☾☾☾ SASKIA'S POV ☽☽☽ At the back of the ballroom is an extensive buffet spread. My mouth waters as I hastily rub my hands, ready to dig in without restraint. "Be careful!" A voice dents into my sphere, and the cheese and cracker in my shaky pincher grasp nosedives back onto the tray from the resulting bumble on my end. "Leave me alone," I mutter, returning to the task of filling my small platter with food enough for two. A hand largely rivalling mine in size picks an egg roll from the summit of my plate, and its owner sniffs at it. I stop my pillaging to glare hard at him. He doesn't mind in the slightest as he examines the roll from yet another angle. "Eff off, Wade." I may have meant it at another juncture, but not now. I'm secretly glad he's here, and to be honest, I've been slightly shocked that he didn't hover around me since our entrance, as is usual of him. It's weird to have had this much breathing space for so long of a stretch. He passes the roll back to me, and I pinch

☾☾☾ SASKIA'S POV ☽☽☽ My mouth gapes slightly open. It's not often one gets to see such private marks. For, it's a no-brainer that the holes are from a human mouth. Two of the wounds resemble those from an animal, but upon tracing around the medium-sized ring, the depth is significantly shallower than it would have been as a courtesy of an actual wolf. It was either a vampire with long canines or a werewolf in human form. I shiver to imagine that Mikael had requested to mark me. I knew he didn't mean transforming me into a werewolf. He'd have to bite me on a full moon for that to happen. Moreover, I have no reason to want to become a werewolf. The risks are far too high. Count in that my mother died while changing into a werewolf, and it's totally off the table for me. It was my father's regret for a long time. He would always admit that he missed my mother and wished things didn't turn out the way they did. Yet, he'd been super secretive about how she died. In short, he didn't s

☽☽☽MIKAEL'S POV☾☾☾ Her soft gasp shatters my sheet of reverie in pieces, and I break out of the wall in my metal sphere, attention snapping to her. She places a small hand over mine, a repeated back-and-forth motion designed to soothe its receiver. A curse barely is restrained from tumbling out of my mouth as I release my deathly grip on her. Sliding an open grasp from her waist to her hip, I sketch out an apology, hoping she understands that I did not plan for her hurt. It is not clear whether or not my intent was captured, but glittering emeralds peer up at me, and there is no anger or judgment to be found there. It keeps me in check, mooring my attention to the present where it should be. "We apologise for the late introduction, Aniyah." "Please," she rolls her eyes. "By all means, continue, Alpha Mikael. We have the very evening booked for the author of Guttenbrieg and his shenanigans. Perhaps, you might kiss her again in the centre of the room, so all can see." Grinning li

☽☽☽MIKAEL'S POV☾☾☾ "What?" I swing along her line of sight to end on my dress shirt. There's a darker stain with uneven edges that's snagged her mind. Fuck. She clasps a hand over her mouth, gasping on the recognition. "That's blood. Are you hurt?" I was, but that does not concern her. It is not her issue to be bothered about. Cillian only managed to escape because he set loose five of his mangy dogs. It was his way of playing. Always had been; the lying cheat. I had no choice but to kill them all. Unfortunately, they were not novices. I took a few jabs before I could eliminate them. "I had to deal with a few pesky lads." My fists clench and unclench as I wish I could have ended their lives more viciously. Rikal agrees, and the blood lust to tear into a body and rip it apart head to feet clambers to a peak. Every cell in my being screams to kill as anger consumes me. A chair lightly scrapes on the floor, and Saskia tenses close. "Mikael?" Her hand shakes, but she comes to layin

☾☾☾ SASKIA'S POV ☽☽☽ The sound of his name brought the letter hogging up space at the bottom of my travel luggage to mind. I’d taken to hauling it around everywhere I went. It made me less worried about its safety and who might or not be rifting through my belongings, on the cusp of unearthing or destroying it. I don’t know what I’d do if that happened. Granted that I don’t know what’s in the damn paper, I still can’t shift the hunch that it might be something capable of ruining Mikael. Why else would Absalon place it in my hands? I’m sure he believes I hate the Alpha of Guttenbrieg and that I’m only cozying up to him as part of my pretence after infiltrating his pack through our marriage. To that premise, I have no comment. I don’t hate Mikael. I like him. A lot. And sometimes, when he acts sweetly, both melting my heart and turning me on, I have to contemplate whether I might not be close to falling for him. Yet, I don’t love him. I’m not sure I love Sage anymore, either. These