Page 38 of Promised to the Alpha Prince

He sat down across from me and said, “I don’t want him in your bed again.”

I sat up straight in the little strappy dress, which I had ended up deciding on because it did make my boobs look good, even if they didn’t look that perky. I had a lot of cleavage, which Ilse assured me was a good thing. “You know about that,” I said.

“Tell me the truth. I just want to know. There won’t be any consequences. I promise. Did he fuck you?”

“No!” It was immediate and insistent, and I wondered if I’d protested too much. I wasn’t lying, but I was afraid it sounded like I was lying.

He looked me over. He did not look as if he’d put care into his appearance. He was wearing a pair of jeans and a gray AC/DC shirt that read, Back in Black. It was faded. It was hard to read the words. I wondered if it had once been a black shirt.

“You said, at the luncheon, that if I needed alpha tending—”

“I know I said that but that was before I realized he was sabotaging me on purpose.” Dmitri studied his knuckles.

I realized they were scabbed up. “Did you hit him?”

“I’d do it again,” he muttered, seething. “Nothing came up last night, you know? He told me that I was being controlling and that I should honor your plans with him. And then I find out—”

“Yeah, well, I guess I shouldn’t have asked him to stay,” I said. “In my defense, I was half-asleep, and I didn’t really think he’d do it. I’m not used to alphas, with the whole doing-whatever-pleases me thing. Nothing happened, I swear! We just slept. And I’ll try not to, um, to encourage him anymore.”

“No, it’s not your fault,” said Dmitri.

I bit down on my lower lip. Wait. “Nothing came up?” The sensation that leaped inside me was like the waterfall, a froth of hope. “You wanted to see me?”

“Obviously,” he said, but he wasn’t looking at me.

I couldn’t help but smile.

He sighed heavily. “I know what he’s like. I’m not asking you to… to give him up. Just to wait.”

“It’s not like that,” I said, but maybe too quickly.

He lifted his gaze to mine. “You don’t have to love me or anything like that, omega. What you do have to do is submit to me. I am your alpha, and I will be your bonded mate. On our wedding night, I will have you. I will knot you. I will bite you. You will be mine, and someday we will be King and Queen of Valhn together.”

This speech made me feel all shivery and excited for some reason. I was pretty sure it should have made me annoyed, however, because he was ordering me around. I had to submit to him? Seriously? What guy said that, alpha or not?

He got up from his chair. “Fuck. I thought if we were outside, the perfume wouldn’t—” He stalked away from the table, shaking his head.

Oh, I guess I had perfumed. Embarrassing, really, to perfume when a man jerkishly tells you that you have to submit to him. I scrunched up my shoulders, ducking down my head, trying to get myself under control.

He came back and sat down.

“Does it… smell bad?” I said in a tiny voice.

He scoffed. “Are you insane?”

“Well, you don’t seem to like it,” I said tartly. “So, it’s not out of the realm of possibility—”

“Of course I like it, idiot girl.”

He’d just called me an idiot? My lips parted.

He cleared his throat. “I didn’t… I’m sorry.”

I lifted my chin. “I’m not an idiot, Your Highness.”

“I didn’t mean to call you that. It’s only, when I’m around you, I’m incredibly flustered. Everything about you throws me off balance.” He was annoyed about this, his voice rising in indignation. “Everything I say comes out wrong. Obviously, you’d prefer him, obviously. I thought he’d recognize his own superiority and have pity on me, but he’s just not playing fair.”

“This is Johannes?” I said, glaring at Dmitri. “Right, well, he is considerate, and he doesn’t call me names, and he doesn’t tell me that I need to submit to him, and—”

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