I stood in front of William though I knew I could never shield him with my five feet and three inches of height. He towered over me by a good foot or so but I was a kinetic. Sure, he was physically stronger than me. Obviously, he had far more muscle than I could ever hope for but he was a typical pure blood. He had no additional power beyond being royal. I had every ounce of power in the world in the blink of my violet eyes.
"Give it up, Lilith," William said, seemingly bored by the situation.
I didn't respond. I focused on the group of royal warriors that bursted through the gold doors. Leading the group was a very attractive girl that looked at me with disgust. Her raven colored hair was cut short, to her chin, but it was still feminine and shaped her slender face perfectly. Her ice blue eyes watched me carefully, scrutinizing my appearance.
"Are you okay?" She asked William.
He didn't verbally respond so I assumed he nodded. I never took my eyes off the group in front of me. If I lost concentration, they could strike.
"Get the hell out of my way," the girl said to me.
Still, I didn't respond.
"Now." She demanded.
I welcomed the power prickling my skin. The surge I felt when I used my powers was unmatched. I have never been with a man but I assumed generating my power was probably better than sex.
The girl started to step forward; I threw a force field around William and myself stopping the girl dead in her tracks. In anger, she whipped out a gun and shot at the tangible field but her bullets fell short with every shot.
I couldn't help but smirk. I wasn't even putting any effort in. They would tremble in fear if I released my true nature on them.
I had almost forgotten about William until I felt an all too alluring set of hands on my slender hips. He pulled me against his chest but I was too shocked to actually stop him. I couldn't see him but I sure as hell felt him. He moved my silver blonde hair over my shoulder as gently as he possibly could. He leaned into my ear and softly bit the top, successfully pulling all my attention to what he was doing.
Before I realized what happened, I had a silver cuff clasped around my neck. I tried to rip it off but my power was instantly cut. I whipped around to glare at William but he just looked at me blankly. I started to panic; the cuff was painful but not unbearable. It was not full silver. If it was, it would have sliced through my skin already.
The girl wrapped her arms around William and went up on her toes to kiss him. To my horror, he didn't push her away. Granted, he didn't look entirely into it but he wasn't fighting it either. I had never felt more betrayed in my entire life. He had just said he was not letting me reject him so why the fuck was he kissing this bitch in front of me.
I couldn't even do anything about it. Even if I could, what would be the point? He made his choice and it wasn't me. He distracted me so his whore could slap this collar on me like a fucking dog then makes out with her in front of me. I lucked out by not really accepting him. Judging by this, he probably wouldn't have stayed faithful to me anyway. However, I couldn't deny how horribly it hurt to see him lavish his attention on another girl, even if she was far more attractive than me.
"Take her to the palace," the girl commanded.
"No," William contradicted, "Let her go."
"What?" The girl asked in disbelief.
"Let her go and take that off of her."
The warriors didn't hesitate at William's order. They instantly released me and unlatched the collar from my neck. In an attempt to save face, I started to leave the throne room but stopped at the doors and turned back.
"Get the fuck off my territory," I said low and deadly.
"Technically, this is my territory, Lilith," he reminded.
"Technically, you are not king, William. Therefore, you do not rule over me. Now leave. Before I change my mind."
What I wanted to say was leave before I killed the girl for touching my mate. The more I thought about William leaving with the girl, the more pissed off I was. If they weren't in my direct supervision, they could do whatever they wanted.
But he wasn't mine so why the fuck did I care?
I didn't.
I silently chastised myself for acting like a love sick child when I should have been the strong queen my race needed. I couldn't let William affect me like that again but he had a power over me that was both exhilarating and terrifying. I knew he could have complete control over me if he wanted to and I could not allow that to happen. He had attacked me; I never wanted this war but he kept sending his army out in an attempt to make me submit to his father's rule but I wouldn't. I wouldn't make my people go back to those horrible camps. I wouldn't allow them to be ripped from their families, doomed to a life of servitude to King Micah. He had enslaved kinetics and I knew William didn't know any better because his father was constantly in his ear but he needed to back off.
William needed to understand exactly what the training camps were like. They were essentially nazi camps; the people were starved and beaten into submission daily. When they were first started, they were a good thing but over the centuries they had become something dark and I couldn't let my people be subject to that. I wasn't sure if King Micah even knew what they were like these days but it was his responsibility to take care of anything preternatural yet here were the kinetics, forced into the military through these camps and he hadn't done anything to improve or stop the situation.
"Leave us," William commanded of his people.
Everyone except for the other girl left the room. Had he included me in that demand? Was it her he wanted a moment alone with? In my palace? Over my dead body!
"I'm not going anywhere," I bit out venomously.
He rolled his eyes, "Not you. Alex, could you give us a moment?" He asked lightly.
She glanced back at me but nodded with a light smile. His light squeeze of her hand did not escape my notice. I glared daggers at the contact but if he saw my reaction, he didn't respond to it. I have every right to be pissed about it but I couldn't be mad at the girl. She didn't know any better but he did. Leave it to me to end up with the worst mate possible.
He waited until the doors closed behind Alex to turn his attention to me.
"Girlfriend?" I asked as indifferently as I could muster.
He nodded absently, "We've been together for a few years."
I attempted to control the raging jealousy coursing through me but I wasn't exactly known to be understanding.
"Then why the fuck wouldn't you let me reject you?" I demanded to know.
"We are meant to be together."
I scoffed. To be honest, I was blown away. I didn't understand him or what he wanted from me.
"Do you understand what being a mate means?" I asked in a condescending tone.
"My parents are mates," he said back.
"Clearly not good mates if you think it's acceptable to have a girlfriend in addition to your mate."
"I never said I was going to have both," he responded. I could hear the clear irritation in his voice and I kind of enjoyed it.
"Then why don't you tell me what you want and I'll let you know if it's going to happen."
He frowned at my statement. I folded my arms over my chest in defiance. I wasn't going to let him walk all over me. My father raised me better than that.
"You are too stubborn for your own good," he finally said.
I shrugged. He was probably right but I would never tell him that. It would only feed his ego.
"You should get back to your girlfriend. I'm sure she's waiting," I said coldly.
It wasn't that I didn't want him. I did. I just wasn't going to be treated like a second thought by him.
He sighed in clear frustration, "Look, Lily-"
"So we have pet names now?" I asked, amused.
He tossed me a pointed look, "She and I have been together a long time. Let me break it to her nicely. She deserves that much."
I didn't like the idea but he was right. She was innocent in this whole thing. She would be crushed, I knew that and it was sad. However, I wasn't selfless enough to let her have him. He was my mate and we belonged together. I knew this was going to be long and difficult but I was willing to put in the effort if he was.