His Arrogant Human Mate novel Chapter 17

"I'll be back soon."

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Sure enough, half an hour later, the man was uncuffing me from the bed, stroking my straightened hair tenderly as he did so. "Good girl. You didn't even strain your wrist or anything," he murmured, kissing the top of my head. "Everyone is very excited."

I grimaced at this. "There's going to be an uprising. What would your parents-"

"They already know, silly. They don't care. They just want us happy."

"They want you happy, you mean. No one cares about how I feel," I mumbled. "My happiness means nothing in this world."

Dominic frowned, but gave up, and I let him drag me down the steps and towards the back door, my hand interlaced with his. "How many people are here?" I whispered.

"Not too many. A few dozen, all Alphas from the surrounding regions, a few close friends of mine, my family, the Shifters in the area."

I shrunk into his side as he exited the house, and I was faced with a crowd of people. Alfie and Andrew were standing to the left of the deck, and Alfie looked very guilty. Andrew stepped forward, taking my elbow and pulling me over to him.

"The King will make a speech about you before introducing you fully, so you'll stand with us until then," Andrew explained. "Cute little plan you guys tried to make. Next time, move away from the office."

I bowed my head and stood beside Alfie, who swallowed loudly. "I'm sorry, Cara. I screwed up-"

"It's okay," I mumbled. "Not your fault."

Andrew nudged me playfully. "Don't look so sad. This is an honor. You're royalty now. And Dominic is going to take care of you. He's a good guy. A good mate."

"You're wrong," I said simply. "He marked me."

"I marked Alfie. Does that make me a bad guy?"

"No," I scoffed. "Alfie wanted it. I didn't."

Andrew shrugged. "You'll understand in time, little girl."

"When I've become his mindless pet that he only cares for when I'm carrying his mutts?" I snarled. "You guys may have been smart this time, but if you think I'm done trying to get to freedom, you're sorely mistaken."

Andrew appeared suddenly, stomping down hard on the hollow deck and whistling loudly, shutting up the crowd and myself. "Our queen has been chosen. She is smart and is willing to fight. You will accept her or be thrown out of our rule. Human or not, the King has chosen to love her, and we will do whatever it takes to make her one of us," he claimed. "Any more disrespect will be punished as betrayal."

The crowd was silent, half looking on in shock and half looking guilty. They shouldn't be guilty. They were right, and it was Dominic and Andrew who are wrong.

Dominic nodded in thanks to his beta, before taking my hand again. "Let's go sit down, beautiful."

"Can Alfie sit next to me? Please?"

I could tell he wanted to say no, and he even looked at the table in debate. But when I gave him my best pleading look, he gave in.

"Fine. But my parents really wanted to sit with you," he grumbled.

"I can't believe that they're okay with this," I said simply. "It's wrong."

"We're going to talk about this tonight before bed, okay? Get everything straight." He kissed my cheek swiftly before pulling out a chair for me, which I gladly took. Alfie hopped into the seat next to me, reaching over and squeezing my hand. A man sat across from me that look strikingly familiar. A more aged version of Dominic. The woman next to him was stunning, and the both of them were staring intensely at me, and I lowered myself in the seat a little nervously.