I walk back into the ballroom after making sure everything’s going as planned. The poor wedding planner has been run ragged. I’m surprised the she hasn’t had a heart attack yet, especially with Alena’s new husband moving up the wedding date. Yesterday had been a whirlwind from the moment my toes hit the floor.

What started out as a day for Alena’s wedding shower turned into a mad dash to have everything ready for a wedding the following day. I barely had time to think about the night before or what Vlad and I had done.

I move my hand to my belly and wonder if what he said was true. I’d told him last night I wanted five or six kids. He told me the first three or four would have to be boys if the girls were going to come out looking like their mother. He said he’d need the backup. I smile at the memory of the easy conversation we had. We planned our lives without a care in the world, as if I could run away with him and there would be no fallout.

Alena and I haven’t had much time to talk. She snuck into my room last night with her husband-to-be hot on her heels. It was in that moment that I knew that man was madly in love with her.

I stand off to the side and watch her sitting on her husband’s lap, smiling at him as he wraps his arms around her in a tight hold. “She’s free,” I whisper to myself. “She’s happy.”

My eyes start to water with joy for her. I got her away from my mother, and now she’s in the hands of a man who will protect her with his life. I saw that last night when he burst into my room and chased after her. He all but pleaded with her to come with him. I’m sure that before last night he’d never pleaded for a thing in his life.

“I told you everything would be okay, Princess.” I stand up straight when I feel Vlad’s lips against my ear. I lean back a little, wanting to feel his body heat. “I promised you your sister would be okay, and I will never break a promise to you.”

I turn around and look up at him. He did tell me that. He snuck into my room once again last night. He was on a mission. A mission to make sure I knew I belonged to him. And to make sure the world knew, too. If he manages to get me pregnant there’s no way of hiding it. I should want to smack him because of it, but all it does is make to cling to him even harder. Something about his primal way with me, along with his bossiness and caveman tendencies, works. Maybe because when I’m with him I don’t have to think. He takes care of what’s happening, and it’s nice. Freeing.

“She really is, isn’t she? He loves her.” I glance over at them once again and smile when I see him picking her up and carrying her from the room. I have to stifle a laugh. I’m sure my mother wants to die of embarrassment at how her daughter was carried away from her wedding. Everything is about appearances to her.

“I thought he was crazy,” Vlad says, and I look up at him. He’s watching me, not paying attention to anything else. “He saw a picture of her and lost it. I knew there was no stopping him. Never saw him like that before. So I stood back and didn’t tell him he was being crazy because I knew there was nothing I could do.”

I watch him as his eyes roam over my face, and then they go soft and sweet. That happens when he gets me where he wants me, usually after putting me there. “Then you walked right into my life, and I got it. You lit up the whole room, and then I saw it. You pulled at a primal part of me. A part of me that I didn’t know was there. It was lying dormant, waiting for you. Because it belonged to you.” He leans down a little more so his breath is against my lips. “You were putting on a show. You were on a mission to protect your sister. I bet you’ve been doing it your whole life, haven’t you? Making sure she doesn’t have attention on her that she doesn’t want. Making sure you take the brunt of your bitch mother’s wrath.”

His big hands come up to cradle my face. “It’s my job to protect her. She’s my little sister,” I tell him.

“I know, sweet girl. I know. But who’s been protecting you?” He strokes my cheeks with his thumbs. I don’t have a response. We both know it should have been my mother, but she protected me as much as a farmer protects his cattle. “From now on, your answer to that question is my name. Say it, Tabitha.”

“Vlad protects me,” I say instantly, the words falling from my lips easily.

“Damn right I do,” he growls, before his lips are on mine.

I forget where we are and fall into this moment with him. He always makes me forget my surroundings. When he’s near me, everything melts away and I don’t have a worry in the world. He’s right. I know he will protect me. I can feel it in my bones. I’ve been waiting my whole life for this knight to rescue me. My knight.

He pulls back, his breathing as heavy as mine. “We can’t do this here. I don’t like people seeing you like this.” His possessive words jolt me back to reality, and I remember where we are. I pull back a little, and Vlad’s hold tightens for a moment before he releases me. He’s giving me a warning. I better not run. I can’t believe I forgot we are in a room of people and I was openly kissing a man. A princess must never behave like that with any man who is not her husband. And even then, public displays of affection aren’t well looked upon.

I can see Vlad’s whole body tighten. He looks like he’s about to blow. He doesn’t like us hiding. He doesn’t like that for most of the day we’ve had to pretend we don’t belong to each other. Though I’m sure if people looked closely they could see it. His eyes always follow me, and he’s always calling me away to “help” with something, a.k.a. a make-out session in some closed off room. He’d pull me away, insisting he needed me, and I believed him. If I hadn’t given in with those stolen moments I think I would have been over his shoulder and out of here long ago.

I reach out and touch his arm, trying to get him under control. “Not here. This is my sister’s wedding.” He relaxes a little at my words and touch, but I can still see him fighting himself. I know he wants to pick me up and throw me over his shoulder. Even though I’ve only known him for a brief time, I already know that’s his go-to move to get me where he wants me. He simply picks me up and puts me there.

“You’ve had me chasing you all day.” I think there’s a hint of pout in his voice. “You’ve been walking around wearing that fucking dress you have on, which you’re going to pay for when we get home.”

“You like chasing me,” I say in a tease, seeing him calm down a little. My heart flutters at the word home. I love when he goes caveman on me, even though this isn’t the place or the time. Not tonight.

He grasps my hip. “I like catching you more.” The fingers on my hips flex and dig into me. “Your bag is already in my car. You’re coming home with me tonight.” A question isn’t being asked.

“I told you I would,” I sass back, and roll my eyes at him, making him smile. I love how easily our banter comes already. I’m so easy around him and feel more like myself than I ever have.

“I’m going to make it all come true,” he says, bringing me into him a little more, and I know what he’s talking about. Last night when we lay in bed, he asked me about my dreams. If I could pick my life, what would it be? In the dark it was easy to give life to what I wanted. I didn’t want to be a princess. I wanted to live in a home with a man I loved, who adored and loved me, too. I wanted to have a herd of children. “I’m going to give you everything you ever wanted, Tabitha, but you will always be a princess. Now you’ll only be my princess.”

I want that to be true, to only be his, but I know it is only a matter of time before people find out what we’ve been up to. We haven’t been careful. It’s hard to be when you’re in love. It’s impossible to feel this and not let it somehow show. I know someone is going to try to take my fairy tale, but I have a feeling my knight will never let that happen.