Page 139 of Chased By My Grumpy Alpha
For a moment, I think he’s going to argue. Then he sighs and heads into the hallway, muttering under his breath about ungrateful mates and disrespectful women.
The door closes behind him, but I can hear him pacing out there, occasionally calling out complaints about how he’s royalty and shouldn’t have to stand in corridors like a common guard.
“Can you do that?” Selene asks quietly. “Order him around like that?”
I shrug, suddenly feeling a bit embarrassed. “He lets me.” We plop down on the massive bed, and I’m struck by how small and lost they look in this opulent room. “Tell me everything. How are you? What happened after I left?”
Their faces grow serious. “It wasn’t good,” Selene admits. “After you disappeared, the Crown Prince came looking for you.”
“Harper threw herself at him,” Daciana adds with disgust. “Made a complete fool of herself, batting her eyelashes and offering to...help him out.”
My stomach clenches with an emotion I don’t want to name. “And?”
“He didn’t even look at her twice,” Selene says. “Barely acknowledged she existed. Harper was thoroughly humiliated.”
“She threw tantrums for days after he left,” Daciana continues. “Everybody saw the real her. Vindictive. Nasty.”
“Then what?”
“Lucian figured out you hadn’t gone into the Wyvern Woods, and he told Alpha Gareth you were probably still alive. That’s when Gareth realized we’d helped you escape.” Selene’s voice grows quiet. “We were ostracized. Completely. No one would speak to us, trade with us, nothing.”
Guilt crashes over me like a wave. “I’m so sorry. I never meant—”
“Stop.” Daciana takes my hands. “We chose to help you. And we’d do it again.”
“Besides,” Selene adds with a small smile, “look where you ended up. Mated to the Crown Prince. We’re so happy for you.”
“Will you stay?” The words tumble out in a rush of excitement. “I know it’s selfish of me, but I don’t know anyone here, and I—”
“Actually,” Daciana interrupts me, “we’re already staying.”
I blink. “What?”
“The Prince arranged it all,” Selene says, and there’s wonder in her voice when she says it. “He’s going to have me train under the royal healers, and Daciana with the palace guards.”
“He did that?”
Daciana’s voice softens. “He said that you needed your friends. That you’d been through enough without losing us, too.”
My throat closes with emotion. Of course he did. Even when I thought he was just being possessive and overprotective, he was thinking about what I needed.
“He loves you,” Selene says quietly. “Anyone can see it. The way he looks at you...like you’re his whole world.”
I touch the mating mark on my neck, hidden beneath my hair. “I love him, too.”
I should have been angry that he gave me the mating mark without asking. But when he explained why, how could I be? It saved my life, and it means I will never lose him.
“Good,” Daciana says fiercely. “You deserve to love and to be loved.”
A knock at the door interrupts us, and a guard’s voice calls out, “Healer Selene? The royal healers are ready for your orientation.”
“I guess I have to go,” Selene sighs, and we all stand up. She hugs me tightly one more time. “I’m so glad you’re safe, Astra. And happy.”
After she leaves, Daciana settles back on the bed with me, her expression growing solemn.
“Listen to me,” she says, taking my hands. “Seize this happiness. Don’t let anybody get in the way of it.”
“Daciana—”
