Chapter 5

• "Drew..." I warned lowly. "Don’t you dare--"
• My speech was cut off when I saw him dash for the door, but it wasn’t as fast as he moved last night. I smirked, remembering that the wolfsbane was still in his system.
• "Shit, I'm weak," he cursed softly.
• "Yes, and I will shoot you again if you go after Nathan," I warned, meaning every word. I might not be able to kill him, but I'll surely shoot him again if he goes after my friend.
• He peered at me in both annoyance and desperation. "But he wants you." He gritted through his teeth. I walked further into my room and stopped a few feet away from him as I pointed an accusing finger at him.
• "Weren’t you the one who specifically said you didn’t want me?" I put emphasis on the 'didn’t', because I was sure that not even ten minutes ago, he was going on about how I trapped him blah blah blah. "Isn’t this supposed to be what you want? If I'm with Nathan then you can be free or whatever."
• I still didn’t a hundred per cent trust this mate bond, but he told me that before last night, his intentions were to stay away from me 'until I die or marry'. So, what's his deal?
• I'm just hoping Nathan still wants to marry me, because I'm really not in the mood for another ball, or even worse, getting to know a new suitor.
• "It doesn’t work like that, Amber," Drew hissed.
• "Oh, then enlighten me!" I snapped, growing really frustrated with his crap. It's never 'like that', yet he doesn’t 'want me'. What the hell does he want from me then?
• "It's a primal thing. And now that you've initiated physical contact with me, even if I don’t want to, it'll be impossible to stay away from you. I told you this."
• "How do I undo it then?" I huffed. I just wanted to be done with him.
• I hate him. I hate him because he has weakened me and I can't find it within myself to kill him. If there were a way I could erase last night from existence and forget this distasteful experience, then I'd do it in the blink of an eye.
• Drew's eyes seemed detached for a while, which only told me that there actually was a way. But then his face grew stern, and his jaws clenched, and I could see that he wasn’t going to tell me even if I demanded it.
• But why? He obviously wasn’t too pleased either that I'd 'touched him', so why wouldn’t he want to tell me?
• "There is no way," he muttered in a deep, detached tone. "There is no way to undo a mate bond."
• I narrowed my eyes in slits as I took another step towards him. "There is a way. You just won’t tell me."
• Since I’ve always known that I was going to marry into a royal bloodline, I didn’t give myself the luxury of learning about mate bonds or how to initiate and break them.
• When I was in my private classes, I told my tutors to skip those lessons. Now I wished I didn’t.
• "Don’t go to him, Amber, or I will have no choice but to kill him," he said, avoiding my statement. "Is that really the type of blood you would want to have on your hands? Isn’t killing rogues enough for you?"
• I laughed humorlessly before looking at him in disbelief. "Is this some reverse psychology shit? You will not kill him or else..."
• "Or else what?" he challenged. By this point, I was right in his face peering at him.
• "Nathan has been my friend for years. If you touch a hair on his head, I don’t care what type of 'bond' we have. I. Will. End. You," I gritted out slowly, but loud enough so that he could hear. "Trust me, the level of adrenaline and anger I'll have will outweigh whatever barrier you've set in my mind so that I can’t kill you."
• And with that, I spun on my heels and made for the bathroom again.
• I stopped when I didn’t hear him saying anything, and I took this as the perfect opportunity to add more to my threat. "And I promise to make it slow and painful. Whatever bond we have won't be enough to save you. Now get the hell out of my room."
• I felt on cloud nine as I stepped into the bathroom and slammed the door shut. Luckily, my room was on the far side of the castle away from other rooms. So no one would think I was going crazy.
• I let the cold water wash away my anger as it trickled from my head and down my shoulders. If the Duke was really downstairs, that meant Ruby would be up any minute requesting my presence for breakfast.
• I couldn’t help but wonder. Did Drew's 'compulsion' work? Nathan was here, wasn’t he? So that meant it probably didn’t. Nathan was an Alpha, after all. He was strong in body and in mind.
• But then images of a zombie-looking Nathan walking past me flashed in my mind, and I knew it was real.
• What exactly did Drew tell him? To forget me? Or to go home?
• Drew.
• I had no idea what he was doing to me, but ever since I met him, he has invaded my every thought.
• Images of his facial expression when I threatened him moments ago flashed in my head. He believed me.
• Good. That was good.
• So, why did I feel guilty?
• That damn rogue alpha. I will figure out what he did to me, and when I do, he's as good as dead.
• With my mind made up, I stepped from my shower and grabbed a towel, furiously drying the water from my hair.
• With my robe tightly pulled around my waist, I sat in front of my mirror and proceeded to straighten my hair. Luckily for me and my sanity, my mother only saw it fit to doll me up when we were having a big event.
• If I had to sit through hours of her pampering and discriminative talks every time I had to get ready for a day, I'd probably die from mental exhaustion.
• Ruby, my personal maid, was appointed to do these things for me, but I don’t always bother her. I'm an adult, after all.
• Feeling utterly satisfied with my appearance, I applied a little mascara and lip gloss and peered at the door that led back to my bedroom. Was he still in there? He better not be.
• But when I entered, the spot where I left him was empty. I tried to suppress the disappointment that grew in my chest when I scanned the rest of the room and found it empty too.
• I sniffed the air, sieving through the lingering of his majestic scent to see if he was still there. But I didn’t feel him. He was truly gone.
• Sighing, I decided to wear a blue chiffon halter dress that fell a few centimetres above my knees, and paired it with my white wedge heels. I preferred trousers and comfortable shoes, but there were only a few days when I could get past my mother without being criticized about my attire.
• 'A princess must always wear a dress, Amber', she would say after pulling me aside. Sometimes I want to tell her that this is the 21st century and my clothes were always modest, but a small voice in my head always told me that I shouldn’t make things difficult.
• Today especially, knowing that the duke was here, I couldn’t dare wear pants.
• Still, I felt satisfied and grateful enough that at least I wouldn't have to be bound by corsets and terribly long dresses every day.
• As if right on time, a knock sounded at my door and Ruby stepped inside, looking like her jovial pleasant self.
• "Good morning, Princess Amber. You look beautiful today," Ruby said, her hands folded in front of her neatly and a brilliant smile on her face.
• I couldn’t help but return it. Ruby's energy was always contagious. She was the only person that I considered a friend.
• "Thank you. So do you." I smiled as I took one final glance at myself.
• "Since you are already ready, the duke would like to have a word with you. I've arranged for you two to have breakfast separately, if that’s okay?"
• "That is perfect, Ruby. Thank you. I'll be down in a bit."
• She nodded once before offering a little bow before leaving again. I searched frantically through my sheets for my phone, sighing in delight when it finally emerged.
• A small white paper caught my attention on my nightstand where I had my dagger, and as I picked it up, I noticed that it was a note with handwriting that I didn’t recognize.
• 'I will leave you alone,' it read. And that was it. No signature, no alternative massage, just plain and simple.
• I already knew it was from him but before I could allow myself to feel it, I crumbled it and threw it in my dustbin
• He will leave me alone? Good. Great actually! I've been telling him that all morning!
• So, why did I feel a harsh tug in my chest at the thought?