Prince Nixon Edington
Miranda was resting her head on my chest, her hair covering most of her face. She looked beautiful as she slept. Her breathing was almost lulling me back to sleep.
Her body, which was barely covered with the clothes she was wearing, did not help the state I was in. Morning urges were difficult as it was, without adding my sexy mate to the equation.
I had many things to do today. One of the teams in charge of spying on Zander Thomas, had news about the Rogue.
Being alone with Miranda was making it difficult to leave, but I decided I had to go. The more I put it for later, the harder it would be to leave her apartment.
I slowly moved her arm off my chest, being careful not to wake her, when she let out a soft moan.
If it had been hard to leave before, now it was almost impossible.
She started stirring in her sleep, and her breathing picked up.
"What time is it?" Miranda asked, her eyes half-closed, as she looked at the digital clock next to her nightstand.
"It's early. You should go back to sleep," I told her, running my hand through her hair.
"I'm hungry," she informed me.
At those words, I couldn't find it in me to leave her alone.
"Do you want to go somewhere to get breakfast?" I asked her.
She sat up on the bed, keeping one of her arms on my chest. I knew something had happened after she left with that Rogue Wolf to Craven's house.
I noticed that when she returned from visiting her father, she came back different. Obviously, pressing the subject had done nothing for me. She became defensive, or found a way to distract me.
"I do. I'm just going to change," she said, getting up from the bed. She yawned and stretched on the way to her closet. Her shirt rose up on her back, and I couldn't help but look at her smooth skin.
"I'm going to take a quick shower," I told her, making my way to the bathroom.
I needed a cold shower, and fast. It would help with the emotions my little mate caused on certain parts of my anatomy.
Miranda let me burrow some clothes that belonged to her brother. I was reluctant to take any of it, but ended up burrowing a shirt either way.
If she hadn't been so insistent upon it, I would've told her it was fine. I didn't really want to use her brother's clothes. But her pleading got the best of me. It was practically impossible to say no to her.
I was eating an order of pancakes, enjoying the company of my mate. It had been almost an hour since we'd woken up, and I had to leave back to the mansion soon.
"Are you finally ready to tell me what happened at Craven's house yesterday?" I asked her.
We were seated at a booth toward the back. There were hardly any people in the small restaurant, and no one was surrounding us. The privacy made it easier to talk.
"When do you plan to take my dad?"
She was looking down at her plate, moving the scrambled eggs around with her fork. She'd eaten half of it already, but I wanted her to finish the rest of her food.
"I'm still not sure. It's not going to happen yet," I told her, reaching out to hold her hand.
"Will you leave back to that place after that?"
"To The Island?" I asked, knowing exactly what she'd meant.
Miranda nodded her head, keeping her face expressionless.
"I'm figuring out what will happen after I capture Craven and Zander," I said, keeping my gaze on her.
She seemed deep in thought, and I allowed her that.
"Prince Nixon, are you coming back soon?" Harry said to me through the mind link.
I needed to get back, but I couldn't leave Miranda.
"I'll be there in half an hour," I replied, and blocked everyone out from my mind.
"We need to go already. Are you done eating?" I asked her.
"Where are we going?" She asked curiously.
"We're going back to the mansion. I need to do some work with- my team. But I won't be busy for too long," I reassured her.
It was mainly a lie. I did have a lot of work to do. The three teams had to give me a briefing on any information they discovered. We had to make a new plan with all the information that we gathered.
I just couldn't let Miranda go to her apartment. I needed to have her near me, where I knew she was safe.
"Okay," she surprised me by saying.
I didn't argue with how easily she agreed to come with me. Instead, I smiled inwardly at her recent change in behavior.
"So basically, they are going to lay low?" I asked the ten men sitting around the table in our conference room.
I now had schedules of routines, habits they kept, and a detailed list of families and friends from each of the Rogues.
All of my team had recognized Miranda. They knew who she was, and that Craven was her father.
A small threat on my part made them keep that small detail out of the file with all the information they'd gathered.
I knew I had to tell my father that I had found my mate, and she happened to be the daughter of our greatest enemy at the moment.
First, I wanted to capture Craven, before baring the news to him. My father wouldn't take it well, no matter what. I was hoping that having Craven and Zander would make it easier for him to accept my mate.
"Yes, so they won't be a problem," one of the men added.
I nodded, thinking over all the information I had received.
"They suspect we are here. My mate told me that her father is making preparations for that. They might be lying low, but they are still preparing for our arrival," I stated.
Mark, my second in command, got up from his seat. He looked worried about something. As I looked around the table, I noticed that all of the men shared the same grave expression.
"Is something wrong?" I asked, looking at them sternly.
"We didn't know that girl, Craven's daughter, was your mate," Mark said, taking a few steps toward me.
"I know. But it happened. I don't need any of you threatening me for it. Miranda is not involved in any of this. In fact, a few Rogues aren't either," I explained. It was hard to refer to Miranda as a Rogue.
Rogues were considered traitors to our kingdom. They had turned their back on the crown. Most had decided to live with humans, but still following our rules, and reporting with the kingdom. But the Rogues that followed Craven were something else.
I didn't like that Miranda was involved in all that. Worse- that she was the daughter of a man that so many people in the kingdom hated.
"We know. The only ones in on it are Craven, Zander, and a few that are loyal to them," Mark continued.
"Then what is this about?" I asked, getting annoyed by his cryptic comment.
Mark looked at Harry, who just nodded back at him.
"Robert was able to get one of the Rogues to give him information about the latest meeting Craven and Zander had yesterday," Mark started to say.
"Why didn't you tell me that before?" I asked him.
"We didn't think it was relevant, until you showed up with the girl, Craven's daughter," he said.
"What about that?"
"The Rogue told Robert, that Craven and Zander want to unite both their illegal packs."
I nodded at Mark, urging him to continue.
"They want to do this by having Zander marry Craven's daughter," Mark said.
I thought I'd heard him wrong, and even shook my head a few times.
"Craven only has one daughter. That girl, Miranda," he finished saying.
I almost shifted at his words. My claws were coming out, and I started seeing the room from a different perspective. The men spread away from me, giving me space.
I was about to call out for Miranda, when a growl erupted from my chest and I shifted into my Wolf.
Miranda Bonham's POV
Nixon and I had arrived at his mansion almost two hours ago. Despite his promise to not take long with his meeting, it had already been a while.
The day hadn't been wasted yet, so I was at least hoping it would start looking up later on.
Right after following Nixon to his room, he'd made me promise I would stay there until he came back.
So after waiting for half an hour, I'd gotten bored and started snooping around.
Just like it had been last time, the room was bare. There were hardly any of his belongings in the room.
After opening all of the drawers, I came upon a collection of classic books. One of my favorite books was in the pile, so I decided to snatch it, and read it while I waited for Nixon to come find me.
I was really engrossed in the book, reading up to chapter 10 without noticing time passing by. I took that as my cue to go down and tell Nixon I was going home. There was no point in sticking around if I couldn't be with him. Hiding out in his room wasn't as appealing as being in my apartment, working on some of my summer readings.
Just as I opened the door to his room, I heard a loud growl coming from downstairs. I found it strange that someone had shifted inside the house, but didn't think anything of it.
It wasn't until I came face to face with the beautiful midnight blue Wolf form of Nixon, that I knew something was wrong. He was standing in front of me, looking ready to attack at any given moment.
I took a step back into the room, leaving the door wide open for him to step through. I could've closed it, but if he wanted to walk in- the closed door wasn't going to stop him.
He was walking slowly toward me, his stare burning deep into my soul.
I should've been scared. He was bigger than me, he was stronger than me, and he was in Wolf form. But I wasn't scared. There was increasing tension created by having him so near me, looking dangerous and ready to kill.
His Wolf stared at me for a long time. I wanted to say something. Every time I opened my mouth to speak, nothing would come out. Finally, I gave up and just remained standing still, waiting for him to make the next move.
Some guys, who I'd seen earlier when we first arrived, came after Nixon. They were standing on the other side of the door, looking at Nixon cautiously.
One of them finally walked toward the room, and began closing the door. When I made an attempt to stop him, Nixon growled at me, and made me stay put.
As soon as the door was closed, I heard the guys walking away- leaving Nixon and me completely alone.
"I, I- what happened?" I asked, trying to keep my voice steady. I cursed myself for stuttering when I started talking.
He of course, couldn't reply. I couldn't even mind link with him, because he wasn't from my pack. I wasn't even sure if he could mind link at all.
The Wolves from that place where he came from, so far seemed the same as the ones from here, but I wasn't too sure.
It was minutes after I'd asked the question, when Nixon shifted in front of me. His naked form made me turn away from him, and face the opposite wall. I heard him shuffling around, probably looking for some clothes.
"I know," was all he said.
I didn't turn back to face him, because I could still here him putting on clothes.
"What do you know?"
"Were you planning to tell me?" Nixon asked, his voice sounding bitter.
"Huh? I might get a clue on what you're talking about if you tell me what's going on," I replied.
"Don't mock me." He sounded deadly serious, almost threatening.
I finally turned to look at him. When I did, I wished I hadn't. He was looking at me with so much hate, so much anger- it broke my heart that all that was directed at me.
"What are you talking about?" I asked, my voice coming out softer than before.
"You were planning to marry that bastard. So what, was I just a plan to get in The Island again and attack us? Did Craven put you up to this?" Nixon asked me, walking closer and roughly taking my shoulders in his hands.
"Are you serious right now?" I shrugged off from his hold, only to find his fingers digging into my skin as I tried pushing him away.
"Don't change the subject," he snapped, and finally let me go, shoving me away from him.
"I'm not changing the subject. I just can't believe you're accusing me of- whatever it is that you just accused me of," I said, sounding childish as I spoke.
I just couldn't help it. Nixon had barged into the room, looking ready to kill me, and accusing me of God knows what.
"It was in the plans for you to marry Zander, am I right?" Nixon asked, staring deep into my eyes. He was directly in front of me, his imposing figure standing tall, and making me want to shrink back.
"Well, it's more complicated then-" I began to say, before he interrupted me.
"It's not complicated. You were planning to marry him," he stated, leaving me no room to argue back. When I was about to interrupt him, he held his hand up to shut me up.
"Was the marriage an alliance for Craven and Zander's illegal packs?" Nixon asked me.
The answers to his questions were both eyes, but there was a lot more that he was leaving out. Instead of answering him, I started walking toward the door.
I hadn't taken two steps, when a hand around my waist brought me to a halt.
"You didn't answer my question." He lowered his face to my level.
There were only inches of distance between us, and I could feel his hot breath blowing on my face. I would've thought our positions were intimate, had Nixon not been accusing me of things I hadn't done.
"Yes," I replied to his question.
I didn't break my gaze from his. The moment I replied, his eyes turned darker than they had been before. I could feel him shaking from anger, but he wasn't shifting into his Wolf. He was holding on to me tightly, his fingers digging into my waist and no doubt leaving me bruised.
Minutes went by without him moving away, or saying a word.
I started to pull away, but he kept me in place.
"You betrayed me," were his first words after all the silence.
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