The Prince's Fated Mate: M/M Alpha/Omega Paranormal Werewolf Romance (Norvargen Wolves Book 1) (13 page)

“Ah, right, just give me a moment to tidy myself up…”

Dinner was bountiful, with every spare hand in the village put to use in making a feast fit for the Alpha’s First Son. By nature of his role, Will was given a seat of honour by James’s side, so that he could translate every word as rapidly as he could.
 

Eventually, James noticed that Will’s plate was still full and rapidly turning cold, and he paused at the end of a reply to the Village Head to say, “Sorry about this, Will.”

“It’s fine,” Will insisted, shaking his head. Honestly, as tiring as it was, being useful in this way gave him a purpose, and it was almost enough to wipe away his earlier frustrations.
 

James smiled. “Are you sure? I’ll have someone give you a new serving after this then.”

Will smiled back, taking a second to appreciate the kind thought. Perhaps all James saw in him was a good friend. Perhaps that was true, and Will would never ever be able to bond and wed with him — but these small moments where James showed him kindness and genuine appreciation were precious. He wanted to treasure every second of it, not knowing how long more he’d be able to enjoy them. He nodded his head in thanks, and then he wasted no time relaying the Prince’s earlier words to Village Head Ardan.

*

The next week passed at a leisurely pace. The first few days, Will would accompany James as he was shown around the village, and they’d meet with the people. Men and women who had never seen the First Son before would come to gawk at him, and ask tentative questions before realising that the Prince was actually a kind person that they could speak easily to. By the end of the third day, James and Will knew nearly everybody in Elkpaw Village, and they had spent time with everybody, from the oldest woman to the youngest pup, only three weeks old.
 

The pup in particular took a liking to Will, gurgling happily whenever the omega carried him, and smiling abundantly in his presence.

James laughed. “That’s adorable. You’re good with children, aren’t you?”

“Not particularly,” said Will modestly.
 

“Maybe you’re just good with everyone then,” said James, earnestly.

Will blushed and didn’t know what to say.

The fourth, fifth, and sixth day they spent travelling in the morning to visit the other nearby villages, Moonbow, Stanite, and Iverwash, greeting their elders and meeting with the people. On the seventh day, they came back to Elkpaw.

“There’s something wonderful about small communities like these,” said James at the end of the week, during a moment when he and Will finally had a moment’s break. They were out in the village, watching some of the children play in the distance. James had sent away his attendants, and it was just the two of them. Even Advisor Berin and Advisor Keanes weren’t around to chide or nag them to do anything; they were resting in their rooms, tired from all the village-hopping they had done.

“You think so?”

James nodded. “There’s a lot of charm to places like these, and your town. Places where you know almost everybody, places where you know where anything and anybody is because it’s so small and you’re bound to bump into the person you’re looking for eventually.”

Will smiled. “Well, I wouldn’t know anything besides places like these.”

“You’ve never been to the Den before, right?”

“Never. I don’t know how well I’d cope in such a big place. Ma, my mother, she came from a big city as well. Not the Den of her pack, but still one of the bigger cities in the west. She liked it in Hemslock more. She said the quiet suits her more, and I think I might be the same. Of course, Pa would never want to leave Hemslock, so it was a good thing she was happy to stay.”

James gave him a smile. “It’s nice hearing you talk about your family.”

“Is it? Why?”

“I don’t know. Probably because you always sound so happy talking about them. Maybe it’s because your family is so different from mine that I find it interesting — of course, I don’t mean to say I’m unhappy with my family — ”

“I know, I know,” said Will, laughing a little. James was once again softening his own opinion.

“It’s just different,” said James finally. “I don’t talk about them the same way you do. I don’t have the same … the same sort of stories to share. Fated mates, moving from a big city to a small one for the sake of love — it’s almost the sort of thing I’d hear secondhand than ever see for myself. My life has been arranged from start to end by many people wiser than me. I can’t quite imagine the chaos of an ordinary life. Falling in love, falling out of love…”

He turned wistful, looking dreamily at the children in the distance, half of whom were shifted, the other half still in their human-forms. The humans were playing with a ball, while the wolves were chasing each other. Fox-and-hound was a popular game anywhere, it seemed.

Will turned to look at him, staring at his handsome oval face, his high-pointed nose, and his ice-blue eyes that no longer seemed so cold and distant. His brown hair was side-swept, framing his head perfectly, even the stray strands looking intentional with their positioning.

“You know, I’ve known you for about a month, Will, yet I feel like I know you so much more than I know Dashel. You probably know me more than
he
knows me.”

Will’s mouth ran dry, and he swallowed hard.
 

Go on
, he pleaded,
go on and say more. Do something
.
Let me know I’m not the only one feeling something.

“And yet I’m to wed him in a few months time,” sighed James. He dipped his head low, his face blocked from Will’s sight.
 

His engagement ring reflected the light of the setting sun.

“I thought you were okay with that?” said Will carefully.

“I was,” he said, “I mean, I
am
.”

He’s lying, covering himself up again. He’s never been allowed to be truly honest before…

“Are you really?” tested Will.
 

James faltered. “I don’t know anymore,” he admitted. “I’ve always known that this was to happen. I was going to be given a partner to marry, and I had accepted it ever since I was young. It never occurred to me that I could want anything more than that. But seeing how other people live their lives, free to make their own decisions, free to find their own partners … hearing about your parents being fated mates … I start to wonder what would it be like if I had that decision to make for myself. Well, a fated mate doesn’t really give you much of a choice, I suppose, but the thought of marrying for love rather than the demands of your family and your pack … it does sound nice. It sounds wonderful, truly.”

“James…” Will started, wanting to pour out his heart. This was it, this was the perfect moment he had been waiting for. What better time than now to tell him that they were fated mates?

“Would you come visit me in the Den?” James asked suddenly, cutting him off.

“The Den?”

“Yes, when I go back. Would you … would you be able to come visit me? You would like it there, I think — yes, it is big and rather intimidating at first, but there’s much to enjoy there. Everything you could possibly want, all ready at your disposal. I’d take you to see the Den’s library, of course, you would find that interesting. You could spend months inside there and never run out of books to read.”

“I-I don’t know,” said Will, startled at the prince’s train of thoughts.

“Please come and visit me in the Den when you can,” he pleaded, his voice sounding almost like Jack or Peter when they wished to rope Will into one of their games.

Will paused a beat, trying to understand where the prince was coming from.
 

Is this his way of telling me something?
If James couldn’t be forthright, was Will supposed to guess his meaning?

“Why are you asking me to go see you?” he asked carefully, almost scared of what answer he may get. He had a hunch, but what if he was wrong?

James hesitated in answering, looking askance at the ground. “I don’t know,” he said.

“I think you do,” said Will, growing impatient. Neither of them could be honest with each other, out of fear and shame, but he felt he had more to lose if he were to confess first.

“I would like to spend more time with you,” started James, “as much as I can. I know we won’t have much time left, especially once we return to Hemslock.”

“Is that all?”
 

Don’t just think of me as a friend, I beg you. I want to be more, I should be more, I could be more than just a friend.

His ice-blue eyes were troubled now, frightened. Will felt the urge to reach out to comfort him, but he withheld his hand. If James had something to say, he wanted him to draw it out on his own, without assistance.

“No, that’s not all,” said James at last, sounding shy and nervous.
 

Instinct took over, and Will leaned in, closing the distance between their lips and kissing him. It was soft at first, tense, and James reacted with shock. But then he eased into it, and Will felt hands weaving through his hair to hold his head. The prince was kissing him back!

But it ended almost as quickly as it had begun, with James loosening his hold on Will and pulling apart.
 

“I can’t do this,” he gasped, looking horrified at what had just happened. He stood up.

“Wait,” Will called after him, but James shook his head, and without listening to another word, he went off, shifting and and dashing away, leaving a trail of his clothes behind.

*

For the next few hours, James was nowhere to be found. Will went back to his room and sat listlessly on his bed, staring out his window every now and then. He had collected James’s clothing and left it on the doorstep to the prince’s room, but he didn’t know what else he could do. James had ran away too quickly for Will to catch up, and even if Will were lucky enough to pick up his scent somewhere, James would probably only run further away.
 

“Idiot,” he said angrily, but even he felt pity for James. The First Son was acting cowardly, but Will didn’t have the heart to blame him. James was frightened of his own feelings, and frightened of being honest for the first time.

He picked up one of the three books he brought along and tried to read it to pass the time. His eyes skimmed the paragraphs, and then repeated it again when he realised he was not absorbing a single word. Sighing, he put the book down on the nightstand, and rested his cheek on a page.
 

“This is never going to work out,” he mumbled despairingly to himself. One step forward, two steps back, that’s what it’s been like since the beginning.

There was a knock on his door, a sharp rap of knuckles against the wood. As Will stood up to answer it, the knocking repeated, sounding frantic.

Will opened the door. “Yes — ?”

“Let me in, please,” said James breathlessly, standing outside. He was wearing his clothes again; evidently he had stopped by his own room before coming by.

Will stepped aside and closed the door behind him.
 

“I’m sorry for running away just now,” said James, flustered. “But we shouldn’t have done that. That kiss — I’m engaged.”

“I know,” said Will calmly, thinking he ought to see how this would unwind.

“My wedding is happening in a few months,” James went on, “and it would be extremely bad for me to do anything to jeopardise that. My father would be upset, as would the whole Alpha Court, the Den would be shocked, the Redfang wolves would take offence at being disgraced. I can’t be kissing you, Will. That was extremely reckless of me — what if someone had seen us?”

“It was reckless of me,” said Will coolly. “I was the one who kissed you.”

“Yes, yes, you did,” said James, “and I have to ask you to not do that again.”

“But you kissed back.”

“I did,” admitted James, sounding ashamed of himself. “I wanted to kiss you back. But I shouldn’t.”

Will took a step towards him, and James took a step back. “Will you be honest with me?” asked Will.

“Honest about what?” James was unable to meet his eyes.

“I want to ask you a few things. If you would do me the favour of being honest, I would appreciate that.”

“What do you want to ask?”

“Did you enjoy that kiss?”

James looked up and then back down at the ground. “I did.”

“Do you want to kiss me again?”

“Don’t ask me that.”

“Do you feel anything at all for me?” Will pressed on, unperturbed. He knew the answer, even if James wasn’t willing to give it.

“I can’t answer tha — ”

“Do you like me, at least, or do you think you might love me?”

“I do,” James said, exasperated, running his hands through his hair in frustration. “I’m fascinated by you, I like you much more than I like anyone else, I like you much more than Prince Dashel, I think I might even love you if I were allowed to. And yes, I want to kiss you again and again.”

Will beamed, happiness bubbling up inside of him.
 

“I wish I could love you the way I want to, the way you deserve,” James rambled on, “but it’s impossible.”

“James, all that matters to me is that you feel the same way I do,” Will said, taking a step forward. This time, James didn’t attempt to back away. “I’ve been waiting for so long for this. You don’t even know what I’m talking about, but this is all I’ve been thinking about since I first saw you.”

James grabbed his hands, clasping them tightly. “Listen to me, Will,” he said, desperately. “We can’t do this. You understand what I’m talking about, don’t you? It would be impossible for me to end my engagement to Prince Dashel, the Alpha Court would never allow for it. I am not free the way you are, Will. I don’t have the right to choose who I want to be with.”

“But you do want to be with me?”
 

“Of course I do, Will. Do I need to say it out loud? I wish we could be together and live a normal life, but I am bound to my duty as First Son of the pack.”