Championing Kade--Sample (Book 3 of The Sovereign Series)

4. It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad (Supernatural) World

39 Days Before The Coming of Age Ball

Meredith donned the nicest outfit she owned. It was a hand-me-down that her mistress, the Princess Eliza, had given to her, claiming it was a bad color for her skin. While it was a deep fuchsia, it didn’t necessarily go badly with Eliza’s bright red hair. It was an A-line dress, a deep cut down the front of her chest and dipping between her small breasts before wrapping around at the waist and into a bow at the base of her back. The bottom hem was asymmetrical and full, and it wasn’t for nothing that the back dipped low as well. Wearing a bra was not an option.

Her braless state would only help with the matter at hand.

As she boarded a boat to the mainland with her best friend, the slight wind pushed her wavy locks across her face, obscuring her sight before she moved her hands to pull the hair from her eyes and mouth.

“Blah!” she spat as another thick lock whipped into her mouth. “I should have put my hair up. At least for the boat ride into town.”

Alistair laughed at her, Meredith scowling back at him. It was alright for him since his hair was cut shorter and only looked good when a little unkempt. She hated how it was like that. Men’s hair was only sexier when mussed up. Hers looked like a tornado had gone through it—perhaps several.

Beside the pretty outfit, Meredith wore makeup, something she not often did. Makeup combined with chores was nothing but asking for trouble, so she usually went with a tinted lip gloss on the daily, or—if she was feeling particularly dowdy in her uniform—waterproof mascara to brighten her tired eyes.

There was always work to be done around the castle, and it seemed that there was very little time to do it all in. While her own mistress didn’t work her ragged, she heard horror stories from Margot Reifenberg’s maids and thanked the heavens she had a simpler job. She didn’t envy the former queen’s lady’s maids at all.

Halfway across the lake, Meredith turned to Alistair and placed a soft hand on his arm. “Where do you think we should start?” she asked him, implying they were on the hunt for a mate, albeit a reluctant one.

“I think we should have some fun before we try to rile up that shithead mate of mine,” he said, smiling sadly but turning it around with a waggle of his eyebrows.

“Fun for you either means getting your d**k wet with some rando, or cockblocking some unsuspecting couple canoodling in the back of an empty movie theater,” she reminded him. “Honestly, have you no shame?”

Once, several years ago, they had gone to see one of the Avengers movies and had happened upon a lusty couple in the back row of a quiet movie theater. All the parties interested in the movie were in the front and watching rapt, while there was a teen couple—humans by the smell of them—that were making out like they were the only two people in the world.

Due to their sensitive werewolf hearing and the noises the two made, Alistair decided to change seats in the middle of the movie and sat directly in front of the couple, an annoyed scoff coming from the female. The male didn’t seem to care if there were other theater-goers nearby, but the girl’s sensitivities to being fondled and kissed were more appropriate for the public venue. Alistair had crunched his popcorn noisily and talked loudly throughout the movie, ruining the moment for the two lovers behind them.

“There are better places to make out than a movie theater,” her friend told her. “Besides, it wouldn’t have surprised me if the boy tried to get a blowjob out of the girl if I hadn’t so rudely interrupted them. I was merely saving the paying public from a possible voyeuristic interlude once the lights came back up.”

Rolling her eyes, Meredith commented, “Such a force of good you are. Keeping the middle-aged and those with children from seeing too much or too soon.”

“It’s my own brand of vigilante justice,” he agreed, nodding before clapping his hands together with glee. “I think we should hit the ice cream parlor first.”

“We just ate breakfast an hour ago,” Meredith replied.

“And I’m already starving again.” He groaned dramatically, a hand now placed at the flat of his stomach.

“Fine,” Meredith replied haughtily. “When you get a big belly because of eating too many sweets, then try winning over a reluctant mate looking like some Sumo wrestler.”

“Hmm, as long as I don’t have to wear those gigantic diapers, I’m game.”

К*К*К

They made a trip through the plaza in the middle of the shopping district before heading to the ice cream parlor and gorging themselves on homemade flavors like Mango-Bourbon and Sweet Potato Pie. They were leaving and heading towards the other shops when a high-pitched giggle split the air, and Alistair froze in place, his nose tilted up. He looked for the life of him like a hunting dog on point.

“Lawrence?” Meredith murmured, watching as his jaw tightened and adam’s apple rolled in his throat. He nodded after a moment, and Meredith sprang into action.

If he hadn’t been gay and very much her best friend, she would have felt bad for placing a slender palm against Alistair’s chest and coming up on her tiptoes to kiss his cheek.

“Just follow along,” she whispered into his ear as she brushed her lips against his face. He nodded stiffly again, his body all taut lines and tight muscles.

Letting out a tittering laugh of her own, Meredith cringed and moved towards the sounds of high-pitched giggling and sat down within twenty feet of the irritating female she was sure was Sasha. But she didn’t sit on the bench—oh no. She sat right down on Alistair’s lap and put her arms around her friend, warding away the twisting in her gut as she played her temporary role.

Damn, it was sometimes hard being a good best friend. She had about as much as she could handle, but knew she had to push for more. Tucking her head into Alistair’s neck, she caught a whiff of his musky cologne and bit back a frown. After being with Kade for so long, she was accustomed to his scent: the clean, fresh odor of whatever shower gel he used on a daily basis. Anything heavier was cloying to her.

“I’m going to pretend to be kissing your neck,” she whispered quietly, just loud enough for him to hear. “I suggest you do the same until we elicit a response.”

It didn’t take long, the sound of loud sniffling making her smile as the stupid wolf caught the fragrance of his true match. A female yelp cut through the air.

Meredith couldn’t help it. She looked up from Alistair’s neck to see a female—who she assumed to be Sasha—on the ground, ass to the cobblestones.

“What the hell, Lawrence?” the young woman cried out as she tried to lift herself up. Lawrence didn’t move a muscle to aid her, his eyes fixed on Alistair and the female sitting on his lap. The man took a few steps forward, conflict visibly written on every inch of his face.

While Sasha squawked and nagged, a low rumble was heard, emanating from Lawrence’s broad chest and spreading out in waves around him. He took another step and glanced at Meredith, his eyes turning black as pitch.

It’s working, Meredith thought, fighting hard to hide her smile beneath an innocent countenance.

Another step. Then two. That’s when all hell broke loose in the realization from Sasha that her boyfriend was mated to another male.

“Oh, my God!” she shrieked. Meredith had the urge to hit the obnoxious woman. “Him? He’s your mate?”

Meredith pulled closer to Alistair when Lawrence half-turned to Sasha, either ready to explain or give an excuse. At the movement, Meredith leaped into action and nuzzled her head into Alistair’s neck to obscure her smile against his skin. Pretty soon, Sasha’s nattering moved away as the woman left, and Meredith was being pulled upward and away from Alistair, an angry-looking Lawrence glaring at her until she was almost afraid for her life. His eyes flashed from golden to black and back again, anger fueling his wolf to come forward and claim its destined.

“Get your own mate,” Lawrence’s deep voice ground out, placing his body between Meredith and Alistair.

“You didn’t seem to want him the first time you met him,” Meredith reminded him, her words cutting him to the quick. “Why shouldn’t I have him instead? Why not go back to that wretched little creature you call your girlfriend? Why—”

“Because my parents expect me to mate with a female and give them grandpups,” he interjected.

“So do mine,” Alistair said calmly. “But I wouldn’t reject you because of it. They would just have to get used to it. True mates aren’t meant to be apart. It…it does things to the wolf. We’ve seen it.” He gestured between himself and Meredith.

“It’s true,” Meredith said, all the fight emptying out of her. “Last year when Prince Kolton mated with his intended, there was…an incident.”

“What incident? What happened?” They had gotten Lawrence’s attention with their dire warning, his expression curious and his head c****d in a question.

“The male had rejected the female and went insane because of it,” Meredith said, leaving out names and the like. “He found she was to be mated to another after he all but rejected her, and his wolf took over. He came for her, attempted to rape her. It…it wasn’t pretty.”

Lawrence’s eyes had slowly widened, taking in the words she said, his eyes flickering back to their normal color slowly. Once he’d gotten hold of himself, he cleared his throat. “W-what happened to him? What happened to the male who went berserk?” he asked.

“He was made rogue by the Royal Army’s seal, I heard,” Alistair commented. “Last we heard, he was seen in the mountains in Canada, completely feral and out of his mind with jealousy.”

Lawrence swallowed loudly before nodding his head in understanding.

“What would you do if your true soulmate took another to mate?” Meredith asked him. “Took me to mate?”

He growled at her, his chest puffing out and back straightening. “I’d kill you.”

“You’d better not,” Alistair said, standing from the stone bench. “This woman’s name is Meredith, and she’s like a sister to me. Not only that, but she is somewhat spoken for.”

Lawrence looked confused, gazing back at Alistair with an expression of disbelief. “But then—just why?”

“To rile your wolf up,” Meredith admitted to him. “It was my idea. Mates are—they’re just meant to be. They can’t be apart. It’s painful and…and cruel.”

“When I saw you with Sasha…that hurt, Lawrence,” Alistair said, scrubbing a hand over his face. “The way you acted—I thought you were rejecting me. The look you gave me—like I disgusted you. It was devastating to the extreme. My parents will be upset to hear my mate is a male, and that cuts me deep, but nothing wounds me like the feeling that I was losing—or had already lost you.”

“I didn’t know what to do.” Lawrence spoke softly, looking at the uneven cobblestones of the square. “I’ve always been attracted to male and female alike. I simply assumed that the pull to bear children would overrule the other tendencies I had. I thought I could take a female, make my parents proud to call me their son. They aren’t biased that I know of, but I know they want grandpups to carry on our name, and I only have sisters. When they mate, our name will die out.”

“Why should it die out?” Alistair asked bluntly. “I’m not averse to children, and there are many orphaned pups we could give your last name. They may not be ours by blood, but they would be loved just the same. Maybe more even.”

Alistair nodded his head as Lawrence swallowed thickly. A lump rose in Meredith’s throat, and she was glad she had done this for her friend. The two might struggle with their future, but all was not lost.

Later that afternoon when Meredith and Alistair came back to the palace grounds from the mainland, Kade was looking out from the second story window of his bedroom and watching as Alistair hugged his best friend, lifting her up joyously before placing her back down on to the ship’s deck.

Kade’s eyes narrowed, flashing from amber to green before moving away from the window.