Her Royal Mate

Chapter Nine

Saige



What was I even thinking? Of course, Hunter couldn't have any meaningful relationships. It made sense seeing as how the last girl he thought he fell in love with turned out to be a slimy snake, but I wasn't like that. I'm not going to pretend I wasn't feeling something for Hunter. I guess that's why I got so upset. At the same time, I'm not some toy for him to play with whenever he wants.

I've managed to avoid Hunter for almost two weeks now. My new roommate, Amelia, was absolutely amazing. She was a wolf like me, but we were polar opposites. However, she could see that I wanted nothing more to do with Hunter. So, whenever he came by, she always said I was out with a friend or in classes. There was one time last week when I had to hide under my bed because Hunter just stormed in like a complete psycho. He would have been able to smell me out if it wasn't for my entire room already smelling like me. Thankfully, after a few minutes of searching, he left. He stopped coming by three days ago to look for me. I could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

Lauren wasn't happy that I almost slept with Hunter. I've heard Lauren briefly talk about s*x, but I was always so embarrassed to ask what she meant, so I went along with it. The only good thing I got out of my time spent with Hunter was that I knew much more about s****l things than I did before. Once I found my mate, I hoped my new skills would offer him some pleasurable relief.

In the past two weeks, I've also learned a lot about myself. I still couldn't bring my wolf to the surface just yet, but I was able to do other things that I couldn't before. Now I could hear things better if I focused hard enough. My smell has increased significantly as well. I may not be as advanced as other students here, but the teachers were patient with me.

I was heading to my last class of the day before the weekend. There was a new movie coming out this weekend that Lauren and I had plans to go see. Eager to get to my plans tonight, I rushed into my next class and almost dropped my books when I saw Hunter sitting in the front row. He motioned for me to sit next to him, but I turned my head and acted as if I didn't even notice him. This class was only for werewolves specific to learning skills better for defending themselves. I had no idea why Hunter was even here. He's been taking lessons for years to try and prepare for his new role as king. I hope he didn't take this class, knowing I would be in it.

When I took my seat near the back, Hunter got up and moved his things, sitting right next to me. "Why have you been avoiding me? I need you to be in my room this weekend."

"That will be hard to do considering that I have plans already. It must get really boring expecting everyone to obey you every time you bark orders."

I know he got in trouble severely with his uncle after defending me against those two guys that almost took advantage of me. Still, I wouldn't have even been in that predicament if it wasn't for Hunter.

He scoffed, scooting his chair even closer to mine. "I'm the future king if you need reminding. Everyone will bow to me, including you, princess. I told you. You are either a friend or an enemy. Do you really want to be my enemy?"

No. I couldn't believe I had almost said that. Of course, I didn't want to be his enemy, but I'm not going to forgive him either. I need to spend my time doing better things than letting him explore my body, and I explore his. It wasn't okay, and I'm sure my mate wouldn't be thrilled to know that I'm not entirely untouched. However, a part of me did miss being with Hunter. Yes, I can't believe I was admitting to that, but it was true. Strangely, he made me feel safe. It wasn't that he got into an altercation with two of his roommates, but because I felt invincible when I lay in his arms. Too bad that he had to ruin even that for me.

"Are you going to sit there and ignore me now? Don't pretend like you don't miss me, princess. You're going to follow me up to my room after class. We can talk more in private there."

I crossed my arms. "Not going to happen, Hunter. I'm not your plaything. If you want someone to f**k, I suggest you find someone else to occupy your time because I'm done."

There were some snickers and shocked gasps from all around the room. No one spoke to the future king like this, but they didn't know how much of a jerk he was. Regardless of who he was, I'm not going to sit back and take it. I'm not his obedient little servant despite what he thinks.

"So, enemy it is then? Okay, we will do this your way. I promise you that nice guy Hunter is out the window, princess. I can show you what a true asshole is."

I couldn't pay attention to the rest of the class. Hunter moved seats, sitting next to this gorgeous blonde. They laughed and flirted right in front of me, making it hard to focus on what the lecture was about.

Once the class was let out, I broke into a full run, getting as far away from there as I could so that I could meet up with Lauren. That was until she texted me and said she was running about thirty minutes behind. I thought about going to the library but decided to head back to my dorm to drop off my books and change into something more comfortable.

I heard strange noises coming from inside my dorm but proceeded to open the door anyway. Nothing was out of the ordinary until I got closer to my room. Loud moans were coming from the other side. Those sounds were familiar to me, having come from my own body when I was with Hunter.

When I pushed my door open, the last thing I expected to see was right in front of me. Hunter was lying on my bed, sandwiched between the blonde he was flirting with in class and my freaking roommate! It made sense why my roommate was so willing to help me avoid him now. They were all completely naked. The two girls were making out, touching all over his parts that looked like it did the times I saw it. I was too frozen to even move. I honestly shouldn't be surprised. This is what Hunter was doing to get on my nerves. Little did he know that I was over his player ways.

"Ah, princess. Welcome to the party. Take a seat," he instructed, pointing to the little wooden chair they must have brought from the kitchen. I began to move from the door, but his next words stopped me dead in my tracks. "Walk out that f*****g door, and you will be removed from the academy come tomorrow morning. Don't believe me? Try it!"

With tears threatening to fall, I sat on the chair, refusing to look at them. I didn't want to see this s**t.

"Look at us! Here is your next lesson, princess. I'm going to show you what it looks like to f**k someone."

I watched in horror as he pushed his private parts into the blondes. Tears flowed down my cheeks before I could stop them. Screw this school and screw Hunter Wade! I will not be forced to do anything I don't want to do.

Hunter watched me stand up. I picked up the closest thing to me and threw it at his head, which was the little wolf statue my parents gave me when I was only six. It hit him right where I wanted it to.

"Go screw yourself! If you want to kick me out, so be it! Enjoy your night, Hunter!"

I slammed my door back, half expecting him to follow me out, but he didn't. If I had any doubts about walking away from him before, they were all gone now. The only thing I saw while looking at him was hatred and disgust, the two feelings I had when we first met.

I didn't stop running until I was out in front of the gates, pushing the red button for them to open repeatedly. Maybe this academy wasn't for me after all. Maybe my purpose was to serve as a maid in the king's castle like my mother. As much as I hated that idea, I hated someone pushing me around and telling me what to do even more. I'd expect by tomorrow the king would personally deliver the message for me to pack my things, what little I had.

Thankfully, Lauren joined me before I got out of the gates. "Where are you going, Saige?!" There was concern in her voice the second that I turned around, placing my head on her shoulders and letting my tears flow. "Oh, no. What happened?"

Once I calmed down, we began walking. I told her everything and that my time at the academy would be cut short. Lauren has always been comforting, but I knew the subject of Hunter was sore with her because she really liked him. It was never a part of my plan to hurt her by stealing Hunter's attention away from her.

"You know what? I think we say skip the damn movies tonight. We need to go out drinking. I can probably get you into Benny's with me. The men in there will love you, but not dressed like that. We are going shopping first."

A grueling hour later, we were at our local shops in the downtown market area to buy cheap dresses that didn't look so cheap. We have both been saving up money for as long as I can remember, something you had to do when you didn't come from money. I had just enough to buy my dress and some matching shoes.

"Oh, what about this one?" Lauren held up a revealing see-through jumper outfit.

"Um, hard pass."

The next one she showed me was black and red. It was still revealing but covered more than the first dress. It was just in my price range, so it would have to do. The black bra I had on pushed my breast up over the dress to the point they were almost spilling out. It came down to right above my knees but was so pretty that I didn't care.

Lauren and I dressed in the bathrooms across the market and walked to the bar a few blocks down the road.

"Are you sure they are going to let us in?" I asked.

"Dressed like this? Hell yeah. They won't think twice about letting us in. Besides, they give me passes here all the time. I'm sure one more wouldn't be no sweat to them."

She was right. The guy manning the front door looked us up and down and nodded with approval before letting us inside. This bar was already super busy for a Friday night, but I liked its busyness. It made me more invisible.

Men flocked to us, only being inside for about ten minutes. It was more Lauren than me. Most of the guys knew her well since she came here singing all the time. Who I didn't expect to see was Hunter's friend Max. He obviously had eyes for Lauren, but she didn't seem to notice.

As Lauren walked up on stage, Max found his way over to me next to the bar. "Where is your boyfriend?"

I c****d my eyebrow at him. "Boyfriend? I don't have a boyfriend."

"Well, maybe boyfriend is the wrong word, more like owner."

I snarled in disgust. "If you are talking about Hunter, stop because I don't want to talk about him anymore. Whatever happened between us is done now. I want nothing else to do with him."

Max nodded with what looked like respect. "Good. So, are you guys here by yourselves? You know that isn't such a good idea. Most guys here are just looking for a hookup, and you aren't leaving much to the imagination with those dresses."

I giggled awkwardly and pulled my dress down as far as I could, but that only made more of my breasts spill out the top. I'm not even sure why I was here. Bars weren't me at all, but I wanted to erase the images from earlier out of my head.

"Do you think you could put in a good word for me with Lauren," Max asked. I could tell he was clearly nervous. He wasn't anything like Hunter, which is something Lauren needed.

"You know what? Sure."

After Lauren came off stage after performing her song and joined us, I kept throwing compliments at Max into the night. After taking a few shots, Lauren grabbed Max's hand and led him up the stairs, telling me my night was over.

I stood to leave, but a guy bumped right into me. "Oh, s**t. I'm sorry. I didn't hurt you, did I?"

Oh my god! This man was beautiful! If I had a checklist, he would check every one of my qualities off. I nervously shook my head. "No, not at all."

He placed his hand over his heart. "Thank goodness. A woman as beautiful as you shouldn't be letting some klutz like me run into you like that. I'm Adrian."

"Hi, Adrian," I giggled. "I'm Saige."

"Wow, Saige. You are beautiful. I could only assume that you are a werewolf by that cinnamon scent of yours, correct?"

I nodded again. "Yeah, that's right. You too, huh?" He nodded with a big flashy smile. "I'm sorry, but I was just getting ready to leave for the night. My friend sort of bailed on me."

Adrian grabbed my hand and spun me around. "Nonsense. You can't go anywhere until I've at least danced with the most beautiful woman here at least a few times."

His words had an effect on me that I wasn't really prepared for. Seeing as I had nothing else to lose, I grabbed his hand and followed him onto the dance floor.