11. I am Yours, You are Mine

**Narrator’s POV.**

Bang. Bang. Bang.

“I command you to open this door Desiree, right now!”, her father demanded as he pounded his fists on her door, “I swear to the goddess, I will break this door down”,

“Calm down, Dwayne. It is no big deal”, she could hear her mother say in a comforting manner,

“It is no big deal?”, he practically screamed at his slightly frail mate, “My daughter, our daughter is seeing somebody that I have no idea about and you are telling me it is no big deal”, he mimicked her and went back to pounding the door in the most dramatic way possible, “I know you’re in there Desiree”, and indeed, she was. Sitting at the edge of her window, plotting how she would run away to see Harrison later in the day with the additional security added to her side of the castle.

Apparently, her father had placed guards all around until she decided to come clean to him about who the mystery man, she had fallen for was. He was incredibly shocked when his chosen had told him this overwhelming piece of information, but his initial shock came around when he realized his cold, ruthless daughter had taken an interest in somebody who wasn’t herself. He had always expected his soft and kind hearted son to find love first, not his daughter- his daughter! His only daughter! That was when his body and mind went into over drive, he became mad just thinking about a man touching his princess, how dare he!

“Open this fucking door, Desiree”,

“Language”, Daphne scolded as she swatted her mate on his arm. Desiree who was still at the window’s edge, rolled her eyes and stood up from where she was sitting. She walked to the door and unlocked it before going to her vanity mirror and sitting in front of it.

The alpha king pushed the door open, nearly pulling it out of its hinges, “Who is he?”, he growled immediately he stepped into her chambers,

“Who is he?”, she asked back, combing through her chocolate brown locks. She thought that if she could frustrate him enough, he would drop the topic all together and release her in time for her meet up with Harrison.

“Do not play with me, Dez”, he gave his daughter a stern look that could make any living lycan crawl into a hole and be frightened to ever come out of it,

“How am I playing with you?”, she tilted her head to the side and grabbed a scrunchie from her drawer, she packed her waist-length hair into a messy bun and turned to her parents who were staring deeply into her soul, “Goddess, you guys have no chill”, she complained with a frown.

“Come on, Desiree, tell your father who it is. Just to get him off your back”, Daphne said, tired of the back and forth that had erupted between them since Dwayne had found out about Desiree’s supposed ‘lover’.

“There is nothing to tell”, she groaned, since the frustration tactic had not worked, she decided that she would switch to good ol’ manipulation- that always worked for her,

“What do you even mean by that?”, her father asked incredulously, he shoved his hands into his hair in frustration and placed a very wide frown on his already wrinkling face- wrinkles that were given to him for raising a delinquent like Desiree.

“What I mean is that, I lied”, she shrugged her shoulders and turned back to her mirror, getting ready to act through all this, “I lied”, she repeated when her parents had said nothing,

“Why?”, her mother walked towards her and placed her hand on her shoulder in a soothing manner,

“I do not want Alec to choose me. I do not like him like that”, Desiree held onto her mother’s hand, hoping the lovely gesture would increase her chances of sympathy or empathy- which ever one it was that she needed.

“You should have said so, Desiree”, Daphne said softly and pulled her daughter up from her seat, she placed her hand soft hand on her cheeks and spoke, “Your father and I would never force you to go for someone you don’t like”,

“Does she really have a choice?”, the alpha king muttered but the two women with super hearing heard him loud and clear,

“Dwayne?!”, the older woman’s eyes narrowed to slits at her mate’s absolutely absurd words.

“But really, what is wrong with Alec? He is handsome, powerful, he is sure to make a good second-in-command, just like his father who happens to be my best friend and he is kind-hearted just like his mother who happens to be your mother’s best friend. Let us not forget the fact that he is your brother’s best friend as well and you have known him all your life”, he pointed out,

“Everything you just said leads to one thing; everyone chocking me and expecting too much from me”, she argued, “And, how do you not see anything wrong with all this? I have known him all my life, he is a qualified brother, not a chooser or mate”,

“Why are you so difficult?”, he sighed as she rubbed his temples harshly, his wolf crawled at his walls and begging to take over this conversation so he could deal with their disobedient pup,

“I got it from you”, she shot at him, “I do not want Alex to choose me. I am the luna princess, I should have the authority to dictate who picks me. I am the second most powerful woman in the werewolf kingdom after all”, she tried to reason with her father who had already made up his mind.

“You realize I could pull you out of the royal court and banish you?”, he threatened and Daphne’s eyes widened but Desiree remained unfazed, he banishing her would actually favor her. She could be with Harrison without worrying about her overprotective father and she could do what she liked, how she liked and whenever she liked, he banishing her sounded somewhat good to her.

Or, she could even move him with her father’s good friend, the vampire lord who was a very free person and believed things were better off without rules. Living with him in his castle would be a piece of cake and much easier than living with her parents or the witch head- that woman was way too strict for her liking.

“Fine”, she shrugged with an innocent smile, “Do as you please”, he gave her a look, letting her know that he knew she was up to something as always. She gave him a blank expression as she noticed him trying to read her like he usually did to people, she also cleared her mind completely, knowing fully well that if he decided to read her mind, she would not be able to fight him off- he was too strong.

After a whole minute of him trying to get something out of her, he gave up and let out a grunt, “This is not over”, after declaring this, he walked out of the room, stomping angrily as he muttered incoherent words,

“I will talk to him”, her mother promised before tailing after him and shutting the door behind her. Desiree let out a puff of air after her father was out of mind reading distance, that man was a very persistent werewolf who enjoyed having things his way- just like her. Their personality similarities where unnerving, even to her because that was how he knew her so well; he could tell when she was lying most of the time but decided to not act on it, he knew her fears and her contemns, her weaknesses and her strengths, her likes and dislikes and most especially, her love for things that were different and completely out of this world.

Things like Harrison.

Harrison- how could she begin to tell him that her dad had enforced a mating candidate on her? Or better still, how could she keep it from him? She told him everything and so did he- at least, the little he could tell her without disclosing his identity. Not telling him such big news would be the hardest thing she would ever have to do and she had fought off six royal guards before during training when she was twelve.

She knew she had to weigh her options, was she actually ready to be with Alec? No, her life would be miserable and excitement free, he was way too boring and obedient for her, she wanted to be with someone who was wild and could fulfill every crazy desire she had- Alec was definitely not that person.

But there was only one way that she could avoid being with Alec, it was very dangerous and it was not heard of, but she was ready to do anything to keep Harrison, even if it meant sinning against every lycanthrope law ever created, she would do it. Tonight. Her parents would be pissed off and angry, but she was ready to suffer the consequences of her actions, she was an adult and saw no need to blame or place her problems on someone else.

She loved Harrison and she was not ready to lose him because of her overdramatic and overprotective father.