9. Impossible
When all the other girls started crying, I simply rolled my eyes.
I could understand their reaction, sure, but I still found it stupid. I mean, okay, they’d spent all day trying to make themselves absolutely perfect for their mates. My shared dorm had been musky with perfume and the heat of curling irons, clothes littering the floor. The need to impress my mate one had gotten to me also, clear by the too-smooth waves of my hair and the rare makeup I’d worn on my eyes. I had also chosen a dress I knew flattered my figure. It was a white maxi with slits that revealed my legs and a low-cut that didn’t hint at my breasts so much as cupped them. But that didn’t mean I was going to burst into tears when I found out that my mate was a royal.
There were four of us left now, and when the fifth to last girl had left the great hall our fate was clear: we were the mates of the four princes. There was no way about it, it was true and it was gonna’ happen. The princes were known to be cold and trained to be ‘emotionless.’ I put quotes around that because that shows just how stupid it is.
“Oh, for God’s sake, stop whining,” I muttered to a girl who came too close to me, obviously trying to seek comfort. Her eyes widened in surprise, shocked that I was not as hysterical as herself and the other two, before she started weeping again and went off to find an embrace elsewhere. That suited me fine; I didn’t want her staining my dress.
The sharp voice of our headmistress made their sobs quieten at least a little. “Girls, the princes will be here shortly, so you had better pull yourselves together if you want to make a good impression!” We were only girls, after all, nothing but eighteen years of life experience held to our names. Eighteen was the age when the daughter of a wolf found her mate, who had to wait as long as it took for her to reach that milestone. Commonly, they didn’t go above the age of twenty-two or so.
We didn’t have to wait much longer until our mates got here. It was only a few minutes or so before the distant but heavy thrum of my soul mate’s boots could be heard against the floor. Clunk, clunk, clunk, they thudded, my heartbeat getting harder with each step that he took. Moments, fleeting seconds, passed in which I continued to be the solitary and yearning girl I had always been. And then he stepped into the room, and my heart was stolen.
He at least met me halfway when I stood up to meet him and, despite the obvious effort he was putting in to look closed off, I laid one hand on his broad chest and the other on his cheek. I just let myself marvel in him, his dark, curly locks that seemed rebelliously unruly and his vivid green eyes, before I couldn’t help but speak to him. I wanted him to hear my choice; to like it. “You are so handsome,” I breathed as I stepped away, removed my hand from his face. I hadn’t expected him to look awed when he looked me over, or look disappointed that I had stopped touching him, and he didn’t. But that didn’t mean that was how he was truly feeling. I just had to remember that.
My mate did not reply to what I had said, but I didn’t need him to right at that moment. I simply walked off in the direction of the double doors he’d just entered, hearing him hot on my heels as we left. I took him down long, winding corridors and up various sets of grand staircases before we came to the highest floor, which was where the royal suits were kept for this very occasion. After barely pausing to take in the intricate carvings on the door, I twisted the curvaceous handle and entered, immediately shedding my shoes so that my bare toes could press into the plush carpet. It was every bit as luxurious as one would’ve thought, with floor-length curtains, massive windows and a large, full bed with swanky covers.
“Sweet Jesus, that looks comfortable,” I muttered before letting myself fall back onto it, my thin legs rebounding slightly and making me giggle. I let my arms brush against the Egyptian silk, revelling in the soft touch, before realising that I craved something a little more human. I pushed myself up onto my elbows so I could look at him. “Hey, are you alright?” I asked, still running my fingers over the covers. They were so soft. A lowly Hunter’s daughter like me had never been in such a room as this before.
“You are not what I had been expecting.” His voice instantly made me cream between the thighs, heat pooling there as my eyes turned a little darker and my body got hotter. It was everything that sex should be: deep, dark, husky... rough. His words, however, were completely opposite to the madly sensuous tones of his voice, so measured and careful. He planned everything before he said it, something I intended to change as soon as possible. “I had been told that you would most-likely be very upset about this situation.”
“And why would that be?” I prodded, even if I knew full-well why. I just wanted to hear him say it.
“You would probably not like the fact that I work hard to keep my feelings covered, I was told,” he said, and a small, sad smile came across my lips. He was still standing by the doorway, only one or two feet into the room. He had, however, closed the doors. “That I am trained to be emotionless in order to keep the royal family without weaknesses.”
“Okay, well, that’s not true,” I scoffed.
His startling green eyes widened in a rare moment of surprise. “I beg your pardon?”
“It’s impossible to be emotionless,” I told in a casual, nonchalant voice, like what I’d said was fact. Which it was. “Everyone has emotions and it is impossible to even cover them up as you naively claim to do. By trying to hide them, you are just showing your need of approval and sense of responsibility. You, for example, feel like you have to be tough in order to protect our kind; you also want others to think you are doing a good job of this and not jeopardising your family.”
His jaw ticked, and I realised that it had done exactly that when he first laid his eyes on me. I pushed his buttons- in more ways than one, it seemed. “You have no idea what you’re talking about.”
A sigh lazily left my lips and I let myself fall back onto the bed again, eyes trained on the ceiling. “You just don’t want to admit that I’m right. Then your entire way of dealing with your position has been a waste of time; ultimately, everyone has weaknesses.”
“That is complete bullshit!” he growled and my body felt exhilarated at the thought of him growling some other things; my name, for example, or perhaps a sexual demand. Oh, how I would all too willingly obey him then. “Look at me!”
I did, this time sitting up fully, and when I noticed how his entire body shook with anger my eyes softened. He must be... he must have felt so confused. So vulnerable. At the same time as being attracted to me, he was fighting it just as he had been told to do his entire life, and judging by how much I was getting to him he could see my point all too clear; he had learned that guarding his emotions was just as pointless as I had said, hence making him feel slightly idiotic. I didn’t want this to be so hard on him, but it had to be done. I would not let my mate cause himself, or me, upset for the rest of our lives. I already loved him and I knew I would for the rest of my life; he would not live like this.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered, getting up so I could stand in front of him again. He was so tall, well over a foot bigger than me, but it wasn’t awkward as I tiptoed up to cradle his face in my hands. Tenderly, I stroked his smooth skin with my fingers, eyes boring into his sincerely when they weren’t dragging themselves over his handsome features in awe. “Everyone has weaknesses, yes, but that’s why I’m here. I’m here to both help you forget about them and overcome them. We are each other’s weakness and strength at the same time. I have already accepted that and I need you to do the same.”
At last- at last- the prince, my mate, wrapped his arms around me. He pulled me as close as possible to his body, my toes leaving the ground, and a faint sigh of content left my lips. I had to close my eyes at the bliss of his lips against my forehead, but I could still hear the smile in his voice as clear as anything. “I am so glad I found you.”
