The Alpha King's Mate novel Chapter 22

"I guess. What if I still don't want to go with you?" She asks. I pause, not expecting the question.

"We will worry about that bridge if we come to it," I say.

"Okay," she agrees.

"Do you want to show me around the forest? Your

favourite spots, maybe?" I ask.

"Okay," she smiles and stands, and I take her hand.

"Lead the way," I say, smiling.

We walk around the forest and climb a tree together. We race each other to see who can climb to the top first. Maia is the victor when it comes to tree-climbing.

My feet, in my boots, constantly slip off the branches, and she laughs and shrieks when she thinks I might fall.

I carefully and awkwardly pull my arms out of my tunic sleeves and hang my tunic over a branch. I unbutton my breeches, lift each leg carefully out of them, and hang them over the branch with my tunic. Without warning, I shift into my wolf and scale the tree effortlessly, joining my princess at the top, where the branches are thinning out. My wolf knows how to balance.

Maia doesn't know what to think, so I gently nudge her hand with my nose, prompting her to reach out and pat my fur.

We make our way back down the tree, and on firm ground, Maia, who is more relaxed around my wolf, pats me and puts her arms around my neck, embracing me.

"You're just a bigger version of Ember," she laughs.

I lick her face playfully and shift into my human form

again. Maia hands me my clothes.

We walk to the edge of the forest, near Moonstone River,

and stop at a field of sunflowers.

"I bet you can't find me in this field," she says, running ahead.

"I'm sure I will," I say.

The smell of the sunflowers makes it hard to track her scent, but not impossible.

"A fish?" I guess.

"No. How you got a fish out of that, Maia, I don't know. It was a fox," he says, and we laughed.

The night is warm, so we undress and leave our clothes near the cave while slipping into the pool beside it. Ember sits on a rock, watching us. I flick a heap of water at Damon.

"You're in trouble now, Princess," he says, laughing.

"Really?" I ask him playfully.

He splashes me repeatedly before ducking under the water so I can't splash him back. I wait for him to resurface. A minute passes, but he hasn't resurfaced, and I worry. "Damon. Where are you?" I ask, wading through the water, hoping I can at least feel him at leg level. I hold my breath and submerge myself in the water. I swim underwater for about ten seconds before we resurface together. As soon as he does, I plant my mouth over his so quickly that he can't breathe. We kiss passionately for a few minutes.

He wraps his arms around my waist and pulls me into him. I wrap my legs around his waist.

"My wolf wants to do several things to you right now, Princess," he says, in a tone, I'm unfamiliar with.

He grazes the skin on my neck with his teeth, making me moan. Then, he stops over my pulse and growls desirously.

I push him from me with all my strength, as it feels like he is about to bite down into my skin.