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.”

had been pushing her too far. There had to be a balance where I could protect myself and keep her

her. I hated to admit it, even to myself, but she was it for me. She was the

to do was drive her *the way my

admitted to it 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,

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 believe that she would be okay during her first heat, especially

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,

growled as I stood, towering over Joselin. The thought of anyone else fighting over her when she was

a smirk before flickering out of the

smell her scent thickening around me. It was pulling me in, designed specifically for me. But by the sounds of the other men in my

pulled in, wanting to serve her…to

the castle, warning every man and woman from laying a hand on my mate. She wouldn’t want them,

half-shift state as I reached the banister, moving past it toward my

back of the neck and threw him over the banister. He would live, but the impact of

his beast.

to get past the guards, then

moved faster, feeling my heart 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

thick air enveloped me like gelatin as I moved through it to the other side of her spell. I heard Natalie’s heart beating quickly,

Lycan form, laying on the ground outside of the

stop, Had someone made it into the room before

me. Even the idea that she was with someone had me shifting into

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

against the tub as she lay back in the water with her brown hair pulled off her neck in a bun. 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 up and on the edge of the tub. Goosebumps covered her flesh as she let out a low moan, increasing the speed of her hand between her