My Exotic Mate

Partial Reunion

Roman

My future queen was hurt by the men I trusted. How could I let this happen? I sent my subordinate to retrieve her and bring to me unharmed. Instead, she was covered in bruises. She slept in a cell and I was so stupid for treating her like a prisoner instead of the Queen she’s about to become. I paced back remembering who I sent to retrieve her for me. Their names popped into my head and made sure to remember them vividly. I had my good friend, Dean, look into what happened that day. When he called and told me what happened, I was even more determined to make them pay.

I called a meeting to the throne room where I sat at the top of my throne. I summoned Mesai and one of my guards escorted her next to me. She had a confused look on her face, but I reassured her that everything would be okay. I straightened my shoulders as I stood. All of the men lined up in perfect formation.

“It was brought to my attention that my future queen was hurt prior to her arrival here and it seems like I have a few traitors within my kingdom. So, being the nice king that I am, I’m ordering you to step forward to confess and if you do, you may get a lighter punishment, but if I have to scope you out myself, then, I’ll kill you on the spot.”

“Roman,” Mesai whispered. “No, don’t kill them.”

“They don’t deserve to live after hurting you.”

“But-“ she started to speak.

“My love, there are going to be parts of me that you despise. This is one of them.” I turned my attention back to the knights and no one has stepped yet.

“So, no one has come forth?” I asked. It was nothing but silence. “Okay, I guess I’ll just have to kill you then.” I began to partly shift with just my hand forming it into a dragon’s claw. I stood from my throne and looked at Mesai. “Point them out to me.”

“What?” Her eyes widened.

“Point them out to me,” I said as calmly as I could.

“Roman,” she muttered. Damn, why did she have to say my name like that? My anger was quickly subsiding at the sound of her voice, but I needed to remain focused or I would scoop her up in my arms and take her to my bedroom.

“They can’t go unpunished.”

She sighed, “But killing them isn't the way.”

“It's the only way to ensure that they won’t hurt you again. They have to know that you are untouchable when you become Queen.” I needed her to know that I will not let anyone harm her.

“Don’t do it,” she said again.

I walked closer to her. “If I don’t, then they will not respect me as their king.”

With her shoulders straightened, she stood tall. Just like the perfect queen. “If you want respect then this isn’t the way to get it. I am a goddess and yeah they hurt me, but they couldn’t kill me. So stop this now or I’ll take back my consideration of being your Queen.”

I paused at her words. We are fated to be together. She wouldn’t dare reject me. Would she? My heart shattered at her words. Just the thought of not having her by my side hurts. I shifted back to my full human body. I didn’t want to take that chance. She gave me a small smile. I turned back to the men who stood in their positions.

“You may Thank you future queen for sparing your lives. Just know that if any harm comes to her, I will kill you without hesitation. You are to respect her and protect her with your lives. Do you all understand?”

“Yes, your highness.” They all in unison.

“Very well then, you may all return to your designated post,” I instructed. They all left the throne room and after the door closed, it was just Mesai and I. I turned to her to see her staring at me. I wanted to know what was going on in her head. I walked closer to her, thinking she was going to back away, but she didn’t even flinch. I didn’t want her to be afraid of me.

“Thank you,” she said.

“You know they may be seen as a weak King because of this,” I informed her. I was afraid that someone would use her against me because she is my weakness. When I found out I was mated to a Goddess, I thought it was some type of joke. I just knew I would be mated to another dragon. She was so exotic with her long red hair, gorgeous green eyes and high cheekbones. I knew she was a twin and had an older sister who was just as beautiful as she was. I was told that they were the most beautiful creatures and the daughters of the missing God,Tristan. They were descendants of the most powerful gods and goddesses that once existed. That’s why I blocked her powers. Not to make her powerless, but for her to hear me out before she tried to use it to hurt me.

“You are not a weak King. If you don’t see that now, then they never saw it to begin with.” Unexpectedly, she placed her hands in mine as she looked deeply at me. “I’m not sure how this arrangement works, but I get the mate thing. I really do, but I’m not sure if I’m ready to take on a huge responsibility.”

I understood how she felt. I was forced into this life. After my parents were killed, I had no choice. I never want her to feel forced, but that’s exactly what I did. I forced her to come here without giving her a choice. I knew I needed to do the right thing and give her a choice. I also knew what she would choose and that’s what I didn’t want.

“I get it. I’m sorry for forcing you to be here. You didn’t deserve that. I can be man enough to admit my wrongdoings. I care about you, Mesai and I had an unethical way of showing it. I took away all of the things that made you, you and now I’m going to give it back.” I closed my eyes and summoned a spell that unleashed the block that I had on her powers. Once I finished, I opened my eyes and saw her standing there. There was light back in her eyes and I knew right then that I made the right choice.

“Roman,” was all she managed to say. She had a confused look in her eyes. “I-“

“You have a choice to stand by me or you may walk out of this castle and reunite with your sisters.” My heart raced anticipating the heartbreak that was threatening to come. The rejection would hurt like hell, but it would be worth it.

“What if I want both?” She asked. “What if I wanted to be spontaneous and see where we go and reunite with my sisters?”

She managed to surprise me. I knew she despised me and I was sure she would’ve ran away. I knew I would have, but again, she took my breath away.

“My sisters mean everything to me, but for some reason, I’m starting to care about you and something is telling me that I should trust you.” She closed the space between us. “So, tell me, is my intuition wrong? Or is my mind playing tricks on me?”

As happy as I was to hear her say these words, I needed her to be sure. “I’m not always this nice. There is a side of me that I don’t want you to ever experience.”

“Roman, I’m not looking for Mr. Perfect. We all have our flaws. I definitely have mine. Just promise me that you’ll do anything to not hurt me.”

“Mesai,” I breathed out. Our lips were mere inches apart. So close, but not exactly touching. “I can’t promise that. I am the dragon king of Zounia. I have to make choices that’s best for the kingdom and you may not agree to those choices. All of them will not be good ones and I don’t want to taint you.”

“So I guess this is where I tell you that I’m already tainted. I may be a goddess, but I’m not perfect.”

A deep growl escaped my throat as she placed her hand on my cheek. I wanted her so bad and as time passed it became more difficult for me to contain myself. Everything in me screamed stop, but my head was moving forward to meet her lips. She was calm as I felt out of control. I’ve never met anyone who could do that to me. My hands found their way to her waist and hers were in my hair as I lost all of my senses.

Mesai

I tasted the spiciest flavor of him. A small moan came from my lips as I deepened the kiss. I never thought I would be here kissing Roman, the man I once despised. How can his kisses be so welcoming to my body? The man who sent his men to capture me, was kissing me! Oh it was so painful, not in a way that would make me want to scream for help but in a way where I craved more of it. His firm, but soft warm lips hovered over mine as if it was his lifeline. Was I suffering from Stockholm Syndrome? Was I falling for my captor? Was he really my captor or did he really believe that we are fated? So many questions blazed through my mind. My heart was racing and I knew he felt it. I needed to stop this before we went further. As hard as it was for me, I pulled away panting and turning away from him. I squeezed my eyes tightly.

“Rosie,” he called.

I looked over my shoulder, unable to fully look at him. “I want to see my sisters tomorrow. Find them and send them here.” I knew that if I turned around, I would run into his arms and there would be no going back. I needed to have control.

“Okay, I’ll try to find them.”

“Thank you. I’m going to go to bed.”

I tossed and turned all night thinking of him. This is hard. Maybe I should’ve just left and went to my sisters, but he said that he’ll bring them to me. I shall see.

The next morning, I woke up and showered before joining Roman for breakfast. I can admit that his chef is an amazing cook. I looked forward to today. I just hope he doesn’t let me down. We acted as if nothing happened, as if that kiss didn’t happen. I observed him as he sat dressed in dark slacks with a white button down shirt. His hair was neatly trimmed and slicked back, showing off his clean shaven face. His skin had no imperfections besides the scar right under his eye. How did I not notice it before? I wanted to ask him if it was from the war. I looked at my food before taking another bite and then moved the plates once I was finished.

“How was your food?” He asked.

“It was fine,” I shrugged.

“That’s good.” He paused. “I will be out of the castle today.”

My eyes went to him. “Why? What about me?”

“You’ll stay here. Feel free to roam around. Dean will be here to watch over you until I come back.”

I was annoyed. I didn’t need a damn babysitter. “Absolutely not. I’m not a kid, Roman.”

“I know that, but your safety is important.”

I rolled my eyes at him. “I’m sure I can handle myself. I don’t need a babysitter.”

He had the audacity to smirk. What the hell was so funny? I looked at him puzzled. He scooted his chair closer to me. “I know you don’t, but think of Dean as your bodyguard. He will keep you safe on my account just until I come back.”

“Where are you going?”

“To find your sisters. I would’ve sent one of my men, but after what happened to you, I wouldn’t dare put them in that situation.”

Awww, how could I still be mad at him for leaving me. He was leaving for me. He knew being with my sisters would make me happy. I couldn’t even respond.

“See, so I’m leaving you just to leave you.” He leaned in and surprisingly kissed my cheek. “I’ll see you later.”

Roman has been gone all day. Not saying that I miss him or anything, but having some type of interaction with him made me feel less lonely. He assigned Dean to stand outside of my room to make sure no one enters when he’s not around. I was mated to a dragon king. He was waiting for my answer and I still wasn’t sure. I walked around the bedroom admiring the paintings on the wall, but it was a particular one that stood out to me. As I went to touch it, the entire wall moved, opening another room. My curiosity got the best of me and I walked in. It was dark at first and then a small light came on as I continued walking. There were books stacked along a wall covered in dust, but I was still intrigued. Maybe there was something for me to learn about Dragons and that will help me better understand Roman.

One particular book caught my eye. It was a hard cover black book with a dragon scale texture and iridescent colors. A dragon symbol sat in the center of the book with no title on the cover. I opened the book and it was written in a different language. Although I didn’t understand the writing, one thing did stand out. Roman’s name. I knew that this book was a key to knowing about his life. I held the book and left the secret library room. I hid the book under my pillow before the door opened. Roman smiled at me as he entered the room. I sat up and flashed a smile back to him. “You’re back.”

“Yes I am. Did you miss me?”

“No,” I answered. I think he knew that wasn’t the truth.

He frowned “No? Wow, is that how you treat the man who went through hell for you?” After he said that, a very familiar figure walked in. I immediately jumped up and ran to her.

“Miren! Oh my God!” Tears ran down my face. I couldn’t believe I was actually hugging my twin.

“I missed you so much!” She sniffled.

“I missed you too. You look amazing.”

“Me! Look at you. This castle is huge! It suits you.” We both laughed before I noticed Mari wasn’t here. I tilted my head.

“Where’s Mari?”

“Mesai,” she inhaled and exhaled. I knew she was about to deliver some bad news.

“What is it? What’s wrong Miren?”

She stood there with a sad look on her face which only increased my need to know.

“She,” she started. “She passed out. I think her dark side has surfaced.

“What? We need to go! I need to see her.” As I attempted to leave, Miren grabbed my arm.

“She’s still sleeping. She has been for a few days now. We’re waiting for her to wake up. Kai doesn’t know about this.”

“Kai, her husband?” I asked. She nodded her head and I just shook my head. “What are we supposed to do?”

“Mari made me promise to kill her if Risa appears.”

What the hell? There’s no way that she would be that stubborn.

“No, we will not kill her,” I shouted.

“I know, but-“

“But what, Miren! There has to be another way. We just can’t kill her.”

“I know and we’re not. We need to see what Risa wants and we need to be prepared.” Miren sat on the bed and I joined her. I’m glad she’s here, but also sad about Mari. We usually need her and she always protects us and now it’s our turn to protect her.

“Okay, so what do we do?” I wondered.

“We need to find out how powerful Risa is? Mari is still unconscious but we aren’t sure if she would be her true self or if Risa would take over.”

“So in other words, we wait?”

“We don’t have a choice, but it’s going to be fine. Let’s talk about you. Mari and I were looking for you. Your friend found me with the pack and asked me to come see you.”

I tilted my head. “Yeah, it’s a long story. Roman said that we fated to be together. When he sent his men to get me, they wasn’t suppose to harm us, but two of them betrayed him and he wanted to kill them.” I didn’t tell her about the kiss. I still didn’t know what it meant for us. I didn’t agree to be his queen, yet.

“I don’t blame him,” she blurted.

“Miren!”

“I’m dead serious. I guess all of this time we’ve been living in our peaceful harmony when the world can be really cruel.” She had a sad look in her eyes.

“Miren? What’s wrong?”

“Everything, our sister, Malik, just everything.” She laid on my shoulder.

Malik?

I squinted my eyes as I tried to remember who he was. “Who is Malik again?”

“Kai’s brother. We grew close and now I have feelings for him. The problem is I know he may feel something for me too, but what if his true mate comes? I would just be his mistress and I’m not that type of girl.”

“That’s a lot. I’m sorry about you and Mari.”

She shrugged, “It’s okay, we need to focus on helping Mari.” She was right. There were tons of books in that library. There may be something that would help us. Besides, I'll talk with Roman about what’s going on. I will not sit in the castle while my sisters are going through trauma.