The Lycan King's Defiant Surrogate

"You are asking me to deny the King of the kingdom," I tell him "The man who does not take no for an answer"

"Threaten to kill yourself if you have to," Samuel says

That slices through me like a blade. Samuel would rather I hurt myself than be 'spoiled. How can this cruel, apathetic man be the man I love? Unless, have I been fooling myself, thinking Samuel was my one true love!

Someone who loved me wouldn't be happy with my situation... But they wouldn't think I'm tainted because of it. They wouldn't think I needed to hurt myself or die outright.

Seeing this side of Samuel makes me glad I decided against running away with him. His love seems entirely conditional. I hate to think it, but at the first real sign of trouble, he might have left me flat.

"What are you thinking?" Samuel asks. "Why are you looking at me like a stranger?

"Because you are one." I say, "I don't recognize the man I love. The way you are talking about me, it's "

""There you are.

I turn and find Caleb suddenly beside me. Glancing around, I notice the entire room has seemed to stop. Everyone, especially the King, is looking right at me.

"Harper." Caleb asks. "I am offering you the first dance."

I know better than to turn that down. With everyone watching, rejection could easily be seen as embarrassment. I've been fortunate to so far avoid the fate that Bethany had thought for me. I'm not about to tempt fate by risking it now. Besides, dancing with Caleb would give me the perfect opportunity to escape this terrible conversation with Samuel that was actively breaking my heart.

Thirdly, I also kind of just really wanted to dance with Caleb.

So as he holds his hand out, it takes me no time at all to slip my hand into his. His fingers curl protectively around the back of my hand as he tugs me, encouraging me away from Samuel and closer to his side. I move at once. Then, as I'm beside Caleb, he glares at Samuel for a firm five seconds before we blessedly start to move away.

No one is dancing yet, perhaps waiting for the king, so it is up to us to determine where the dance floor begins. Caleb leads me toward the center of the Hall at the front, near the stage holding his throne.

There, he tugs on my hand again, harder this time, yanking me toward him so that I have to lift my free hand to keep from colliding with his chest. My hand presses there instead, though Tam close now too. Caleb wraps his free hand around my waist. He lifts the hands we are holding together off to our sides.

He nods somewhere, to an orchestra perhaps, as they immediately start a song with a slower tempo. Violins and timpani, it sounds like a full orchestra.

He moves first, leading, and I follow. Soon, we are slow dancing around the room. The guests move back, giving us a wide oval of room.

As we near some of the onlookers, I start to hear the whispers. "How could he dance with a harem girl and not his fiance?" My stomach sinks. Previously, I'd only heard gossip that he and Sonya would only be a good match, but this whisper now... Had they actually become engaged?

Then why would he chose to dance with me? If he's truly met his perfect match, than he should be with her. Unless that is

another piece

of misunderstanding or gossip. Maybe Caleb really isn't waiting for his perfect mate. Maybe he's just waiting for close enough to perfect to get by.

From this angle, I have perfect view of the love bite I left under Caleb's jawline. It gives me some satisfaction seeing it, especially as this new jealousy surges through me.

If he gets married, will he give up his harem? What would happen to me?

You are as he says, catching me.

I quickly look away. "You should have covered that up."

"Why? You were bold enough to mark your king, but not bold enough to own it?"

"People don't think it's mine," I say. I refuse to tell him that they think it's his fiancé's. I'm not ready to talk about that just yet, afraid of having my worst fears confirmed. "Then they are fools. We are, after all, a matching set."

"You gave me twenty compared to your one."Upstodatee from Novel(D)ra/m/a.O(r)g

Caleb glances down at me, heat burning in his eyes. "Oh, there's many more than twenty."

Heat flares in my cheeks. I know I'm blushing furiously, likely a bright and vibrant red, but I can't seem to temper it down. I keep thinking about how they got there.

Gods, what a pleasant morning it was.

Caleb smirks, entirely smug. I want to hate him for it, but he's earned it this time. And honestly... I find that look on him somewhat endearing. He looks younger like this, boyish and carefree, as if teasing me was the most important thing to him in that moment. Usually the weights of being king hung heavy on his shoulders.

After we danced alone for a moment, others began to choose their partners and join us on the dance floor. Yet even with the other couples, Caleb directed us masterfully around the floor. Or, perhaps, the others were just smart enough to get out of the way.

Another turn, and Caleb says, "You were talking with Samuel."

I would rather trip and fall on my butt in front of all these people than talk about Samuel with Caleb. But with how fiercely he's holding me around the waist, that doesn't seem possible.

"I was," I say and hope that will be the end of it.

With Caleb, of course it isn't. "You didn't seem particularly happy about it."

I frown a little. I have no idea how to get out of this conversation. I likely can't, not without giving up at least a kernel of

truth.

"He's change since I've known him," I admit. "Life has made him hard, maybe. Or perhaps it's life with my sister that has But he is no longer the boy I knew,"

Caleb's smile is gone, replaced instead with a harsh line. The heat in his eyes has dimmed also. It's frozen over now.

"No longer the man you love?" he asks, voice entirely devoid of emotion.

"I don't know..."

The Samuel I love could still be in there, somewhere, buried down deep and covered with pain and harshness. Or the Samuel I love never existed at all. He could have been a fallacy invented in my youth and pinned on Samuel because I Chapter 84

wanted him to be more than he was.

I'm hoping for the former, and that I will see that man again. Bo I suspect the latter might be closer to the truth, with how crudely he was speaking to me. It's difficult to think, if that boy thought he was is inside there at all, that he would speak to me that way. Caleb blessedly drops the subject, allowing me to relax again.

That moment of relaxation lasts about ten seconds, until we turn a corner and see Sonya of the Moonlake pack standing on the outside ring of guests, watching the dancers.

"Next dance is mine!" she calls boldly.

Caleb smiles at her.

My stomach drops once more.

I should leave it alone. Things between Caleb and I seem well enough right now. We aren't fighting at the moment. I could still be pregnant, but it's unlikely. Caleb hasn't tried to hurt me all day.

But... it's like I can't help myself. I need answers, and I'm not much for waiting. Not when I could have my answers just by asking one simple question.

"Are you really engaged?"