5: Mate, dearest.

Coal

My wolf purred his contentment as he inhaled our mate's delectible scent from the space where her neck and her shoulder met.

He repeated his claim over her over and over as more people joined us. Five scents he didn't recognize, and then four he did. Cassian, Watson, Hannah, and Marie our head guard.

"Your Majesty," Hannah cleared her throat.

My wolf growled at her lowly, not ready to look up from where he had buried his face, and not liking that he could detect so many males he couldn't recognize around his mate.

"Your Majesty, should we put the Prince and his compatriots in the dungeons?" She asked.

"No!" My mate yelped, and pulled back from me abruptly. My wolf growled.

"What do you mean 'no'?" He asked her as he pulled her body back flush to ours.

Chill out, you'll scare her, I said internally to him.

"I mean 'no'. Carson has a baby on the way, he can't leave his mate on bedrest for an unknown amount of time," she said, gesturing to one of the gray wolves who had her cornered earlier. My wolf bared our teeth at him and growled.

His ears flattened against his skull and he whimpered while laying on the ground in a show of submission.

"Gabe is just misguided," she pointed to the other wolf, "and... well," she looked at the Prince for a moment, then at one of the people who'd joined us. Her eyes fogged over as she mindlinked them. I watched as three of the five people attached to the unfamiliar scent's eyes went foggy as well.

My mate shook her head, and my wolf gripped her waist tighter pulling her even closer to our body. Electric tingles vibrated everywhere we touched, and we relished in them.

When all of their eyes cleared, I noticed one of the wolves watching where my hands were on her waist angrily. He was tall and blonde. He had a scowl etched onto his face, and his posture was angled towards her as his eyes stayed glued to my hands. My wolf growled at him, and shifted a little so he couldn't see his mate.

"Arresting Kai would make you look merciless," my mate said, seemingly unaware of the reason we shifted places. I looked down at her, my wolf still letting purs of contentment rumble through our chest to soothe her racing heart.

"What did he do?" Hannah asked quietly, she didn't come any closer to us though, understanding how possessive my wolf felt of his newfound mate, "did he attempt your life, your Majesty?" I heard Cassian growl and his footsteps get closer.

I shook my head quickly, and took the reins from my wolf. "No, no he didn't. He was trying to kidnap her," I said without tearing my eyes from my mate. She was biting her lower lip as she watched the three intruders. She looked torn.

"Kidnapping? Really?" Cassian asked, and stepped past me, "that's low, even for you, Alpha Kai."

Kai spat at his feet audibly, "she's mine!" He snapped.

I turned around and growled lowly at him, feeling my wolf surface again. My claws started to extend and I fought to keep from shifting, "mine." My wolf said pushing my mate behind us while keeping one hand on her waist and the other clenched at our side.

My mate let out a sigh, and I struggled with my wolf trying to wrestle my way back to the front.

"You will not touch my mate," he said, our canines elongating.

"She's fucking mine!" The Prince repeated and leapt to his feet, lunging toward us. Cassian intercepted his advance and my body started to convulse with a shift.

"Luna, you have to calm him down before he shifts," Hannah said somewhere behind me.

"Don't call me that," my mate snarled.

"Calm him down, before he shifts," Hannah commanded.

Hesitant hands reached around my body and travelled from my waist to my chest. Delightful tingles spread with it, and she pressed the front of her body to my back, "it's not worth it to lose control over him," she said, squeezing me gently towards her. I hummed my contentment with her internally. My wolf slowly started to melt under her touch.

"Can you give your human back control?" She asked quietly.

He growled a little, but started to give me back a little control. Before I was fully back at the helm, he snarled at Kai who was on the ground pinned beneath Cassian now, "take him and the one without the pregnant mate to the dungeons to be dealt with later."

Cassian nodded, and stood up to let the guards drag him away. My wolf went back into the corner of my mind he lived in in this form. I placed my hands over my mate's where they still sat on my chest and leaned back into her a little.

"If the other one co-operates with us I'll let him go," I said to her.

She sighed, and let go of me, backing away. She walked towards the wolf that my guards were rounding up. She extended her hand out towards him and he growled. I rushed to her side immediately.

She shoved me away gently, forcing a growl from me and my wolf, then crouched before the wolf.

"I'm sorry, Gabe. But you'll be back with your sister in no time if you just behave yourself," she said quietly.

His ears flattened against his skull, and his tail stuck straight up in the air and beat back and forth in an aggressive manner. My wolf growled lowly at him, and placed our hand on our mate's shoulder.

"Shift," she commanded.

He whimpered, and then his bones re-arranged themselves so that he was a naked man kneeling on the ground. He had brown hair, and pale skin, and brown eyes to match his hair. He couldn't have been more than twenty. I clenched my jaw as he glared at my mate.

She extended her hand out towards him again, "don't do stupid shit anymore, Gabe. I like you, and I don't want to have to visit you below the palace," she said as he took her hand and together they rose to their feet.

"It's not stupid," he shook his head, "you're his betrothed. You're betraying him."

She sighed and dropped his hand, "I was never going to marry him. Everyone knew that."

"Not him," he shook his head again, and turned to glower at her. I instinctually placed myself firmly at her side, and wrapped my arm around her waist. "You should have just come with us."

My mate pursed her lips, and looked at her feet before she jerked out of my grasp and swung her fist hard against his face. Her knuckles collided with his jaw, but before he could stumble to the ground my guards picked him up and held him by his arms. "Asshole," she said as she shook out her hand.

I gripped her waist and pulled her back as the wolf started to regain his barings with his attention completely on her.

The other wolf, who was still in his wolf form, growled lowly, and prowled towards us. I growled at him, and pulled my mate tighter against me, my wolf slipped forward a little and extended our canines as he bared his teeth at the new threat. The wolf stopped in front of Gabe and huffed in his face. He pressed his nose to the boy's forehead and then pulled away and shifted.

"Can I get some pants?" The now naked man said.

One of my guards tossed him a pair of spare shorts.

He put them on quickly and turned to my mate. I pushed her behind me slightly, growling at the new male who was watching my mate closely.

He took both of her hands into his, "I am sorry, Raegan. I swear it on Ellie's life. I didn't want to do this, and I thank you for your mercy. The second he's let back into pack custody I'm going to set him straight."

My mate squeezed his hands tightly, side-stepping me to stand directly in front of him, "why did you do it then, Carson? You had to have known. Hell, you fed my informant the information that he would be here."

He shook his head, "I thought it was what they told you. He didn't tell me that it was a retrieval mission until we got here. I wouldn't have come with if I'd known. You know I wouldn't intentionally risk hurting you, princess."

He offered her a smile, and I grumbled, trying my best to keep my wolf from growling anymore even though the use of a pet name for her had both of us seething.

"What did he say when you got here to make you follow through?" She stepped a little closer to him. I huffed, and shifted my weight.

"He threatened to throw Ellie and our pup out of the pack to be a rogue if I didn't follow. He told me he was already considering it since I had betrayed his trust and spoken to someone we knew was feeding information to you." The man frowned, and he looked down at his feet, "I can't put into words how sorry I am."

She sighed, and then wrapped her arms around his torso and hugged him tightly. "Asshole," she muttered against his bare chest.

This time, I couldn't stop the growl from leaving my mouth.

The man cleared his throat and pried her arms off of him, taking a step back.

He looked to the two wolves we were detaining and frowned, then with a bow to me he left.

I nodded to a guard, and the guard trailed after him.

The other guards quickly dragged the Prince and Gabe off to the dungeons. I pursed my lips and wrapped my arms around my mate's waist from behind, pressing my nose into her neck and inhaling deeply.

She tilted her head to the side giving me better access and leaned back into me. I smiled as I took in the smell of chocolate and fresh rain on concrete that eminated from her.

Mine.