Love Me, Please

Chapter Fifty-Three

*Mikhail's POV*
By the end of the tour, I'm carrying Cassie on my back. I forgot just how big our house is. My father left right before we started the tour.
"Mikhail, can we talk? Privately?" Kirill asks as we walk up to the door that leads to my wing.
I frown and set Cass down. I glance at her and then back down the hallway.
"Sure," I spin Cass towards the door and open it, "You can go whoever you'd like in there. Have fun exploring."

I kiss the top of her head and gently push her in, closing the door behind her. Kirill and I walk away, towards his office. It's the closest one to my wing. We walk in and he sighs, pouring him and I a glass of whiskey. I take mine and take a sip.
"I'm sorry. For not doing anything. I wanted to, every fucking time but I think they knew that. I think they intentionally did things that I had to attend to as the next in line for king," He frowns, downing his drink and pouring more. He continues to stare down at his glass.

"I know. I heard them talking about it once. I don't blame you, truly," I smile, putting my hand on his shoulder.
He looks up with tears in his eyes. I immediately put our cups down and pull him into my arms. He starts crying, "It's so fucking much, Mikhail. I don't want to be king. Dad's amazing, how the fuck am I supposed to be as great as him?"

"You'll be amazing, Kirill, don't fucking doubt yourself," I pat his back, "Ask for help. I know you think you can't but you can. I will always be there to help you."
"Thank you, Mikhail. You deserve to be king."
I scoff, "I could never. I like my normal life style."
"Please, rub it in," Kirill chuckles, "Okay, you should get back to your mate."
"How did you know?"

"I'm going to be king someday. I can't not know when my brothers found his mate."
I smile, "Yeah... good point. I'll see you at dinner?"
"Absolutely."
I leave and head back to my wing. I see the door open and frown.

"Didn't Mikhail take your virginity without you even knowing him?" I hear Ivan's voice.
I walk into my kitchen to see Ivan and Anton crowding my printsessa.
"Get out," I growl.
They barely spare me a glance.
"I'd never do that. I'd treat you so much better," Anton smiles.

She looks uncomfortable, "I mean no disrespect, but I don't like either of you. I'm perfectly happy with Miky and no one can change that."
"You'll chance your mind," Ivan smirks before walking past me with Anton.
She crosses her arms and glares daggers at them, "What disrespectful punks."
I chuckle and close the door, "I agree baby... Maxim's itching to get out."

She frowns, "I love you both and what not, but I need you right now Mikhail. I can't keep putting up with this shifting all the time... ew that sounds so selfish... I just mean, I get attached to whoever is out and then the other shifts and I feel bad because they don't have all of me right now, as the previous one still does but then I get attached to the current one until they shift again and it repeats..."
I stare at her.

Shit, I never realized how difficult this might be for her, Maxim sighs.

Me either. I was just so relieved that she finally knew the truth. We need to be more careful and think about her more often, I frown.

I agree.

"I'm so sorry baby. We were both just so happy you finally knew the truth. I thought it gave me the right to just shift whenever I pleased but you're right. I don't have that right. Of course it's draining for you. I understand that, I do, and we'll be much better about it from now on. How about only when you want it? Neither of us will be offended, I promise," I say picking her up and putting her on the kitchen counter.

She nods, "I like that..."
"Good. It's about dinner time and we have to have it with my brothers..."
She groans, "Yay," She mumbles sarcastically, "The only one I like is Kirill."
"Same."
She walks into my closet and changes into my sweats and a hoodie, "They keep hitting on me. Are they that stupid? Like I'm clearly, happily taken."

I smile, she doesn't know why they're doing this, but I do know she's loyal as fuck. We head down to dinner and I see my brothers face scrunch up slightly at Cassie's outfit choice. I place her next to Kirill and then I sit on her other side.
"Jasmine, hurry with the food, would you?" Ivan calls into the kitchen.
"You could be nicer about it," Cassie rolls her eyes.
Ivan scoffs, "She's hired to work not be my friend."

Cassie mimics him, "I'm sorry. I thought you were stupid and normally treated people like a different thing than they actually are."
I grin and rub her thigh, proud of her.
Ivan glares at her, "Call me stupid again and watch what happens to humans like you."
"Big stupid asshole," Cassie taunts.
Ivan lunges across the table but I pull Cassie out of the way just in time. Kirill is up and in front of Ivan, holding him back, in seconds.

"What do you see in this one?!" Ivan yells at me.
"She's my fucking mate. If you dare make a move to attack her again, I won't hesitate to kill you," I glare at him.
"He's you're fucking brother!" Anton yells.
"Were you yelling that at him when he was abusing Miky?! Were you yelling that at him when he was taking Miky's girlfriends!? Were you yelling that at him... when he was hitting on me?! You can't tell Mikhail, Ivan's his brother if you weren't telling Ivan, Mikhail's his brother," Cassie stands up for me.

Anton shuts up quickly.
"You're right, princess, we shouldn't have been hitting on you. We definitely shouldn't have been hurting our brother. Our little brother at that. I'm truly sorry for the way I've treated you since you got here. I hope you both can forgive me and we can all restart," Nikolai apologizes, and he never apologizes. I know he's being sincere.

"Forgiven," I say immediately, rubbing Cassie's back. She doesn't say anything, trusting me.
Ivan huffs and walks out of the room with Anton.
"We'll be retiring to my wing for the night," I grimace.

The other two nod. Nikolai walks up to us, his hand outstretched to me. I grab it and shake it. He slowly opens his arms for a hug from Cass. She gives him one and then retreats to me. On the walk back to my wing, Cassie speaks up.
"Why'd you forgive Nikolai so quickly?" She asks, looking up at me.

"He never apologizes. He's never teen faked an apology. I knew he was being sincere," I smile down at her.
"I knew it was a good reason..."
"I'm glad you trusted me. Giving him a hug after everything he's done, represents trust."

"Do all hugs mean that?"
"No, but after what he did and how he asked for forgiveness, that means your trust and forgive him. The hand shake between us means the same."