A Royal Pain

chapter ten

My heart dropped into my stomach while my wolf's heartbeat headed a little more south.

Mate is jealous. He cares. Go mark him.

Shut up, I told her. Practically everything Mason did turned her on. During meals, it was the way his tongue touched the fork. The way he met my eyes during strategy meetings. Especially the way he protected me made my wolf fill my head with thoughts late at night.

Back to current matters, Mason looked ready to kill. His eyes were nearly black with rage. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I recognized that this was a strange level of anger for the minimal contact Elon and I had. What else had happened to Mason today?

Stupidly enough I didn't drop my hand immediately. Mason quickly took care of that by striding towards me and lifting me into the air. I was nowhere near overweight but the ease at which he tossed me over his shoulder surprised me. Luckily the room was mostly cleared, except for Brian and Daniel who were watching with wide eyes.

I glanced up at them. "Any help here, guys?" My wolf definitely wasn't complaining about the view of Mason's ass but neither of us like being manhandled.

My mate grunted in response. "Don't talk to them."

"Has anybody ever told you that speaking to a mated man doesn't equate having se-"

Before I could finish my sentence, he slapped my ass. We were already halfway up the stairs, otherwise, I would never live that moment down. My mouth opened and shut like a goldfish. Who did this man think he was? I'm the princess for God's sake, he can't just tote me around.

My thoughts were interrupted by Mason tossing me onto a bed. His bed. "You know what," I exclaimed. "I'm getting tired of this. Either mark me or not, because my wolf can't put up with this unless she's getting thoroughly fuck-".

I was cut off by Mason putting his lips on mine. The kiss was feverish and feral, just what I needed after weeks of no one but a wolf to share these thoughts with.

His tongue met mine fiercely. He devoured my lips and I was all too ready to let him. My hands traveled up to pull on his hair while his went down to my waist. Everywhere he touched me was engulfed in flames. Mason pulled me off of the bed only to slam me against a wall, which did wonders for my wolf's dirty mind. My legs wrapped around his waist which was good because they probably couldn't hold me up anyway.

His lips broke away from mine to trace a path to my neck. They hovered over my pulse point; the place where all my blood pumped, for him and him alone. As his tongue neared closer to the crook of my neck I felt his canines slowly lengthen.

"M-Mason," I groaned. His teeth met a certain spot and I knew. Knew this is where he'd be marking me for the world to see.

"This. Is. Where," he breathed in between kisses. "I'll. Mark. You."

Finally, my wolf howled. Finally, he would claim us. We could live as mates once and for all.

"But not yet."

My jaw dropped once again as he removed his hold on me and stepped away. We maintained eye contact for what felt like hours as he slowly moved to push the door open and leave.

What. The. Hell.

. . .

For the next few days, my wolf was murderous. It was all I could do to focus on the upcoming raid and not bite anyone's head off. Every time I was in the same room as Mason my wolf wanted to jump his bones. I agreed with her more than I'd care to admit.

Walking into Mason's office on Friday, I knew that this might be one of the last moments of peace I had. Brian and Daniel would be leading an attack on Marina's warehouse tomorrow morning.

The Alpha, Beta, and Deta awaited me. When I entered the room it made my wolf purr to see the way Mason eyed my legs. I had just happened to wear skin-tight jeans, which definitely didn't have anything to do with getting back at my mate.

"Where are Daniel and Brian?" I spoke to Kim and Charles only. Every time I met Mason's eyes the tension in the room thickened. Exactly what I didn't need right now.

"We're starting without them," Kim said. She beckoned me to sit down next to her and pointed to a diagram. "Right here is the main entrance to the warehouse. The only other exits are here, here, and here." She marked each spot with a red 'X'. "I'll be here, Charles will be here, and Mason will be here." Their spots were marked with 'D' for Delta, 'B' for Beta, and 'A' for Alpha.

"And what about me?" There were no other letters on the map which must have been a mistake.

Charles glanced up at me nervously, but Mason interjected. "You aren't going."

I whipped my head so fast I nearly got whiplash. "How can I not go? These are my people. They need me!"

"How noble, Princess," he said mockingly. "You said it yourself; they need you. We can't take a risk and have you come."

Out of everything he'd ever said to me, this was the most infuriating. I wasn't a china doll who would shatter. In the past six months I'd been through their worst nightmares, so how could everyone in the Blood Moon pack treat me like I was still a child? I would go no matter what.

But he doesn't need to know that, my wolf said sneakily.

Good to know we're still on the same page about some things.

I smiled sweetly up at Mason. "I understand. I'll be right here, waiting for you to return." Confusion crossed his face but the head warriors came just in time to prevent further questioning. Brain took a seat across from me and Daniel cozied up to his mate on the love seat.

"Finally," Charles rolled his eyes. "I'll start now. Our scouts revealed that about 20-30 hostages are being held in this room," he gestured to a smaller room towards the back of the warehouse. "As soon as Mason and I give the all-clear, warriors will surround the building and a smaller extraction team will go in."

"Then they'll..." Mason began to speak but I had already dozed off. I knew the plan by heart anyway so it didn't really matter.

. . .

What felt like hours later, we were still rehearsing the relatively simple plan. "-Michael, Sarah, Jordan, and Elon make up the rest of the extraction team," Daniel said.

"Oh good!." I smiled at him. "I'm glad you put Elon on that team. I think he's one of the most talented warriors."

I instantly cursed myself for saying it. A low growl came from Mason's throat. He gripped his coffee mug so hard that it shattered into many pieces. Kim and I both spluttered as the hot liquid hit us. "Bryant, what the hell was that?" Kim exclaimed. She had coffee dripping down her face and neck.

The coffee hit me in a much different way. My once-white shirt was now almost completely brown and- oh god. It was completely see-through, too. My dark red bra was on full display for every male in the office. Kim rolled her eyes, already knowing what would come next.

"Don't look at her!" Mason roared. Charles and Brian looked away immediately. Daniel, the only mated male, had already turned around. I would never come close to Kim in his eyes anyways. Of course Mason didn't turn around. He eyed my chest predatorily.

I strode to the door without glancing at my mate. His jealousy would be acceptable if he acted like a mate in any other way, but he barely glanced at me when I wasn't talking to another man. "I'll bring you some towels, Kim," I said over my shoulder. "Oh, and Mason? If you need me I'll be in Elon's room getting cleaned up." The loud growl he emitted did nothing but make me run faster.