Page 77 of Forsaken Royals

A tinge of unease crept through our bond.

“Okay, I can handle that,” she said.

“I don’t know how they’ll react,” I admitted. “They’re traditional, especially my stepmother. My stepbrother’s a dick, and my stepsister is a spoiled brat—unsurprising since they live in the safe bubble of a luxury estate outside the city and barely have any responsibilities. Meeting them isn’t going to be fun.”

“I know. All three of you have stressed that enough.” She huffed.

“We just give a fuck about you,” I said, keeping my voice gentle. “We know you can handle yourself, too. You’re way more important to us than they are, and if they get out of line, we’ll have them thrown out.”

“I know that, too.” She kissed me on the lips.

“Maybe you’ll piss my stepbrother off, and I’ll have a good reason to kick his ass.” I laughed. “Not that I really need one. I think they’re the ones who made me this way in the first place. But I’m trying to be good.”

She laughed, throwing a leg over mine. Having her body pressed against me pushed thoughts of the festivities out of my head. I took her mouth in an intense kiss, pressing her onto her back. I covered her body with mine, pulling her leg up over my hip.

But then, someone knocked on the door.

“Fuck off,” I growled.

“Sir, your family has arrived,” an enforcer said.

“Seriously?” I glanced at the clock. It was only ten-thirty in the morning. “Now’sthe time that they decide to be early?”

“Yes, sir. They’re being shown to their rooms in the guest quarters,” the enforcer said.

“Fine. Have them meet us in my sitting room for tea in forty-five minutes.” I threw the blankets off of us, the angry heat radiating off my body making the cover stifling.

I never bent to anyone’s will, so leaving the comfort of bed wasn’t about that. But it was about getting this over with, so the weight of it wasn’t hanging over my head for another second.

I ushered Arden into the shower. As soon as the water came down on us, Arden ran her hands up my chest, studying my face. Her hands slid back down until one of them was on my cock, fingers around the base. Before I even asked, she sank to her knees and lightly sucked one of my balls into her mouth.

I rested a hand on the wall, tension rolling out of my body.

“Fuck yes, Little Flower,” I murmured, pushing her wet hair out of her face. “Just like that.”

She sucked me down, holding onto my thighs as she took me all the way into the back of her throat. The way her tongue swirled around my shaft as she sucked me made my knees weak. My pleasure spurred her on, her head bobbing along my length. I groaned, my body heating up.

She knew I was close, so she kept going at an even more furious pace. I spilled down her throat with a grunt, and she swallowed every drop. I sagged against the wall, the uncomfortable buzz under my skin gone. I loved our mate bond, especially for moments like this. We didn’t need to speak to understand each other.

“Thank you,” I said, helping her to her feet.

“You needed it.” She smiled. “We should get going, though.”

We cleaned up quickly, then went to get dressed. I put on a black suit and waited for Arden to get ready. She stepped out of the closet wearing a body-hugging deep green dress that hit her just above the knee. If the dress were on anyone else, it would have looked stuffy, but on her, it looked sexy as fuck.

“This is appropriate for the situation, right?” she asked, gesturing to herself. “I don’t care if they like it, but I don’t want to be too dressed up or down.”

“Technically, it’s appropriate for the situation, except for the fact that I want to hike it up and fuck you in it.” I pulled her to me, her clean, grassy scent drifting up to my nose. She grinned.

“Isn’t that true of most clothes I wear?” she asked.

“Well, yeah.” I laced my fingers through hers. “Let’s go, so I don’t actually do that and make this meeting hang over our heads any longer.”

We took our time walking to my sitting room, which was on the lower floor of my wing. Enforcers stood outside of the sitting room, and when they saw us coming, one slipped inside to announce our arrival. I squeezed Arden’s hand when a tingle of anxiety floated from her side of our bond to mine.

The enforcers held open the doors for us as we walked inside and rounded the corner. My stepmother, Clarissa, and my twin step-siblings, Annalise and Dane, were fussing over their tea.

A young, stressed-out aide tried to serve them all at once. I hadn’t seen them in over a decade, but nothing about their appearances had changed.

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