“You are not mated though.” Torrent remained calm. “I’m afraid that means that the rules stand regardless of what anyone wants. You will still be able to move on. I know it doesn’t seem like it right now, but you haven’t bonded with her, you will be able to—”
“No!” Flood snarled. He stood up, the chair scraping on the floor. “I don’t want to move on. Paige is—”
“Don’t say that she is yours because she isn’t. Three out of four is better than one out of four. If all hell breaks loose because the males think they can behave as they please, Blaze will put an end to this arrangement. He made that very clear. You are the leader. I expected you to behave accordingly. You broke the rules and now you must be held accountable. There is nothing else that can be done. You will not change my mind and any further insubordination will be heavily punished. Am I clear?”
Flood pulled in one lungful after another into his starving lungs. He wanted to break every piece of furniture in Torrent’s office. He wanted to hurt his king. He wanted to go straight to Paige and to mate her. To force her if he had to. He didn’t care about the rules. He didn’t care about anything other than his female and the deep love that he felt for her. She was as good as his mate. He felt it deep inside. To his core. There would be no getting over her. There would be no-one else, but it would be useless to convey this to Torrent. His mind was made up. Flood had a feeling Blaze had been involved in this decision. Then again, Torrent too could be a ruthless king. If something was for the betterment of the people, then that was the way he would often swing. He didn’t make emotional decisions. It was something he respected. Not this time.
Flood couldn’t look at the male any longer. He turned to leave without being dismissed. Leaving was better than losing his temper.
“Not so fast,” Torrent said.
Flood felt his back stiffen and his whole being suffuse with tension. He didn’t turn back.
“Do not go against me.”
“I heard you the first time.” He knew he was close to being in contempt but couldn’t help himself.
“The female will have to stay until the end of the week just in case one of the others wants to go home. We cannot make multiple trips with those hunters still potentially out there. Do not go near her. That is an order. I will explain things to her. I—”
Flood turned. “I will tell her myself—”
“That is not—”
“I will explain the situation myself. I refuse to negotiate this. You will have to cage me otherwise. I will handle this myself. I want an opportunity to say goodbye.” His voice broke. Flood cleared his throat. “We have come a long way and I owe her that much.”
“Fine,” Torrent conceded. “I do understand.” His whole demeanor went back to one of pity. “No physical contact and you are only permitted to see her this once. This is for your own good, for her own good. The more time you spend together, the more you will bond. It will be more difficult in the long run.”
It was already difficult.
Torrent had no fucking clue. In this moment Flood was shocked the male was even mated. Had he forgotten the strong bond he undoubtedly formed with his female even before they mated?
Flood nodded.
“No rutting. One last goodbye and that’s it. I will put a guard outside her…two guards outside her chamber. Do not defy me,” he spoke the last as a command.
Flood didn’t give a damn about defying Torrent. He already had a plan on how to circumvent this. It all hinged on Paige. As much as he knew he shouldn’t ask this of her, he had to. There was no other way.
Chapter 21
Flood stood over her, his presence waking her up. Paige stretched, arching her back. She must have dozed off. She smiled, still feeling lazy. “Hi! So glad you came back. I’m really starving.” She yawned into her hand. “I’ll throw on a t-shirt and we can rustle something up.”
He was frowning. His eyes were…she wasn’t sure what they were because she had never seen them like that. “Are you okay?” She sat up. His eyes were both blazing with anger and yet they looked like he was sad too.
Flood swallowed, his Adam’s apple worked. “No.” His voice was a thick rasp. “I hit Tide ‒ one of the princes ‒ last night after you walked out.”
“You hit someone?” There was shock laced in her voice.
“He was the one who gave me the bad advice.” Flood scrubbed a hand over his face. “You should get dressed.”
“Is it that bad?” What was going on? What was so bad that she had to dress first? “You’re starting to scare me.”
“Please get dressed.” He sounded upset.
“Flood?”
“Please.” He lifted his eyes, locking them with hers. Less and less pissed off and more and more upset. What the hell had happened between him leaving and now? How long had it been? She looked at the clock. Not even an hour.
“Okay.” She nodded once, sliding off the bed. Paige kept the sheet wrapped around herself as she walked to the closet. She chose a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, grabbing some underwear as well.
Paige dressed quickly without showering first. She washed her face and brushed her teeth, going as quickly as she could.
Flood was standing by the large window, he was staring out at the ocean. He had music playing. Something loud and poppy, with a catchy tune. She recognized it but couldn’t place the artist.
“Wow! That’s a touch too loud if we’re going to have a serious conversation and I foresee a serious conversation coming up.”
He kept his eyes on the horizon. “You would be right. I want privacy though and we’re not alone.” He gestured to the door. “I don’t have much time.”
“What’s up?” she asked, trying to sound upbeat. Maybe if she pretended… She didn’t really want to know the answer to her question. This was bad. She could feel it.
“I hit Tide. I hit him.” He sounded like he was in shock.
“You said that already.”
“I hit him after the no fighting rule was announced. I never…” He ran a hand through his hair. “I guess it never crossed my mind that punching Tide ‒ a mated male ‒ would be construed as fighting.” He gave a humorless laugh. “In all honesty, I never thought much of anything at the time. I wasn’t thinking rationally right then. I was already…I was already in love with you, Paige.” He turned to look at her.
“You’re making that sound like a bad thing. Might be a little soon,” she took a deep breath, “but that’s not bad, is it?”
“It doesn’t matter why I hit him or that he’s mated already. It was still considered fighting.” He shook his head, looking distraught.
“You’re still scaring me. Why is that such a bad thing? I mean, you probably shouldn’t have hit him, but… I’m not understanding you. What does that have to do with us?”
“There was a rule announced.” Flood pushed a hand through his short hair. He ground his teeth together for a second.
“What rule? I don’t remember a rule.”
“If males were caught fighting they would be excluded.”
“Excluded from what?” Her voice was shrill.
“From being in the running to win a female.” He looked down at the floor. “I’ve been excluded.” He walked over to her. Closing the distance between them so quickly her head spun. Flood dropped to his knees in front of her. “I’m technically here to say goodbye.”
“Goodbye?” She shook her head, feeling her blood drain. “This is just the beginning. It can’t be goodbye.” She shook her head.
“I don’t want it to be.” He took her hands in his. “There is only one way to fix this.”
Paige had a feeling she wasn’t going to like it, even though she wanted to. “How?” She felt herself praying that it was something that would work.
“We have to mate. We have to go the whole hog and right now. I won’t be able to get anywhere near you once I walk out that door.”
Oh shit! She had been right. “We can’t…we…we just can’t.
It’s too soon. They can’t do this to us.”
“They can and they are.” He looked up at her. Like she was his whole world. He thought that now but it might change. It might! Give him a year. Give him three. He might decide his feelings had all been a result of what had happened to them. Not real! Never real!
“You might not actually be in love with me.” She licked her lips.
“I am. I really am! No doubt in my mind.”
“You might think so. You might feel it but it might not be true. That’s something that only time will tell,” she pleaded.
“I don’t need time.”
“We experienced trauma. Stress. I don’t know the psychology behind that but…but…I need time. We both do! Rushing into a relationship is not the right thing to do. Trust me, I know.”
“We don’t have time. I love you and I want to spend forever with you. If we mate, it can still happen,” Flood spoke softly and carefully. “I’d be in serious trouble but they wouldn’t be able to keep us apart. I wish I could give you the time you need but I can’t. You will be forced to stay for a week. I won’t be allowed near you and vice versa. Once you are gone, I won’t be able to find you. Even if I could find you…I would have to stay in human territory because I wouldn’t be able to return without becoming a prisoner.”
“I can’t make a decision like this under duress.” She pulled away from him and walked to the other side of the room. “I just can’t. I don’t want the same thing happening again. I should never have married Josh all those years ago. If we had spent time dating, getting to know one another, we would have realized it.”
“I know you’re worried. I understand, but things are different between us.”
“I swore I would never do something so stupid again. I—”
“If I leave then that’s it,” Flood interjected.
“I don’t want that either!” she yelled, turning back to him. Her eyes prickled. Her throat felt clogged.
“There is no in-between.” He shook his head, imploring her with his eyes.
Someone knocked on the door.
“Fuck off!” Flood shouted.
“Please, Paige, please. You won’t regret it.” His eyes looked bloodshot. His voice was strained. “I will spend every day of the rest of my life proving it to you.”
“You say that now. You can’t possibly know that though.”
“I know. I know it like I know my own name. I swear to you,” he growled.
Paige shook her head. There was another knock.
“Please,” he begged.
“This isn’t right. It—”
Another knock, louder and more insistent this time.
“They aren’t going to allow it.” She pointed at the door. “We probably won’t even have the time, even if I agreed.”
His eyes lit up, making her feel like the biggest bitch for even giving him hope. “We will. We’ve been there done that. Sex under duress. Just say the word and I’ll knock them out. I love you so damned much.”
“You have no idea how much I want to believe you really feel that way, but…I just can’t. You know why. I told you.”
“I’m not your asshole ex. I understand why you would feel that way but I’m not him. I would never regret us.”
The door opened and Bay walked in, followed by another guy she had never seen before.
“We have to go,” Bay said. “I’m so sorry, Flood, but—”
“Please,” he begged, taking her hands.
“I can’t.” The tears began to fall. “I’m so sorry.”
He squeezed harder. “How can I convince you?”
“Time.” The tears fell harder. “I need time.”
His eyes clouded some more. “It’s the one thing I don’t have.”
“Flood,” Bay said. “I need to escort you out.”
Flood cussed.
She was probably making the biggest mistake of her life but at the same time, she’d done the opposite once and that had been a mistake too. Her chest was tight. Her throat felt raw. “I’m so sorry,” she sobbed.
“So am I.” He cupped her cheeks, looking into her eyes. His eyes filled with unshed tears. Such a big man and his eyes were hazy. Flood kissed her. He kissed her like she had never been kissed. Kissed her like it was their last, which it was. Within seconds he was pulling away. “Take care of yourself. Promise me that?”
“You too.” Tears still fell.
He nodded once and turned. He sniffed once as he walked away, not looking back.
Paige sank down to the ground as the door closed. She covered her face with her hands and sobbed.
Chapter 22
She was doing the right thing.
She was doing the right thing.
She was!
Paige walked slowly. Any slower and she’d be going backwards. Bay walked a couple of feet ahead of her, he held her bag, glancing back at her. “Are you okay?” Then he made a face. “Stupid question. I can see that you’re not okay and that’s fine and perfectly understandable.”
Paige nodded. “Am I making the right decision by leaving and not trying to fight for Flood?” she blurted.
Bay stopped walking. He turned to her. His eyes filled with compassion. “Only you can answer that question.”
Paige pushed out a breath. Her mind in turmoil. She’d been up and down about this for the entire week. One minute she was sure she had done the right thing and the next, she was less sure. Much less. As in, she second-guessed herself continually.
“If it will help you any, it is too late to change your mind. There is nothing you can do. The powers that be already made an iron-clad decision.” He shook his head. “No wonder you’re struggling with this. You had five minutes to decide your whole future, when you barely knew Flood. That was an impossible choice.” She knew he was just trying to make her feel better.
Her eyes widened when she realized what he had just said. “You knew what he was up to when he came to say goodbye to me.”
“Of course. I didn’t need to hear what was going on to know that he would try to convince you to allow him to mate you. I would have done the same if the tables had been turned.”
“And yet, you didn’t try to stop him.”
Bay shook his head. “No, I had to give the two of you a chance. Anyway,” Bay chuckled, “Flood would have knocked me out if I had tried to intervene too soon. I was pretty sure he was going to knock me out anyway.” He gave a quick shake of the head.
Paige smiled as she pictured Flood. How pissed he would have been if Bay had gotten in the way. “He does have a bit of a bad temper.” A tear tracked down her cheek. She quickly rubbed it away. “So this is it. I can’t believe it has to end this way. I keep thinking I’ve made a terrible mistake, but then I think rationally and realize this is the better, more logical decision. If that’s the case though, why do I feel like I just lost everything? Like I’m going to regret this for the rest of my life?”
“You can stop beating yourself up. What is done is done. You made the best possible decision at the time. There is no going back. Flood is not allowed anywhere near you. He would be severely punished if he tried. You are fifteen minutes away from leaving. He does not know where you live and will not be able to trace you. Once you leave here, it is done. No going back.”
More tears fell. She hated this so much. Hated how it felt like her heart was breaking. She didn’t know Flood well enough to be in love with him. No way! “Please keep an eye on him for me. I know he doesn’t look it, but he is very sensitive.”
“I will. He is hurting.”
She sobbed, putting her hand over her mouth to catch the sound. “I’m sorry. I hate hearing that he is in pain even though I know he is.”
“I am sure, given time, that he will be okay. He has friends and we will be there for him.”
"Thank you." It helped to hear him say that.
“Let us go, the others will be waiting.” Bay gestured ahead of them.
Paige nodded. Her feet di
dn’t want to work. She didn’t want to leave. She had to though because that would be the right thing to do. Staying and mating Flood on a whim would be wrong, and for all the wrong reasons. It would more than likely end up being worse than her first marriage. How could it not?
At least she and Josh had been together for three months before they tied the knot. At least they had done so because they both wanted to get married and not because they were forced to. And yet, things had still gone belly up. Their marriage hadn’t even lasted a year. It had been a mistake. Why? Because they had rushed into it. This would be no different.
Back then, they were young and stupid and impulsive. Now she was ten years older. A whole decade wiser. Rushing headlong into a relationship with Flood would have been crazy.
If only she could ask her father what to do. She felt a pang, missing him so much. What would her dad say? The first really tough decision she’d ever had to make was when she had to choose which subjects to take at school. The decision would influence her whole career path. He’d told her: ‘How will you know if it’s the right decision if you don’t take a chance?’ Then he’d added: ‘You know deep down inside, you just have to do it. Take the plunge and just go for it.’ His words had finally helped her to do just that. To just make a choice already.
Her father had always been one for trying. ‘Go for it!’ he’d say. ‘You never know unless you try,’ was another of his favorites. He’d always encouraged her and her brother to try and fail rather than to never try at all. She felt another pang at his memory. Wishing like mad for the hundredth time since his passing that he was still there. That she could talk with him one last time, even though she had a feeling she knew what he would say.
Take a chance.
If you don’t try, you will never know.
The Water Dragons Box Set: Books 1 - 4 (Complete) Page 37
