Soren

And so it began.

"Since living together is a non-negotiable, I want an amendment to the sleeping arrangements. I want my bedroom—actually, I want my own wing," she said. "I want my own entrance."

"What the hell for?" Mercer and Quinlan growled.

"So I don’t accidentally bump into any of you and have my day ruined. I want a line of demarcation in the house, so we all understand where our respective spaces are. Add half the kitchen to that list. And the gym. Oh, and the pool, too."

"That is ridiculous," Jericho said.

Maisie smiled again. "Then divorce me."

Begrudgingly, we amended that, too.

"I will come and go as I please," she said.

"No," we said in unison.

Her blue eyes crinkled. "Then divorce me."

My left eye twitched in annoyance. I was an idiot. A complete retard for leaving the contract open for negotiations. I was trying to be a fucking gentleman. Look where it got us. In hell. 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

From now on, I was sticking to my stellar reputation of being an asshole. Playing matyr hadn’t been working in my favour of late. And I still hadn’t forgiven her for choosing Jericho as her first. I was sure the bastard did or said something to manipulate the situation.

"There will be no tracking devices," Maisie continued. "No personal guards. You do not control my whereabouts and starting this instant, you will pull off the guards you have tailing me."

My thumb ran over my bottom lip. "That is also a non-negotiable. Every royal is entitled to security. Especially a female. If you do not want the guards tailing you, then you must be with at least one of us at every point you leave the house."

She thought about it for a moment. "I’ll take the guards. But I do not take permission from you before going anywhere. Neither do I report my comings and goings to you."

Quinn started, "But—"

"If you have a problem with that, then divorce me. I’m sure Tessa would love the opportunity to be your trophy wife," she drawled.

We stopped arguing.

"I wear whatever I want. You do not make decisions on what I do with my body. And this includes decorative decisions." She added with a straight face, even if we all knew she was bluffing, "Nipple piercings. Nose piercings. Clit piercings. Or a tattoo of another man’s face stamped on my ass. If I decide to shave my head and dye what’s left pink, I do that too."

Mercer rubbed a hand down his face. "You’re not shaving your head."

Maisie smiled. "Then divorce me."

Irritation flooded me. The only thing she was getting stamped on her ass was my handprint. But I said nothing, eager to see where the fuck she was going with all of this shit.

Quinn smirked. "I wouldn’t mind the piercings. It’d make it easier to discover what kinks you’re into."

The lawyers were blushing again. Maisie’s expression remained stoic.

Jericho, on the other hand, was not having it. He ran an eye down her dress and I instantly understood why she had worn it in the first place. It was to make a statement on ’provocative’, because she intended to do just that. "No," Jericho snarled. "You’re married to us. You can’t just—"

"Un-marry me then," she shrugged, completely unbothered.

And went on to the next point. "The infidelity clause. I want it applied equally to every single one of you. If I’m forbidden from engaging with any males, then you will not engage with any females in the same manner you have stated."

She swept her gaze across all four of us and it felt like she was carving her words into our skin. "I don’t care if it’s your sister. Your cousin. Your childhood friend. Your best friend. Your professor. Your favorite barista. Or even your aunt. If you so much as smile at another woman, I will consider that my explicit permission to mess with whoever I want to."

My eyes narrowed. In hindsight, maybe our demands were a little too ridiculous. Maybe a little dangerous. I glanced at Alden. "Amend it to her wishes."

Maisie nodded, seemingly pleased. "On public appearances, I’m not into PDA. Or voyeurism. I won’t kiss you or touch you in public to help you stroke your ego."

"Another non-negotiable," Mercer said. "If my mother thinks this marriage is a sham, there are fifty others she can hand you off to. Or she might order that a fifth or sixth be added to your harem to boost intimacy. Chances are, they will not be as understanding as we are."

Maisie paused and there was a crack in her demeanor. I knew she was remembering the night of the duel. The lust in the gazes of the females and males alike. The leering comments and how they described fucking her in the ass as she walked past.

They weren’t always like that. It was the Red moon’s effects. But it didn’t mean all Lycan males were as respectful of women as we were taught to be. In every race, there would always be that one fucker that thought himself in the position to shit talk a woman and manhandle her. And knowing my aunt, she would likely put the bar in hell.

Best not to test that theory. Though, I would be lying if I said we were thinking only of the right reasons when we included that particular clause.

I mean, how exactly were you supposed to seduce someone without a little bit of PDA to spice thing up?

Maisie bit her bottom lip softly before nodding. "Then we will stick to the things I am comfortable with."

And so for the next hour, we continued, back and forth, and more often than not, the demands always ended with, "Divorce me then."

And I figured out Maisie’s strategy.

She knew we weren’t going to give her a divorce. So she was going to start demanding and doing crazy shit to force our hand. Like demanding her ’visitors’ came over whenever they wanted. She wanted her own staff, too, because she didn’t want to be spied on. She was dead fucking serious about the line of demarcation, and if we crossed into ’her side’ of the mansion without permission, she would consider it a serious breach of our contract.

She was trying to make being married to her so inconvenient that we’d eventually surrender and give her the divorce ourselves.

A challenge.

The corner of my mouth lifted. I always did have a hard on for challenges.

***

"Mr. Black," Matt, my finance manger said hours later, after Maisie and her lawyers were gone and I was back poring over the dreary reports of the alarming increase in rogue and rebel activities in Costa Ridge. "There’s been a significant charge to your account. I thought to run it by you first before approval."

I frowned. "Description?"

"Legal fees."

For a second, I did not move. Then the laugh came out of me, so sudden and uncontrolled.

Maisie was making me pay for her lawyers.

"Should I proceed with the transaction?" Matt asked uncertainly.

I leaned back in my chair and laughed again, softer this time, almost fond. "Of course. She’s my wife," I said.