146. Proof

~ CASIMIR ~

I strode along the tunnels of the Palace draped in black from head to toe, wearing one of the long, black tunics that buttoned up the front that I was partial to when I was nineteen.

Nineteen.

Still a child by human standards, but finally coming into my own as a wolf.

I was walking quickly, my body humming with anticipation, because I thought I was in love. But my apprehension that someone might smell it on me was actually helpful, coating my scent in tension and wariness.

It was becoming harder and harder to hide my true feelings from my father. I did my best every time I was near him not to think of her, unless it was to replay our sexual exploits in my mind.

Daddy dearest didn’t give two shits who I fucked.

But love?

Worse, considering her as a mate?

I shook my head and kept walking, hands clenched at my sides, praying I wouldn’t see anyone important before I reached our meeting place. But thoughts of my father kept crowding in, reminding me of that female he’d caught m