Shadow Wolves: His Black Rose (Book 6)

Chapter 7 - Is that a challenge?

Michael

I never really wanted a mate after watching my father go through the loss of my mother. I thought he was going to die of a broken heart. Then he decided to drag me to this thing against my will because I had to have an heir to my empire.

“Who says I plan on giving it up, dad?” I frowned.

“You can’t be the ruler of your kingdom forever, son. Someday you will grow old like me, and you will have to hand the reigns over to someone. Wouldn’t you prefer that someone to be your son?” That conversation brought us here. I had to keep myself in check not to grab her right there. My dad said nothing about a mating bond feeling like this. He just told me that I would know when I felt it. I was planning on choosing the best looking, most well-spoken girl and getting out of here, and then I saw her.

“Hi.” She smiled in front of me.

“Wow.” Wow? That’s what you say, you i***t? l “Hi, you look amazing, but do those pants have to be so, uhm tight?”

“Yes, they do. Come-on, it’s time for me to beat you’re a$s.”

Elizabeth

I could hear my mom gasping at my words, and regretted what I just said the moment I said it. But how was I supposed to keep my mouth shut, when he kept catching me off guard? Smelling like that and looking like the boy next door? You know? The one you have been friends with your entire life and then one day you realize you are in love with him. And why did we have chaperons at a mating week? Weren’t we supposed to find mates? You know? For mating?

He snaked his arm around my back the moment we started walking down the passage and goosebumps broke out all over my skin. What the hell was I thinking? Mating? Seriously Elizabeth! Get a grip!!

“Did you think about what you would like me to beat you at first?” I forced myself to focus and he laughed. It was a relaxed sound, from deep within, and I liked it.

“Well now, I wouldn’t want my beautiful mate to forfeit because of injury, so how about we start with a warm-up item like a sprint. Say the 100 meters?” He sounded happy.

“Sounds perfect.” I smiled as we reached the training grounds, and it seemed we were the first guests to arrive. King Magnus was standing at the starting line, talking to uncle Matt, and we walked up to greet them.

“Elizabeth, how nice to see you.” Uncle Matt smiled.

“Hi uncle Matt. Did you bring the babies along?” I looked around to find them.

“Oh, no. Your aunt Meg and uncle Anthony are babysitting so Fiona and I can have a bit of a holiday.” I burst out laughing, making the other two gentlemen look at me like I had gone mad. “Fiona and I have triplets, and they can be a handful at times.” Matt smiled while explaining.

“Ahh.” King Magnus and Michael said in unison when the conversation started making sense again. Slowly, some of the other guests started to arrive.

“We will start as soon as you both have some competition to run against.” King Magnus informed us.

“Thank you, your Highness, but we already have. We are challenging each other.” I felt my heart skip a beat.

“Elizabeth… not again?” Uncle Matt frowned.

“Uncle Matt…” Before everyone looked confused again, I filled in the blanks for them. “At wolf school where my uncle teaches, I practice against the wolves, so I’m fully aware of what I’m getting into running against Michael.”

“Yes, Michael, and just a word of warning, she is very competitive.” Uncle Matt raised a brow and Michael laughed that same comfortable laugh.

“So, I’ve noticed, sir.” They show us to the starting point and we took our places. Interest in the two of us running against each other grew as the crowd started taking their seats.

Michael

Her confidence was incredible. Her scent was intoxicating, and if I wasn’t so competitive, I would just have stood there looking at her. But the shot went off and we both took off like rockets. I planned to take it easy on her and then just pop over the finish line, so she wouldn’t feel too bad about losing, but the moment we started running, she moved out in front of me.

I didn’t get it. How was it even possible that a little delicate thing like her could even run that fast? Okay, she was nearly the same height as me. I gave her that. The competition was so close, but I couldn’t stop smelling her scent and with the running and the sudden rush of adrenaline, all I wanted to do was mark her.

“Focus dude! Or she is going to beat you!” I put my head forward as planned and we crossed the finish line. It was a draw! How was that possible?

“I do believe that is a draw.” I caught my breath at the end.

“I agree. I’m sorry Elizabeth. You will either have to try again or try something else.” Her uncle laughed.

Elizabeth

My uncle Matt winked at me when they walked back to the starting point for the next group. Out of breath, I walked over to the water stand. Not wanting to show Michael my disappointment at not winning.

“Hey, that went well.” I heard him behind me, then he slid his arms around my waist and gave me a soft kiss on my shoulder.

“If you call losing going well, then I guess so.” I shrugged.

“That was a draw, neither of us lost.” He frowned. I grabbed two bottles of water and turned around in his embrace, handing him one, so he had no other option but to let go of me.

Esmeralda

Why was that girl being so difficult? Couldn’t she understand how important it was to have someone in her life? I know her father would be so proud of her right at that moment, but you didn’t go around beating your mate at sports!

“You sure as hell didn’t give Leo any slack.” Moon appeared beside me.

“Mom! For goodness’s sake! You nearly gave me a heart attack!” I gasped.

“So, how is my granddaughter doing?” She looked at where Elizabeth was handing Michael water.

“She is being us, I’m afraid.” I looked on as she turned around in Michael’s embrace, seemingly keeping him at a distance. Julius and Andreas were in the library as we spoke, discussing terms, should Michael and Lizzy decide to make this permanent. I should have been the one doing this, but Julius had been her father figure for so long, that I didn’t see why he couldn’t be the one doing it.

Both of the kids had quite a bit of money and they both had to be protected. They wouldn’t be able to make such decisions now while they are in this state of bliss. But should they reject each other, things might turn out differently.

“Oh, mom, please don’t let her reject him.” I felt the tears sting the back of my eyes.

“What if he rejects her?” Moon frowned.

“Don’t be silly! He is clearly madly in love. He won’t reject her.” We watched as the morning unfolded.

Michael

We took part in every item they had available, even the ones neither of us had ever done before, hoping it would even out the odds. Eventually, at the end of the morning, she won by one point.

“You didn’t let me win, did you? Because I would be very disappointed if you did!” She frowned at me.

“Oh, no, my darling. I definitely didn’t let you win.” How could I? She hardly gave me the chance to. If I let her win, I would have looked like a weakling next to her. That just showed you. Never judge a book by its cover. Not only was she intelligent, but she was strong and fast. She would be an amazing Luna and the pack would be proud of her. Bringing me to the one thing I thought I would never do. I had to speak to her father about asking her to marry me. With her being a witch, it would be the only way for me to keep her by my side, and she would get to keep her powers. I wouldn’t get the chance to mark her, or she would turn into a human, or even worse, she could die!

I needed to find out. I had never really thought about these kinds of things before. If anything happened to her, I wouldn’t be able to live with myself! Especially if it was because of something I did. As before, I knocked on her door to walk with her to lunch, only this time, she was alone in her room.

“Hi.” She smiled when she opened the door, blushing ever so slightly.

“Hey.”

Elizabeth

I couldn’t help but grin at his perfect face when he said “Hey.” then noticed I was on my own.

“Ready?” He cleared his throat as if trying to gather himself and I nodded. Closing the door behind me.

“Uhm, how…” I actually didn’t know what I wanted to say, I just didn’t want there to be that awkward silence that had just fallen over us.

“Uhm, oh, where is your family? Weren’t they chaperoning you?” He frowned, filling the silence.

“To tell you the honest truth, I have no idea where they are.” I started looking around, noticing that his father was also missing in action.

“It seems you have lost your father as well.” I noted out loud.

“Yes, that was strange when I went to my room, and just found a note saying he was out for the afternoon.” Walking out onto the beautiful garden, the picnic that had been set up grabbed our attention. It seemed they wanted to make sure that you got a chance to mingle with every group present to give each one of us a proper chance of meeting our mate. Only the ones that had found mates were seated to one side.

The rest were settled into new groups like they were this morning. Queen Lucille started the festivities, explaining the reasoning behind it all, and I found I was right. I sa up straight trying to find Jane in the enormous group of people.

“Who are you looking for?” Michael softly growled, and I giggled.

“My friend Jane, I really would like it if she found her mate.”

Michael

Well, I couldn’t let Elizabeth sit around looking like a giraffe.

“Is anyone here called Jane?” I stood up and asked, feeling her tugging on my belt.

“What are you doing?” She laughed.

“Finding your friend for you.” I grinned.

“Sit down you i***t!” She giggled, and I sat down abruptly, landing with my head on her lap. The picnics had literally been placed out as picnics with a blanket and basket with treats inside for each couple. I couldn’t help but laugh with her when I landed flat on my back with her legs cushioning my fall.

“And here I was trying to be your knight in shining armor.” I laughed. She had the cutest little giggle. She wiped my hair out of my face and put her hands on each side of my head, before lowering her lips to softly meet mine in a quick chaste kiss.

“I’m sorry.” She pulled away quickly, letting me go, but I decided to stay right where I was. She had not given me any kind of idea that she was the type of girl who backed off easily. Why would she back off now?

“Why would you be sorry? I actually liked it.” I lay there grinning at her, but she put her arms behind her, lifting one eyebrow at me… not smiling.

“Oh, you did, did you? Well, it’s not going to happen again. That I can promise you.” She laughed.

“Which part? The kissing or you kissing me because I can promise you the kissing is definitely going to happen again.” I sat up straight, so I could look her in the eyes. The world around us had disappeared as she stared right back at me.

“Both.” She looked a little shocked. With that, I pulled her up close to me, letting her sit in my lap, and felt her heartbeat quicken. I didn’t want her to look bad in front of all these people, so I pulled some of the food out of the basket.

“Wow, good thing I caught you before you fainted there. You have to eat darling.” I smiled at her and looked just over her shoulder, winking at the couple sitting a couple of meters away from us. Her eyes followed the direction I was looking in and she smiled.

“That wasn’t fair play!” She gritted her teeth.

“I don’t know how to play fair with you around.” I smiled.

“Is that so? Well then, I guess the rules of the game have changed.” She turned and looked at me with a glint in her eye that could almost be misinterpreted as scary… if you weren’t me, of course.