"Do you have any idea why they are killing them?" Eleanor asked, wrapped in numerous sheets, lying on the ground. Yes. He had made sure to take the bed and leave her to lie on the ground where he felt she deserved to be. She had whined for the better half of the night, complaining about how the ground was hard and cold, and he had blissfully ignored her until she got tired and stayed put. She was exhausted, but she couldn't sleep. So she had taken to asking him questions, and funnily enough, he had been responsive. It would seem she wasn't alone in being unable to sleep. "No," he said after a moment's hesitation, and Eleanor blinked back at the darkness as she said, "You're lying." "And if I am? There is little you can do about it. Not that you even care for the state of the people in these lands," his voice returned to her in the dark and Eleanor flipped on her belly to look in the direction of the bed. "Why does it constantly feel like you are judging me?"
Lino's lips trailed the arch of Cassy's neck and she found that she was already writhing, ready for him. The ceremony had been beautiful, and never in her life had she felt something so deep, so meaningful. The celebration after had been a joyful affair, but Cassy and Lino had been unable to her hands and eyes off Lino. It had been mutual. They had excused themselves from the gathering with the excise of having some work to do, but she suspected everyone in the gathering had been able to smell what the real reason was. Her fingers slid into his hair and just when he began shrugging off her dress, someone knocked on their door. Lino snarled against her skin and the vibration caused her toes to curl. "Go away, Kayden." But the Beta didn't. He knocked again and his voice flowed into Lino's chambers. "This is urgent, Alpha. You have...visitors." "They can wait," Lino said, hands tightening about Cassy's hips. "Every damned visitor can wait. Not now, Kayden."
Eleanor had known something was wrong the moment she had awoken. Why? He had shoved her onto her feet before she even had the chance to get up from the bed herself. He hadn’t spoken a single word to her as she shoved her outside the inn in the early hours of the morning. Not that they had established any sort of relationship since they had begun the journey to her doom together, but he had never been so cold. So wound up tight. So closed off. They had fallen into a insult-growling routine, and she had grown comfortable with hating him and yelling at him every day. It made easy for venting. This was strange. New. Odd. And it disturbed her deeply. “What is wrong with you?” Eleanor asked as he raised her roughly and dumped her atop the horse. He said nothing, go around to climb atop his horse. “What? You’re mad at me again? Is this about last night? I didn’t do anything wrong. You kissed me. I should be mad. Why exactly are you being so cruel right now?” He s
Lino took a few steps towards Eleanor's cell and he crouched down to really take a look at the woman he had nearly spent his life with. The woman he had spent everyday defending and caring for. The woman he had let pacify him on his tough days. The woman in whose arms he had cried when he had lost Cassy. The woman he had once mated with and marked as his Luna. The woman who killed Cassy and their child. "Eleanor," he said, voice thick and heavy with emotions. Rage, disgust, hatred, pity. She dashed forward, reaching through the bars of the gate to cup his cheeks, honey brown eyes wide with despair and desperation. "Lino. My love. I need you to understand that I would never do anything to harm you. I love you. What I did, I did for us. That woman is using you, and manipulating you." Lino's hands lifted and his fingers curled around hers. She smiled softly as he held her fingers, but she soon screamed when he squeezed it hard enough to break every delicat
Cassy shot up from her seat. “What do you mean key? Raising me from the dead doesn’t mean I have the Goddess’s blood in me.” The hybrid’s face remained tight with impatience, and rather than hold her gaze, his gaze shifted to Lino. “One does not shift from being an Omega to an Alpha overnight. If not anyone else, you must have noticed that she did not return the same way she left. For life to be reformed, something must be given.” Cassy wasn’t sure she was breathing anymore. The Goddess had given her that much to survive and avenge her child’s death? That didn’t make sense. She suddenly recalled Sasha’s words from that day at the cave. Was there really some other reason why the Goddess had chosen her? Saved her? Selene had said as much, but she hadn’t understood it. She didn’t understand any of the things being said to her. Lino’s fingers wrapped around her upper arm in a bid to soothe her, but Cassy could hardly calm down. She was already agitated by the hybrid’s words
Eleanor looked up from her cell at the sound of heavy boots hitting the ground. Her heart jumped at the hope of it being Lino but she scowled when she saw who it was. "Surprised to see you're still alive. What must you have told him that didn't make him kill you on sight?" Eleanor asked Julian. He shrugged and settled into a crouch beside her cage. She eyed him warily, wondering why he was seated by her cell. "The truth," he said simply, leaning back against the barred wall. Eleanor's glance shifted from the hybrid to the men guarding the dungeons. "I am not supposed to have visitors. They let you in here to come see me? Why?" His eyelids drooped. "I can go wherever I wish, thief. I cannot be bound by your kind. If I wish to be somewhere, I will get there." Eleanor's eye brow quirked up. "You wish to be here right now?" The hybrid's eyes snapped open and he casted her a sidelong glance. "You do have a way with words. I do not wish to be here. I cam
Cassy paused in her arrangement at the sound of a knock on her door. "Who is it?" She called out, dropping her gown back on the bed. "Luna Cassy? I'd like to speak to you." Cassy paused at the voice. It sounded like the princess, but she could not be too sure. There was no way the princess could so so submissive and timid. She sauntered over to the door and pulled it open. Wide green eyes met hers. "Can I come in?" Cassy frowned, leaving the door slightly closed. She wasn't sure if she could trust the woman after the feat she had pulled with the basket of flowers and notes. What if she let her in and the woman tried to kill her? Not that she could. Surely she wouldn't be that stupid, but Cassy didn't want to take any chances. "What do you want?" She asked, not opening the door even an inch wider. A very clear message that the princess understood immediately and righted herself by the doorway. Cassy's eyes dropped to Adrienne's arm that was wrapp
"You think there might be something going on between them?" Cassy asked Kayden. The Beta's face turned contemplative. "I can't say for sure. It would be odd if he brought her here if they had something going on about them. I will keep an eye on him still. Though, I can't say he will be pleased with it." Lino let out a breath. He needed to make a decision concerning Eleanor's execution. It had been years since a public execution occured, and though, he knew it was a befitting punishment for what she had done, he wondered if now was the right time to even discuss it. He watched Cassy discuss with Kayden. His eyes drooped to her belly. Morra had told him she hadn't been taking the contraceptive herbs. He wondered if she had taken in yet. They had been having a lot of moments lately. Private moments. He was not entirely sure he wanted her to at a moment like this, when war was around the corner. Or it was because he wasn't yet ready to make a decision. The decision