Chapter 346: Four Of Us

Rebecca’s POV

​Rola and I headed toward the east wing with her guards following behind us. She tried to make conversation along the way, asking how long I had been part of the unit, and I had to explain that I had technically joined less than twenty-four hours ago. Thankfully, she didn’t ask why, and by the time we reached the suite, her guards carried the luggage inside and placed everything near the empty side of the large wardrobe.

​"You can return home now," Rola told them.

​One of the guards frowned slightly. "Are you certain, Princess?"

​"I’ll be fine. There are enough guards here already, and I’m supposed to be treated like everyone else."

​The two men exchanged looks before finally nodding. "Take care, Princess."

​"You two as well. Safe travels."

​They bowed before leaving, and I watched the door close behind them. She really was nice. This was becoming extremely inconvenient.

​I sat on the edge of my bed and began unlacing my dusty boots. Across from me, Rola sat on the second bed and removed her shoes.

​"So," she said, looking at me curiously, "what’s your ability?"

​"Teleportation, enhanced strength, and some Fae abilities."

​Her eyes immediately widened. "You can teleport?"

​I nodded.

​"How far?"

​"It depends. If I know where I’m going and can picture the location clearly, distance isn’t usually a problem anymore."

​"That’s incredible." She looked genuinely impressed. "You’re so lucky. I’ve always wished I had a spatial ability."

​I gave her a small smile as I pulled off my second boot. Lucky. Well, that was certainly one word for my life.

​I reached for my towel, but one question kept moving through my head. Did she know? Did Rola know who I was to Kaden? I doubted it. The Lycan Kingdom was thousands of miles away, far enough that our kingdoms rarely mixed outside political meetings and major royal events. Whatever had happened between Kaden and me three years ago hadn’t become some famous love story people discussed across the continent. At least, I sincerely hoped not. Even if she knew Kaden once had another mate after Helen, she probably didn’t know every detail, and I definitely wasn’t going to be the one to tell her.

​"I’m going to shower," I said, standing.

​"Go ahead."

​Twenty minutes later, I stepped back into the bedroom after washing away the dirt and sweat from training. Rola had already changed into black training pants and a fitted training shirt, and her silver-blonde hair was pulled into a high ponytail. Without the elegant clothes she’d arrived in, she looked much more like one of us.

​"The dining hall is serving breakfast," she said. "Are you coming?"

​"I’ll join everyone in a few minutes."

​"All right. See you downstairs."

​She smiled before leaving, and the second the door closed, I sat on the edge of my bed and stared at absolutely nothing. What was wrong with me? For three years, I had wanted Kaden completely out of my personal life. I didn’t want to know who he was seeing, where he was going, what he was doing, or whether he had finally found someone else. Now I might have gotten exactly what I wanted, and suddenly my stomach didn’t know how to behave.

​"Laura?" I called quietly.

​Silence.

​"Oh, don’t do this to me."

​Still nothing.

​My wolf had apparently decided she wanted absolutely no involvement in this mess. Traitor.

​I stood and walked toward the mirror, staring at my reflection. "Get a grip, Rebecca. You are here because Stephanie was kidnapped. You are here to train, rescue her, and go home. Whatever Kaden does with his love life is none of your business."

​My reflection stared back at me.

​Very convincing.

​I finished getting ready and headed downstairs. The dining hall was already packed when I arrived, with candidates, commanders, and royal guards filling the long tables. I grabbed some eggs, toast, fruit, and juice before spotting Aaron waving at me from the middle of the room as though I could somehow miss him.

​"There she is," he said when I sat beside him. "Our personal transportation system."

​"Call me that again and I’ll teleport you into a tree."

​Aaron actually paused to consider it. "Would I be able to get down?"

​I stared at him until he slowly nodded to himself. "Never mind."

​I started eating and deliberately focused on my plate. Across the hall, Rola was sitting with Brenda and several other candidates. She was already laughing with them as though she had been here for days rather than less than an hour. I stabbed a piece of egg with my fork and immediately frowned at myself. Why was I attacking my breakfast? The egg had done nothing to me.

​Before I could question my sanity any further, the heavy doors opened and Kaden walked inside. I barely paid attention at first, but then I noticed the man walking beside him, and my fork stopped halfway to my mouth.

​Oh, hell no.

​King Melvin.

​The King of the Southern Dragon Kingdom.

​What the hell was he doing here?

​Melvin and I had met exactly one year ago at Drake’s birthday celebration. At first, he’d been charming and polite, and I had assumed that was all it was. Then he’d asked me to dinner. I said no. A week later, flowers arrived. I still said no. Then came gifts, invitations, letters, another invitation to dinner, and a ridiculously expensive necklace I immediately sent back. Somewhere along the way, Melvin had stopped pretending he was merely interested in friendship and made it very clear that he wanted to court me seriously.

​I had made it equally clear that I wasn’t interested.

​Apparently, the man had developed an allergy to the word no.

​His sea-blue eyes moved across the dining hall until they found me. A slow smile appeared on his face, and I immediately looked down at my plate.

​"Everyone, may I have your attention?" Kaden called.

​The hall quieted almost immediately.

​"This is King Melvin, ruler of the Southern Dragon Kingdom. He has agreed to assist with the special unit and will be one of your instructors, particularly in combat and resistance against elemental attacks."

​People murmured with interest while I frowned at my plate. Of course. Of all the Dragon Kings available in this world, it had to be the one who had spent a year trying to court me. Maybe I had offended the Moon Goddess at some point and forgotten about it.

​Kaden and Melvin moved toward the head table and sat together. They immediately started discussing something, probably the afternoon training, but Melvin’s eyes wandered toward me again.

​I pretended not to notice.

​"Fuck," a woman sitting a few seats away suddenly whispered.

​I looked up to find her staring directly at Melvin.

​"He is hot. Like, ridiculously hot."

​The woman beside her followed her gaze and smiled. "Very. And unmarried."

​"Even better. I’m getting private lessons from him before these two weeks are over."

​Aaron nearly choked on his juice, and I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from laughing.

​Another woman shook her head. "You can have the Dragon King. My target is the Alpha King."

​"Oh?"

​She glanced toward Kaden before lowering her voice. "Come on. Look at him. Imagine getting fucked by the Alpha King."

​The women started giggling, and I rolled my eyes before returning my attention to my food. Imagine being in bed with Kaden? Unfortunately, I didn’t have to imagine.

​My brain, the traitorous little thing, immediately supplied memories I had absolutely not requested. His hands. His mouth. The way his voice changed when he...

​No.

​Absolutely fucking not.

​I shoved a piece of toast into my mouth. We were not doing this. Hadn’t I suffered enough this morning?

​Aaron glanced sideways at me.

​I narrowed my eyes. "What?"

​"Nothing."

​"Good."

​He returned to his food, and a moment later, one of the women leaned closer to the others.

​"Do you really think the rumors about Rola and Alpha Kaden are true?"

​Her friend nodded. "I think so. Did you see them outside? And she calls him Kaden."

​"Exactly."

​The first woman sighed. "Well, there goes my plan."

​"Nothing has been confirmed."

​"Don’t worry," another woman said with a grin. "We’re all living here for two weeks. We’ll find out soon enough."

​They continued whispering while I pushed a piece of fruit around my plate and pretended I wasn’t listening. Across the room, Rola was still talking with Brenda and a few other candidates. At the head table, Kaden was deep in conversation with Melvin.

​Then Melvin looked at me again.

​This time, Kaden noticed.

​His eyes followed Melvin’s gaze across the room until they landed directly on me. For one brief second, neither of us looked away. I couldn’t read his expression, and I had absolutely no intention of trying.

​I broke eye contact first and picked up my glass.

​I had come here for one reason. Stephanie. I needed to train, find a way through the Dark Fire, rescue her, and go home. That was the plan. Simple.

​Except now I was sharing a bedroom with the woman everyone believed was dating my former mate, while a Dragon King who had spent an entire year trying to court me had somehow become one of my instructors. And all four of us were going to be living in the same place for the next two weeks.

​I took a long drink and stared into my glass.

​This was going to be a very, very long two weeks.