Page 48 of Their Princess

“What are you doing?” Trey demanded.

He looked over his shoulder and said, “Taking my mate to my room. You haven’t graveled enough to join us. Maybe tomorrow. We’ll see how you do.”

I hid my smirk against his chest even though I knew Mason could sense my amusement.

“Wait!” Trey shouted, desperation in his voice that had Mason turning around so I could face him. His pinched face concerned me. “Can you please, please, unblock our bond?” he begged. “It’s … I feel hollow, empty, and in so much pain. I can’t … I can’t survive another night separated from you physicallyandthrough the bond.”

I immediately released the bond and he staggered to his knees in relief.

Mason nodded, turned, and resumed carrying me to our room. “I wouldn’t have done it if I were you. I’d have made him suffer some more.” There was a bit of growl to his voice and when I focused on him, I realized he was mad at Trey.

“He’s sorry, I can tell he truly is, otherwise I would have left it blocked,” I said.

Mason set me on the bed in the room that was his before shutting the door and turning around to face me with a frown on his handsome face.

I held out my hand to him. “I’m sorry you were caught in the crossfire and had to spend a night away from me.”

He kicked his shoes off, removed his pants and shirt, and crawled onto the bed in only his boxers, quickly curling around me.

Resting my head on his bare chest, I inhaled his scent and relaxed as I listened to the steady beat of his heart.

Gripping my knee, he pulled it over his legs so I lay across him and we both exhaled a sigh of relief.

“I understand why you left. As soon as I realized what had happened, I laid into Trey, but it was too late. You needed to come here to recharge anyways, we’d discussed it several times, so I wasn’t surprised this is where you went. I just wish Kayden had been with him instead of me, so I could have accompanied you here. I felt your pain, and it took a lot of control not to beat sense into Trey with my fists. His mother called him crying and hysterical, claiming you’d attacked her in front of Elrith and making crazy statements. I’d rolled my eyes, knowing she was lying, but Trey was stressed from his stupid cousins and reacted extremely poorly. Not that it’s an excuse, just what happened.”

“What did his cousins do?” I asked as I traced the snake scales on his tattoo with my fingertip.

“One of them impregnated a human girl, barely eighteen, who was engaged to an elf. The elf and he had some history and he’d done it out of spite, not thinking about the consequences.”

I gasped. “That poor girl!”

He nodded, his cheek rubbing against the top of my head from the movement. “Trey ensured she’s going to be taken care of by his cousin. No matter what the reason, that’s his child and his responsibility. Then, one of his other cousins stole something from the mana stone store. He made that cousin return it and apologize to your parents. He hates hybrids, so it was a pain to get him to relent and just apologize instead of facing more serious consequences.”

“I bet Grandpa Rhys was rubbing his temples from a headache over all this,” I whispered and smiled slightly as I pictured the scene.

“He wasn’t available, that’s part of why Trey was handling it. Some emergency in the mage lands that King Nico needed help with.”

Grandpa Nico needing help? That seemed incredibly unlikely. Then again, there was always some craziness happening in our worlds. You couldn’t have magical creatures of so many types living together without issue.

He blew out a breath and squeezed me tight. “It was still completely ridiculous of him to call you and say what he said. I knew she was being her typical dramatic self, but … anyway. I’m glad to be back with you.”

“Me too.” Squeezing tighter against him, we held each other for a long time, just basking in each other’s company.

“I’m excited to see everything that you’re planning. I know you’ve got a lot you didn’t talk about tonight. I could see it in your eyes.”

Laughing, I tilted my head back to look up at him. “You could?”

He tucked hair behind my ear and smiled, my heart racing a bit faster. “Yes. Also, I have some ideas I wanted to discuss, too.”

“Now?”

Chuckling, he shook his head. “No, beautiful. Now, we relax, eat some snacks I’ll sneak in here, and then sleep. You’re feeling better, I can tell, but you’re still not fully recovered. You still need rest and relaxation. So, put your head down and let me protect you as you sleep tonight.”

“Bossy,” I hissed, though I agreed. I knew without a doubt that I’d sleep like a rock tonight and that the likelihood of attack was extremely low here, but with him, Kayden, and Trey here as well, I was safe.

We told each other stories from our time apart, snacked on random treats he’d brought with him, and then curled up together beneath the covers when the sun set.

My thoughts began drifting, and within minutes I fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.

---