Chapter 84: Princess Game Room(2)
I hugged Princess before anything could happen. I didn’t know if it was going to work, but when she hugged me that night at the house, I felt a calm I couldn’t explain. I wanted that back.
I held her so tightly, gripping the warmth of her skin like I could crawl right inside her just to bring the Princess I know back to the surface. She didn’t move at first. Her hands stayed dead at her sides and her body felt as cold as the ice water in that tub. Nothing happened for a long few seconds, but the good sign was that she didn’t push me away or throw me across the room. So that was something I could work with.
"I don’t know what’s going through your mind right now, Princess, but I’m here and I’m never leaving you. Please... just hug me back," I muttered into the soft skin of her shoulder.
For a moment, I really thought she was going to stay a statue. I thought I’d lost her to whatever dark hole she’d climbed into.
Then slowly, I felt the shift. Her arms rose up and wrapped around my waist, pulling me in until there was no space left between us.
She hugged me back.
We stood there like that for I don’t even know how long. Time didn’t matter as much as the fact that she was finally responding. The freezing air in the room didn’t feel so sharp anymore. I was just glad she was actually there with me.
After a while, the silence broke.
"Omega, are you planning to absorb my body, or do you just really like me naked?" Princess said. Her voice had that familiar edge to it, breaking the heavy mood in a second.
"I’m trying to get you back, you idiot," I muttered, though I didn’t let go right away.
"Huh... this would make more sense if you got naked too, but I don’t really like having sex in here," she said.
The fuck. She’s definitely back. Annoying and arrogant as ever.
I jumped away from her like I’d been burned, my face heating up instantly.
"You bitch! How dare you not text me for three days? At least a single emoji would’ve been enough to let me know you weren’t dead! You marked me and then went completely MIA. You sicko of a bitch!" I yelled, flailing my arms around.
"Well... sorry." That was all she said. She didn’t even look that guilty. She just scratched the back of her head and looked around the room at the mess I’d made. "Look at all these balls on the floor. You’re a menace, Omega."
She started walking around the room, picking up the tennis balls one by one and arranging them back into the machine.
I stood there with a small smile on my face, watching her move. She was aware again. She was present. The blank, scary look in her eyes was gone, replaced by the annoying Alpha Princess I knew.
She caught me looking and paused.
"Why are you smiling like that? Are you some kind of pervert or what?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.
"The fuck? My mind wasn’t even there! And you’re the one standing around naked like it’s totally normal!" I shot back, pointing at her.
"Whatever, this is my home. And you’re my mate. You’re allowed to look as much as you want. We’re the only ones allowed to see each other like this anyway," she said, giving me a quick smile that made my heart skip.
"Pervert bitch..." I muttered, quickly looking away at the wall.
She grabbed a thick robe from a nearby chair, beside the Jacuzzi. It was a koala robe, a grey, fuzzy bathrobe with a hood that had little ears on it. She put it on and tied the belt. I couldn’t help but admire it; it was actually kind of cute, which was a weird look for a girl who could ripped a person’s heart.
"So, do you actually play games, or were you just throwing things to be annoying?" Princess asked.
"I play."
"Cool. Let’s play then. I need a challenge."
She tossed me a controller. I caught it out of the air and she grabbed another one for herself. We sat down on the long, plush couch facing the big screen. The setup was crazy; you could basically play from anywhere in the room and the quality was better than a movie theater.
She switched the game over to Wolf Combat. It was a one-on-one fighting game where two massive wolves battled it out in different arenas until only one was left standing.
I won’t lie to you. This bitch absolutely destroyed me.
We played five rounds. She showed zero mercy. No pity for the beginner. She didn’t even let me win a single round just to be nice. She played like her life depended on it, her fingers flying over the buttons with a speed I couldn’t match.
I play games back in redwood sometimes, but I definitely don’t play like her. She was a professional.
After the fifth round of watching my wolf get its throat ripped out, I threw the controller onto the cushion and refused to continue.
She just kept laughing at me, leaning back against the sofa.
"Claws against claws... see? I’m the one still standing. Hahaha!"
That stung more than I wanted to admit. It reminded me of that night at the convenience store. I hated the way she laughed at my defeat, but at the same time, this version of her was a million times better than the cold, dead one I found in the Jacuzzi.
I had to control myself. I almost picked up the controller to hit her over the head just to wipe that smug look off her face.
"How are you feeling now? For real?" I asked, trying to change the topic before I actually did get violent.
"Yeah... I’m good," she said, her laughter dying down into a small, tired smile.
"You sure? After what happened on Tuesday, you didn’t even show up for school."
"I was in school. Just not physically. I took all my classes from home on the laptop," she said.
Of course she did. Princess never jokes when it comes to her studies. She’d probably be doing homework during a war.
"How do you feel about Beam?" I asked. I had to know where they stood.
She went quiet. The playful mood vanished instantly.
"Beam chose what she wanted. There’s nothing left to feel about it," she said, her voice going flat.
"Even after what she did? After posting that video for the world to see?"
"It wasn’t Beam who uploaded it. Kiara did," Princess said. She picked up her controller and started playing a solo mission, her eyes fixed on the screen.
I had my doubts about that too. Beam was denying before she admitted it, but Princess sounded completely certain.
"Are you sure it was Kiara? Beam admitted it right to your face," I reminded her.
"Beam might be sleeping with Kiara behind my back, but she wouldn’t go that far to hurt me. She only admitted it to protect her. She’s always been like that," Princess said.
"How do you feel about that? Her choosing Kiara over you?"
"I don’t know..." she said quietly, her thumbs slowing down on the joysticks. "But that moment made me realize something important. Beam will always choose Kiara first. No matter what I do or how long we’ve been friends. Her loyalty is to her... not me. Not anymore."
I didn’t know what to say to that. I wasn’t a therapist and I definitely couldn’t fix a friendship that had been rotting for years. I knew she had already planned to cut them both off once the pups came, but everything was just happening way too fast for any of us to keep up.
"Okay," she said suddenly, standing up and stretching her arms over her head. "I’m hungry. Do you want to eat?"
She collected the controllers and placed them back on the stand neatly.
"Well, I bet Richard made something good down there. He usually cooks on Fridays. Let’s go."
I stood up and followed her out of the room, feeling the weight of the last few days finally starting to lift.
