Protector of the Pride (Lions of Pride Island Book 3) (11 page)

“
W
ell
, 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.

“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.”

* * *

T
hey 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 looked 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.

She spread her legs wide, inviting him.

He tore off his robe, baring himself to her. Beautiful, tanned shoulders and abs and hips and legs. All hers. He positioned himself and took a deep breath, as if he were as nervous about this as she was.

They’d been together, but this time they’d be taking it to the end. She’d dig her nails into him and claim him. Lions didn’t have to, but she wanted to leave a mate mark. She knew just what she’d do.