The Werewolf's Pet

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

A CHILD'S INNOCENCE

FOR WHAT SEEMED like an eternity, Aaron stared at me. In his eyes, I could see many mixed emotions. but the most that caught me off guard was adoration. I had to imagine it. There was no way he would fall for me, a simple human.

"Promise me that you will not inform any one of your suspicions," he whispered as if the walls had ears.

"Your sister knows, doesn't she?"

He nodded. "It's not easy hiding it from my family, but no one else knows and it should remain that way."

"Your father would have me executed?"

He shook his head, raking his hands through his hair. "Of course not. On the contrary, he is delighted to know for the first time in centuries, a prince has found his mate."

"Are you trying to say, no one from your bloodline has ever found a mate?"

"It's rare," he said. "Even for nonroyals."

"Is everything in that book true? How mating with a destined one can gain you powers?"

"I truly have no idea. Like I said, I would be the first royal to find his mate."

"Your parents aren't mates?"

A pain flickered in those electric blue eyes, creating a sharp pain in my heart. "No. They weren't mates."

"Were?"

"I thought you knew everything about what happened when we rose against you humans."

I folded my arms over my chest. "Well, I didn't pay great attention to everything in school."

"My father rose against the humans because they attacked our homes. They came with the false pretense of peace, but instead shot everyone in the room with pure silver bullets...of course, they weren't counting on royal werewolves being immune to anything—even silver."

"Your mother wasn't royal?"

He turned away from me as if trying to hide the pain, but as he spoke, it felt like a blade slowly burying itself in my heart. "No. She died with everyone else. By the time the guards got there, it was too late."

I stepped closer, hesitant, before placing my small hand on his back. "I'm sorry."

"I was fifteen when it happened, I was out having fun. If I would have been there—"

"What happened it's not your fault." Now, I understood why he had said that Annabel's death wasn't the only thing that pushed him almost into madness. It had been his mother's death that caused him to hang by a thread that snapped when he lost the woman he loved as well.

A silence hung in the air as I grabbed hold of his arm. "Why do you believe my life would be in danger if anyone found out I'm your...mate?"

He looked over his shoulder at me. "Because, you're human. If we were to mate, our child would be human."

My eyes widened. "What? How do you even know that?"

"Because your genes overpower mine." He turned away from me once again. "A human cannot rule over the werewolves. Those against it would rise against my father, would demand you died, or the crown would be stripped from my father."

"That's insane. Wait—what if we never mate?" Heat rushed into my cheeks. Why were we even speaking as if we were in a romantic relationship? We were nothing but friends. That was what I continued to repeat to myself, but I knew well it was a damn lie.

I had fallen hard for him.

He turned to face me and trailed the back of his hand over my shoulder, stopping at the marks that represented me as his pet. "Distance could help, but now that I have met you, I don't plan to let you go. At first, I thought I could fight it, but you...have grown on me, love."