"Excuse me, your highnesses," Z said in her musical voice, effectively pulling my attention back towards the conversation at hand. She curtseyed to the three kings present before flashing a singularly beautiful smile at Axel. Lupe, on the other side of the semi-circle we had created, growled low in his throat. The damn mate bond was even making him turn into a neanderthal. She reverted us back to our basic, primal instincts where everything was either fuck, kill, or eat. And with her? We wanted to fuck. It was a sort of carnal hunger, a predatory hunger, that left me speechless.
I have had my fair share of females, but never anyone like her. Never any female that I wanted to cuddle with afterwards, wanted to hear laugh, wanted to know every damn thing she was willing to give me.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
I hated the direction of my thoughts, hated the way they always seemed to lead back to her. I wasn't purposefully trying to be stubborn, but there was no secret that the mate bond was preordained by fate itself. What happened to free-will? What happened to choice?
And I wanted my relationship with Z to be a choice - both hers and mine.
"I promised Bash here a dance," Z continued lightly. I blinked stupidly at her.
Dance?
Did she get dropped on her gorgeous head or something? Because there was no motherfucking way I was going to dance...
She proffered a creamy white hand, and my heart thudded in my chest. Before I could stop myself, before I could think things through, I placed my hand in hers.
Her smile was smug as I led her to the dance floor, away from the Kings' curious, amused gazes and the wistful ones of my brothers.
"I don't fucking dance, blondie," I said, pulling her body towards me. She placed her hands on my shoulders as I settled my own on her waist. Around us, the partygoers were participating in an elaborate dance that included dips, twirls, and some random guy doing the splits. I would rather chop my own balls off than do any of that.
Oh wait. I had no balls. The female before me had taken them.
"Suck it up, Bash-hole," she retorted, and my lips quirked instinctively at the nickname. That was new, I would give her that.
"So why dance with me? I'm sure any other guy - not just including your mates - would love to dance with you." I couldn't hide the slight bitterness in my voice, but I kept my face impassive. Still, she saw right through me, smile widening.
"Are you jealous?" she asked lightly.
I snorted out a laugh.
"Never. Take all the guys for all the shits I give," I said with feigned nonchalance.
That smirk remained firmly etched in place, the damn temptress.
"So I'm allowed to dance with Axel?" She batted her eyelashes at me innocently, but his name had my hands tightening slightly, almost imperceptibly, around her thin waist. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes.
"Do what you want to do," I replied.
She immediately removed her hands from my shoulders, but I tugged her back to me.
"Oh hell no," I muttered before I could stop myself.
She laughed, a pure, jovial sound that made my cock twitch. It was the first time I had ever heard her laugh, I realized. Genuinely laugh. A full-on belly laugh.
And god, did I like that sound.
It was music, spun gold, and elicited goosebumps up and down my arms.
"Why are you laughing?" I asked hoarsely. I didn't want her to know what effect she had on me. Hopefully, she attributed my raspy voice to irritation, not lust.
"Because you're so transparent, Bash, no matter how hard you try not to be."
I quirked a brow at her, confused by those words, but she continued on before I could question her further. "Anyway, I picked you for a reason. I need to talk to you."
"About?" I asked. The live orchestra was playing a chilling melody that spoke of love and loss. I didn't know why music spoke to me the way it did, but I could get lost in the noise. It reverberated through every pore in my body, intricate stories being woven together with each slash of the bow against string. Each pluck of the guitar. Each pound on the keyboard.
What we were doing couldn't be considered dancing - more like awkwardly swaying - but it felt right. It felt like us. Her tiny body melted against my own as if she was made for me, and I, her.
Did I hate it?
Or did I love it?
Her warm breath puffed against my neck as she spoke; each turn of her head had her silky blond hair brushing against my sensitive, pebbled skin.
Fucking hell. Love and hate were so close together. I couldn't tell the difference between the two terms anymore.
"They know," she said breathlessly. Those words caused her lips to brush the hollow of my throat, and my breath hitched.
Don't cum in your pants, Bash. Don't you dare fucking cum in your pants.
That was a motto I never thought I would use in my life.
The mate bond made it so I couldn't get hard around anyone but my mate. Not that I would ever dream of sleeping with anyone that wasn't Z, but it could get damn irritating when I was trying to jerk one off. Instead, I had to fall asleep and allow my dreams to assault me until I was rock-hard and desperate to sheath myself in her delicious cunt.
Because apparently, I had dreams of the future.
And in those dreams, I was always with Z.
Happy. In love. Happy.
But was it real? Or was it the mate bond forcing us to feel that way about one another?
I couldn't discern, and I didn't want to look at it too closely.
"Bash," Z hissed irritatedly, oblivious to the direction my thoughts had headed. "Did you hear me? They know."
"Who knows?" I asked. Driven purely by instinct, I brought my nose to the crown of her head and inhaled deeply. Her newest
