~ JESSE ~No matter how I tried, I couldn’t figure out where I stood with Cazz.I had grown up on alert. I knew a man’s anger, and a man’s control. I understood intimidation and manipulation. But this wild swinging between sweet thoughtfulness, undeniable passion, and intense indifference… It had my head spinning. And my heart aching. Every day I rode a roller coaster of signals that had me convinced he was in love with me one minute, and loathed me the next. And no way to tell which was right.Because they couldn’t both be true.Could they?The final blow came the next morning when I realized Cazz had been right and my cycle had started.I definitely wasn’t pregnant. And even though that was something of a relief, it was also a blow. Because if I had been, then at least maybe he would have just left me and my shredded, baffled heart alone. And we could have got on with the healing. But instead… instead I had to wait and see what was going to happen tomorrow. And the next day. And eve
~ JESSE ~I jerked back from where I had just softly placed my hand on his shoulder, feeling for him because it was clear that he was stressed about whatever this issue was with the Alphas and packs. But he acted as if I’d poked him with a needle.“Sorry, I just—”“Rake, would you mind? I think the Queen needs her freedom this morning.”Rake pushed to his feet immediately, nodding, not meeting my eyes.I took a step back from Rake, saturated in embarrassment. He was asking Rake to walk me like I was a pesky pet?“I’m… I’m sorry,” I breathed, swallowing back the pinch of tears.
~ JESSE ~~ JESSE ~“Rake, if you’re going to stand here and tell me to let him go find other females—”“Whoa, whoa, whoa! No! That’s not… that’s not what I meant,” he said, wincing. “Not at all.”“Then what do you mean by hunt?”Rake sighed and met my eyes like he was bracing for impact. “I mean… let him chase you.”I waited, but it was obvious that was all he intended to say. “You’re telling me to play hard to get? I don’t play games, Rake.”
~ JESSE ~Rake’s words washed over me and made me screw up my face because they weren’t what I wanted to hear. I wanted to hear reassurance that I shouldn’t even fear that Cazz would cheat. I wanted to hear that I was too strong, or too beautiful, or too valuable for that to happen.But at the same time my stomach pinched because he hadn’t said that, I was also grateful because it meant he was telling me the truth.The truth was that Cazz might betray me. And if he did… if he did, that was going to hurt more than anything I’d ever experienced, I thought. But even if he didn’t… it didn’t mean that we were coming out of this with a happy ever after.That was sobering. And not reassuring at all. My heart quavered—then
~ CASIMIR ~I didn't leave Ghere and the servants until hours after dinner, and even when I was finally alone, I was left cursing under my breath because that fucking tension that had been raising my hackles since the moment I woke, didn't ease.I had spent the entire day edgy and frustrated, and I wasn’t even sure why. There were some tensions with the humans, a few scuffles between neighboring Alphas, but nothing significant. Nothing that warranted the tight muscles that made me want to roll my head to loosen my neck, and the itch between my shoulder blades.I had thought it was the constant presence of servants and calls for my attention and decision-making. It was the life of an Alpha. Particularly a King. And it wearied me at times.When I stepped out of the
~ JESSE ~It was an awful night.I’d tried to go to sleep early, but I had laid in bed, staring at the ceiling, thinking about Cazz. And in the middle of that, something woke up inside me. Like hope, at first. It turned my mind to the bond–could I feel him getting closer? Or was that just wishful thinking?He had kept himself closed to me, kept the bond dead for days. But every so often I’d get a sensation—like something slipped through without his permission. And for a moment my heart beat faster because it felt like he was coming closer.And then there was a flare of need. Desire. Want.He was horny.
~ JESSE ~ During my meal, the servant from my room returned looking pale to whisper to me that Maya had suggested that I should attend her in her rooms. I thanked her, then after I had finished breakfast—the first meal I had actually been able to taste in days—I asked one of the male guards to show me to Maya’s quarters. He looked startled, but bowed and led me into the tunnels. I’m not sure what I expected, but it wasn’t a twenty-five minute walk through the halls, deeper and deeper into the catacombs of the underground Palace. After the first ten minutes we were further underground than I had ever been, even when Cazz had taken me to the Den. But it wasn’t until we took a corner and there were long, deep shadow
~ JESSE ~I swallowed hard. She didn’t scare me in the sense that I knew I could outrun her—not how I usually felt with a wolf. But I was beginning to see why the servants had all been so nervous. She was the kind of person who looked at you, and it felt like she could see through your clothes and read your thoughts.And she wasn’t impressed by anything she found in either place.“Thank you for seeing me—” I started, trying to be polite. But she growled.“Girl, you sent for me as if I am a common wolf, submitted to your will. Even the King—your mate—does not do that.”