The Beauty and the Beast (1st book of Fantasy Series)

Chapter 39- Reif's POV

I sat at my desk and was looking over the work that both Louis and Cameron did, making sure that everything was alright and correct, even though I trusted them and the work they had done.

My human chuckled, amused. 'Are you sure that you trust them?' he teased, and I scowled and narrowed my eyes, wondering why he decided to appear now. 'If you did, then you wouldn't be looking over their work.'

I bit back a small, annoyed sigh and rolled my eyes while I scowled and grabbed my pen tighter. 'And what would I be doing?' I asked coldly and raised an eyebrow in question.

'Mate?' he asked, and I had a feeling that he raised an eyebrow. 'I think that she is riding her horse. We haven't seen her in a while, and I think we should go see her.'

I bit back a small sigh of annoyance before I rolled my eyes and set my jaw. 'She moved onto the same hall as us, Steven,' I reminded him. 'We see each other every day.'

If Steven had a shoulder, he would shrug nonchalantly. 'You should see if she wants to move into our room,' Steven said randomly, 'but come on, let's go see her now. Don't you want to?'

I didn't respond because a part of me wanted to, even though I didn't want him to know.

'I know you want to,' Steven said with a sigh of relief because he caught my feelings and knew that I wanted to see her. 'We can finish looking at everything else later or never because you trust your second and third. Let's go see her, now.'

I bit back an annoyed sigh and moved a hand across my face before I shook my head. 'Fine,' I grumbled before I tossed the pen on my desk. 'We will go see her.'

Steven bit back a small smile, and I held back an eye roll and scowled before I stood and started to walk to the door. 'Maybe we should ask her on a date,' he said randomly, and I raised an eyebrow in question.

'Why?' I asked, and he mentally shrugged. I opened the door and closed behind me before I started to walk to the front door, deciding to go to the arena because like Steven, I had a feeling that she was still riding her horse.

'We're running out of time, Reif,' he said softly, and I pressed my lips into a thin line because what he said was true; we were running out of time to get her to fall in love with us and accept the bond between us. 'We can't keep hiding this. We should tell her the truth and explain the crown to her. She knows of the crown.'

I bit back an annoyed sigh, and I nodded. 'I know,' I said before I walked a little faster, the urge to get to her quicker getting stronger. 'I don't want her to feel sorry for us, though,' I admitted, and Steven rolled his eyes and scowled.

'She won't,' he said, even though I could hear the small doubt in his voice. 'She won't feel sorry for us and accept us the way that we were and now are.' He paused. 'She'll accept us when we are human.'

I didn't respond and scratched myself behind my ear, feeling slightly nervous while I flicked my tail. I had no idea what the future would hold and prayed that there was a way that we could end up together and that I would treat her as the queen that I should have treated her from the beginning.

'I am glad that she has accepted us as much as she did beforehand,' he said randomly, and I raised an eyebrow in question.

'What do you mean?' I asked before he mentally shrugged. 'Steven,' I warned and narrowed my eyes and scowled. 'What do you mean?'

He sighed and cleared his throat before he mentally shrugged again. 'A part of me thinks she accepted us as her mate before all of this, even though you tried to keep us away from each other,' he said softly. 'She wasn't scared of us, well mainly you, until that night after you grabbed her by her hair and threw her out of the office and into the kitchen.'

I pressed my lips into a thin line, still feeling guilty about doing that to her.

'I mean, she wasn't that scared when you found out that she was a Schmit.'

I bit back a small sigh while I tucked my tail closer to my butt, still feeling guilty, especially since she was right and she had never considered herself a Smchit but a Lowell just like her mother.

"Your Majesty," Louis said, popping out of nowhere, looking shocked, and I stopped and looked at him with a raised eyebrow. He bowed and cleared his throat while he placed his hands behind his back. "You are out of your office. Are you ok?"

"I am," I said and nodded. I cleared my throat and flicked my tail, annoyed that stopped me from going to see my mate. "I wanted to make sure that Belle was alright."

Louis slowly nodded and cleared his throat. "I am sure that she is fine, Your Majesty," he said. "She is with her cousin."

I bit back a small sigh before I slowly nodded and pressed my lips into a thin line. "Ok," I said before I moved a hand through my fur. "What were you needing from me?" I asked while I raised an eyebrow.

"Nothing," Louis said and shook his head before he cleared his throat again. "As I stated, I was surprised that you were outside of your office."

"Hmph." I cleared my throat before I slowly nodded, not saying another word.

Louis cleared his throat and shifted on his feet before he looked away from me and then at me again, looking nervous for some reason. "Was the work that Cameron and I did up to your standards, Your Majesty?" he asked and raised an eyebrow.

"It was," I confirmed and nodded. "Thank you."

Louis's eyes filled with relief and bowed his head. "Of course," he said. "Are we still able to do our work, now?" He raised an eyebrow in question, and I nodded in confirmation.

"Yes," I confirmed, earning a sigh of relief from my human. "You may continue working. I will not check on your or Cameron's work after today because I do trust you, but I wanted to make sure that everything was fine for right now."

'No, because you are a bit of a control freak,' Steven teased, and I held back an eye roll and a scowl.

Louis bit back a small sigh of relief before he nodded, and I could tell that he was relieved. "Thank you, Your Majesty," he said before he cleared his throat.

'It's the truth,' he reminded me, and I bit back a small sigh because it was true; I was a bit of a control freak. 'You can work on it though, we both need to work on it, especially if we want to keep Belle here and happy.'

Louis cleared his throat again before he shifted on his feet. "Are you going to go check on Belle, now?" he asked, changing the subject, and I nodded in confirmation. "Then I will go get some work done while you do that."

"Make sure that Cameron does his stuff as well," I said, and Louis nodded to say that he will. "Thank you, Louis. I do appreciate your help."

"Of course, Your Majesty," he said and bowed. "Excuse me."

And with that, he left to go get Cameron so that they could get some work done, and I watched him leave with my hands behind my back.

'Now, can we go see our mate?' he asked, and I mentally nodded.

'Lets.'

And with that, we walked the rest of the way to the arena to see my beautiful mate and hopefully ask her out on a date.

Please, let her say yes... I silently prayed, my heart skipping a beat before it started to pound faster. Please.