“Don’t twist my words when you know that’s not what I meant.” He said with a glare at her. “You of all people, who can read my mind and know what I’m thinking, should be the last person to throw an accusation like that at me.”
“What do you mean, then? How am I supposed to interpret your thoughts?” Zara tossed back at him, challenging.
“It’s not about pure blood or impure blood. It’s about what my people will accept and what they won’t.” He got up from the bed and stood in front of her, with the gold and steel on his bedside table snaking itself up onto his arms. “They accept you beside me. They accept that I value your counsel and that I trust you. Making you my mate and a princess over them is something different.”
“So don’t make me your mate, but don’t make me your whore either.” She said with obvious hurt in her voice.
He stepped toward her and put a hand up to her face gently, his expression turning gentle as well. “What do you want, Zara? What happened?”
She turned her face into his hand and took a deep breath. “I just…it’s nothing. I’m overreacting.” She kissed his palm and then looked into his hazel eyes. “You should find a mate.”
“Tell me.” He pressed. Nick had been living with her nearly every moment of most days for more than four months. Heartborn might thrive on interpersonal relationships, but that didn’t necessarily mean intimacy came any easier to them than to other people.
“Ask anyone. They’ll tell you one of two things about wolves like me. Don’t trust them. Or fuck them but don’t mate with them. Stay away or use them. No one will ever say that it’s okay to love us. To want us for more than sex or power. I can’t help that I want more out of life than what I was given. I’m sorry.”
“Do you think I’m just using you?” He questioned with a kiss to her forehead as he held her close, but clearly there wasn’t accusation there.
Zara sighed and shook her head. “No. But you still don’t want me either. Not as an equal partner.”
“You know how much I want you.” He sighed and stepped away from her to get the rest of his clothing and get ready for the day’s meetings. “I’ve heard all of that about Heartborn my whole life, but then of course you came in, and we’ve had these last four months for me to learn how wrong everything I heard about you has been. You’re the only race of wolves that never cared about what happened on the outside of us, only what’s going on in your heart and the heart of everyone around you. And now you tell me that what’s between us isn’t enough.”
“That’s not what I mean. I don’t care if we mate or not, I just…I get jealous when I think of you with someone else.”
“As I do when I think about you with someone else.” He finished pulling on his ripped jeans and light-colored vest that had become his trademark clothing over the last few months. She could feel his jealousy of her as he got ready, his possessiveness that wanted her with him at all times, and it was not the kind of thing a person would feel for a whore.
She went up to him and kissed him several times in apology. “I’m sorry.”
He returned the kiss but didn’t say anything else. “I’ll see you later this afternoon. I have some visits to make with the Fireborn first. But I’ll see you at court.” Over the last few months, the steel platform on which his throne sat had grown considerably to include places for all the Alphas that came. It included their mates, along with a smaller seat behind his own that was reserved for Zara at all times.
“You know I’ll be there. Always.” Zara promised eagerly and with all the sincerity she could muster.
“I know.” He kissed her one last time and headed out, accompanied by Lea and William as always.
When he went to meet with the Fireborn, he was greeted by one of the few females in the small group named Dayna, who was particularly passionate about just everything, including greeting the Ironborn prince. “What a pleasure, Prince Nickel. Were you expecting to meet with someone?”
“I came at Princess Veronica’s request.” He gave the woman a smile that was only feigned because he was in a particularly bad mood from the morning’s conversation. Their Alpha and his mate shared power a little more freely and easily than the others did. Balthazar, the Alpha, found he enjoyed spending time with his other Alphas somewhat more than with his own pack since they arrived, and so Nick had seen more of Veronica than of the Alpha himself.
Dayna nodded and went running off to get her mistress, leaving scorch marks in the ground as she did. When Veronica came out, she smiled when she saw the Ironborn prince, the morning sunlight glittering in her dark crimson eyes. “Good morning.” She gave him a slight bow by a nod of the head. “Thank you for coming.”
“Of course.” He dismissed Lea and William with a look and headed further in toward Veronica’s home, trying to appear more at ease than he was. “What can I do for you?”
“I’ve gotten word about another group of Fireborn, but I wanted to tell you about it first before I told them to come.” She sat down by a newly created fire where breakfast was cooking. It smelled delicious, and there was no fear of burning it or ruining it with them
