved it.” He sighed. “I should have known. When you came here to work, you affected me like no other woman has.”
She nodded. “I guess we both should have known, the way we’re drawn to one another.”
“But what did you mean about your blood?” he asked.
“My family was a disgrace. They hurt people. Even your family members. Way back, though.”
He frowned. “They were rivals for the throne?”
She nodded. “When your father was ruling.”
He bit his lip and put his hands on the arms of the chair he was sitting in, bracing himself. “What’s your last name?”
She didn’t want to say it. Her family had killed people. Some of Axel’s relatives. They’d wanted control for stupid reasons. Stupid, greedy people.
He sat forward, eyes intense. “Tell me your last name,” he grated out.
“You know my last name,” she said. “The fake one anyway.”
“Your family name,” he demanded, taking a ragged breath. “Tell me any other name you could be known by.”
She looked away from him, letting strands of hair fall over her face in embarrassment. “Hatchett.”
He let out a long sigh and then came over to her, pulling her into his arms and holding her tight in a warm embrace that felt safer than anything she’d ever felt.
She wrapped her arms around him and hugged back, just enjoying the quiet moment.
When he pulled back, she saw joy in his eyes. Excitement. She didn’t understand. “What’s going on?” she asked.
“Do you know your birth name?” he asked. “Does the name Emma mean anything to you?”
“My middle name,” she said. “I just never tell anyone.”
He picked her up in his arms and spun her around, and she gasped as he chucked her onto the soft bed.
“What’s going on?” she asked. “I don’t get why you’re so happy. Do you not remember that my family murdered some of yours?”
“What rival family hasn’t?” he asked. “And that wasn’t your fault. I don’t judge you based on who birthed you. You had no control over that.”
“Then why do you look so happy?” she asked skeptically.
“Because the name the oracle gave me was Emma Hatchett. I had no idea she meant you.”
Lucy blinked, wide-eyed. “What?”
“The woman she said was my mate, the one I turned down, is actually you.”
“Then why did she use that name?”
He thought about it for a moment. “She said she needed a king who made his own decisions. I guess she did it because she wanted to know I could follow my heart without knowing what she wanted was actually what I wanted.” Axel rolled over and sat next to her. “That old witch.” But he seemed amused.
She wrinkled her nose. “I can’t believe she made you fight that dragon.”
“Yeah. That might have been a test for him as much as me. I guess I’ll never know. I’m just overjoyed she picked you. I mean, I was going to be with you either way, but it’s just nice to have it all fit perfectly.”
The shock of it all finally hit her, and she gasped, putting her hands over her mouth. “I’m the fated mate of the king.”
He nodded. “Yup.”
She looked over at him with a grin. “So this means you can mate me.”
“Can I?” he asked. “Because I’d love to make this official.”
Lucy thought about it. All the years she hadn’t wanted a mate seemed to melt away before her eyes. Perhaps she was just holding back because she’d never wanted to tell anyone who she was. Never wanted to see what they thought of her. She’d told one guy she dated, and he’d tried to blackmail her over it, making her leave her job.
But here was Axel, king of a country, the most noble man she knew, accepting her for everything she was, telling her to be his mate. His queen.
“I never wanted to be a queen or a mate,” she said thoughtfully, looking over at him.
“But?” he asked, expression tightening.
She took his hand in hers, squeezing it. “But I guess it’s different when you’re in love.”
His face lit up. “You mean it?”
“Of course, you idiot,” she said, leaning her head on his shoulder. They felt so right together, so perfectly tailored they could have been cut out of a mold as two parts of a whole. She let out a sigh of happiness and just enjoyed the moment as he put his arm around her.
And then she became aware that her body was already reacting to him.
Lucy could tell the moment he sensed her, because he looked over at her with those shrewd, catlike eyes and grinned.
“Should we make it official?” Axel asked.
She wrinkled her nose. “You need a bath. I need food.”
He frowned. “What? You don’t like me when I’m dirty?”
She shook her head. “I just want our mating to be perfect.”
He nodded. “Okay, then. I’ll call down for dinner and go take a bath. And then we can eat together. And then see how you feel.”
Her heart thudded like a rock skipping over the surface of a pond. “Okay.”
They chatted all through dinner, talking about how silly it had been for her to run, about how weird it was how things had worked out after only a fake relationship, and finished eating just as both felt much calmer and more settled.
Her heart still skipped a beat whenever she looked at him, but the rest of her was at peace. Sublimely happy. Sometimes all it took was to stop fighting something in order to find happiness.
She still couldn’t forget how he’d taken down that dragon. He’d been a monster, all for her.
She flushed and fidgeted with the last crumbs on her plate and felt him watching her. When she looked up, he looked away.
Axel looked gorgeous in his bathrobe, his chest muscles showing somewhat, the belt still tied around his trim waist.
She look
ed forward to a million more moments like this, just mates at home together.
He scooted closer to her on the bed, took her plate and set it aside, and faced her intently, taking her hand in his. “It’s not going to be easy. Things aren’t going well right now, as you know.”
She nodded.
“And as king, I have a lot of responsibilities. I might even be in danger at times and not be able to avoid it.”
“Just let me come with you,” she said, touching his cheek.
That seemed to touch him deep inside as well. “My father died apart from my mother. She died a slow death after. So as much as I want to protect you from everything, I’ll always let you stay by my side.”
“That’s all I’m asking,” she said.
“Then will you be my queen? Will you mate me, Lucy?”
She nodded, rubbing her cheek into his hand as he slowly laid her on the bed beneath him. The curtains were closed, but the sun would be coming up soon. Hours had passed since she’d fled.
The first rays of dawn would be peeking through the cracks in the drapes in just a few moments.
She sank comfortably into the bed beneath him as he straddled her. He reached for her hands, as he had every other time, but instead of pinning them, he brought them to his mouth and kissed them, running his lips over her knuckles.
She shuddered against the sensitivity of it, and he released her and bent forward to kiss her lips. He held his mouth there a long moment, just letting feelings transmit between them, and she sighed and let her body relax even more.
Axel’s hand ran down her side, resting on her hip with a gentle squeeze that made her twitch. His hand played down between her legs and over her thigh, tickling down to her knee. Then it came back to cup her face so he could deepen the kiss. He slanted his mouth, opening hers, and slid his tongue inside. She met it with a quick thrust and enjoyed how they felt entwined together. Like they would be in just a moment.
He pulled back to look at her and then parted her legs gently and slid a hand between them, slowly working his finger over and around her center. She moaned and arched into his hand. It only took a few moments to be wet and aching. Just the sight of his face made her want to go.
Protector of the Pride (Lions of Pride Island Book 3) Page 11