Chapter 6
Duke stormed into his apartment and found Madison and another lioness sitting on his couch. Titus stood nearby, his face impassive and his arms crossed over his chest. Even though he knew it was a long shot, he still rushed to the bedroom and found the bed empty. He tore the covers off and threw the pillows aside, hoping she’d left a note for him the way that he had for her, but he couldn’t find anything.
Returning to the family room, he stopped in front of the couch and suppressed his instinct to throw the two lionesses out the window.
“What the ever-loving hell are you doing in my apartment, Madison?” Duke yelled.
Madison stood slowly, smoothing her dress slacks as she straightened. “You mean our apartment? When we mate next weekend, everything that is yours is mine, even this repulsive bar.” Her upper lip curled in disgust as she looked around. “We won’t be staying here much, if at all.”
Duke nearly roared. He stopped from flashing his fangs at her by only a thin margin. “Our mating is canceled. I know that you saw the human in my bed and the mating mark in her neck. What did you say to her?”
She blinked slowly, as if she had all the time in the world and didn’t have a furious lion ready to tear her to pieces. “I told her the truth. You’re lucky I’m the sort of female who can overlook dalliances such as this before we mate. If you want to chase females after we mate, you’ll do it under the radar and only with lionesses.”
Shocked, he shook his head. “I already said once that the mating is over. You had no right to come in here and chase my mate away. My father is already canceling the contract. You have no say in who I’m with or what I do with my life, but I will strongly suggest that you get the hell out of my place or I’ll use force.”
The other female stood, giving Duke a hard glare as she brandished her phone at him as if it were a weapon. “If you don’t stop the cancellation, I will call her father. He’s waiting to bring war to your pride’s doorstep if you go through with this.”
For a moment, all the wind was knocked out of Duke’s sails. He didn’t want his family or pride to be harmed because of his actions. He’d expected to take the brunt of his choices on his own, not for others to potentially be hurt.
Titus growled as he moved to stand beside Duke. “Your pride would threaten war over a broken mating contract? That’s insanity.”
“A vow is a vow,” Madison said. “I was promised I would become alpha female, and I will be. If it comes to war to make that happen, then so be it. Your pride’s blood is on your hands, not mine.”
She sauntered out of the apartment with the lioness close behind. Duke stared at the empty doorway, the lioness’s words ringing in his ears. Exhaling with a growl, he turned to Titus. “How did she get in here?”
“The lioness with Madison is Emma. She came into the bar last night and hit on me, I figured – why the hell not? I didn’t know that your arranged mate was from Lewiston or I might have been suspicious. Emma was in bed with me when I fell asleep; when you called and woke me up, she was gone and the key to your place I keep on the hook at the front door was missing. They were sitting on the couch when I got here, and wouldn’t answer any of my questions.”
“I don’t think they hurt Ree. I don’t smell blood in the bedroom.” If he had, he wouldn’t have been able to stop himself from physically harming the females.
“What are you going to do?”
“Find Ree. But, fuck.” He snarled. “I don’t know where she lives.”
“You could call Barron.”
“Why would I do that?”
“Because he mated Ree’s sister last night. Or at least, that’s what he said he was going to do. After you and Ree headed up here, Barron pulled me aside and said that Mercy was his heart-match and he was going to take her home. He asked for the weekend off so he could fully explain mating to her. I asked him if he understood that he might be exiled from the pride by choosing her, and he said he didn’t care, that he’d make a pride on his own with his mate.”
Duke had been planning the same thing. “Exile isn’t automatic. My father may opt to let him stay in the pride, and regardless, his job isn’t in jeopardy.”
Titus arched a brow. “Do you think your dad will exile you? Your situation is different since you’re the alpha’s son.”
“I don’t know. I had to leave in a hurry.”
“Do you want me to come with you to get Ree?”
“Thanks, but no. I have a feeling I’m going to be doing a lot of begging and groveling and I don’t really want an audience for that.”
With a chuckle, Titus clapped him on the back. “Good luck.”
Duke scrolled through his contacts and found Barron, pressing the button to start a call. The call was sent to voice mail immediately. As he was about to press the redial button, a text came through.
“Ree is in her apartment at 23 Woodberry Court, Apartment Four.”
“Thanks,” Duke typed hastily as he headed for the door.
He found her building quickly, bounding up the stairs, and banging on her door. He called to her, asking her to open the door, and with his sensitive hearing he heard her reply to someone, most likely Mercy, that she wanted Duke to leave.
Like hell he was going anywhere without her.
“There isn’t anything for you here,” Mercy said through the door.
“I need to explain.”
“Those women in your apartment explained things really well to my sister. You broke her heart. Go away or I’ll call the cops.”
There was a low conversation that he couldn’t make out, until Mercy said, “You promise?”
Barron answered, “Yes.”
The door unlocked and swung open, and a very annoyed Mercy stood in the doorway with Barron at her back. “Barron said that it wasn’t right for us to interfere with whatever’s going on between you and my sister. I don’t really agree, because she’s my best friend and I hate you a lot right now. But I trust my mate, and he trusts you, and that’s good enough for me.”
“Thank you.”
“Thank Barron. If it were up to me, you’d be standing out there all day.”
Mercy took Barron’s hand and led him out of Ree’s apartment and to the one across the hall. Duke shut the door and leaned against it, giving himself a moment to settle his pacing lion. He could hear the shower running, and the thought of his mate all naked and wet made a purr rumble in his chest. Following the sound, he reached a locked door. Taking a chance that there was a hidden key over the door, he ran his fingers along the ledge and found one, sticking the thin metal into the hole in the center of the knob. It unlocked, and he kept hold of the key just in case she’d also locked the bathroom door.
He glanced at the bed, his mind traipsing into sexy territory, but then the shower turned off and he forced himself to focus on the matter at hand – winning back their mate.
“Ree?” he said as he stood at the bathroom door. He didn’t bother testing it, fairly certain it was locked.
There was a pause, and then she said, “Where is my sister?”
“Barron took her home. Will you please hear me out? There’s been a huge misunderstanding, and I know you’re angry but I’m not going anywhere until you talk to me.”
“I could just stay in here until you get bored and leave.”
“Not gonna happen, sweetheart.”
She sighed loudly. “Just say what you want to say and go.”
“Nope. Only face to face.”
“I don’t want to see your face,” she retorted.
He grinned. “Sure, you do. I’m very handsome.”
“Oh my gosh, conceited!”
“It’s not an ego issue if it’s true, just like you’re gorgeous and I need to see you.”
The door unlocked and she opened it slowly, her eyes luminous with unshed tears. She was dressed simply in leggings and a top, her hair wet and pulled back from her face in a ponytail. “You promised you wouldn’t break my heart, Duke.”
“I know. I messed up and I’m sorry. I’ll spend the rest of my life apologizing, sweetheart, but let me say what I need to.”
“I’m listening.”
He held out his hand and she stared down at it, her lips pursed in thought. Then she took it and let him lead her out. She sat on the bed, smoothing the covers with her hands and not making eye contact with him.
Dropping to his knees, he rested his hands on her thighs and said, “Before I met you, the only thing I wanted to do was become alpha of my pride. My father is alpha, and the only thing stopping me from taking his place is the fact that I was single. Lions only mate lions, or they risk being exiled from the pride. And an alpha can only mate a lioness, or he loses the bid for alpha entirely.”
She opened her mouth but he pressed a finger to her lips.
He really didn’t want to go forward with this conversation, but he knew he owed her the whole truth. “I only cared about being alpha. I saw being unmated as an obstacle to overcome. Our people find mates two ways – a heart-match and a mate-match. I didn’t want to wait for my heart-match, so I contacted our pride matchmaker and she matched me with a lioness from another pride. I signed a contract to mate her yesterday and then I went to the bar. If I’d had any idea that I’d meet the most amazing female in the world last night, I would never have signed the contract.”
Ree stared down at him, tears tracking down her cheeks. She sniffled. “Do you like her?”
His lion grumbled. “I only met her once, sweetheart, and I didn’t like her then, and I especially don’t like her now that she tried to scare you away. There was nothing emotional about what I did with her – it was an arranged marriage. She was in it because she wants to be alpha female. She doesn’t care about me personally, she cares about the title.”
“You care about the title.”
“I did. I don’t anymore. Twenty-four hours ago, I thought doing my duty as alpha was the best thing I could do. Now I know that there’s no honor in an arranged mating for power like that. I only want to be your mate.”
She swallowed hard and looked up at the ceiling. “You’re talking about walking away from your family for me.”
He shook his head and stood, pulling her to her feet and wrapping one arm around her waist to hold her close. With his hand on her cheek, he said, “I’m not losing my family. My parents are still going to be my parents, and they can’t wait to meet you. I’m walking away from the alphaship, but that doesn’t matter a bit to me anymore. I might be exiled from the pride, but so the hell what? I’ll make a pride with you and our cubs. And maybe your sister, Barron, and their cubs, if they want to join. Okay? Nothing changes for me except I get you, and I learned what really matters in life – love.”
“Why did you leave me this morning?”
He was pretty sure that if his lion had the ability, that he’d fight him for that royal fuck up. “I woke up early and you were asleep. I needed to talk to my parents, so they could get the ball rolling on canceling the mating contract. My father needed to talk to the elders about whether to exile me or not. I swear on my life that I believed you were safe. The door was locked when I left, and the floor is private. Only Titus and I have keys. But, the female I had agreed to mate came to the bar last night and witnessed you and I together. I didn’t know she was there or I would have kicked her out and told her we were through. Her friend seduced Titus and then took the key to my place, which he keeps hanging from a hook by the door like an idiot.
“I believe they planned to confront me, or perhaps try to separate us so they could scare you off, and unfortunately I made you vulnerable to them because I left. I did, however, leave a note for you with my number explaining my absence.”
She shook her head. “There wasn’t a note.”
Damn Madison. “The females must have taken it, but I swear I did write one. I messed up. I hurt you and made you think I lied. I will spend the rest of my days apologizing to you, just please tell me you forgive me.”
She didn’t say anything for a long moment. His words seemed to hang in the air between them, and he desperately wanted to crack a joke or kiss her to break the tension.
“What do you want to happen?” she asked softly.
“I want to pull you down on top of me on that bed and see how many times I can make you purr in pleasure.”
Her eyes darkened slightly as she narrowed them. Arousal and annoyance at the same time. Damn he was crazy about her. “You know I didn’t mean that.”
He stroked his fingers through her hair, lightly fisting the soft strands. “Ree, I want to take you to meet my parents. I want you by my side when I find out what my fate with the pride is, because I should have had you there with me in the first place. Then, I want to take you home and spend the next week or so enjoying the hell out of each other.”
“Just a week?” she asked, brow arched.
“To start,” he said with a grin. “If you’ll forgive me and have me.”
She rose onto her toes and wrapped her arms around his neck. “I forgive you. I was scared by the lionesses and I believed them even though a part of me trusted you.”
He let out his lion a little bit so she could see his eyes change. “I won’t leave you like that again, I promise.”
“I believe you.”
“Good. Now, first things first,” he said, picking her up and climbing onto the bed.
“I thought we were going to talk to your parents first?” she asked with a laugh as he laid her down.
“Nah,” he said, his voice tipping to a growl at the end. “This first. Then, maybe if you’re not too exhausted from all my fabulous loving, we’ll see about getting over to my folks’ place.”
“Fabulous loving? You’re so conceited.” Her eyes glittered with amusement, and her smile – that took her from beautiful to stunning in two seconds – made everything inside him warm. That look, that smile was why he knew choosing her was the right thing.
Ree wasn’t just the right choice for his life, she was the only choice.
He kissed her nose. “It’s not conceited if it’s true.”
“Prove it.”