Greymoor Academy: I Accidentally Bonded With Four Lycan Royals! novel Chapter 206

Chapter 206: 206. Samhain IV

Maisie

I stood near the edge of the grand hall a couple of minutes before the ceremony began, a glass of wine in my hand that I hadn’t touched.

The Queen was far ahead with Alpha Dante and Luna Kaida, who were both on edge, trying to please her.

My mates were close, Soren’s hand resting possessively on my lower back, Jericho’s fingers occasionally brushing mine, Quinlan narrating something to me about how much of a turd Mercer had been when they were younger, and how Soren and Mercer had had a huge fight when they were younger. Mercer had punched out Soren’s front teeth. And the Queen had made them apologize to each other before Soren got a single hit in.

But Soren’s way of retaliating was sneaking into Mercer’s bedroom when he was asleep and he hacked off all of Mercer’s hair.

Jericho huffed a laugh. Mercer was glaring at Quinlan and was threatening to knock his teeth out if he didn’t shut his fat mouth and... it all felt so normal. I found myself cataloguing their faces. Their precious laughter, I tucked away safely into my heart.

Soon, a disquiet fell over the hall, drawing my attention away from Quinlan toward the entrance where more men were pouring in.

My heart clanged with anxiety, my fingers tightening on Mercer’s arm in fear that Margaret’s plan was finally in motion and this was the part where I needed to get the hell out of here. My pulse pounded so hard, so fast, I was so close to throwing up.

Until I saw that they were only royal guards. Soren’s guards and the Queen’s.

Mercer’s thumb found my cheek in a light caress. "We thought it wouldn’t hurt to increase the security around the pack, against your fears. This better?"

Tears suddenly welled up in my eyes as I glanced up at four of them. They may not have believed my rants on rifts and ancestors and the world ending, but they had listened to me.

I looked around. They had danger-poofed the entire place.

A strange, fragile feeling stirred in my chest.

Maybe I don’t have to leave.

The thought came so suddenly it almost knocked the air from my lungs. If the Queen was this heavily guarded, then maybe the worst wouldn’t happen tonight.

Maybe I could stay.

Maybe I didn’t have to break the only good thing I’d ever had. Maybe... so much blood rushed to my face and my head, and only then did I realize how much despair and misery I had been drowning in... as I let myself think about returning home from this wedding, and spending the night in the arms of my mates.

Waking tomorrow to their scents, to Quinlan and Mercer fighting over who would sleep closest to me, and to Regina’s disgusting texts all over my phone. A perfectly normal day.

And it would buy me yet another year to find the answers I needed.

My lips wobbled and I was crying again, though they couldn’t have understood why. "Much better," I said.

The first thing I was going to do when I returned home was find the letter I had written and burn it.

Quinlan caught the tears before they rolled down my face with his lips. To everyone, it looked like he was kissing my cheek, but he was really just licking my face like a hound. "Seeing you this way makes me want to wrap you in a straitjacket and wads of bubble wraps, and keep you tucked away safely forever."

I blushed, and I wondered if I looked silly, crying and blushing in the same breath. Lately, it felt like I had a faucet that couldn’t be turned off.

A woman not too far away sighed wistfully. I risked a glance, and more than half the women were swooning, while others shot me annoyed, envious glares.

Quinlan didn’t, which was no surprise. I swear the man had a kink for these things. But Mercer did. And rather than shoo Quinlan away, he took my wrist and slanted his mouth of it, practically making love to my hand obscenely, making all of the women glance away shyly.

Oh, but the woes of being mated to unhinged men.

I was saved from more smooching when Regina and Jenny showed up, the latter curtsying clumsily. Both their faces were crimson. They were definitely drunk. "Apologiessss, Your Highnesses," Regina slurred. "But we must take Her High-Majesty away. You can all make knot later--make knot? Ah fuck, Jennifer. You said the punch wasn’t spiked."

"I certainly did not. You said you wanted to get drunk enough to piss in Nick’s face if he showed up," Jenny stammered, and like she hadn’t scandalized all five of us with that, she turned to Quinlan and Mercer and swatted them away from me like he was a bug. "Hear, hear. Give the lady some air."

My mates had varying levels of amusements on their faces, but they let my best friends pull me away. But I knew they were only letting me go because they knew I was safe.

Regina and Jenny dragged me to the center of the hall, and at the first pass of the tray, Regina grabbed three shots, handing one to Jenny and another to me. "We should make a toast. To scumbags who deserve each other."

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify