Unexpected Mates ~ Book One
Chapter 19

Kian stared down at Sylvie’s face, hand offered between them, his dark eyes reflecting her surprised expression as she processed his words.

“You want to dance with me?”

“Of course.” He smiled, but his eyes didn’t crinkle like she remembered.

Sylvie’s brows knitted together as she lifted her hand into his and followed him through the throng of graceful, beautifully dressed Fae. Placing one hand on her hip and keeping the other in his grip, he stepped towards her, guiding her other hand to his shoulder.

Her cheeks grew hot as he stared like he was trying to absorb her image into his mind.

As her eyes darted down, he breathed a soft “no.” Instantly, her head lifted, and their eyes met again, staring into each other’s souls until everyone else disappeared.

Kian guided her across the floor, and while she had no knowledge of the dance, he took control perfectly. Her feet felt like he was puppeteering them.

“How long has it been for you?”

“How are you?”

Their voices overlapped one another, and the dancing pair grinned bashfully.

“You go.”

“No, you go.”

Kian smiled softly and spun Sylvie in a small arc, dipping her as he pulled her in. She giggled, letting the giddiness of their reunion cloud her mind.

“It’s been a few years,” Kian murmured into her hair. Sylvie’s mouth dropped open, and she pulled her head back to look at him. He didn’t look a few years older, sadder sure, but not older, but she assumed that had something to do with his Fae heritage.

“I- I’m sorry.”

“How often have I told you not to apologise to me?”

She blushed and twirled again, enjoying the soft breeze beneath her skirts. Despite their completely transparent quality, they still held a ton of heat.

“Not enough, apparently. What have you been doing all this time?” She wasn’t sure she wanted to hear the answer but asked regardless.

“Meetings, treaty writing, fending off a horde of Fae-demons from the Stone Court, prolonging my betrothal as long as possible.”

Sylvie blinked, taking it all in. “Fae-demons?”

“Yes,” Kian grumbled. “Hybrids. We think they were drawn to the Stone Court because they have the largest portion of Dryads in the realm. Something about their blood is addicting to the mixed breeds.”

The music changed and threw Sylvie off as she tried to match steps to beat while bombarded with images of the monster that nearly ate her. Stumbling, she grabbed Kian’s bicep to steady herself, pausing nervously when he winced.

“I think I met one of those things at the Fletcher building,” she whispered, returning her hand to Kian’s, eyeing him warily. “Elias killed it.”

Rolling his shoulders, Kian resumed his control of the dance and nodded. “Is that why you’re fear is so high?” He noticed her furrowed brow and added, “The second you walked in, I could sense your anxiety. It was never that intense even when you first discovered our existence.”

“Oh.” She looked around for Elias, wondering if she was still trying to anger Kian, when she spotted his icy blue eyes staring at her while spinning Lazuli in tight spirals. He nodded, and Sylvie looked back at her Prince. The Prince.“Some of it, I guess.”

His brow lifted when she refused to elaborate, and a wave of guilt hit her for lying to him. She had only just reunited with him, and the longer they talked and touched, the more she missed him. Sighing, she lay her head on his chest, letting her breathing synchronise with his.

“I missed this,” she whispered the statement so quietly she thought he didn’t hear her, but after a small sigh, Kian asked,

“What?”

“The peace I feel when I’m with you.” The realisation hit her suddenly, mingling with shame. Despite her growing bond with Elias, true peace was something that she only felt when she was with Kian. She took a deep breath and found all the nagging anxieties that swirled in her mind for days on the earth’s realm were gone.

“Are you manipulating my emotions again?” she asked, pulling back with a slight frown.

Kian swallowed and dipped his head down, resting his forehead on hers. “Just easing your fears, princess.” He paused, his voice hitching as if the words he was about to say hurt him. “Is Elias hurting you?”

“I think my pet has had enough of your company now, Prince. It’s my turn.” Elias levelled his smug smile at Kian and pulled Sylvie away roughly. While she immediately missed the tender touch of Kian, Elias’ roughness filled another nagging part of her.

“She isn’t your pet, Elias. She’s our bonded.” Kian’s tight jaw and narrowed eyes honed on Elias’s strangling grip on her forearm.

“My bonded,” Elias replied, hooking his arm around Sylvie’s lower back and pressing her against him. “You gave up that right when you sent her back to me alone. I can do with her as I please, and I am.”

His fangs glinted beneath the candle-lit chandeliers, and Kian’s body tensed.

“You’re lying,” he hissed.

Lazuli appeared at his side then, laying her sharpened nails atop his suit jacket. “Darling, you’re making a scene. Come dance with me.” She stood with her upturned hand for a beat, then two, as Kian looked from Elias to Sylvie before grasping her hand and pulling her into the crowd.

Sylvie’s chest ached as she watched his face twitch and resist twisting into a scowl. Elias, on the other hand, hummed, a look of satisfaction on his face. He loosened his grip on her waist but continued to guide her back to the cushioned lounger. He turned and sat, pulling her onto his lap, roughly whispering in her ear, “You have exceeded my every expectation tonight.”

His hands wrapped around her hips and rocked her against the hardness in his pants. “I won’t forget how good you’ve been, Sylvie.” She shivered as he purred her name into her ear but sat up straight instead of letting herself sink in his touch.

The guilt from her behaviour overrode most of the excitement she felt from Elias’ praise. He pressed his lips against her lobe and whispered, “I know it must hurt you to lie to him, but it’s for his own good. Lazuli is hiding something, and whatever it is is killing him.”

She inhaled sharply as her gaze fixed on the princess to be herself, spinning off Kian’s arm and grinning ear to ear.

Turning, Sylvie pressed her chin to her shoulder and whispered back, “What did she say to you.”

“Not here,” he responded, dropping his hand to her inner thigh and trailing his fingers in upward strokes.

The lighting around them dimmed as if half the candles went out and a new sensual musical piece started. Sylvie’s eyes darted around the room as the Fae’s elegant moves became more intimate and erotic.

One couple to her right gripped each other’s asses and ground their pelvis’ into each other as their mouths explored the other’s neck. The other pairs, trios and groups of four all seemed to do the same thing, dipping hands into each other’s clothes, groping and kneading.

Sylvie flushed hot, listening to the sounds of music accompanied by soft moans, sighs and whimpers. The only ones not getting into the action was the engaged couple the party was for. Kian stood stoically as Lazuli whispered secrets into his ear.

A wandering finger slipping beneath tulle and lace made Sylvie gasp, her attention returning to the man behind her. And front. His thick digit fingered the hem of her leotard, and she rocked her hips, earning a sharp hiss in her ear. “Careful, pet. He’s watching. Don’t want him to think you want me.”

“But I do,” she groaned, spreading her knees wider for him to better touch her core. The heat in her body rose as he rubbed a warm fingerpad right above her clit, and she let her head fall back. Kian’s manipulation of her anxiety made way for the constant overwhelming horniness she always felt.

A rough grip around her thighs forced her to stand, and Elias spun her, pressing his face into her belly. He inhaled deeply before pulling her back into his lap, making her sit side-on. Her thigh pressed against his groin, and she felt a twitch against her. “I need you to be afraid,” Elias murmured in her ear. “He needs to believe I’m not caring for you.”

“Why?” she moaned, pressing her thighs together for some much-needed friction. She didn’t know if it was the dry-humping orgies around her or a side effect of the mating heat, but she was feeling way more eager than usual to perform public sex acts in the crowded space.

“He’s a nurturer, always has been. Far kinder and wiser than I’ll ever be, but something is wrong with him, and it has to do with her,” he growled the last word and narrowed his gaze at Kian on the throne, now mirroring Elias and Sylvie with Lazuli on his lap. Kian’s own hand rubbed absently up and down her thigh, pausing to rub dangerously close to her crotch before trailing down again.

“I know he wants you, Kitten. Now we need to make him believe he needs to protect you.”

Elias grabbed her wrist and yanked it upward, letting his pointed fangs elongate. The gleam in his eye shot adrenaline through Sylvie’s body, and she automatically wrenched away.

“Why do you think this will even work,” she asked in a rushed whisper, still trying to pull away from the fangs getting dangerously close to her wrist.

“I told you,” he purred. “Kian hates it when I play with my food.”

With that, he descended, and Sylvie squeezed her eyes shut, heart hammering as she waited for the sharp pain. Warm liquid dripped down her forearm, but the sting never came. Still terrified, she peeled her eyes open and saw Elias had torn his teeth into the flesh of his hand and expertly hid it to look like he had bitten her.

Elias caught her eye and winked, standing abruptly and throwing her over his shoulder. A hard thump hit her ass cheek, and she gasped, wrapping her hand around her wrist when Kian’s blazing eyes took in the scene. It was working. He stood and watched them leave the throne room, murder in his eyes.

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