The Princess And The Alpha *Excerpt Only*

Town Touring

In the morning I woke up to gentle kisses peppering my back and I instantly arched into them. The opened mouth kisses felt heavenly as they moved in between my shoulder blades, giving me goose bumps all over my body. I let out a tiny sigh of contentment as I pulled the blankets closer to me, breathing in the sweet scent of my mate. Then it dawned on me that I was only in my bra and panties, the majority of my skin blatantly exposed to this man I barely knew, the man who happened to be both my mate and my father's worst enemy. I promptly curled away from Ryan and sat up, ignoring the head rush I received.

"What are you doing it?" Ryan asked groggily.

His hands immediately tried to grab me and pull me back to him. Part of me wanted nothing more than to sigh and curl back up against him, let him hold me as tight and as close as he wanted to. I had to admit that sleeping next to him had given me the best sleep of my life. I felt more refreshed than I had in years. But I got up anyway and began pulling my scattered clothes back on, trying to keep my cheeks from turning scarlet. Yes, I had a moment of weakness, but I reminded myself that I couldn't be swayed anymore. I needed to be like my mother, a tough, independent leader.

"Adeline, come on." Ryan protested, now sounding much more awake and unhappy. "It's only noon, we haven't even gotten seven hours of sleep, get your butt in this bed."

"I'm going home." I said stiffly, tugging on my riding pants. Noon at the palace meant lunch in a beautiful gown, regardless of how little sleep I got. But I suppose there would be no proper lunch today, everyone would be busy looking for me, and that thought made me feel awfully guilty.

"Yeah? And how are you going to get there?" Ryan challenged, rolling on to his stomach. He looked smug and it made me furious. How could he be so defiant and arrogant when I was the princess, soon to be queen? Didn't he understand the severity of our situation?

But I took a deep breath and told myself that I would not let this escalate into a yelling match again. We were both adults and we were mates. I didn't want our relationship to turn sour before I even knew where I wanted to take our relationship. I could not be happy or a queen without him by my side.

"I can run in wolf form, it'll take me a while, but I will get there. Plus, you said one of your men was riding my horse, which means Poison should be close by. I can ride him home, so don't threaten me with holding my horse hostage." I warned.

"But your poor horse is going to be tired, you should give him some rest, he's only been resting for an hour or so now, judging by how sweaty he was when he got caught he was pretty exhausted to begin with and that was before someone else rode him for a few more hours." Ryan said nonchalantly, "So, you're free to go obviously, and you are more than welcome to leave your beloved horse in my care."

I gritted my teeth at his words, but knew he was right about my horse being exhausted. I didn't trust him with Poison, not at all. I had been beyond impressed when he had said someone had ridden him. But there was very little chance that anyone in this little pack knew anything about horse care. And what if Poison spooked and went wild? Would they know how to calm him down or would he simply end up breaking something or hurting himself? Also, I wouldn't deem myself to be a very good owner if I just left my horse with strangers.

"So, what is it going to be, Princess?" Ryan asked, sliding out of bed and standing up.

My eyes snapped down to his bare stomach and boxers, but I quickly lifted my eyes back to his face, furious, embarrassed, but also defeated. Unfortunately, looking at his blue eyes didn't help me get my bearings and my words came out weak. "Fine, but I leave tonight with no excuses coming from you, do you understand?"