Page 46 of Undertow
He reached for me but didn’t push when I smacked his hand away. “Look, the last thing I wanted was to be part ofa fucking pressure mating of any kind, much less to the royal family when I had such issues with your father.”
“What?” I whispered, my eyes going too wide.
He growled and scrubbed his hands over his head. “Your father kept denying my requests for a meeting and to speak with him privately. He wouldn’t even meet with me, too scared to rock the boat instead of doing what was right—”
“That doesn’tremotelysound like him,” I snapped.
The pity came back in his eyes. “You didn’t know them as well as you think, Sagan. I’m sorry you’re going to learn a lot of hard truths like I did after mine died. Really, I am.” He hurried on when I opened my mouth to blast him. “But fine, yeah, I didn’t know your father. That was part of my problem with him. Whatever, my point is I wasn’t looking to get involved here.”
“We made it part of the rules that no one could be forced,” I told him.
He snorted. “What’s force and what’s just veiled threats and manipulation?”
Yeah, that was fair. I nodded that I heard him, but it was definitely something to bring up with Aunt Maple at least. I wasn’t getting stuck mated to someone—more than one probably—because they were forced to do it.
Over my dead body.
“I needed to make sure you understood that I wasn’t part of what happened or what will happen,” he told me softly.
“What will happen?” I hedged, already understanding he was going to be the candidate from his area.
He swallowed loudly. “You cannot trust my uncle, Sagan. Not in any way. He wants me as your mate and my child to rule next.”
“They all want that,” I grumbled.
“Yeah, but they didn’t all steal their position as Alpha from their nephews. He did me. I’m the rightful Alpha of my area, but I wasn’t quite of age.”
Well, that was fucking awesome.
Seriously, fucking awesome.
I studied him. “That’s normal, but how long have you been of age? If it’s only been—”
“Fifteen years. I’m forty.”
I really and truly hated every aspect of my life. If my father ignored that and didn’t even meet with Thorn… Fuck everything.
“Have any good news for me?” I drawled.
He was kissing me before I could even think of what else to say. “Yeah, I’m going to make sure we repeat that night when you’re not in heat or drugged. Now I have every right to touch you instead of the guilt I see in your eyes like you cheated on that piece of shit. Now you can just enjoy everything I’ll do to your perfect body.”
I was in serious trouble because every inch of me was on board with that and it wasn’t remotely the smart answer.
