The Beast And The Blessed

Nineteen: *

*P.O.V.

I couldn’t sit still. Every time I moved, her scent seemed to grow stronger. I had searched every part of my office and couldn’t find the source. It was almost like she had left something of hers in here just to drive me crazy, and I was completely oblivious as to where she had hidden it.

I had known having her in my office was a bad idea, but now I was positive that nothing good could come from having Natalie around.

The only thing I could admit out loud was that I enjoyed having her in my bed. Before her, I slept for only a few hours a night, and they were not consecutive. Now with her in my arms, I could sleep the entire night, and most of the morning if I wanted to.

But that was it. I had to keep reminding myself that Natalie was not here for anything more than the upcoming battle and our future children, my heirs. Everything else I needed to force to the back of my mind and lock it away.

I could not let her in. Loving her would be too painful in the end.

Joselin appeared before my desk. Her scent had been revolting to me today, and I had been shorter- tempered with her than usual. Everything about her seemed to *me off, and I didn’t want her near me. It was something that hadn’t happened before during our long friendship. I knew she was getting frustrated by my attitude, but she bit her tongue for the first time in her life.

I was surprised when the most intoxicating scent came from her, and I reached over the desk and grabbed her arm, lifting her hand to my face. I knew that scent anywhere. It had been burned into my brain since I first met her. It filled my office even after I was left alone in it.

It was my mate.

Her scent was more potent, toxic almost, and I felt myself losing control. My eyes burned as my beast came forward. As I unconsciously took in a deeper breath, I moved up her hand to her forearm. A growl. ripped free from my chest at the sudden change from sweet to rancid. Joselin’s smell was offensive today when she normally had barely any scent.

“It’s Natalie,” She said with annoyance, seeming uncomfortable as I released her hand, and she wiped it on her thigh.

The uncertainty about what to say had her *opening and closing before she took a deep breath and settled herself. “What I’m going to say, please hear me as a friend and not as your underling. I mean no disrespect, but you’re going to break her, lan. Natalie is in her heat right now, and she’s not doing well. She just accused me of having an affair with you behind her back. Her eyes were glossy and crazed. For a moment, I thought she was going to shift because she was so angry. You pushing her away is only hurting her.”

the realization sinking down in my gut that maybe I had been pushing her too far.

the battle. I needed a queen. I needed an heir. I needed a mate. But I wanted it to be her. I hated to admit it, even to myself, but she was it for me. She was the only one I wanted to be with. That was how

was drive her *the way my mother had done to my

or not, I was starting to care for her, and that was a dangerous game. The more she forced her way into my life and heart, the easier it would be for her to

left my *, but even I didn’t believe them. Natalle had been pushing, trying to get to know me or, at the very least, be around me, and I pushed her away each time. I had no reason to

of the desk. “You need to mark her already. At the very least, go *her so she can stop stinking up the castle. Your men are fighting over her as we speak, and you’re sitting her while she is

as I stood, towering over Joselin. The thought of anyone else fighting over her when she was not theirs to win made me

She said with a

*me forward, and I rushed out of the office. As soon as I hit the hallway, I could smell her scent thickening around me. It was pulling me in,

pulled in, wanting to

a loud roar. Satisfaction filled me as it echoed through the castle, warning every man and woman from laying a hand on my mate. She wouldn’t want them, not now that she had found her soulmate, but it didn’t

reached the banister, moving past it toward my room. His red eyes were frantic

didn’t spare it a second thought as I grabbed the teenager by the back of the neck and threw him over the banister. He would live, but the impact

his beast.

to get past the

thumping quickly in my chest as I approached the siren that was calling me to her. Joselin stood at the entrance to my wing of the castle, finishing what appeared to be a barrier spell before

moved through it to the other side of her

from behind me, and I looked over my shoulder to see another one of my guards in their Lycan form, laying on the ground outside of the barrier. Knowing he had been coming after my mate, had me wanting to turn back and rip

sudden drop in her scent made my heart stop, Had someone made it into the room before me? Was she with another

Joselin and me. Even the idea that she was with someone had me shifting into my Lycan form, ready

the door open, my hand leaving an indent on the metal of the brass doorknob, and I rushed past the sitting room to the bedroom. I could feel the pull urging me forward to follow her scent into the

I could see the peaks of her breast just below the surface as I stood in the doorway. But it was the slight ripple in the water, signaling movement that had my attention. Her arm was completely submerged, but she had one leg