by Lola Gabriel
It occurred to him, all of a sudden, that for the first time in his life, he truly felt like the prince he was meant to be. And it was all thanks to Ellen.
“What?!” Oliver nearly screeched. “Damn it, I was so sure it would’ve been Ellen!”
Maddox gaped at him. “Why, thank you for your support!”
“Dude, you know I’ve got your back with literally anything and everything,” Oliver said, which was true. “But even yesterday, you were adamantly against the idea of you and Ellen together! I thought that if it had to come down to either one of you making a move, it’d be her!”
Okay, that was completely reasonable, and truthfully, Maddox would have wagered against himself, too.
On Monday, at lunch, he found Ellen, Shauna, and Stella already sitting at a table in the cafeteria, with the twins on either side of Ellen while she ate a sandwich. The dragons were looking incredibly smug, both of them turned toward Ellen, who seemed to be talking to each of them in turn, if the way her head was moving back and forth between them was any indication.
When she caught sight of Maddox, a smile verging on a grin overtook her mouth, showing off her adorable dimples, and her lovely hazel eyes lit up like Maddox had brought the sunlight into the room with him. She was so beautiful, so astounding, that Maddox still couldn’t believe she was his mate.
Ellen Williams, the most admirable, amazing person he had ever encountered, was his mate!
“And there he is, the Vampire Prince himself!” Shauna said when he approached the table, her mischievous smirk exactly like Oliver’s. Seriously, when had the three of them become such close friends?
“Don’t worry,” Stella said, “we’ll leave you guys alone.” She and her sister began to get up and pick up their bags.
“No, no, that’s not necessary!” Maddox said.
“He’s right, you guys,” Ellen agreed. “We can still have lunch all together. This doesn’t really change much!”
“Oh, we know,” Shauna said, hoisting her bag over her shoulder. “But we want you guys to enjoy your first lunch as an official couple.” She gave them a wink and walked away, but Stella remained behind for a few seconds.
“If you have some free time later, though,” she mumbled, addressing Ellen, “I could still use your help with immortal history. But not if I’m imposing!”
“Of course you’re not,” Ellen assured her. “I’ll text you later so we can sort out the details, okay?”
“Yeah, sure!” Stella grinned at them and followed her sister, waving over her shoulder. “Bye, you guys!”
Maddox stared at her retreating back before turning to Ellen. “Did you know the three of them have a bet about us going on?”
“Oh, my god, is that an actual thing?” she asked, her eyes wide. “I thought they were joking!”
“Apparently not,” he said, taking one of the chairs beside her. As soon as he sat down, Ellen reached over to kiss his cheek, and Maddox felt all of his blood rushing to his face at the contact of her lips against his skin. He had a goofy smile on when Ellen pulled away, and she let out the most beautiful giggle in the world. Maddox decided, in that moment, that her giggle was his new favorite sound, and he was going to do everything in his power to hear it again.
“So,” he said, trying to keep his voice level despite the ridiculous smile still on his face. “How’s your day been so far?”
---
Maddox went through the first week of having Ellen as his mate in absolute bliss.
True to their word, things hadn’t changed all that much within their group, though Maddox realized that Oliver had been right: he and Ellen had spent so much time denying their feelings for each other and believing the other one didn’t feel the same that they hadn’t noticed their friends growing closer. Now that they had nothing to hide or worry about, Maddox could see the knowing glances the twins and his best friend exchanged whenever he grabbed Ellen’s hand, whenever Ellen leaned her head on his shoulder, whenever they did anything remotely considered as PDA.
He couldn’t imagine the looks they had exchanged before, knowing what the two of them refused to think about.
He was so caught up in this new relationship that he never noticed the dozens of warning signs all around him. He never saw all the vampires whispering amongst themselves, hissing and snarling, passing on the information to other vampires until all of them, even the ones that weren’t at EMU, knew the terrible news.
The Vampire Prince was dating an angel.
The Vampire King had a couple of strong words to say about the matter.
The Sunday after their first week together, Maddox walked out of his room with the intention of going to an immortal blood bank for his weekly dose when he was stopped by two of his father’s security agents.
The vampires were dressed all in black, each wearing a three-piece suit, a stylized haircut, and sunglasses, which Maddox had always thought was rather pointless.
“Your Highness,” they both greeted him.
“Gentlemen,” he replied, confused by their presence. His father had never sent his men to EMU. If he wanted to talk to Maddox, he usually just called him himself.
The thought made him panic. “Did something happen to my father?”
“No, sir,” one of them said. “His Majesty is in perfect health.”
“Oh,” Maddox said, exhaling in relief. “Okay, that’s good to know. So, uh, what are you doing here?”
“We need you to come with us, Your Highness,” the other agent answered.
“Can you guys give me, like, an hour?” Maddox asked. “Today’s the only day I can go get blood, and I don’t want to go this next week without it. Exams week, you know how it is.”
He and Ellen had spent the entirety of yesterday together, knowing that their chances to be with each other during the next few days would be close to zero, as they needed to concentrate on studying for their respective tests. He wouldn’t even see Oliver all that much, and they shared a dorm room.
“You will be given a blood bag in the palace, Your Highness,” said the first agent.
“Okay, what’s going on?” Maddox demanded. He had no problem going home for the day, as long as he was back at EMU tomorrow, but this was kind of suspicious. Why hadn’t his father called him first, told him that he needed him back at the palace? Why had he sent his men to get him?
“His Majesty requires your presence,” said the other one.
“Well, he’s going to have to wait.” Maddox began to walk past them, but they moved closer together so that they were blocking his path.
“Our apologies, Your Highness,” one of them said. “But His Majesty insists.”
Maddox tensed. His gut instincts told him that going with his father’s security agents was the wrong thing to do here, and what he should do was push past them and run as far away as he could.
But that was ridiculous, wasn’t it? These were men sent by his father, who had always looked out for him. There must be a good reason for it.
Still, he didn’t want to ignore what his instincts were telling him. He pulled out his phone and began typing a quick text to Oliver to let him know he was going to the palace and wouldn’t be back until…well, he’d tell him when he knew.
“We’ll have to confiscate that, sir.”
Maddox looked up at the vampires. One of them was holding out his hand, presumably to take his phone.
“Why?” he asked, trusting his gut more and more with every passing second.
“His Majesty ordered us to take your phone,” said the one with his hand held out.
“What? No, you can’t do that!” Maddox yelled. “I don’t care what my father told you, you’re not taking my phone!”
“Your Highness,” the other agent snarled. “Please don’t make us take it from you by force.”
It was only then that Maddox realized how serious this was. He didn’t know why the king wanted him to go back home, but it couldn’t be anything good. The fact that they weren’t as
king him to pack his stuff probably meant that his father expected Maddox to return to school at some point, and yet that didn’t help alleviate his fear.
“Fine,” he muttered, slamming his phone into the agent’s open palm.
The vampire closed his fingers around Maddox’s phone and swirled on his feet, starting to walk through the hallway. The other one looked at Maddox, and Maddox knew that he was expected to walk in between them, to make sure that he would go with them and not make a break for it.
God, he thought as he followed the security agent, with the other one walking behind him. What did I just get myself into?
7
Maddox hadn’t answered any of Ellen’s texts.
That, however, didn’t surprise her. She knew they’d both be busy this week, what with it being exams week, and she hadn’t actually expected him to answer. Since he was a year older than her, his classes were a little more difficult than hers, so he probably hadn’t even seen her texts.
They were nothing too important either—only her wishing him luck and saying she couldn’t wait until Friday, for when they’d scheduled a late romantic dinner in her room, along with a movie and a few kisses here and there. And maybe even something more.
Ellen shivered at the thought. Just being with him was more than enough for her, and holding his hand and leaning on his shoulder and pressing a soft kiss to his mouth sent the same rush of happiness through her as when they had made love. But, although they were still affectionate when they were hanging out with their friends or out in public, they did hold themselves back, and she wanted a night where they could be themselves and not hold back if they didn’t want to.
Oh, well. It was only for a few more days.
Not seeing Maddox on the stone paths across campus was also not a surprise. Their schedules didn’t match that much, so stumbling upon him between classes was almost a miracle in and of itself. Poor Maddox was probably locked up in the library, or maybe he’d even kicked Oliver out of their room so he could study in peace. Ellen had thought about bringing him some lunch or a few snacks so he wouldn’t forget to take a small break every once in a while—if she had learned anything about him in the month she’d known him, it was that he often pushed himself too hard when it came to studying.
However, she also knew that if she brought him lunch, they would both get distracted, and neither of them could really afford that at the moment.
So Ellen took her tests, helped Stella with Immortal History, and went about her life, waiting impatiently for Friday to come so she could wrap her arms around Maddox and just embrace him for a few moments, feeling the solidness of his body and breathing him in and burying herself in him.
When Ellen walked out of her last class on Friday, she took a deep breath and let it out slowly through her mouth, letting her body get rid of all the stress that she’d been holding during the week. She stretched her arms over her head and pushed herself up on her tiptoes. She felt the eyes of a few students as they walked past her, but she didn’t care. It was important to stretch your body after a rigorous activity, whatever it was.
She thought about sending Maddox a text, but she remembered he still had another class, and she didn’t want to bother him while he was in the middle of his last exam of the week.
I might as well go back to my dorm and take a nap, Ellen thought to herself. She didn’t want to fall asleep on him tonight. She had too many plans for what she wanted to do with his toned, taut body. She was looking forward to holding each other, with Ellen curled into Maddox’s body and surrounded by his strong, cool embrace.
She imagined making breakfast together the next morning. It was such a domestic image that Ellen grinned stupidly to herself. Of course they still had their various bridges to cross, but that didn’t mean Ellen couldn’t start imagining what a life together might look like.
It would be after they both finished school, obviously. They could get a place of their own, look for a job. Would Maddox need to have a job? Or was his job to become the Vampire King and rule over his kind? When was Maddox supposed to become the king? His father was immortal, so he might not ever become king.
Ellen sighed to herself. Just another bridge we’ll have to cross when we get to it.
For now, she should focus on finishing her college education. There was no use in worrying about what would come next if she didn’t first get through this step.
Now, let’s go get my well-earned nap, she thought, striding toward her dorm building with a smile on her face.
---
When Ellen woke up from her nap, it was dark outside—much darker than she would’ve expected.
She rubbed the sleepiness from her eyes and blindly reached for her phone on the nightstand. It took her a few seconds to get used to the light from her phone’s screen, but when she could finally glance at the time, she nearly leapt out of her bed.
It was almost midnight.
Shit, I overslept! Ellen stood up in a hurry, cursing herself for not thinking of setting an alarm so this wouldn’t happen. She was about to run off to the shower to at the very least wash her face when she remembered that she hadn’t seen anything other than the time on her phone’s screen.
She slowed down and calmly grabbed her phone, which she had dropped on her bed. She pressed the home button and stared more closely at the display.
11:49 p.m.
There were no new messages from Maddox. No missed calls either.
Huh. That was kind of odd. Had he forgotten about their dinner? No, Ellen didn’t think so. He’d been the one to suggest it in the first place, and he wasn’t the type of guy to forget those things. Maybe he’d also crashed for the night, just like Ellen, and, unlike her, he was still asleep, probably would be until tomorrow morning.
Well, she supposed there was no harm in changing their dinner for brunch. Or they could have dinner tomorrow, which gave them more time to prepare for it. In any case, it was clear that they wouldn’t see each other tonight, but that was fine. Ellen’s longing was lessened by the knowledge that she’d be able to hug and kiss him again soon, to have his arms wrapped around her and his chin resting on the top of her head.
Her nap had helped recharge some of her energy, so, rather than going back to sleep, Ellen listened to a playlist that Maddox had put together for her a few weeks ago after they’d had a discussion of their favorite artists—immortal artists, of course.
“I know you’re not a big fan of symphonic rock,” he’d told her. “But Milady Karmina is incredible. I’m pretty sure you’re gonna like some of the first songs she did.”
“I don’t know, Maddox,” she’d said. “I’m more of a Sans Pyre kind of gal.”
“Okay, I get what you’re saying. How about this? What if I make a playlist for you?”
“Oh, you don’t have to do that.”
“No, no, I know exactly the kind of thing you’ll like, trust me.”
She’d smiled at him. She had trusted him from the moment he had shaken her hand outside the Administration building.
“I was going to say,” she’d clarified, “that you don’t need to make it for me when I can do it on my own. You can just write down the names of the songs you want me to listen to.”
“Well, then, they wouldn’t be a surprise, would they?” he’d asked.
In the end, she hadn’t argued anymore, aware that it was a battle she was going to lose. Maddox’s grin had been brilliant, like Ellen had agreed to take credit for hanging the stars in the sky, and the next morning, he’d sent her the link in a text message with very simple instructions:
Just click play, close your eyes, and listen.
Indeed, Maddox had put together a compilation of songs that Ellen fell in love with, listening to her favorite ones on repeat until she had learned their lyrics, until the melodies made their way into her dreams.
Ellen had thanked Maddox for it, and rather than looking smug, he’d grinned even more brilliantly and cried, “I’m so glad you liked it!”
>
Only until later that day, when Ellen had finally looked at the song list, had she seen that the playlist was titled, For Ellen.
This had been before she’d found out he felt the same way she did, and she shook her head at her blindness. What had Shauna said?
We’ve also seen the way he looks at you.
Ellen couldn’t believe it had taken them until that night in the library to finally make a move on each other. Well, Maddox had reached out first, pushing her hair behind her ear, and that touch had made Ellen feel electrified, like she had been struck by lightning, except the feeling didn’t stop, and all she wanted was to be allowed to touch him, too.
Just before she started listening to the playlist, she wanted to send Maddox a text for him to wake up to.
I guess we’ll have to take a raincheck on our dinner, huh? I hope your exams went well! Call me when you see this, okay? I love—
Ellen stopped typing. They hadn’t said “I love you” to each other yet.
It wasn’t that Ellen didn’t love Maddox, because she did, and it wasn’t that she didn’t want to say it to him, because she did. Doing it for the first time over a text message, though? This was the kind of thing that should be said in person, even more if it hadn’t been said before.
It had felt so natural to start typing it, though, as if she had done it a million times, that it was, honestly, a shock she hadn’t told Maddox yet. Would it have slipped through her lips today if she had seen him? Would she have just looked at him, seen his pretty hair and his lovely eyes and his gorgeous mouth and his beautiful smile, and said it without a care in the world?
Yes. Ellen liked to believe she would have.
She deleted the “I love” she had typed and replaced it with a “Miss you!”
I’ll tell him tomorrow, she vowed, determined to keep her word. When I see him tomorrow, I’ll go up to him, hug him as tightly as I can, kiss him, and then tell him I love him.
Ellen smiled giddily. Tomorrow was going to be a good day.