Page 64 of Tales of Earth and Leaves

“That’s my brother, Vikram, he will not harm you.” I stared at her, making sure she understood and I pierced her with a look until she nodded slowly.

“Why are you doing this to your brother?” Anwen could barely murmur.

“That’s on me,” I heard Vikram’s voice while he probably pulled himself together. “I should have known better than to stare at another male’s naked mate.”

I turned to him and saw him cleaning up his bloody face, spitting up blood on the floor I had cleaned for Anwen’s arrival.

“What?” she whimpered, face still cupped in my hands.

“You are safe,” I repeated and kissed her brow, then turned to Vikram.

“What do you want?” I asked with a threat, calming my ragged breath enough to have a conversation at this point. The only thing grounding me was Anwen, held and protected, tightly in my arms. He may be my brother, but he had offended my mate and something inside me snapped with hatred.

“To tell you that Father is sorry and you are not disowned. He will talk to you and apologise on your return. Your marking celebration continues to be scheduled for the next full moon,” Vikram replied with frustration, words barely making their way out of his mouth, then turned towards the door. “You both have a good evening,” he declared and looked at me first, then wanted to shift to Anwen but stopped midway through. He nodded again and disappeared through the door.

I gazed back to Anwen, who remained cuddled in my arms, pulling my shirt tightly around her. Tears still danced on her face.

“It’s okay, he is gone now,” I brushed my hand through her hair to capture her attention.

Anwen’s eyes pierced mine, and I found pain and surprise in them. “What the hell was that?”

I stared back at her, not understanding which part of what had happened in the last few minutes provoked the question.

“Mate?” she whispered. “I am your mate?”

Chapter Thirty-Three

I stared at him blankly, trying to wrap my head around what had just happened. Within a matter of seconds, Ansgar had switched from wanting to have sex with me to ripping his brother’s face off, all because he saw me naked. And I was his mate. That’s what he tried to tell me in the morning, when I so stupidly thought he wanted to leave me.

I was his mate.

My brain could not process the information, the meaning it held, the fact that Ansgar had apparently been disowned because of an argument with the King, which I could safely assume had everything to do with me. I did not know what to feel, what to say, how to react to the news, so I thought it best to remain quiet and buried in my thoughts, trying my hardest to grasp into understanding all the events rolling out throughout the day.

“Fahrenor,” Ansgar came to my side and wrapped an arm around me, wiping away tears I had not realised I’d shed from my cheek.

“What does that even mean?” I choked at the lump in my throat, the realness of the situation hitting me harder and harder.

“My starlight,” he whispered into my ear, his breath brushing my skin as it passed the information. His starlight. That’s what he had called me all this time and I didn’t even have the nerve to ask him for a translation.

“Anwen,I—”

“No,” I rushed and placed a finger over his mouth to cover the half spoken words. “Not here. Not like this.”

I pierced him with a pleading gaze and he nodded in understanding, his lips stopping the words. He settled for sketching a kiss on my palm, turning back to the sweet man I had blindly fallen in love with. A wave of happiness flushed over me at the realisation. Ansgar loved me! This beautiful, committed and honourable man had feelings for me.

“I need to go,” I said and collected myself, wearing only his shirt and my red panties.

“Go where?” he immediately followed after me as I grabbed my shoes and headed towards the door. “Anwen, where are you going?” He snatched my waist from behind and pulled me close to him, squeezing me in an embrace, my back tightly pressed to his bare chest. I almost melted at the touch and my entire body throbbed for the caresses and pleasure he had been about to give me. I paused for a moment, abandoning myself to his soft skin and massive forearms. He was built like a god and every shred of me begged to worship.

“Ansgar,” I murmured. He started to leave a stream of kisses from my neck down to my clavicle.

“Please don’t go,” he pleaded, his embrace tightening just enough to make his point. There was no place better for me than those arms, and both he and I knew it.

“Ansgar, this morning I had trouble breathing, I had palpitations throughout the entire afternoon, just witnessed you kicking your brother’s ass and found out I am your mate.”

I blurted all my anxiety, making a point to leave out that the attack I had was sheer terror of his abandonment.

“Let me get some rest, think things through and we will pick this up again tomorrow.” I paused. “I don’t want it happening like this,” I admitted.

---