The Princess And The Wolf

How we made a deal

I took a very long minute to compose myself and recover from the shock of Lucas' hand on my behind. Not to mention the delicious sparks that were only amplified by the light s******g. Still fighting with the conflicting thoughts running through my head, I got into my car with the intention of driving back to campus and pretending like this day never happened.

I push the start button and the engine immediately responds by making a coughing sound before going dead. Maybe this car really does need a mechanic. I push the start button again and the engine starts as normal, allowing me to move out of the parking space and head towards the street. I have to stop and give way for another car to pass before I can get on the main road, but my lovely new car just goes silent. I frown and hit the gas pedal again, but the darn things won't move. I look at my dashboard to see that the engine has switched off.

Bloody hell! I push the stupid button again but this nothing nothing happens. I push again and again, more like hitting the thing, but my car won't start.

I jump and scream my lungs out, hitting my head on the steering wheel in the process, as a teensy bit of wee nearly escaped my bladder. s**t! I yell out again glaring at the tall figure standing awfully close to my window.

"Did I startle you?" Lucas asks with obviously fake concern.

"Did I startle you?" I mimic back in a whiny voice. "What do you think?" I yell, pouring my frustrations about the car onto him. He just gives me a glare and motions me to open the door. I do, and he pops his head inside, crouching awkwardly and getting all up in my personal space, surely just so he can mess with my senses again and further annoy me.

"You do realise you need fuel for the car to actually run, right?" Embarrassed, I peak at the lower right corner of my dashboard and see the tiny arrow angrily set on empty. Well f**k, I blame Patrick once more. Who the hell buys a new car and doesn't fill up the tank? Surely there's like a rule or something for this to be the first thing you do.

"You know what, I don't have an answer for that." I say in resignation.

"Come on, get out of the car." I comply, not knowing what else I can do at this point. Lucas blows a short whistle and 2 guys come out of the garage and walk towards us.

I recognise one as the one that Lucas almost beat up earlier, and the other as the silent, definitely not a normal human, guy that was working on that old car.

The scrawny human got behind the wheel of my brand new car, and despite the fact that I hate the thing, I still don't like the idea of him getting motor oil all over my seats and dashboard, but I keep quiet nonetheless. I realised quickly that I'm in no position to be fussy right now, and I gladly come down off my high horse accepting the help.

Lucas and the other man started pushing the car out of the way and with the help of the human boy steering, they managed to get it somehow parked in line with the other cars there. I'm starting to become aware that it is now late afternoon and that I'm quite far from campus, when Lucas comes back next to me and asks me to wait a few minutes. I just nod. It's not like I can just go anywhere.

It didn't take long for that loud engine revving sound to come closer and closer to me, and I already knew exactly what it meant. He wants to take me back to campus, in this ridiculous car. I don't even want to know how Laura might react to seeing us arrive together.

"Hop in princess." Lucas grins widely as he leans over the passenger side to open the door for me from the inside. "The guys will sort out petrol for your car and Andy will drive it back to campus for you." I look up and see Andy, or the silent guy, as I have previously named him, giving me an unsurprisingly silent nod while dangling my car keys. Great, just great!

Since my brain is clearly fried by the scorching touch Lucas had on my ass, I can't come up with a better idea, so I give Andy a small smile and get inside the death trap that Lucas calls a car.

"Where to?" He asks like he is a taxi driver or something.

"The underworld." I reply with an answer as ridiculous as his question. He just chuckles and starts driving. I let a small smile grace my lips also. I shouldn't be thinking about this, but seeing him smile and hearing his laugh makes me happy, and that's really bad.

The car is quite silent once you are inside it. Maybe someone should tell Lucas just how loud this car is for everyone that is not riding in it, but it may be smart for that person not to be me.

"I feel like we got off on the wrong foot and we need to fix that." Lucas speaks after a few minutes of silence.

"Yeah, let's start over. I'm sure it will be different this time." I say sarcastically, because we're had this conversation before.

"I mean it. I want to get to know you." I detected only sincerity in his words and that tugs at my heartstrings.

"We can't." I say while whimpering, because my heart broke a little when I said that out loud. He must have noticed my pain, because it clearly matches his.

Nobody gets a second chance. If you are blessed with a soulmate, you have someone made just for you to hold your hand until the day one of you takes his last breath, but if you lose your soulmate young, or never meet them, or... you get rejected, that's it. A lot of the subspecies that are granted with soulmates and for various reasons aren't together, they pursue a relationship in the same way as normal humans do. And I didn't think that was the end of the world, at least not until I met Lucas and understood just how strong the mate bond really is.

"You've mentioned before that you are here for a year only?" Lucas speaks again. I'm not sure if I did mention it to him, but I know I told Laura.

"Yes, after that I'll go to a University in the Vampire Kingdom." I hoped that he wouldn't ask me why.

"This is my final year here, after I'm finished I'll go back to the Werewolf Kingdom and take over as Alpha of my pack." I looked at him slightly confused.

"You don't know much about werewolves, do you?" His tone is a bit amused, but why would I? I know the basics, and that's more than enough.

"I'm an Alpha heir, and after I finish my studies here, I'll have to relieve my dad of his duties." He chuckles a bit when talking about his dad, and I join him, because I truly understand the feeling. My parents can't wait to be relieved of their Royal duties.

"So you have like mini kingdoms inside the Werewolf Kingdom?" I feel like slapping myself when I hear just how ridiculous that sounded, but still, I'm genuinely curious. I obviously know that they have packs, but I didn't realise that Lucas might be the Alpha of one. As far as I know Alphas are the strongest and most powerful of wolves, so a little sense of pride blooms in my heart knowing that my mate is one of them.

After Lucas finishes laughing and wipes away a runaway tear, I hear him clear his throat.

"We have small or large communities called packs, and each of them is ruled by an Alpha. Obviously we still answer to the King of Alphas, which is the Werewolf King, also known as my uncle, but we mostly have a free hand to rule our packs the way we see fit." He chuckles and I deadpan. His uncle? His a f*****g Royal as well? Oh s**t, this is worse that I thought!

Another long silence engulfed us, as I thought about why we have been paired to be mates and what will happen to both of us once we sever our bond, but I can't bring myself to tell him that I'm the next Vampire Queen.

Deciding that it's best to change the subject, I remembered the silent guy, or Andy, and I took the chance to ask Lucas about him.

"So... Andy..." I begin, curiosity oozing through my pores.

"Andy?!" Lucas copies me with that small grin playing on his lips. I hate it when he's playing dumb.

"Yeah, Andy. What subspecies is he? I couldn't tell exactly, but I'm pretty sure he's not just human, I can sense he's something else." I explain the obvious.

"He isn't just human, but I have no idea what he is." Seeing my look of confusion and utter surprise he chuckles and continues. "Listen princess, out here in the human world, you can't just go round and introduce yourself as a vampire, or werewolf or witch or whatever you are. Not even when you somehow manage to figure out that there's another person like you in the crowd. You just ignore it, and mind your own business, because you know what? Most supernaturals, or subspecies of humans, can't distinguish you from a normal human, so it's best and safest to keep your origins to yourself. Unlike you and my sister who practically said which subspecies you are from before even saying your names." He shakes his head and I take a moment to really think about that.

I know the rules, I know that Lucas is absolutely right, and what he said makes complete sense, because that exactly what my parents told me before I left, and what Patrick is telling me every single day, yet I can't help my need to figure things out. OK, so I'm nosey, sue me!

"A year." Lucas speaks after what seemed to be ages in silence.

"What?" I snap out of my thoughts and look at Lucas expecting him to explain what it is that he meant.

"Let's give this a shot, enjoy our bond while we're out here. Princess, let's have this year to be together and when it comes to an end, we also.... we end it. We can be like normal humans, say we're dating, nobody needs to know what we are that we have a mate bond."

Is he being serious? That's incredibly reckless and stupid and it will surely blow up in our faces, but then, why do I just want to scream out 'yes'? Why is every fibre of my being aching to agree to this dangerous deal? I didn't even notice that the car is now parked in front of my dorm and that I should get out before I make this weird.

"Fine one year, after that we both go our separate ways." I reply and Lucas beams at me with a huge smile. It makes me chuckle and sport an equally toothy grin. Oh, this is so going to come back and bite us in the ass, hard!