Page 25 of Royal Protector

As if sensing my melancholy thoughts, Antoine slows and dips into a darkened thicket. I follow him, and he shifts, his naked body on full display. I shift as well, and meet his gaze with concern.

“Is everything alright?” I ask with a frown.

Instead of answering me, he slams his mouth onto mine, taking me with a searing kiss. His lips slant over my own, tasting and licking and fucking my mouth the way I need him to take my body, and soon.

I moan into the kiss, wrapping my arms around him. His hands travel over my body, one massaging and kneading my ass, while the other cups my breast, rubbing my swollen nipple until sparks shoot down my spine. His hard cock rubs against my leg, and he ruts mercilessly into my flesh before he finally pulls away, panting.

“We can’t do this here,” I remind him, though I can barely catch my breath myself. “As much as I want you.”

“I need you,” he says, the hint of a possessive growl in his voice. “I need to have you, and soon.”

“Me too,” I say, and it really is a need. Not just one of sexual lust, but a need deep down, instinctual in nature, a need to join us as one.

Maybe the Mate bond is starting to develop latently in me, a tiny thread of what it should be because I can sense Antoine’s impatience even as he shakes with pleasure from our touching bodies. It gives me the courage to say what’s on my mind.

“You know the saying about begging forgiveness rather than asking permission?” I say carefully. Antoine frowns at me, his brow furrowed in concentration, but he nods. “Rather than fighting for permission to be together, what if we just . . . did it?”

Antoine looks positively baffled by my suggestion, and his expression is thoroughly adorable. That’s why we need to do this, so I can see all of his expressions, even the silly ones. “I don’t understand.”

“I want you to bite me,” I say, and his eyes flash with want and lust. “Make me your true Mate. It’s a risk—they could punish us for the rest of our lives—but it’s still better than being kept apart.”

He stares into my eyes, his own wide with wonder and awe. Then he pulls me tight, covering my face with kisses before landing on my mouth with a sweet, gentle kiss. “Let’s do it. On the last day of meetings, so there isn’t as much time for them to protest.”

“This feels a little bit likeRomeo and Juliet,” I try to joke, and his expression fades. He holds me tight against him, running his hands through my long hair.

“Let’s just hope it doesn’t end like their story,” he whispers before tilting my head toward his for one last kiss before we shift back and run back to join the pack.

ISABELLA

Antoine looms over me, his face glistening with sweat, his body naked and bare to me. His cock is long and hard, jutting out from his body at an angle as he strokes it with his fist. “Are you ready for this?” he asks, swirling his thumb over the head.

I nod emphatically from where I lie on the bed, naked and trembling, waiting for him to join me at last. He crawls on top of me, resting on his elbows, and lines himself up with my wet entrance.

“I’m ready,” I say, bracketing his torso with my shaking thighs. I feel so empty inside, and I lift my hips to him as a silent plea. “Please take me. Make me yours. I love you, Antoine.”

But he stops, frozen in place, never filling me with his length. His eyes fade from lust to disappointment, and he shakes his head. “Such a disappointment,” he says, leaning back and resting on his heels. “You couldn’t even do this right. Now you’ve started a war.”

I cry out in protest, but he doesn’t hear me. He turns and walks away from me, fading into the dark forest of the nature preserve, leaving me alone, naked, and sobbing on the muddy ground.

I wake up in the cabin with a start, trying to catch my breath and ignoring the frantic beat of my heart. It was just a dream, nothing more. I’m alone. Antoine was never here. In fact, he is probably still in his cabin, getting his rest before today’s events.

It was all just a dream. If only my heart rate would go back to normal, this feeling of panic would disappear.

A sharp knock comes at the door, and I groan, hiding my face in the pillow.

Martina’s attitude has been off the wall this week, and I don’t want to deal with her this morning, not after such a perfect night under the moon. But, like the dutiful little princess I am, I wrap myself in a blanket and open the door for my advisor.

Martina walks into the cabin, her face set in disdain as she looks around at the simple decor. When the door closes, she takes a step toward me. Leaning into me, she scents me and shakes her head with a disappointed look.

“You stink of him,” she says, and my heart leaps into my throat.

“Him, who?” I say, but my voice is weak, and all I can think is,she knows, she knows, she knows. She knows Antoine is my Mate, and she’ll tell the other Alphas. He’ll be taken from me today, and I can’t live without him. She must have figured it all out.

“The bodyguard. Don’t think you’ve fooled me. I’ve seen the way you look at each other.” She sits on the bed, but I’m frozen, standing nude except for the blanket covering me. “I’ve tried to keep you from the sins of this world, but you wouldn’t be the first Untouchable to . . . experiment.” She says the word as if I’ve murdered someone, but a whoosh of relief leaves me in an exhale.

“Experiment?” I breathe out. That’s not exactly the word I’d use to describe my Mate.

“Yes. If you want to sleep around with the bodyguard, or anyone else in this pack, then I really can’t stop you. Just know that it comes with an end date.” She glances up and down my covered body with disgust, and I pull the blanket tighter around my shoulders. “He’s so common, Isabella. They all are. Why would you choose him out of everyone?”

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