Royally Entangled

by Catherine Banks

  “I love you, Foxfire.”

  His body trembled, his eyes fluttered shut, and he exhaled sharply. “God, that is the most amazing thing to hear.”

  “Say it,” I ordered him, moving my hips to match his movements.

  He opened his eyes and stared straight into mine. “I love you, my princess. My queen. Jolie. I will love you until this universe is destroyed.”

  “Foxfire!” I screamed as I orgasmed, my muscles tightening around him and making it that much better.

  He grunted and buried his face in my hair as he found his release.

  Chapter 14

  No one brought up the battle after they’d all shared their fear with me and promised to keep me safe in the future. No one brought it up, but it was still evident that it was on their minds with the haunted expressions they got time to time as they looked at me. Try as I might, I couldn’t help them get over what had happened. How bad would they have been if I had actually died?

  “Your dad messaged me again about visiting,” I told Rhys while sitting at the table in his apartment.

  “I told him that your visit will wait,” he replied as he flipped a pancake in the pan. He was naked, except for the apron that he had tied into a cute bow above his butt.

  “Why? Why are you keeping me from meeting your clan?” I asked him angrily. “I met Deryn’s and Fox’s.”

  “I’m not keeping you-”

  “Are you ashamed to be seen with me by your clan members?” I asked, my anger spiraling out of control. Anger had never been a major issue of mine, but suddenly, I felt like tearing someone’s arms off.

  He spun to me and said, “That is the dumbest question you’ve ever asked me.”

  “You’re an inconsiderate jerk,” I growled at him. “Do you have a female in your clan that you’re trying to keep me from meeting? Maybe your most recent relationship? One you haven’t gotten over yet?”

  He set his spatula down, turned the stove off, and stalked towards me, his eyes shifted to his dragon’s eyes and for a brief moment, I worried he might hurt me. I knew he wouldn’t, but the fear was there nonetheless. Stupid human instincts.

  “There is only you, Jolie. There’s been no other girls for me since I saved you that first day. I am not embarrassed by you. I do not have a secret female I’m—”

  “Then why can’t I meet them!” I shouted, fists clenched at my sides and my entire body tingling with barely contained fury.

  “Because we aren’t mated!” he yelled back and then straightened and fumbled over his words. “I-I’m just-”

  “Why do we have to be mated?” I asked. “What if I chose to never be mated to you? Would you keep me from the clan? Would you break our bond? Stop being my guard?”

  The fury I had felt was gone, leaving me weak and tired.

  “You’ll be safest as my mate,” he replied and reached for me.

  I stumbled away from him, tripped over the chair behind me, and fell on my butt on the kitchen floor. He tried to help me up, but I smacked his arms away and stood up on my own.

  “I’ve lost my appetite,” I whispered. He hadn’t said that he would not break our bond or stop being my guard. Would he really do it if I didn’t choose to mate with him?

  “Jolie,” he whispered softly, fists clenched at his sides.

  I stopped at the door, clothes in my hand, and asked, “If I don’t become your mate, will you break the bond?”

  “Are you planning to only mate with one of us? Or only some of us?” he asked instead of answering.

  “No, it’s all or nothing,” I answered truthfully.

  “Then no, I won’t break the bond.”

  “But you would if I chose only one or two of you?” I asked, feeling a pain in my chest that I knew was unnecessary. What was going on with my emotions? Why couldn’t I get a handle on them?

  “I don’t know,” he admitted. “I don’t know if I could be your guard while you were mated to one of the others and not me.”

  “You’re the only one who feels that way,” I told him. “The others said they wouldn’t ever leave me, no matter what I decided about my mates.”

  “They’d consider it too, but wouldn’t tell you,” he said with certainty.

  “Maybe. Or maybe you are finally seeing past the bond and what your true feelings are. Maybe…maybe we aren’t meant to be more than friends.”

  Before he could respond, I ran out of his apartment and up the stairs. I stumbled up the last few steps, but finally made it to my apartment with tears streaming down my face, blinding me.

  The door was locked and I hadn’t brought my keys with me, so I sat against it, knees pulled to my chest and arms around my legs, and cried.

  Why? Why was I so emotionally unstable today? What would I do in Rhys’s position? Would I be able to stay if the tables were turned?

  Hell, I knew I wouldn’t be able to share at all. I wasn’t sure how they could all do it as it was.

  “Sweetheart,” Nico whispered. “What’s wrong?”

  “Rhys,” I sobbed and lifted my head. Nico’s eyes were bright with worry, his eyebrows scrunched together. He sat on the floor of the hallway with me, cross-legged.

  “What about Rhys?”

  “He said-” I didn’t want to repeat it. Just remembering the words hurt me again. I threw myself into Nico, who caught me and repositioned me so that I was in his lap sideways, my head on his shoulder and my legs over the side of his.

  “It’s alright, Jolie. I’m here,” he whispered.

  “Jolie,” Rhys whispered, standing above us. “Let me explain.”

  “Fuck off, Rhys,” Nico threatened him and rocked me in his arms.

  “I need to talk to her,” Rhys said and moved closer.

  “I don’t want to talk to you anymore,” I sobbed and clutched Nico’s shirt.

  “Jolie-”

  Rhys’s body flew down the hallway, slamming into the closed elevator doors. I gasped in shock and looked up at Nico who had his hand outstretched and glowing eyes.

  “Don’t do this,” Rhys begged him and stood up. “Don’t start a fight with me over a misunderstanding between her and me.”

  Deryn walked into the hallway and looked at our tense standoff. “What’s going on?”

  “Dickbag said something that hurt Jolie,” Nico said.

  “I’m trying to talk to her so I can explain what I said. It’s a misunderstanding,” Rhys told Deryn.

  “You said you would break the bond,” I accused him.

  “What!” Deryn screamed at the same time Nico did.

  “I said if you only mated with one of us, or not all of us, that I would consider breaking the bond.”

  Deryn punched Rhys in the jaw, knocking him down to one knee. Deryn’s body was partially shifted, fur sprouting from his hands and face. I’d seen this happen only twice before, both times when a werewolf was pissed and barely controlling their shift.

  “What the fuck, Rhys?” Nico demanded.

  “Don’t fucking lie!” Rhys yelled at them. “If she only chose me or Fox, would you stay as her guard? Would you stay and watch them together?”

  “It would be difficult,” Deryn agreed, thankfully fully human again.

  “Exactly!” Rhys yelled and rubbed his jaw. “Fuck, that was a hell of a hit.”

  “What if she chooses to mate with someone else and not any of us?” Nico asked him, fists sparkling with magical energy ready to be used.

  “Nico,” I whispered. “Nico, don’t hurt him.” He didn’t respond to me. I gripped his shirt and shook him. “Nico!”

  “I don’t know,” Rhys admitted.

  Nico was gone. One second he was beneath me, and the next I was sitting in the hallway alone. He slammed into Rhys, his hands released an electrical energy that made Rhys scream out in pain.

  “Stop!” I yelled, but they weren’t listening.

  “I love her!” Rhys yelled at them, panting on the floor while Deryn and Nico glared down at him. “I can’t watch her lo
ve anyone, but you three!”

  “Our bond isn’t to be broken! We swore!” Nico shouted at him.

  “I know,” Rhys whispered.

  Nico looked like he was going to hurt Rhys again, so I screamed at them. My scream was loud and high-pitched, higher than I’d ever screamed before. The glass windows shattered, the lightbulbs shattered, and the pictures and vases exploded. The guys dropped to the ground, covering their heads and looked at me with wide eyes.

  “Stop fighting!” I ordered them.

  “Jolie,” Nico whispered.

  “Shut up!” I ordered him. “Shut up and listen to me. There will be times that I fight with you individually. It will happen. But, that doesn’t mean you fight with each other. You’re brothers. You’re best friends. I’m sorry. I overreacted. I’ve been extremely emotional lately. And no, god dammit, I’m not fucking pregnant. I am sorry, Rhys.”

  Rhys, Nico, and Deryn stood up slowly, keeping their eyes on me.

  “I’m sorry, Jolie. I love you,” Rhys whispered.

  “I know you do,” I said and felt the tears as they dripped down my cheeks.

  “Can I come hug you?” Rhys asked.

  I nodded, since it was impossible to talk at the moment. What the fuck was wrong with me? Why was I overreacting to everything?

  Rhys gently slid his arms around my sides and pulled me against his chest. “I’m sorry.”

  My tears soaked the shirt he had put on and I gripped his back as I cried.

  “It’s us,” Deryn whispered. “She’s feeding off our emotions.”

  “What do you mean?” Nico asked. “None of us are crying.”

  “Fox is,” he replied with a smirk. “He’s watching that movie about the dog and fox who became friends. He always cries when he watches that movie.”

  “Which one of you was mad earlier?” Rhys asked as he rubbed my back and hugged me.

  “Me,” Deryn answered. “I was trying to do something and it wasn’t working like I wanted it to.”

  “She looked like she was ready to blow the building up,” Rhys informed them.

  “How can we stop her from getting hyped up on our feelings?” Nico asked.

  “I’ll ask my Elder,” Deryn said. “Wolves have a pack connection, similar to our warrior bond. I’m sure he will have something to suggest.”

  “I love you. All of you,” I whispered into Rhys’s shirt, the words getting muffled by it.

  “We love you more than anything,” Nico whispered.

  “Come on, your breakfast is going to be cold,” Rhys said and tugged me down the hallway.

  Fox popped his head out of his apartment and looked at us with red eyes. “What’s going on?”

  “No more sad movies!” Nico ordered him.

  “What? Why not?”

  “Because Jolie can’t handle it right now.”

  “Why are you keeping me from your clan too?” I asked Nico. “Fox and Deryn are the only ones who have let me go. Rhys said I can’t go unless we’re mated.”

  “Ah, that’s what started the argument,” Deryn guessed.

  Rhys nodded.

  “I want you to be safe,” Rhys reiterated. “After you choose whether to become our mate or not, then I’ll take you.”

  “Why not before?” I asked.

  “Because being my mate will ensure that no one tries to challenge you,” he explained. “As a mated couple, if one is challenged, it is a challenge for both of them. If you aren’t my mate, then anyone can challenge you and I won’t be able to help.”

  “So, if I don’t become your mate, then what?” I asked.

  “We’ll cross that bridge when it comes. First, you have to make a decision. And no, I don’t mean right now,” he said quickly before I could say anything.

  Breakfast was a somber affair, but at least no one was crying or punching each other. I excused myself to sulk in my apartment, curled up on the couch with the blanket wrapped around me.

  Too late, I realized that Nico hadn’t answered me. These men were slowly driving me insane.

  “Jolie,” Fox called through the door.

  “What?” I replied, my voice muffled by the blanket around my face.

  “Can I come in? You’re sad and it’s hurting me.”

  Hurting him? Why would my sadness hurt him?

  “What do you mean it’s hurting you?” I asked and sat up. I still wasn’t going to the door to let him in. I needed my privacy.

  “We can all feel your pain,” he explained. “It’s like a sharp stab in the center of our chests.”

  I had no idea that they felt my pain physically.

  “I want to be alone,” I told him. “Please. I’ll try to stop being sad so it doesn’t hurt you.”

  “Okay,” he said with a sigh. “I’m sorry I caused you to be upset earlier.”

  Fox was always so kind and sweet. Yet, I didn’t want to let him in to console me. Why? Sometimes, a girl needs to be alone to thoroughly process her feelings and emotions. And I really needed to process everything.

  The guys were all great. They were loving, kind, and protective. They wanted me and me alone.

  But, was that really fair? Would it be right of me to stay with them? For me to be with four of them, while they only had one of me?

  Knowing that they would feel my death tenfold, did not make me want to agree. No matter what, they would have to deal with my death because they lived longer than I did.

  They all wanted to be my mate. I wanted them to be my mates. It should have been a simple answer. Yet, I was hesitant to take that plunge. I felt like I was taking away their futures. I felt like I was ruining their chances of finding mates that would be their equals.

  Thinking about giving them up hurt immensely. Picturing my future without them at my side was painful and boring. Even just one of them being gone was inconceivable. I could do it, but I really didn’t want to.

  Running would do nothing, except put me in danger and cause them to have to rush after me to find me. I wasn’t going to do that again. I wouldn’t be childish and run away ever again. Though, I wasn’t powerless any longer. I could shift into a god damn dragon, after all.

  So, that left me with two options. One, break the bond completely. Two, become their mate.

  Being their mate sounded like an amazing thing. To know that we were mated, that there would be no others who could break us up or that they, or I, would cheat would provide huge relief to our stressed lives.

  The warning the Elders gave us about the chances of pregnancy increasing certainly worried me. I was not ready for children. Not for at least five years. Or more. Definitely more. Truthfully, I never saw myself having children. Would they want children? That was something I would need to ask them. That might be a deal breaker for some of them.

  “Jolie,” Deryn called through the door.

  “I want to be alone,” I replied immediately.

  “Please,” Nico begged.

  I opened my door and was shocked to see all four of them standing in my hallway with pained expressions and half of them with clenched fists.

  They were wearing tank tops and sweatpants. All four of them. They were different colors and brands, but they still matched.

  “Why are you all wearing the same thing?” I asked, completely caught off guard, since they never wore similar things, except when they wore suits.

  “We were training,” Rhys answered.

  “What do you guys want?” I asked softly, resigned to not being alone today like I wanted. They weren’t being manipulative or rude on purpose. I knew that. I just wasn’t sure why they were being so insistent.

  “We want to talk,” Nico said.

  “What about?”

  “Whatever it is that is causing you so much pain and discomfort,” Deryn said with a growl and rubbed the center of his chest with his closed fist.

  “Is it really hurting you?” I asked in disbelief.

  All four nodded.

  “Talking isn’t going to change my fe
elings,” I muttered. It might make things worse, actually.

  “Is it about mating with us?” Rhys asked softly.

  I wanted to lie, to keep their feelings from being hurt and keep them from misunderstanding why it was causing me pain. However, lying was out of the question, since they could see right through my lies. So, I nodded.

  “What about mating makes you sad?” Fox asked. I expected him to be upset or sad, but he was only curious. Or at least that’s how he appeared. They were pretty good at hiding their emotions.

  “It’s not mating that is making me sad,” I explained. “But the options of what to do if we don’t mate.”

  The tension grew, all of them freezing and clenching their fists at their sides.

  “What options?” Deryn asked.

  A loud groan escaped my lips, and I spun around, stalking back to the couch where I flopped onto my side, blanket still tightly wrapped around me. “I don’t want to talk about this,” I mumbled around the blanket which I’d pulled up to my nose.

  The guys filed in, Fox coming in last and shutting my door for me. Rhys sat on the floor in front of the couch, Deryn sat on the couch beside my head. Nico sat at my feet, picking my legs up and putting them in his lap, so I didn’t have to move at all. Fox sat in front of the couch, beside Rhys and turned to look at me.

  “I love you four,” I told them softly.

  “We love you as well,” Fox whispered. “Which is why we want to find the source of your sadness and annihilate it.”

  I chuckled humorlessly. “You can’t.”

  “Why not?” Rhys asked, tilting his head back so that he could look at me upside down.

  “This is my decision,” I whispered. “I have to come up with the decision on my own. I have to decide what I’m going to do about you four. About the rest of my life, our lives.”

  “We don’t get any say?” Nico asked. He had begun rubbing my feet at some point, I wasn’t certain when, but I was thoroughly enjoying his warm hands kneading my feet.

  “You all already told me that you want to be my mate,” I replied. “I asked you each about it.”

  “What options?” Deryn asked me for the second time.

  I groaned. Werewolves were not known to give up on something once they had the scent. “Mate with you all. Mate with none of you. If I mate with none of you, then I have to decide if I’m going to stay. If I mate with all of you, then I’m taking away your chance at finding a mate of equal standing. A mate worthy of you.” Before any of them could say it, I said, “Yes, I’m worthy. Blah. Blah. Blah.”