Maybe it’s not a good idea to sleep with the man who just turned my entire world upside down. But dismissing the almost painful need that binds us is a growing agony, and the closeness of his body is a welcome distraction. It’s not like things could get better by not doing it, and for some reason, Owen’s hands on me feel tighter than my anger does.His heated kisses reach the collar so I lean away to take it off. He pulls the lace cups of my bra down and buries his face against my breasts, and I arch my back, trusting that he can hold me up with a single hand splayed across my lower back. Gripping my thighs around his waist helps steady me, but it maddens me at the same time. I physically ache to feel his skin on mine, to touch as much of him as I can with as much of myself as I can, and my jeans are not helping.“I couldn’t get you out of my mind,” Owen mutters. “All of the things I wanted to do to you…”“Do you still want to do them?” I gasp as his teeth close over my nipple and I
I wake to an unfamiliar voice.“Your Majesties, a letter from the council.”I can barely open my eyes, persuaded I’ve only been asleep for a few minutes, but the sunlight that assaults me through the windows says otherwise. I mumble something, trying to push myself up, but I’m too weary and my muscles are too sore to expend any real effort.The blankets rustle as Nathan gets out of bed and I watch through the unwilling, narrow opening of my eyelids as he walks across the bedroom, totally nude, like there isn’t another person with us. He takes a scarlet envelope from the thrall’s silver tray and waves the man away.I momentarily duck my head under the covers when Nathan turns back, a strange mix of horny and bashful forcing a chuckle up my throat that I subdue when I arise and see the frown on his face.He’s standing by the bed, reading, a wrinkle between his dark eyebrows growing deeper as his eyes flick across the page, and I have to sit up. Carefully. With the top sheet wrapped a
After Ryan and Hannah leave, I snoop through the residence and find a study. As one would expect, the king’s bookshelves are filled with magnitudes on pack law, including the intimidating twenty-volume pack charter.Research is way less fun when you’re not doing it with two equally motivated individuals. And when your entire future hangs by a thread. But what it lacks in fun, it makes up for in not getting any results. It’s dark out by the time I give up.I glance out the window of the study and spot the moon. We’re two days from Lupercalia. Two days from understanding what my life is going to be like.By ten o’clock, Nathan still hasn’t returned to the residence.“Amanda?” I ask through the intercom in my sitting room. “Has the King left word of when he’ll be back?”There’s a click and Amanda answers, “His Majesty isn’t planning to return tonight. Do you have a statement you’d like me to pass along to his secretary?”He’s not coming home. “Do you know where he’s gone?”Click. “By pac
Lupercalia. The challenge is here.I’m taken from Aconitum Hall to the ceremony grounds in a chauffeured car. I sit by myself, across from two unsmiling, armed royal thralls. I get the feeling that they’re protecting a piece of disputed property. I’m not the future queen tonight.Not that I wasn’t pampered like royalty. Before I left there were manicures and waxes, a makeup artist, a hairdresser, all of them sent to prepare me for my mating ceremony. There had also been a tailor, who nipped and tucked an off-the-rack suit for my testimony before the council; black pencil trousers, and a single-breasted jacket over a light blue silk chemise, all of it making me look much older than I single-breasted in a thorough twist, knotted at the nape of my neck, and it will, the stylist assured me, look as good down as up.Because after my testimony, I’ll be taken straight to the ceremonial chambers and prepared for whoever wins the challenge.Unfortunately, the robe for my mating right is the
The chamber is as cold and dark as I imagine. My arms ache. I’ve been waiting, chained, for what feels like hours, but through the grate overhead, I can tell the moon isn’t directly above us yet.This isn’t how Tara said it would go. She’d mentioned a ceremony, other people being here with us.I’m all alone, in a cell that smells of earth and is oppressive in its chill humidity. The acolytes did anoint me, that part was true, but they didn’t wait for my mate to arrive. Now, with my back to the door, chained to a damp wooden post, there’s no way for me to tell who will come in. And if I change my mind…It’s too late to change my mind.I stifle a sob of fear. I can do this. I gave my testimony. Sure, I messed up by playing that recording and by entrapping Ashton. I thought I was doing the right thing but apparently, I wasn’t. Whatever happens, whoever comes through the door, I’ll face the effects of my actions and I’ll do it without becoming a sniveling crybaby.I want to cry, though.
Nathan carries down the path, to the ritual grounds. The other members of the pack have already transformed; I hear their calls from the dark woods.I twirl some of his furs in my fingers, my head cradled in the dip of his shoulder. “I didn’t expect it to be like that. I don’t know what I expected it to be like, but not at first.”He makes a noise like the snorting of a bull and his claws tighten around me.I slap his chest. “Control yourself. I’ve still got to transform. I wonder what I’ll look like.”My hair is blonde, and I’ve seen blonde werewolves that turn out white or gold. People with darker or ginger hair take on varying shades of brown or black or even the deep silver of Nathan’s fur. And I’m interested to see how my face ends up. Just like with people, every werewolf looks different. I reach up to touch Nathan’s muzzle, and his lip pulls back to bare his teeth in warning.I’m not worried he’s going to bite me or eat me. I’m more worried that he won’t make it to the ritual
Two days after my first transformation, I’m still ravenous. At first, I was exhausted. I didn’t mourn the fact that my mating ceremony blowout didn’t happen; I would have slept through it, anyway. I spent twenty-four hours sleeping, waking up only to pee and scarf down whatever the thralls left in my bedroom, despite its temperature. When one’s body has completely transformed into a different creature and back again, even rubbery, cold eggs are tasty.“Maybe I got a parasite from that rabbit,” I muse aloud. I finally woke up enough to come down to breakfast with my mate, who watches with amusement as I demolish plate after plate of pancakes, ham, bacon, fried potatoes, and more apple juice than my body should be capable of holding.“A parasite wouldn’t affect you like this so soon.” He chuckles to himself. “From the rabbit or me.”It takes me a minute—and another spoonful of oatmeal—to get what he’s talking about. “I wouldn’t refer to a baby as a parasite. But maybe we should have ex
When I was a little girl, I sometimes wondered what life was like for Cinderella after she married the prince and her vicious stepmother was punished. The story ended after all the exciting parts; did that mean nothing ever happened to her again? It’s starting to feel like that was the case.Aconitum Hall has no shortage of diversions. Televisions in nearly every room, a glorious, multi-room pool in the basement, a library with more books than we had at the academy, and of course, internet access.Werewolves are feudal, but not completely stone aged.There are only so many episodes of syndicated television I can watch, though, and only so many social media sites I can scroll to before I’m insanely bored in a too-quiet house. I call Hannah, and she answers on the first ring.“Is everything okay? You never call me,” she says in lieu of hello.“Sorry, I know.” I can instead say no over the number of times Hannah and I have spoken on the phone since I returned. “I didn’t mean to alarm you