Revenge, Rejection and Regrets

FIVE

Prince Leroy

I do not enjoy parties much, especially if it is being held in my honor, but this has got to be one of the worse I ever had to deal with. When I whisked Lorde out of the party, I gave him serious warning but that was not enough for me. Lorde is the closest to me amongst my brothers, maybe because he is directly after me and he is a great guy. I love him so much, but I couldn’t take him talking to her like that, not my mate.

He immediately apologized because he knew I was mad and everyone knows how bad my anger could be. I figured I was over reacting and he probably thinks I just like the maid but that is not the case.

I know most werewolves have mates, but I never thought I would find mine, and she just happens to be a servant? Something about her was just different. She was gorgeous, like mouth-dropping gorgeous, and even in that uniform, she looked sexy as f**k.

I was so disappointed when I returned back to the party and she was gone. My first instinct was to find her, my wolf was restless and so was I but Kimberly easily plastered herself on me and my dad had to introduce us to the crowd. A whole lot of activities followed, but I couldn’t get my mind off her.

The first opportunity I got, I informed Elizabeth that henceforth, she was to work in my chambers. She looked at me in a weird way but didn’t object. I’ve had a thing with a few of the servants that worked for me but most times, they threw themselves at me. I have never asked for any of them but there is no way I’m going to let her go.

I wanted to get to know her and hours after all our guests had gone, she was the only thing that was still on my mind. A separate room had been set up for Princess Kimberly. She wanted to move in with me immediately but that was against tradition. It was still a few months to the wedding and until then, she would be staying in her own room.

Playing the gentle man role and smiling all through the party was hard but I did it anyway. Kissing Kim had all been a part of the show. We had to make it look real, like we were in love, but she knks how I feel about the whole arrangement. Kimberly had kept on ranting about how magnificent the wedding is going to be and how she was going to look beautiful besides me as the queen of Auradon.

Her father emphasized on it too and I had to act like I was proud of her but Kim knows I do not like her one bit. I had a duty to my kingdom which was the only reason I was going through with the marriage. Yes, I never thought I was going to marry for love but I don’t want to live the rest of my life condoning a woman that had no mind of her own.

I couldn’t bring myself to tell anyone that I had found my mate, not even Lorde or Henry who are the two closest people to me. She looked so innocent, and sweet and mere thinking of her got me smiling from ear to ear. What the hell is wrong with me?

I adjusted myself on my bed for the nth time and tried to force my eyes close but I only ended up picturing her face in my mind’s eye. It was way past midnight already and the whole household was asleep, everyone except me.

I grabbed a robe and stepped out of my chambers and went down to the bar to grab a drink. To my surprise, Lorde is seated at the bar all by himself, sipping from his glass.

I take a glass and pour myself a drink.

“You should be in the arms of your soon to be bride, ” he joked. Lorde knows I do not fancy Kimberly in any way which is weird considering my history with girls.

I shook my head and sat on the stool across from him “And what the hell are you doing awake?” I said dryly.

“Just can’t sleep man. You know sometimes I envy you, ” he says. This is not the first time Lorde would bring that to my notice.

“You say that very often, ” I told him with a mock smile.

“Because it’s true. You have everything. All the girls would kill to be in your bed. You have Kimberly crawling at your feet as well as many other Princesses that are more than willing to take her position if anything goes wrong. Everyone respects and fears you. Plus, you are a really good man but you just like to keep people at arms length. I wonder if we would have been friends if I was not your brother, ” he says.

This time, I did laugh out loud.

“I’m serious man. You need to loosen up a bit you know. I know there’s a lot of responsibilities on you and people know how fearless and strong you are, maybe that’s why everyone is always walking on eggshells around you, ” he said.

Lorde did have a point. Not many people could be this truthful around me, not even my father the king.

“I’m the future king Lorde, ” I reminded him, not like he needed any reminder though “That’s not something you or any other person would understand,”

He shrugged “You need to let yourself love Kimberly. I believe a woman could tame you,”

I laughed again “Kimberly? Surely you must be joking. There’s no love between us and there never would be. You know my kind of women bro, she’s not it, ” 

“You like them tough right, just like me, ” he grinned.

“You already know it and it’s so hard to find a lady that doesn’t jump at my every word. Am I really that strict?”

“Oh yes you are, ” Lorde laughed and I gave him a stern look. “See what I mean, ” he added.

“That was supposed to be a joke, ” I said with a little sarcasm.

“Yes I know but did you see your face? If I wasn’t your brother, I would be on my knees begging for your mercy, ” 

“Indeed, ” I smirked. Okay, maybe I was a little too serious but I have been that way for a long time. Losing our mother at a tender age, we had no one but ourselves. Dad hardly ever had time for us and I was more like a father and mother to my four younger brothers. 

“I know you like the girl, I kinda like her too, ” Lorde said and the smile on my face fell off instantly. I knew who he was referring to and I could already feel blood rushing to my head.

“What girl?” I asked, trying to calm myself down. He better not be referring to my mate.

“The blonde, ” he chuckled. Surely he must have noticed I was no longer laughing “She’s quite pretty and –”

“Shut up, ” I growled at him.

He started at me with large eyes “what? she’s just a servant. Do you have it that bad for her?”

I acted on impulse. In just a second, I had Lorde by the neck, pinned against the wall, glaring at him like I was going to kill him any second now.

He struggled with my hands on his neck before I dropped him roughly to the ground. Lorde was no match for me when it comes to strength. I haven’t met anyone who is. 

He coughed and staggered to his feet but I wasn’t sorry. I have gotten into a few arguments with my brother but we have never had to fight before. He respected me just like everyone else.

“What the hell?” he growled at me when he was back on his feet “why-” he stopped short when his eyes met mine and he saw the rage in them.

“Wait, don’t tell me, ” he stared at me in shock.

“You will stay away from her, ” I ordered him.

“She’s your mate!” he exclaimed at the same time but I didn’t respond. I ran my fingers through my hair in frustration and grabbed my drink from the table.

“What are you talking about? ” I tried to deny it but who was I kidding? I wanted to scream from the roof of the castle and let the whole world know she is mine but I couldn’t possibly do that.

“That explains why you acted that way at the party. You never care about any of the servants but you were ready to pounce on me when she poured that drink on me and I reacted, ” he goes on. I didn’t reply. “Tell me, ” he demanded and spun me around.

“You must not mention this to anybody, ” I warned him.

“But this is a good thing. Look I’m so sorry, I had no idea she was your mate. I wouldn’t have made any advances towards her if I had known, ” he says and my eyes darkened at his last statement.

“You did what?” I snapped.

“Calm down, ” he backed away from me. “I told her I liked her but-”

I took a step closer to him. What the hell. Lorde took two steps back.

“I’m sorry man. I didn’t know she was your mate, ” Lorde apologized again and I knew I just had to calm down. I didn’t know anything about her, not even her name and yet she affected me so much. 

I was never a jealous man, maybe I didn’t like to share my women but it was just a thing of pride. I could care less about them once I was done with them. I had just set my eyes on her for about a minute and here I was, willing to tear my junior brother apart because of her. 

“Of course you didn’t know, ” I unclenched my fists and sat down again. I was still mad, so mad.

“But this is supposed to be good. I would give anything to have a mate myself, ” Lorde confessed.

“That’s the difference between the both of us Lorde. You are not the one being forced to marry a dumb Princess. It makes it a whole lot harder knowing I have a mate, ” I opened up to him. Lorde may have upset me but he’s a great guy and he apparently didn’t know. That didn’t make me feel any better though.

He was silent for a while before he finally spoke “How do you feel ‘bout it?”

“How the hell am I supposed to feel?” I said in frustration.

“I think you need her close to you, ” he suggested.

“I know that.  She would be working here from tomorrow, ” I informed him “I don’t think it’s a good idea especially since Kimberly is around but I can’t help it,”

“Man, I don’t even know what to say,” he leaned back in his chair. 

We heard footsteps approaching. Reign seemed to be shocked to see us sitting at the bar. He takes the sit next to me and grabs himself a drink.

Reign is our younger brother. He was born after Lorde and they are about the same height. I’m two years older than him and Lorde is a year older. My mum was a really strong woman and Reign looks more like her. Myself and Lorde take after our father in looks.

“What are you two talking about?” he raised his brow.

“You should be asleep, ” I told him.

“Well, I can’t sleep, ” he sipped from his glass.

“Just telling Leroy how lucky he is to have such a fine bride, ” Lorde shrugged. 

Reign frowned his face, “whatever, ” he dismissed the topic and starts to talk about something dad did to him.

I just watched him complain but half the time, I wasn’t even listening.