Chapter 8 - A common enemy perhaps?
2348 Words
“ME?! You are the one always dragging us into the woods wanting to talk.” Emma pushed him away from her. “Stop talking to me!” Before Christiaan could get another word in, he saw her on the other side of the grounds talking to her mother. How was he ever going to reject her if she kept running away? He stomped back but was called onto the field for the next event.
“Next, we have some small field events. Christiaan, Emma, if you will, please step up and start us off.” Magnus grinned, making it painstakingly obvious what they were up to. “We are going to play some dodgeball. Each of you picks a team of ten people.”
“Dodgeball? Seriously?” Christiaan waved his hands in the air. Emma called Blaze, and he gave her a high five, making Christiaan growl when he saw their closeness.
“Erik.” Christiaan called.
“Tabatha.” Emma smiled at Christiaan, folding her arms.
“Circe.” He retaliated and the crowd “oohed” and “aahed”. The competition was on as they called out who they thought would put up a good fight. When their teams were full, Matt started the game. Of course, it didn’t take them long to take out most of their competition, leaving Erik, Tabatha, Christiaan, and Emma to fight it out.
Each throw was a near miss and people started making comments about Princess Emma not wanting to hurt her fragile mate, which infuriated him. Christiaan decided that he had had enough and took out Tabatha with a throw that knocked her wind out, forcing Erik to rush to her side.
“DUDE! Seriously!” Erik shouted.
“I’m sorry! I didn’t mean…” Christiaan’s eyes widened. *SMACK!* The ball hit him against his head, knocking him to the ground.
“And the winning team is Emma’s!” Matt burst out laughing. Emma felt the headache starting to form, but her team’s excitement at winning distracted her from her mates’ discomfort as they lifted her up in the air to celebrate.
“That was a foul ball!” Christiaan argued. “I wasn’t ready.”
“There was nothing wrong with her throw. You lost fair and square.” Matt patted him on his back. “Better luck next time.” He winked and walked off.
Watching Christiaan being teased by his pack members made her feel terrible, but thinking about taking him out made her feel much better after their little tryst in the woods. How long were they going to go on like that before he finally got to reject her, or would she have to do that for him?
Should she just reject him? The marriage had been agreed upon, but maybe she could convince her mother to change the agreement. Find him a match with one of the other wolf packs that could give him an heir of his own kind.
Why would he want her? She couldn’t have children. She wasn’t pure… Rolling her eyes as she thought about it. She was saving herself. Great idea that was! How were things going to work with a vampire princess living in a packhouse anyway? No, she had to find a way to convince her mother to stop this madness.
They hardly had time to relax before they were called out again. Seriously? This time around, they were matched up to play paintball. How the game got set up so fast she had no idea, but between the king and queens they had planned this out carefully.
All the games were physical, strategic, and meant to test their endurance. Were they trying to get them to fight? Could that be their plan? She took her position, but she could feel where he was on the training grounds.
The whistle blew, and their teams started running. She wasn’t trained for this and ducked when she heard the first shots go off. Peeking around the corner, she watched as one of her teammates took a hit and had to leave the field.
“I can smell you, Emma.” She heard Christiaan say softly enough that only she could hear it.
“Then come and get me.” She whispered and ran to hide behind a set of drums. How the hell was she going to get through this? Christiaan couldn’t feel her heart rate, which was driving him crazy. How did you keep your bond strong if you couldn’t hear your mate’s heartbeat? Stepping quietly around the corner from one obstacle to another.
“Emma.” He called out to her again. He knew he was probably giving away his position, but his team was taking care of the others. He made it clear that she was his. Sneaking around a tree, he quickly checked, but she wasn’t there, and he ducked just in time before one of her teammates’ bullets hit him in the side. He fired and hit the girl, forcing her out of the game.
“Come on, Emma. Let’s make this easy on each other.” He tried again, then heard leaves rustling on the ground. Sliding as fast as he could to behind the obstacle, he didn’t find her there and took a seat. He had made his way along one side of the camp and hadn’t found her yet, meaning she was moving around.
“Are you still there?” She called him.
“I thought you were out of the game, Emma.” Christiaan smiled.
“No, I’m still here.” She tried to sound confident, but it wasn’t working. He tracked her voice and jumped up and over another obstacle only to find she wasn’t there either. He heard the shot before it hit the ground right in front of him, and he ducked for cover.
“Dammit!” She swore. He made a run for it, but she was long gone from her spot.
“Sorry, you missed me there, Darlin. You will have to try again.” He closed his eyes and sniffed the wind, finding her scent.
“Who says I missed? Maybe I wanted to fire a warning shot.” Emma shouted. “I don’t miss.” *BANG* She felt the ball of paint hit her in the side when one of his pack members stood next to her and shot her. Christiaan felt the pain and growled, turning around to find out what had happened.
“MINE!” He shouted, running to her side and growling at the pack member to stand down. “Are you okay?”
“Get off me!” Emma hissed.
“That’s a win for Christiaan’s team!” Magnus announced. She shoved him to one side and walked back to the castle. Christiaan turned to his pack member telling him off for hurting his mate, then realized what he had just said. Storming off to find her.
“That idiotic, superficial, self-serving wolf!!!” Emma shouted while walking.
“I hope you aren’t talking about me.” He popped up beside her.
“Now why would you think that?” She stopped, asking him sarcastically.
“Oh, just a guess. Look, our parents have clearly got it into their heads that they want us to figure things out between us. So, why don’t we talk?” He sighed.
“We are talking, or haven’t you figured that out yet?” They stepped into the foyer of the castle on their way inside.
“Fine, you still haven’t told me why you find me disgusting. I mean, some girls actually find me attractive.” He shrugged.
“I don’t understand. Do you want me to find you attractive?” Emma frowned.
“No!” They walked in silence deeper into the castle.
“How are we going to do this?” Emma frowned.
“Do what?” He stopped, looked at her, and, felt at a loss for words before walking away.
“Okay…” She watched him walk away then rushed after him. “What was that for?”
“You didn’t want to talk.” He shrugged.
“Dammit! We were talking!!” Emma shouted.
“Do you want to get married?” He gripped her by her arms, shoving her up against the wall.
“Not to you!” She hissed.
“There you two are.” Christiaan’s mother interrupted their conversation. “They are calling you for the next event. What’s going on here?” Christiaan let go of her, stepping back. He looked at his mother and then stormed off.
“Wow! I’ve never seen him throw a tantrum like that.” Meg laughed.
“Come on, Emma.” She hooked her arm in Emma’s, and they walked back outside. “You know, my son doesn’t always know what’s best for him. None of you kids do. That’s when we, as your parents, step in and help you see what we see. Has he said anything to you about the wedding?”
“No, he keeps telling me that we need to talk, which we seem to keep doing but never do. If that makes any sense.” Emma sighed when they stepped out into the sunlight and walked back to the gardens. Lunch had been set up and everyone was hanging around happily talking when she saw him talking to his father and Magnus. Lucille and Pearl walked over to them, asking what had happened.
“Nothing happened!” Emma sighed.
“Emma. At this rate, nothing is going to happen. Do you want to be with him?” Lucille stopped her.
“No.” Emma wavered.
“That wasn’t very convincing.” Pearl laughed. Watching them talk and laugh, Christiaan felt the happiness bubble up inside his heart. Why? Why was he being punished like that? Even his damn mother was now smitten with her!
“Son, you have to decide at some point. You have a week, but it would be better for both of you if it was sooner rather than later.” Anthony patted him on the back.
“I know, dad.” He watched her flip her ponytail over her shoulder and how her body moved in her tight exercise clothes, feeling his need grow by the second.
“We are going into town after lunch. You comin?” Erik slid his arm around his new mate’s shoulders.
“No.” Christiaan frowned.
“Suit yourself, but we won’t be back for dinner. You will have to spend it with your parents and whoever is here.” Erik smiled.
“Fine.” Christiaan looked absentminded.
“Hey, your loss, dude.” Erik laughed. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah.” Christiaan couldn’t take his eyes off her. The way her body moved was intoxicating! “I need a cold shower!” He turned around and walked back into the castle with his shoulders hanging. “This isn’t going to cut it!”
“Come on, honey, we have a small family dinner planned for tonight. We had better get ready.” The ladies dragged her off to Lucille’s room.
“Not another one?” Emma rolled her eyes.
“Another what?” Meg asked, looking intrigued.
“Another dress…” Lucille laughed.
“That.” Emma pointed at her mother. “What is the new dress for? It can’t be for dinner tonight, surely.”
“Of course, it is sweetheart. Princesses always have to look royal.” Pearl grinned.
“Oh hell!” She fell back first, onto Lucille’s bed. Emma listened to them talk until the subject of mates and families came up, then she rolled her eyes. Why were they all so obsessed with getting mates together? If only she could just skip this entire week!
“I’m telling you, sweetheart. When you accept your mate, your entire life changes. If the two of you would just…” Lucille was interrupted while helping Emma into her new dress.
“Don’t say talk!” She pulled at the sleeves of the dress, and they ripped right off, leaving her gawking at herself in the mirror. “Cr@p!”
“Oh, honey!” Meg frowned.
“I actually think it looks better that way.” Lucille lifted her eyebrows.
“We’ve tried talking okay. It doesn’t work!” Emma put on a shoe. “Kissing we are good at… Talking not so much.” She put on the other shoe. In one measly sentence, she opened up a world of questions as they berated her to find out what happened. Hitting her with when, where, how all at once, looking as if they had just won the jackpot. She tried her best to keep up with their questions until her head was pounding.
“Enough! He doesn’t want me, so none of this matters.” She threw her hands in the air.
“Sweetheart!” Meg stepped up to her, rubbing her shoulders. “You are mistaken. If he didn’t want you, he would have rejected you already.”
“What? Why would you say that?” Emma frowned.
“Because I know my son. He might be conflicted, but he definitely likes you.” They laughed, making her blush, finally dragging her off to dinner. They stepped into one of the smaller dining rooms and the first person she saw was him. Walking in, she was dressed not in her signature black but in red this time, which brought out the red in her eyes. How was it possible that she could be so beautiful and so scary at the same time?
“You look beautiful.” Christiaan smiled involuntarily.
“Thank you.” Emma looked a little unsettled. He pulled the chair out and helped her get comfortable before taking the seat next to hers. They all sat down and dinner was served.
“Do you know what they are planning?” He whispered.
“No, but I can promise you… We aren’t going to be happy about it.”
- Writer
