Chapter 30 - Jealousy

“Are you okay?” Kai asked. He gently stroked Adalyn's face as she laid quietly on the bed.

“Mmm” she mumbled. Kai smiled at her lack of words. She sat up next to Kai and ran her hand over his. He’d made her feel incredible and part of her wanted to return the favour. Not quite sure what she should do she ran her hand over his thigh then slowly started edging her fingers upwards. Just when she was about to reach the top of his thigh Kai clamped his hands down over hers.

“What are you doing Adalyn?” Kai asked her huskily. Adalyn didn’t know how to reply, she wasn’t quite sure what she was doing either to be honest.

“I just wanted to make you feel good too,” she answered with a fresh wave of red blushing her skin again.

Kai smiled at her comment. “If you even attempt that, we’re both going to be in trouble. I’m not going to be able to hold myself back from claiming you and I wouldn’t be able to go easy on you.” Kai stroked her face. “What we’ve done is enough for now. It felt amazing to be able to make you react like that it and won’t be the last time.” He smiled seductively at her.

Adalyn reluctantly conceded.

“You know…I was thinking about us,” Adalyn started.

Kai turned to face her in the bed. She hadn’t shared her feelings about them being mates so Kai was really interested in hearing her thoughts. “Go on,” he prompted.

“When we are fully mated, what would happen exactly” she asked shyly whilst starting to button back up her top.

“Well… you'd become a part of The Blue Moon Pack to start with, so you’d be able to mind link them and command them as a member of the royal family,” Kai explained.

“Does that mean I’d become a princess?”

Kai smiled and nodded. “Yes”

“You know I’m not very sophisticated right? I don’t have any experience doing any of that royal stuff.”

*“Royal stuff?”* Kai asked amused.

“Yeah, you know. Like attending banquets and opening schools,” Adalyn followed up.

Kai couldn’t help but laugh at her. “Is that what you think I do all day?”

“Is it not?” Adalyn asked genuinely curious.

Kai smoothed his hand across hers. “I’m not gonna lie, there is some of that, but being the third son means that a large majority of that doesn’t fall on me. As a result, I’m usually able to skip a lot of the public facing responsibilities and most people won’t even notice I’m not there. Makes it easier for me to sneak over here.” Kai winked at her then kissed the back of her hand.

Adalyn laughed a little but then looked down. As much as he was trying to comfort her, she knew it would be difficult to live up to the role that would be expected of her by being with Kai.

Kai could sense the anxiety in her and tilted her face up to meet his. “You’ll make an incredible princess. Please don’t stress about it.”

“I just wonder if somebody like a noble who was used to all these things would fair better.” She responded dejectedly.

Kai didn’t like where this conversation was going. He had already explained to her that they would be mated and there was no getting out of it. “We’re fated mates Adalyn. That kind of bond is classed as sacred. It doesn’t matter who you are or where you’re from. Nobody can challenge a union like that.”

Adalyn felt apprehensive about what she was going to say next, but knew it was the only way that she could explain how she felt. “I…I just think about what happened with your birth mother. She was your father’s fated mate right? I read how she had a tough time when she was with him.”

Kai was a little surprised that she had mentioned his mother. He didn’t often talk about her but he could understand where Adalyn was coming from with that point. “The difference there is that my father had officially mated my step mother before he met my mother. Regardless of the fact that he and my mother were fated mates, he had already mated his chosen mate and made an oath to her. He broke that oath by being with my mother and having me out of wedlock. I’m not saying it’s right or wrong, but it’s how most shifters will see it. Hence the reason why many wouldn't want to see me on the throne. I'll aways be a bastard child in their eyes.”

It didn't seem fair to Adalyn that Kai was effectively being punished for being born, but she understood why some weren't happy about the King betraying his Queen. “I see," she responded. "I would have presumed that you’d already have had a mate chosen for you though.” Adalyn had been thinking about this previously but didn’t know how to bring it up. Her wolf growled, annoyed at the thought of it.

Kai didn’t know how to answer her. Raeliana, his childhood friend, had originally been selected to be his chosen mate but she had died. Kai didn’t want to lie to her about it but he also wasn’t keen on talking about her either, fearing it would unsettle her more.

Kai sighed "I did once." Adalyn's eyes widened in surprised. Whilst she thought it was a possibility it felt unsettling to have him actually confirm it. She couldn't help but feel slightly jealous at the news.

"She died a long time ago," Kai continued. He rubbed his thumb over her knuckles after seeing the surprised look on her face. The pang of jealousy she felt earlier washed away. She felt ashamed to admit that she was relieved that his chosen mate was no longer in the picture.

"What happened?" she asked tentatively.

"It's a long story, so let's save that for another time." Kai stood up to try and change the subject. It was immediately evident that it was difficult topic for him.

He started pacing around the room. "You have a nice room." He started analysing some of the things that she had placed around. Kai spotted a picture in a gold frame that had Adalyn in it, along with another girl and guy. Kai didn't recognise the girl standing next to her, but the guy matched the description of Gabriel from the reports that he had received when he first looked in to her family. Kai picked up the frame and looked at it.

"Is that your brother Gabriel that you mentioned before?" Kai asked curiously.

"Yeah, he is, well kinda." Adalyn stood up and walked over to Kai to look at the photo. "We're not related by blood but he's family and we treat each other as such."

Kai looked at the picture a bit closer. Adalyn was standing on the far-left side with Leona in the middle smiling. Gabriel was stood on the far right. Gabriel looked as though he was unaware that the photo was being taken and the way he was looking at Adalyn in the photo didn't seem like the kind of face a brother would make. Kai could see the longing in his eyes and it agitated him.

"Is that right?" Kai replied back to Adalyn. His eyes didn't move from the photo when he responded. Knowing how innocent Adalyn was, he knew that she probably couldn't see it. He hoped he was overreacting, but made a mental note to himself to keep an eye on him.

Kai put the frame back down on the shelf and kissed the top of Adalyn's head. "I better go." He made his way back over to her bedroom window. “If you’re still grounded, I’ll sneak in again soon to see you.”

"Okay... " Adalyn replied. She was a little sad to see him leave already.

“See you later Adalyn.”

“Bye Kai.”

Kai gave a her a little wink then ducked out through her bedroom window. As Kai hit the ground he walked a few paces in to the surrounding forest. He had told Arrow to stand down for now when he passed him on his way to see Adalyn, as it didn't make much sense for him to be stationed outside of her house if she was on house arrest.

As he entered the forest, he could sense somebody nearby. A tall shifter stood in front of him in the shadows, blocking his path.

"Is this a hobby of yours? Frolicking with the commoners?" the shadowy figure asked him.

As the figure came in to the light Kai recognised his face. "Hobby? Adalyn is much more than that." Being unsure with what he knew, Kai didn't want to let on much more than that. "Let me guess, you must be the infamous Gabriel that I've heard about." Kai replied with a steely tone in his voice.

"That's strange, because she's said nothing about you, *your highness*. I know how you upper-class folk are, thinking that you can just take what you want from anybody." Gabriel stared hard at Kai with his deep brown eyes. He didn't think much of nobility. He'd seen how often some of them had abused their privileges.

Kai smirked. "So, you heard Adalyn and I tonight huh? Speaking of hobbies, is voyeurism one of yours? I can't say that it's a great trait to be eavesdropping on couples pleasuring each other. Believe me, everything that happened up there was everything that she wanted and offered up willingly. I didn't have to *take* anything."

Gabriel's mouth twitched hearing what Kai said. He couldn't hide his irritation.

"You need to leave her alone." Gabriel replied darkly.

"Do I now?" Kai stepped a bit closer. Both he and Pax were getting annoyed. He started balling up his hands in to fists in his trouser pockets. "That almost sounded like a threat. You know, this seems to be crossing the boundaries of just an overly concerned *'brother'* don't you think? Anyone might think that's the look of jealousy in your eyes. For your sake, I hope it's not."

"I'm not afraid of you," Gabriel bit back.

Kai couldn't stop a growl from escaping his lips at that remark. "Well, you should be. If you were anyone else, I would have put you down like a mangey dog for even sniffing in her general direction." Kai continued walking toward Gabriel until they were face to face. They were both roughly equal in height and build.

"Whilst Adalyn might be completely oblivious to it, it's not going to slip past me, so let me make this perfectly clear so there are no misunderstandings. Adalyn. Is. Mine. If I catch you making eyes at her, or at worst, if you are foolish enough to even attempt to make a move on her, then you and I are really gonna have a problem. Don't...test me." Kai whispered the last part in to Gabriel's ear. His eyes went black. Pax was desperate to physically 'correct' Gabriel and put him and his wolf back in their place.

Kai gave Gabriel one last hard look before he walked past him in to the forest.

Gabriel was furious. He punched his fist in to the tree, causing his hand to split open. He felt certain that Kai was taking advantage of her, and he needed to figure out a way to solve it and keep him out of the picture.