Betrayed Page 3

  Something about this moment between us was turning her on.

  “I was working,” she repeated.

  I tugged harder.

  Again with the squeak.

  My dick was already hard but it seemed to get even harder with that sound. Fuck. What would it be like to have those pretty lips wrapped around my cock? What would it be like to slide deep inside of her?

  And the tail...

  Would she let me play with the tail?

  “Lane, I’ve known you for a long time: long enough to know when you’re lying.”

  “I’m not lying.”

  “Nobody goes to Dreagle to work.”

  “I did.”

  Something about the urgency in her tone made me pause.

  What if she was telling the truth?

  “Why would you go to Dreagle to work?”

  “I was doing something important,” she whispered.

  Important.

  On Dreagle.

  “Tell me what, Lane.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I need to know.”

  “You’re just being nosy.”

  “I’m not.”

  “You are. You’ve always been nosy,” she snapped.

  “I’m not being nosy. I’m...”

  “What? What are you doing, Andy?”

  “I’m protecting you!” I shouted.

  “I can protect myself,” she hissed, and then I kissed her.

  I shouldn’t have.

  I shouldn’t have done it, but I couldn’t hold back any longer. I kissed her deeply, passionately, wildly, and then I pulled back. It was wrong, and besides, I was supposed to be finding a wife.

  “After all of these years,” she said, staring at me looking betrayed. “You’re still the same person.”

  Then she turned, and without another word, Lane walked away.

  Chapter 4

  Lane

  Why did I let him kiss me?

  Shit.

  That so wasn’t how that interaction was supposed to go. My tail was pulsing as I tucked it between my legs and walked away like a scared animal: not a brave alien who was used to saving people who needed it.

  He wanted to know what I’d been up to on Dreagle?

  I couldn’t tell him.

  No way would I ever tell him.

  Andy had enough trouble without finding out about what I’d done, without finding out about Claw. If he ever discovered the truth, he’d be pissed, and the only thing worse than a cocky king was an angry one.

  “Can I help you?” One of the women who had come into Andy’s study stopped in front of me in the hallway.

  “Arleigh, right?” I asked, trying to remember. I couldn’t quite tell the two officials apart. I knew they were important to Andy. They obviously had huge responsibilities at the castle, anyway.

  “Brianna,” she corrected me without a smile.

  “Right,” I nodded.

  She stared at me blankly, and then I remembered that she’d asked if I needed anything.

  “No, I don’t need help,” I said. I started to move around her, but she stood firmly in place.

  I paused, looking at her. Brianna was glaring at me like a woman scorned. She liked Andy, was that it? Because I didn’t. I didn’t want anything to do with him. My visit was simply about making sure that my home planet wasn’t destroyed entirely. That was it.

  My visit had nothing to do with Andy. It had nothing to do with anything involving him or his throne. It had nothing to do with his thick, steely abs. Nothing to do with the way his smile made my panties wet. Not at all. The only thing I really cared about was making sure the planet was safe.

  Yep.

  That was it.

  “Excuse me,” I said, trying once more to go around Brianna, but she still didn’t move.

  Instead, she seemed to frown even harder.

  “I’m sorry, but what is your problem?” I finally snapped, glaring at her. I was surprised when a thin sneer crossed her lips, covering her face. Oh, she was bad news, was she? She looked like a total bitch. What was her damage?

  “Andy is mine,” she said.

  “What?”

  “He’s mine,” she repeated. “So you can call off this bridal hunt or whatever you want it to be. He’s going to choose me.”

  I stared at her, trying to figure out what the hell she was talking about, but then I laughed, shaking my head.

  “You aren’t joking.”

  “Of course, I’m not joking.”

  “You must be.”

  “I assure you,” she bristled, “I’m not joking.”

  “Would you say this is ‘no laughing matter’?” I asked her, raising an eyebrow.

  “I would say that, yes,” she nodded.

  I stared at the woman in front of me for a second. To be honest, I almost felt sorry for her. Whatever it was that she wanted, she wasn’t going to get it from Andy.

  “He’s not interested in you,” I told her. I tried to keep my tone even. I wasn’t trying to be malicious or cruel, but I’d known Andy a long time. He wasn’t interested in anyone. “If you like him, though, you should just let him know.”

  I turned and started to walk away, but I felt her hand on my arm. I turned around, expecting to see her yelling at me. I braced myself, thinking that she might want to hit or slap me, but nothing happened.

  “What?” Brianna’s voice was a whisper.

  “Excuse me?”

  “What did you just say?”

  “I just mean he’s kind of clueless,” I shrugged. “If you like him, just tell him.”

  “You think I have a chance with him?” Brianna’s eyes widened.

  “I didn’t say that,” I told her. “He’s not exactly the kind of guy who’s really keen on marriage, you know?”

  I wasn’t sure why I was telling Brianna this, but I suddenly felt like I had to tell someone. I also felt like she needed to know what she was getting herself into.

  Obviously, Andy didn’t want to get married. If he’d wanted to, he would have done so a long time ago, but he hadn’t.

  The reality was that he was happy and content as a single person. I actually felt bad for being the one to break the news to him. I didn’t have to be, of course. I could have left the job for someone else, but I didn’t.

  All of these years apart, and I still felt like I needed to see him one last time.

  Besides, I didn’t want Claw to mess with Andy. I might not have been able to protect him very well, but I’d still do my best.

  “Why not?” Brianna asked, lowering her voice. “Do you think he was hurt before?”

  Had he been hurt before?

  Yeah.

  By me.

  “I don’t know,” I lied. “But if you’re interested, just make sure you come to the ball.”

  Then I kept walking past her. This time, she let me go. I knew exactly where I was going. I’d spent years running around the halls in this castle. Aside from Andy and Ryssi, I was probably one of the only people who knew the ins and outs of the place.

  I was probably the only person aside from the princes themselves who knew where the secret passageways were, who understood exactly what it took to navigate around the castle unseen.

  Luckily, Brianna walked away in the opposite direction from me, so I was soon alone in the empty castle hallways. The only bad thing was that this left me alone with my thoughts: something that wasn’t necessarily a good thing.

  How had Ryssi done it? How had he managed to leave Malum and find happiness? The king’s little brother had always been a serious person, so I was surprised when he’d just up and left. I knew he’d gotten married, but it didn’t make a lot of sense to me.

  Now Andy was being forced to take a bride himself. Was he going to tell his younger brother? I wondered if they were still close and if Andy would think it important to tell Ryssi.

  Maybe he’d want Ryssi’s opinion.

  Or maybe he’d keep this to himself.

  I pas
sed a few people working on various things in different hallways. In one part of the hallway, someone was painting. Another person was washing windows. Andy was always fair, I thought as I kept walking. He paid his employees a fair wage, he was kind to them, and he took care of them.

  He was so unlike Claw.

  Claw was the one who had almost killed me. He was the one who had very nearly sliced my hands off. He’d hurt me for my crimes and I had only narrowly escaped.

  Had my choices been worth it?

  Absolutely.

  Was I ever going to tell Andy the truth?

  Never.

  Andy didn’t need to know why I’d come back to Malum after all of those years. He didn’t need to understand why I’d done all of the things that I had. He didn’t need to know any of it.

  The only thing he needed to know was that I was here now, and I was going to do whatever it took to find Andy a bride that he could be happy with. I was going to do whatever it took to make sure he found someone he could love. I did not want to see Claw on the throne. Not on Malum.

  This planet was the only place I’d ever felt safe.

  Should I have left?

  No.

  Unfortunately, I couldn’t time travel, so I had to live with my bad decisions. I had to live with the fact that I’d made some horrible choices and my past was probably going to haunt me for a long time.

  I could try to make things better going forward, though, and I’d start by making sure that Andy got married in time. He needed to keep the crown. I couldn’t let him give it up to Ryssi or to anyone else who might try to fight him for it. The reality was that forcing someone into a marriage was pretty archaic and horribly wild. Terrible, really.

  Still, this was Andy we were talking about.

  There was a part of me that knew he was going to fight this tooth and nail. He wasn’t going to want to let anything go. He wasn’t going to make this easy for anyone at all, least of all himself.

  “Are you lost?” I turned to see a male guard standing, looking at me curiously. Well, he was looking at my tail. His eyes weren’t meeting mine.

  “No.” My response was curt, short, and probably a little bit rude, but I didn’t particularly care.

  Why was he looking at my tail?

  “Are you sure?”

  “Fuck off,” I told him.

  “Or what?” Now the guard looked at me. He raised his eyebrows, considering whether he was going to continue flipping me crap or not. I was almost certain that he was.

  “Or you’ll have to answer to me,” a deep voice said from behind me.

  Fuck.

  Andy.

  He’d followed me, and I hadn’t even noticed. There was a time when no one ever would have been able to sneak up on me. Apparently, I was off my game.

  “Your Highness,” the guard quickly bowed, but I didn’t even move. He started muttering excuses. He hadn’t actually touched me, and he hadn’t hurt me at all, but Andy was obviously displeased with the way this dude had been rude to me.

  “If I ever hear you being impolite to one of my guests again, I’ll kill you myself,” Andy said coldly.

  Something in his tone must have let the guard know that he was being serious because he started apologizing profusely and then he ran away.

  “He won’t be back to work tomorrow,” Andy murmured. “Guess I’ll have to find a new guard.”

  “Try to find someone without a stick up his butt,” I offered helpfully.

  “Where should I start looking?”

  “Anywhere but Tria, I’d guess,” I whispered.

  I still hadn’t turned around.

  I still hadn’t faced him.

  There was a part of me that wanted to, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. Me and Andy...there was so much unfinished business there that I could taste it.

  “Why did you come back, Lane?”

  “I’ll never tell,” I whispered.

  I could practically hear his heart beating. His breath was hot on my ear, and he took a step forward, pressing his body against me. Suddenly, every ounce of my skin felt like it was on fire.

  Oh, I was burning up.

  Why the hell was I burning up?

  “You should tell me,” he murmured.

  “Why?”

  “Curiosity.”

  “You’re not a curious person.”

  A lie.

  We both knew it.

  “On the contrary, I’m very curious. I think that’s part of what makes me such a wonderful king.”

  “A wonderful king wouldn’t have hired a jerkwad to guard his hallways.”

  “You’d be surprised what types of things wonderful kings do,” he murmured.

  Why did that sound like a promise wrapped in a threat?

  And why, oh why, did that make my stomach feel like there were bats flying around inside of it?

  I couldn’t quite believe what was happening. I’d come back fully expecting to see Andy, of course, but I hadn’t expected to have this happen.

  The touching.

  The kiss.

  All of it.

  It was a surprise to me. All of it was a surprise, and I didn’t know what I was supposed to do next.

  To be honest, I’d done my job. I’d accomplished what I’d come here to do. I’d warned him. That was all I could do, really.

  The rest was up to him.

  Only, Andy had asked me to help. He’d offered to let me arrange a ball for him. That was quite a task, and it wasn’t something I was sure that I could do.

  “Sometimes you scare me,” I whispered.

  “Sometimes I scare myself,” he told me.

  “Why are you so close to me?”

  “Does that bother you?”

  My tail twitched.

  Did it bother me?

  A little.

  It was a good sort of bothering, though. It was the kind of bothering that could make your heart melt.

  “No,” I lied.

  “Liar,” he murmured in my ear.

  The chemistry between us was undeniable. No matter what anyone else had to say about me and Andy, the truth was that we’d always had this insane connection to one another. Touching each other had always felt incredible. It had always felt wild and wonderful.

  Now, as an adult, the feelings were even stronger.

  “What is it you want from me?” Andy pressed again.

  “Nothing, your majesty,” I said, but I found that I started grinding against him. I hadn’t meant to, but the hard feeling on my ass let me know that he didn’t mind a bit.

  “Careful.”

  “Or what?”

  “I might have to punish you.”

  “But I’ve been such a good girl.”

  “That’s right, I suppose. Good girls should be rewarded.”

  I didn’t turn around. I didn’t see his hand moving, but I felt it. He reached for my tail and started stroking it, touching it. I closed my eyes and leaned my head back against him.

  Oh, I wasn’t supposed to like this.

  “You’re purring,” he accused.

  “I’m sorry.”

  I was embarrassed. Purring? I’d never purred for anyone – man or woman. I’d had my fair share of lovers, but none of them had played with my tail like this before. Somehow, Andy knew just how to touch it.

  He stroked me softly at first, and then he rubbed faster. He kept touching the very end of my tail, careful to rub his fingers over all of the nerve endings there.

  I loved it.

  I loved every bit of it.

  “Don’t stop,” I whispered. It was a horrible thing to ask because I was pretty sure I could come just from this. My entire body was achy with need, and I suddenly realized that the only release from this moment would be Andy sliding his dick deep inside of me.

  And I couldn’t have that.

  We couldn’t have it.

  He was supposed to be married soon, and I was supposed to find him a bride. It wasn’t my job to test out the goods
in advance, now was it?

  He seemed to sense my sudden mood change because he stepped back, giving me some space, and I turned around.

  “I need to go to a guest room,” I whispered. I ignored the burning look in his eyes. I ignored the hardness in his pants. We both wanted more. We both knew it was wrong.

  “You don’t have to go,” he whispered.

  “I do.”

  “Shall I show you the way?”

  “I remember it well,” I whispered. Then I turned and left. I could feel his eyes on my back as I walked away, and I wondered whether I’d ever feel okay again after all of this.

  Was coming back a huge mistake?

  I couldn’t tell.

  I just had no idea.

  I did know, however, that he was safe, and that was the most important thing of all.

  Chapter 5

  Andy

  Trying to get any work done with Lane around was going to prove to be difficult. I could already tell. Over the next few days, she made herself at home in the castle.

  The guest room she was in was only a few doors down from my own. Usually, it was reserved for dignitaries and visiting royals, but she chose it as her own, and I wasn’t about to argue with her.

  It had been nearly a week when we met up in the castle ballroom to talk about the upcoming event. There was an incredible amount of planning that had to be done, including cleaning. Truth be told, I didn’t use this ballroom ever, so it had gotten more than a little dusty.

  “It’ll be beautiful,” she told me as we pushed open the doors and walked into the ballroom.

  “I haven’t used this room in years,” I admitted.

  “When was the last time? Your coronation?” Lane looked over slyly at me.

  “Something like that.”

  “Wish I could have been there.”

  “You could have.”

  She sighed and looked away. I wondered what her reaction would be to a comment like that. The truth was that I never really knew why Lane hadn’t stayed around. I didn’t know what it was that had caused her to leave the city, much less the planet.

  “Why did you leave, Lane?” I asked, grabbing her arm. She tensed. She wasn’t going to tell me, was she? “You have to give me a clue, at least,” I murmured.