The Taste of Seduction

Marcus\'s lips curved into a smirk as he folded his arms across his chest.

"Have I done something to offend you?" Marcus asked, his brows furrowing slightly.

"Er, no... I just met you, after all..." Atlas said, taken

aback by his astuteness. Okay, he definitely wasn\'t expecting this question.

"Oh…. It\'s just. I can smell it, you know. Your

irritation and anger. I\'m curious about what I have done to you for you to have such intense emotions towards me." Marcus said with a frown on his face.

"Well…it\'s my first time having a vampire close to me and well my wolf doesn\'t like you. I don\'t know why"

Atlas said with a shrug. Well he wasn\'t lying though, his wolf has been chanting to him to kill the vampire prince ever since he saw Meredith with him.

"Oh, I see…I was worried that you might be upset about me and the princess\'s engagement. If it\'s just because your wolf doesn\'t like me, I can live with that."

Marcus said with a smile, letting out a breath of relief.

"For a moment, I thought I sensed an attraction between you and the princess. So I thought, you were upset."

Atlas stared at him in dead silence. He knew Marcus was setting him up. He wanted to play mind games with him and Aflas was having none of that.

Marcus\'s smile faded, "You know at first I didn\'t care if she doesn\'t love me but the more time I spend with her, the more that I want her.

I want her to fall in love with me and I\'m going to do everything in my power to make her mine. She doesn\'t know about my feelings yet and I don\'t want to scare her away since ...."

Marcus trailed off before he continued,

"I want you to help me. I have no idea how to court a lady.

It\'s been so many years since I was interested in a girl and I don\'t know how things are done in the human realm. Elvin told me you\'re from there, so will you help me?"

Atlas stiffened as Marcus\'s words rang in his head. Did he hear that correctly?

"What?" He breathed in shock.

"You heard me, I need your help."

Atlas let out a mirthless chuckle as if he had just heard a bad joke.

"You want my help to court your own fiancé? Weren\'t you trying to show off how much you guys are in love with each other a few minutes ago?"

Marcus threaded his hand through hair and he let out a sigh, "Well it\'s an arranged marriage and I thought you were interested in her. But you\'re not right?"

Atlas stood, frozen in place. His blood ran cold as his mind began to race. Surprise painted his features, and then, as expected, his eyes darkened as he contemplated his answer.

He saw Marcus\'s potential, but more than that, he knew Meredith needed Marcus\'s potential. She desperately needed a strong male, who understood her struggles.

One,she could trust completely to protect and keep her safe. Somehow Atlas knew beyond a shadow of a doubt, that Marcus had those qualities.

Ignoring Marcus\'s second question about him being interested in Meredith, he replied, "I will help you on one condition."

"What condition?" Marcus questioned, narrowing his eyes.

"You will always protect her and make sure she is safe."

A glint passed through Marcus\'s eyes and his eyes flickered to a different shade of emotion as if he had confirmed something he had been dreading for a long time.

"Alright ." He replied simply.

Atlas nodded, "We will talk later, they are waiting for us."

Marcus nodded and walked with Atlas towards the house.

When they got inside, Elvin had already set the table with the help of Meredith.

"I wondered what took both of you so long?" Elvin questioned as he stared at Marcus and Atlas.

"Nothing. We were just talking." Atlas replied.

Meredith\'s eyes widened in shock then she met Atlas\'s eyes.

Atlas gave her a reassuring smile before he came to sit opposite her.

Marcus followed suit sitting beside Meredith. Elvin served the food and they started eating in silence.

The silence was almost deafening. Meredith\'s heart pounded against her ribs as if trying to fulfill a thousand beats. Meredith lifted her gaze from her plate and her eyes glanced up to Atlas\'s own.

Atlas and Meredith glanced at each other for a brief moment before he hesitantly lowered his head back onto his plate.

But in that small moment, Meredith has seen awe and pain on his face. His eyes had been wide, his nostrils slightly flared and his lips parted as he\'d gazed at her.

She wondered what was going through his mind at the moment.

"Are you okay?" Marcus\'s worried voice sounded beside her.

"Y-yes." Meredith replied while she forced out a smile.

She picked up her glass of water from the table and hastily brought the cool liquid to her lips.

Unfortunately she choked on the water and suddenly started to gasp for air.

Tears began to come from her eyes and she couldn\'t seem to breath. She started coughing vehemently

"Meredith!"

"Princess "

"Angel, are you okay?" Atlas stood up hastily knocking his chair down in the process. The fear and panic in his eyes would have raised suspicions if everyone wasn\'t focused on Meredith at the moment.

Marcus started back blows between Meredith\'s shoulder blades with the heel of his hand while she tried hard not to panic. The coughing finally subsided and Meredith gave Marcus a grateful look.

"Thank you."

Her eyes found Atlas\'s own and she forced out a reassuring smile.

"I\'m fine."

Atlas raked his hand through his hair, letting out a frustrated sigh, he walked out the dining room.

Meredith\'s heart galloped in her chest as she stared at Atlas\'s empty seat. Stupid man, he was probably sad he couldn\'t help her.

A/N: What games do you think Marcus is playing? Do you think he knows something?^^ ha!