7. Rhyson

7

Rhyson

Immediately, her hands went over her stomach, and I saw just a flash of the vulnerable woman who'd been in my hotel room. The look was gone as she angled her body away from me. "I don't know what you're talking about."

There it was. The liar who'd had me fooled.

When her father had sat across from me and admitted the true nature of his daughter, I'd felt like a fool. To know that she cheated was one thing, but to learn that she'd planned on conning me was another entirely.

"Your father said you were just like your mother. He predicted that one day, you'd get knocked up in hopes of trapping someone into marriage."

Her eyes widened. "Did you tell him?"

"That we fucked? No." I laughed darkly. "I did not. I was there as his king, not as the fool you made me out to be."

"We can end this right now. The baby isn't yours. I'll go now, and don't worry. I won't tell anyone about us." She started to shrug the blanket off her and then realized she was naked. I waited for her to shift, but she just stood with the blanket around her shoulders. "I'm just going to borrow this, and I will mail it to you at some future date."

Perplexed, I watched as she stiffly started to walk away. She got out of my view, and I relaxed and waited. Three minutes later, she returned with Duke following her. "Apparently, I'm not allowed to leave, which was strange since you don't seem to want to be around me."

I jerked my head at Duke. "Return to your post, please."

He nodded and melted back into the woods. When I looked pointedly at the spot she'd vacated, she sighed and sat down while keeping the blanket carefully pulled around her. There was murder in her eyes, but she didn't say anything.

I searched for her wolf. It was there. I would feel her, but she was burrowed deep inside Maya, and I couldn't reach her. When she was out, she was fully at my command. This was the first time I'd ever encountered anything like Maya.

"Did you have any other questions for me, Your Highness, or did you just want to continue to tell me how disappointed my father is in me?"

"Daddy issues?"

A shadow passed over her face. "On second thought, why don't we skip the father talk, and you can tell me why you really don't want me to leave. I told you that I won't tell anyone that we slept together. You've foiled my plans, and I will now slink away into oblivion with my tail tucked between my legs."

"That is not how you talk to a king," I reminded her calmly.

She didn't respond. "Your father was worried that I would retaliate on his clan after the performance you gave at the ball."

Again, nothing.

"And he was concerned that I would retaliate against you. He's a good alpha, and he loves you. I made it clear that your personal issues were none of my concern, and I planned to leave it at that, but then you made your way into my convoy and here we are."

Still, she didn't say a word. I sighed. "Maya?"

"I'm sorry, was that a question? I assumed that you didn't expect me to speak unless there was a question. Yes, I'm Maya."

For fuck's sake, the woman was not nearly this difficult when she was trying to fuck me. "You followed me into Shadowed Moon Mountain."

The mask of contempt dropped from her face, and her eyes widened. Good. Now she knew just how fucked she was. "I…what? That's not possible."

"Why not?"

"Because it's not real. It's just a myth. This…" She looked around her. "Okay, it could be mountains. I think we're close to the Greenville Mountains."

"Believe me, it's not myth. The exiled mountain is part of the Greenville Mountains. There are rogue wolves everywhere. If I let you leave, they will shred you to bits—you and the babe you're carrying."

I didn't want to, but my gaze dropped to her belly. The moment I'd smelled her cub inside of her, my wolf went ballistic. It registered the second she'd disappeared into the forest. I'd shifted immediately to follow her, but her wolf was fast and erratic. It wasn't hard to follow her trail, but her wolf had slipped through openings that were difficult to follow.

Smart wolf. She knew how to use her size.

We'd gotten to her the moment the wolf attacked, and I'd watched her go under the water. The others made swift work of the rogue while I shifted so I could fish her out.

And then I'd gotten another good whiff of her and confirmed what my wolf already knew. She was indeed pregnant.

"How do you know it's not mine?"

"I know because…I only slept with you once."

"It only takes one time."

"How true. Um, but I'm a slut and I've been sleeping around, so the chances are pretty good it's not yours," she said loftily as she waved her hands in the air. "Plus, um… I was probably already pregnant when we had our fling. I think it had been awhile since I'd had my period."

"It had been less than a week. I could still smell it on you."

Her eyes widened. "Wow, that's…an invasion of privacy."

"So you don't know if it's mine or not," I concluded. "Very well. We'll have a DNA test done once it's born. If it's mine, I will raise it."

"What?!"

"Don't worry. I'll pay you for him or her, and that is more than you should expect from me."

"You're not buying my child!" she spat as she stood. "How dare you!"

"Sit down."

"I will not!"

Damn. I forgot I couldn't order her around. "Sit down, or I will make you sit," I said calmly. "There is nothing you can say or do to convince me to mate with you. This really is your best option. You talked so much about freedom, well here it is. I will make sure you have enough money to set you up for life. If you're so hard-pressed to get away from your father, I will set you up in another territory with the funds to live on your own. It's more than you deserve."

Her eyes blazed with anger. "I don't want your money or your hand in marriage," she snarled. "I don't want anything from you. Just let me go and you'll never see me again."

"If I let you go, nobody will ever see you again. You can't even feed yourself," I said with disgust. A fucking princess indeed. Her father had been far too indulgent with her. "But you will go home to your father, who will make sure that you are comfortable until you give birth."

Her face drained of blood, turning her even more pale. "No, you can't do that."

"I can, and I will."

Licking her lips, she nodded. "Fine. Yes. I'll go home. Right now. Which direction should I go in?"

"Duke," I called out. He immediately materialized. "This is my second-in-command. He will see you safely to the trucks and drive you home."

"Please," she said, a note of desperation in her voice. "You have no idea what my father is like. If you care at all about this babe, you will not send me there. Anywhere else. Take me to your home. Lock me in the basement until it's born. Anything but sending me back to the Callahan clan."

"I won't be there for you to seduce, if that's what you're hoping for."

"No, that's not…wait, you're staying here. You wanted to come here. What are you doing here? If it's not a myth, then you can't be here!"

"That's none of your concern, is it? Don't even think of telling someone that I'm here. I've got wolves all over the territories who will swear I was with them," I said mildly. "No one is going to know that I am here."

Her eyes widened and she tried to bolt, but Duke caught her easily enough. "Shift," I ordered her.

"No. No, I won't. If you're planning on dragging me back, you're going to have to do it like this."

Duke just flashed a feral grin. "I like a challenge."

Effortlessly, he picked her up and swung her over his shoulder. Inside me, my wolf surged forward, but I shoved him back down. Whatever he felt for her, it didn't matter. If she was my mate, the mating bond would have snapped into place by now, and it had not. If she was worried about our babe, then he should be pleased that I was sending her to safety.

What he should have been worried about was whether we would live to meet the babe.

"You don't understand," Maya shouted as Duke carried her away. "Please, you have to listen to me!"

I was done listening to her lies.

I had a brother to avenge.