DNF
One of my forever pet peeves in fated mate books, will always be how the hero goes around and fcks random women to "abate his arousal", up until the literal moment he can find his mate. The mate he keeps complaining about that he hasn't found. Maybe if he would zip up his pants and actually try to find her, he would get somewhere. Reading about his past F buddy coming onto him and him finally saying no for once right before he finds his mate, isn't something to be applauded for, nor does it make him attractive in any way🙄
“Hello, my king,” Daphne said, her tone seductive. Once upon a time, she would have induced me to fall into bed with her. Not tonight though. I sighed. My loneliness could be assuaged for an hour... a day... but not for long enough. And not by this one. “Daphne. What are you doing here?” She was sprawled across my bed, dressed only in her underwear, though it barely contained her ample curves. I liked women with more flesh. Large breasts, huge ass. Something to hold during love-making and curl up against on long wintery nights. My mate would need to be big and lush, strong enough to carry my heirs. But this woman was not the one for me. She pushed up onto her hands and pouted. “It’s been so long, my king. Don’t you crave me as you once did?” She reached out her hand, and I was tempted by her words. Tempted to lose myself in her body. To forget my aching loneliness and the long, winding quest for my mate for a few lust-fueled hours. So far, the search for her had proven fruitless. “No. I’m sorry Daphne. I can’t.”
“How can you say that to me?” she said. “We’ve been lovers for all our adult life. You know you want me. No one can please you as I do.” I chuckled at the arrogance in her words. She had no idea what I truly craved in the bedroom. She was a servant in my household, but nothing more. I wanted someone who would love me, submit to me, give only to me. Not to every man in the kingdom who looked her way.
He's a hypocrite for saying the OW isn't for him because she fcks other men, and yet he knows she's not his mate and continues to have sex with her, and many other women, while "waiting" for his mate. And it makes it worse after seeing how the heroine is very weak and complacent towards him (and I'm sure she'll be a virgin too 🙃). Also, the way the hero talks about women's bodies and what his future mate "needs" to have or look like, is gross. You should be thankful when you find her at all🙄
Books and heroes like this are exactly why I'm in the biggest book slump😭