Chapter 26

He was between a rock and a hard place, walking into Rowans home, with a gorgeous woman, scantily clad. He might add, on his arm, one that he couldn’t afford to leave alone. Was not the way he wanted to do this. It was not going to win him any favours, he acknowledged ruefully. Rowan had already seen him in bed with Storm, this was going to add fire to the smoke. What a total mess he’d made.

 Had he not promised to take her, he would have left her. But his word meant something to him, and if he couldn’t make it up with Rowan, it would be all he had left.

 Xavier kept a tight hold round Storms waist as they entered the Ball. Partly to stop himself from searching the place for Rowan and partly to make it known that Storm was with someone. What else could he do.

“Remember. Behave.” He said, so that only she could hear him.

“Please.” She dragged out the word, rolling her eyes. “I'm not going to do anything. Will you relax already!”

“I’ll relax when we leave. Until then you stay by my side, got that.” He said sternly.

“Yes sir.” She said.

They had only just arrived and Xavier already felt strung out. The amount of men circling them was ridiculous. Like vultures just waiting for him to step aside for a moment, so they could swoop in and snatch her. How was he ever going to be able to find Rowan, if he couldn’t leave Storm’s side.

“Would you like to dance?” he asked.

“Um, I don't know how to.” She blushed.

“It's easy, I’ll lead you follow.” He said taking her hand and pulling her to the floor.

He held her ready to waltz, one hand around her waist the other held her hand as he moved them around the floor, trying to find someplace they could stand that wouldn’t draw attention to them. As well as searching for Rowan, she wasn’t here, he would know the minute she was, yet he couldn’t help but scan the crowed anyway. He wanted to see her.

He twirled and dipped Storm as the music finished. She giggled and let her head fall back, her eyes dancing with joy.

“May I cut in?” someone asked from behind him.

“NO.” He growled.

“Yes.” Storm said.

“I think you should let the lady choose.”

“please.” Her eyes pleading with his.

“Fine.” He said into her ear. “But behave, no amputations tonight. Promise me, I'm not upto fighting this entire line up to get you out of here. I have things to do.” He finished, kissed her cheek.

“promise.” She said before she squealed and dashed into the guys arms.

He stood to the side watching her like a hawk. Shifters were still flying very much under the radar, and he didn’t want to have to explain what she was. Not yet anyway and not tonight, not with what he had to do.

He also needed to try to come up with some way to make it upto Rowan. It would need to be something big. He hadn’t managed to come up with anything that would work. Nothing he could do would make up for his stupidity, but he was here, and he would try at the very least. He just hoped that she was a better person than he’d been, and that she gave him a chance to explain.

Leaning back against the pillar, he put his hand pocket, his fingers brushing  the velvet box there.

The pressure pushing in on him to go find her was almost painful. He focused on Storm and pulled his hand from his pocket. He couldn’t just find her, he needed a way to get her to listen to him, and he would only get one chance at this.

Storm was dancing around and her exuberance for life and happiness filled him with hope. She really was the most enchanting little thing; he was not surprised in the slightest that she was the centre of attention here. What did surprise him, was the way she was dealing with it, she positively glowed. Maybe he’d been worried about nothing. She really did seem to be having fun and no one was armless yet. It was the yet that worried him though, he had seen how quickly she could shift and her moods were just as quick to change.

Xavier grinned as yet another suitor wanted her to dance with them, and the current one looked annoyed at her acceptance. The way she was mowing them down was astronomical, yet they kept lining up for it, each one, no doubt thinking he would be the one to catch her eye.

If Rowan were here, he could share his joy with her, they could laugh about it together.

He sighed, what the hell was he going to do?

“What are you doing?” Shae’s voice catapulted him out of his debate. He hadn’t thought that he would have to deal with her parents before seeing Rowan.

“Just having a drink and enjoying the Ball.” He replied, voice a little shaky.

“I can see that. But what are you doing here?” She clipped, still standing behind him. He hadn’t turned around to address her because she looked too much like Rowan, and it would finish him. He wouldn’t be able to stay here and contemplate what to do, he would take off to find her and probably screw things up.

“You invited me, remember.”  He said taking a drink.

“I knew I should have rescinded your invitation. You’re not welcome here Xavier, you’ve done enough damage. Now leave before I have you removed.”

“I will leave when I'm good and ready. Call your guards if you wish, but I'm staying.” He said, not knowing what he would do if she did call the guards, she certainly sounded like she would. He just hoped that she wouldn’t want to call that much attention to the fact that he was here.

 “Are you trying to destroy her? Breaking her heart wasn’t enough for you, you came back to make sure you finished her off. Well I'm not about to let you do it. Alexion will deal with you.” Shea said walking off.

Great, he needed to talk to Alexion anyway. Do things properly. But after talking to Shae, he wasn’t sure Alexion would hear him out.

He had made a huge mess of things and he had to put them right and in the right way. Asking her father was not something he could avoid, tradition was tradition. Being a Prince didn’t make it any easier.

He saw Rowan on the other side of the room and his heart took flight. She was the most exquisite thing ever to grace this earth, and he had been foolish enough to let her go once. Now he planned on getting her back. His blood heated and his desire went supernova. Everything about her was more perfect then it had a right to be. Her blood red dress hugged her soft curves, leaving very little to the imagination. He felt the desire of the men in the room turn from Storm to Rowan and his possessiveness roared to life.

Alexion strode towards him, blocking his view of Rowan and bring him back to the here and now. His heart sank at the murderous glare on Alexion face. He wouldn’t have the chance to speak to him. Alexion was going to kill him. SHIT!

He made a split second decision, and just hoped that his quick plan, the one he had just made, panned out.

He made a dash for Storm and cut in rudely.

“I need you to keep the king away from me. Can you do that without shifting?” He asked quickly, while the irate current suitor bristled behind him.

“I will try. What have you done?”

“Nothing yet. It's what I'm about to do. If I fail, leave right away and tell my parents I tried.”  He said. Spinning her at the King and dashing towards Rowan.

“And you said I had to behave.” She called after him before colliding with Alexion.