Chapter 20

I turned to Collin as he looked to Ivan. "He is not who he claims to be, El. He is from our town and dissapeared while you were gone."

I turned to Ivan as my eyes glowed. I shoved Ty as I came at him with my claws, but Ivan grabbed my wrist. "Let's not get out of hand, Ellenor."

"Everyone get out!" I hissed.

"But El!"

"He's stronger than you, Ty. Get out now!" I growled and everyone quickly reacted. Everyone left so that Ivan and I were alone. "Who are you?!"

He sighed before pushing my hand away, "I'm the 7th."

I felt my body begin to shake as I realized he did look familiar. "His brother..." I whispered as I wrapped my arms around myself. "You' re going to give

me to him!"

He shook his head as he tried to place his hand on my cheek. I backed away as I shook harder, "I didn't

lie to you, other than telling you my rank." He sighed as he looked to the ground, "When you were human, I had my eyes set on you, even before he got ahold of you. I thought about bringing you to father to make you my mate, but didn't want to take your humanity

from you. When he turned you, I attempted to interfere but my brother stopped me." He looked to me with sorrow, "I've tried to find you since you left. When I saw you on the street, I could barely believe my eyes. Yes, I have these human emotions for you because I fell for you when I was human. Please, all I want to do is help you. I would love to win your heart, but it is not my purpose."

I looked to him sadly, "regardless of the past, anyone

would run from someone that came on to them so aggressively."

He sighed deeply, "I'm sorry. I'm not good with

women and have never had interest in them other than for my needs. You are a princess as my brother's mate, so I thought you would want to be given everything."

I stared at him before looking to the items on the floor, "I'm a normal person forced to be his mate. I never even talked to him before he gave me to the king. I do not enjoy being given things, I want to earn them myself."

"Please, El, tell me what I can do to get back in your good graces. I want to help you and support you." "Then allow me to decide my life," I said as I looked to him sternly. "Allow me to come to you when I need help. Do not smother me, be a comrade."

"Please, let me try again."

I nodded, "I will take these items other than the marriage license. Do not decide those things for me again."

He nodded, please contact me whenever you need something." He took my hand in his, "even if you do not need something, please contact me. I

want to support you in any way I can."

I nodded before freezing as he came and kissed my forehead. He then walked out of the room as I collapsed to the ground. My heart was racing and I tried to catch my breath. As the door opened, Cade reached me first with the others right behind him.

He kneeled in front of me and held my hands as I

shook. I looked to his eyes and immediately lost all my composure. I surprised everyone, including myself, when I collapsed into a heap. Cade immediately move closer to me so he could catch me and embraced me. I began shaking uncontrollably as I tried to catch my breath and settle down. No one asked anything for a while, they all just watched me as I try to regain composure.

"Ty," I whispered as I heard him come closer, but I did not let go of Cade. "I want you to look in to someone. I want you to use your connections and find out what you can about the 2nd prince. Also look into his alias as Ivan Patrice." Ty caught his breath, "he's my

mate's younger brother." I whispered as I felt every one in the room stiffin. "I plan to use him and that is all. To gain my trust, he gave up a weakness that he cannot take back."

"What weakness?" Chris whispered as I looked up to him with a very sad smile.

"He loved me before I was reborn." My heart burned with pain, "he has clearly been around the humans for too long. He still believes that exists in things like us."

"Then we should just get away from him," Ty began but I shook my head.

"He has a wealth of knowledge, a large standing in the community, and more resources than we could ever need." I bit my lip, "I will make him regret ever loving me. He is a fool and I will play him like a fool."

"El, you don't have to do that." I look to Ty with curiosity, "open yourself up! Maybe you could love him, love is real for us."

I shook my head but did not look to him, "maybe it

is for you, but I gave up that dream long ago. You can only take so much torture before you face reality. I hope it is something you never have to experience," I whispered before walking over to the bed. "I need to rest." I whispered before lying down on the bed. As I kept my eyes shut, I heard the men quietly whispering in the room but slowly nodded off to sleep.