Conquering Kolton--Sample (Book 2 of The Sovereign Series)

6. Unwanted

Kolton sat stiffly at the dinner table, waiting for the rest of the group to arrive. He had left to get there early after being thoroughly spanked by Kade at billiards. He had simply gotten to dinner just to get away from Kade’s unending smack talk.

His parents arrived a few minutes after he sat down, taking a seat together at the far end of the table. Adam DeWitt came next, followed by a grinning Kade.

Louisa. Then Kane with a sleepy Kate in his arms.

Then...

Eliza.

Fuck. Her hair was down and curling in soft waves to her waist. Kolton’s hands itched to touch it, and he gripped the underside of the table until he felt it groan beneath his hands.

Letting go before he broke the table, he almost ran from the room. Long locks of dark red swept over Eliza’s shoulders, making Kolton stiff as a brick in his trousers. He looked around the table to see everyone chatting, a large grin on Lexi’s face as her eyes swept the table, landing on Eliza, then Kolton.

Eliza was wearing a long green evening gown, her hair spilling over her shoulders and over the curve of her breasts. The color of the dress was a deep emerald green, and matched her light skin tone perfectly, complimenting her hair and the light blue of her eyes.

He watched as Eliza pushed a stray lock behind her ear, and more of the soft swell of her breast was revealed.

Kolton averted his eyes, afraid she might spill out of her top and his d**k would punch a hole through the table top.

This was f*****g torture.

The servers came out, and they all ate in companionable silence, a word or phrase uttered here and there, most everyone too hungry to make idle banter until they were stuffed full of meat and vegetables.

“Have you given thought to maybe having a celebration after your mating instead of before?” Margot asked when most everyone had finished their meal and was partaking of after-dinner drinks.

“I don’t want anything to remind me of... this,” Kolton grumbled, taking a quick sip of his wine. It may have been scotch and brandy in the games room or study, but it was always wine with dinner.

“Kolton, I-” Margot started.

“Stop, Mother. Just stop,” he said as he stood up from his place at the table. “You want to make this something to celebrate when I’d rather it didn’t happen at all. Forcing this... it’s ludicrous. You can try and make this work, but I won’t be two-faced and pretend this was something I wanted and have a party in celebration of it.”

In his peripheral, he saw Eliza’s head drop to her chest slowly, looking down at her lap.

“If you want to continue this conversation elsewhere-” Xavier started to say, his eyes sliding over to look at Eliza.

“It’s fine,” the small girl said. “I was just about to leave anyway. If you’ll excuse me.”

Eliza got up and walked quickly from the room, her dress swishing behind her as she made the most of her strides.

“Kolton!” Kane growled out when the new female left. “You might want to stem the flow of your words so your future bride doesn’t hear them next time. If you want to vent or say something, we can speak after dinner. Alone. Until then, please keep your mouth closed and stop hurting the girl’s feelings. She’s been through enough.”

“What?” Kolton spat. “What’s she been through that’s so f*****g bad? Did her mate die? Am I getting some cast-off from some tragedy in her past?”

“Kolton-” Xavier said.

“No! If no one will f*****g tell me, then I’m leaving,” Kolton said, making his way to the door.

“It’s not that we can’t tell you,” Adam said, his voice breaking through the chatter around him. “It’s Eliza’s place to say something to you. Not us.”

“Fine,” Kolton said as he stopped in the entryway. “Then it’s my place to be a complete ass until someone tells me just what the f**k is going on.”

He left the room at that, making his way to the second floor to speak with Eliza. Perhaps if he asked her himself, she would admit what had happened to her in the past.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Eliza sat by the window, her gown set on the bed and a dressing gown around her body.

The settee was not wide, just large enough for Eliza to be comfortable, her knees pulled up to her chest as her head rested against the cool pane of window glass.

A tear dripped down her face, though she didn’t bother to swipe it away. She looked out onto the lake, wondering how easy it would be to pack up her things and convince someone to row her back to the mainland. If things didn’t get better the next day, she would look into that.

A knock sounded at the door and her hands came up to wipe the moisture from her face.

“Come in,” she called, just loud enough for the person on the other side of the door to hear.

The door swung open, Kolton’s large frame taking up most of the space.

“Why are they saying something happened to you? What has happened?” Kolton asked, his voice loud and abrupt in the silence of the room.

Eliza looked away.

“It’s nothing,” she said. She could have been addressing the rose bushes for all the emotion her voice held.

“It’s not nothing or else my family wouldn’t be treating you with kid gloves,” Kolton said as he closed the door behind her. “Now tell me what happened.”

She looked at him and - for the first time in her life - denied someone what they wished.

“I won’t tell you.”

“Why not?”

“Why would I?” she asked, voice cold. “You have no sympathy, no understanding. You grow up a Royal and having everything placed at your fingertips. It’s not the same for us common folk. We have to work for what we want. We get denied those things as often as we get them granted. You don’t know what it’s like out there, so why should I tell you? You have done nothing but be unkind to me since I arrived. Have you ever thought that maybe you weren’t my first choice as well?”

Kolton bristled at that, the pride in his position taking a stinging blow.

“I’m a prince,” he said. “Who wouldn’t want to be with a prince?”

“You think too highly of your position,” Eliza told him cuttingly. “Sometimes the simple things in life are what one craves. Happiness, friendship, love.” She shrugged. “I have none of those here, and yet I obey my father to become mated to you. I am as much a victim of circumstance as you are.”

“Please, tell me,” he said, his voice softer.

She looked over at him.

“You would think differently of me,” she replied, equally as hushed. “You already think me a pathetic creature. You would think worse of me if you knew.”

“How do you know?”

“What?” She was startled.

“How would you know I wouldn’t think better of you if I knew what it was?”

She looked at him, studying his face for a lie.

“It’s a risk I cannot take,” she said simply. “I wish to be alone now. Please.”

Kolton nodded, knowing she couldn’t see him. “Fine. But you will tell me one day.”

“Maybe I won’t be here long enough for you to find out,” she said ominously, making Kolton stop his forward movement to her door.

“What does that mean?”

She shrugged again.

“Maybe you will get your wish and I will be gone so you’re not forced to mate with me,” she said. “Anything can happen. Maybe the King will change his mind or maybe the world will end tomorrow. Maybe the end has already come and we’re just biding our time. Fate is cruel sometimes, Kolton. Be happy with what you have, for not everyone does, and everything does not appear as it seems. Goodnight.”

Kolton walked out the door, more conflicted than ever, and made his way to the gardens so he could watch her from afar.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

While Kolton dreamt of red hair and blue eyes all night, Eliza’s sleep was fitful, and did not make her feel rested the next day. Dreams - no - memories haunted her all night long.

“Jonathan!”

Eliza could see him from across the small pond where he sat with his girlfriend, Hayley.

He laughed and waved her over to them, Hayley giving her a smile as well from her place. They were good friends, though Hayley was unaware of them being shifters.

When she got close, Hayley gave Jonathan a kiss and mentioned something about a piano lesson. She waved over at Eliza as she checked her watch, jogging off in the direction of her house.

“Liza!” Jonathan called as he walked a step in her direction.

“Happy Birthday!” Eliza called out as the wind shifted and stirred the trees.

A heavy scent invaded her nose, the scent of pine and bark. She spent so much time in the woods it was a welcome fragrance, but there was one problem.

There were no pine trees near to give off such an aroma.

Still, Eliza thought very little of the scent, and kept moving towards Jonathan, her best friend. They had known each other for years, grew up together. Since she had no other siblings, he was like a brother to her with their deep friendship.

Then why was she looking at him as if she had never seen him before? His blond hair swept over his eyes before he pushed the strands away with a large hand. His caramel-colored eyes sparkled in a way she hadn’t noticed before, almost turning them amber in the afternoon sun.

“Thanks!” Jonathan said with a smile, now only feet away from her.

A tug in her solar plexus almost made her conquer the distance between them, but she refrained. His smile faded and he licked his lips, looking at her as he scented the air.

“No,” he muttered, looking away.

“Jon?”

“Fuck... not now,” he continued to utter, keeping his face turned from her.

“Jon! What’s the matter?” She moved toward him again.

“This can’t happen.” The tension in his voice startled her. He had never spoken in such a way to her before. “I’m in love with Hayley. I want to marry her.”

“Jon, humans don’t marry when they’re 18,” she said, nervous laughter ringing out. “They-”

She touched his arm and it dawned on her.

He was her mate. Her mate and best friend.

Jonathan was right. This couldn’t be happening and yet - it was. It was happening right now. And damit it - it felt right to her.

“Leave, Liza,” he told her harshly. “I can’t see you anymore. I want Hayley and I can’t have you as a mate.”

“What’s wrong with me?” She bristled at his question. “We... well, this is awkward, but we were meant to be together. We have the mating pull.”

“I have Hayley, and she’s the only one I want,” he told her, stepping away several steps. “Just... pretend you didn’t see me. Pretend... we were never friends or that we’re supposed to be mated. Find a human, like I did. Everything... it’ll all go away once you do.”

“A mate is a gift,” she told him, taking a step forward. “You can’t pretend this didn’t happen and I certainly cannot. We are meant to be. Jonathan, I like Hayley. She’s sweet and kind, but she will never understand what you - what we - are.”

“She’ll be fine with it,” Jonathan said, his voice devoid of emotion. “I’ll wait a year, maybe two, and tell her what I am. She’ll... accept it in the end. I know she will.”

“And what of me?” Eliza cried out. “You have her and you want me to forget you, my true mate, to find someone else. I have wanted a mate since I was 13. I watched my father lose his and almost lose his mind. That is what you are condemning me to, Jonathan. If you reject me, I will lose it! I will be like he was, a shell of a creature. The only thing that kept him tethered to reality was me, his child. I have... I have no such thing keeping me from losing my mind without my mate. You would do that to me? Your true mate?”

“You... you are stronger than you give yourself credit for, of that I’m sure,” Jonathan said, keeping his distance from Eliza. “You will pull through it just as your father did before you. I have faith.”

“You... you bastard!” Tears sprang to her eyes. “You would reject me for a Chosen. Your best friend and true mate? You are mad to think you can escape this!”

“I... I can’t reject you,” he said. “Not yet. Give me time and I will. The pain... not everyone survives it. Emotional. Physical. It will be hard, but you can do it.”

“This could kill me,” Eliza whimpered softly. “This could kill me and you would still do it.”

“I-I can’t let her go. She means too much.”

“And I mean so little.” The hurt dripped from every word she spoke.

“That’s not true-”

“If you would reject, it is true. You are a stubborn fool and you will live to regret rejecting me! That may not happen today or tomorrow, but a day will come when you will curse your pigheadedness. I hope that when that day comes, you see this gesture for what it truly is. You are a disgrace to your species and to men everywhere.”

“Liza-”

“Shut up, Jonathan! You want me gone, then I’m gone. I’ll probably come back, the pull of a mate is too strong. I hope that when I do, you will have changed your mind. Come to your senses. I feel bad for Hayley. She will only ever have half your heart.”

With that, Eliza forced her legs to move away. Away from Jonathan who stood there mute as his best friend turned her back on him.

Eliza woke up crying. Her face felt tight and her eyelids were swollen. It was 4 AM and she turned over, punching her pillow to try to settle back to sleep. A sleep that never came.