Evander’s POVRalfi and I leave the examination room and find my mother in the waiting area. She hasn't moved since I left her to talk to the doctor. She remains seated in her chair, head bowed over her hands."I think that Aurora may have had a way to prove her innocence," she says softly. "A way to show you that the allegations against her were false." She meets my eyes and I see her inner resolve. "That's why Nalani poisoned her. She didn't want Aurora to show you the truth.""It's possible," I say because it is. It seems anything is possible at this point."Don't dwell on it," Ralfi says to my mother gently. "Whatever the case, whatever happened, Evander will make it right."My Beta has a lot of faith in me. I hope I prove worthy. I have every intention of trying.I ask a nurse if I can see Nalani, but she tells me that Dr. Oliver has mandated she have no visitors for at least twenty-four hours. There is nothing more for us to do at the hospital, so we leave it behind and return h
Aurora's POVI look out the window of my lavish bedroom in the Lycan city, Lythorin. Below me is a race of Lycans, I've been taught to fear my entire life goes about their lives. They are indifferent to my loneliness.We aren't physically far from the Werewolf lands here, but I've never felt farther from home. Everything is different and foreign, and learning their culture has been a trial by fire that I've mostly failed.One thing that hasn't changed is my outsider status. Even here, people whisper as I pass, and the familiar hiss of gossip follow me everywhere I go. I can feel the weight of their side-eyed stares, the looks of distaste and suspicion.With a sigh, I wrap my arms around my tummy, and the precious soul growing within. How am I going to give birth to this baby here? How can I make a happy life for this pup? My baby is going to be vulnerable. I may be wolfless, but I will not allow any Lycan to threaten my child's safety.I foresee only trouble ahead. Where is the light
"Are you pregnant?"The question seems to hang in the void between us, sucking all of the air out of the room, leaving me on the verge of hyperventilating. I've barely arrived here and I've already been discovered. No wonder Evander never wanted to take me on his more clandestine missions."Aurora?" Josephine asks again, even more gently this time. "I might be able to help." She reaches out and takes my hand. "Will you let me help?"How could I resist such soft-spoken words? It's been so long since anyone has shown me kindness. I crumble beneath the force of tenderness. I am weak to the seemingly sincere offer of aid."I am pregnant," I confess, then squeeze her hand for strength. "Not far along, but… far enough, I guess.""Too far along for it to be Prince Mykal's child you mean."I wince at her blunt statement of fact. "The child is a Werewolf."Josephine lets out a long breath, but never lets go of my hand. "I guess you'd better tell me everything."Instant fear fills my heart. I h
Aurora's POV"My beautiful mate!" Prince Mykal declares as he enters my room. "I've been kept from you for far too long."How much does he know? My mind screams as I smile back at him. I search his face for any duplicity, any clue as to what he may have heard, but to my eyes he only seems, as always, extraordinarily handsome and happy.He extends his open palm to me, inviting me to take his hand. I dare not refuse, though I have little wish to touch him. Our fingers brush, and a tingle ignites along my nerve endings, sending a shiver of anticipation down my spine. Stupid, mate bond influenced instincts! I do not want to feel this way."I've missed you," he says, and there is lust in his eyes. Pressed against him as I am, I can feel his heartbeat quicken, the sudden shortness of his breath.He nuzzles the top of my head, and this time my shudder is one of pure revulsion. "Did you miss me too?""Of course she did, Prince Mykal," Josephine interjects sweetly. "In fact, that was just what
"What do you think, my lovely?" the prince asks. "I shall announce our engagement in front of everyone who matters in this pack and many others." He squeezes my hands tighter, bringing them more firmly against his chest. "And before the King, I will claim you as my mate.""That sounds…" Horrifying. "Wonderful," I say, forcing a smile onto my face. I look up into his eyes because I must. I must. "I can't wait.""Neither can I," he replies, the joy evident on his face. I hate the thought of breaking his heart, but this life he wants, this vision he has…It's not the life I want for me and mine. My baby would never be safe among the Lycans. I know that with my entire heart. His people will kill my pup before it can even take its first breath.And the prince will let them.He gives me one last rapturous look, then lets go of my hands. "You'll need a proper wardrobe to attend the royal banquet. I'll have the best seamstress in the city come to your quarters. I want you dressed in the heigh
Her words touch the truth of my soul in a way no one else has. I've always followed my heart. Every decision I've made was because its voice told me it was the right thing to do. And even though I know Josephine's daughter's story does not have a happy ending, I will follow this path as well.Because it's my destiny.She nods and I know she's reading my mind. "Yes, I was right. Two of a kind. And because I can see you already know, I will tell you the end. Her escape plan failed. She was caught–" The word seems to stick in her throat. "Punished.""Punished?" The word falls out of my mouth before I can stop it. I don't want to know. I already know.There are no more tears when she meets my eyes, only hard resolution. "I waited until the wind was right, then I let her ashes go. I let them blow toward the Werewolf lands." A sad, wistful smile graces her face. "And her beloved."I clasp her hand hard, both taking and giving comfort. I don't think I've ever been this afraid in my entire li
"Werewolf!" another guard calls, and the four who surround me move in closer.I look around, my head swiveling this way and that, but I already know there's no escape. I'm in the middle of a border checkpoint, surrounded by guards, not to mention all the Lycans who are just there on routine business. Every single one of them stopped what they were doing at the first cry of "Werewolf."If I make any sudden moves, I'm going to be attacked. And though I may survive the assault – and only because they'll want to question me – my child might not. I have to project calm. I have to stay still, even as my nerves jitter and jangle.Obedient. That is what I must be. For the sake of my baby.I hold up my trembling hands, a universal gesture of surrender."Come with us," says the guard who commanded me out of the truck."Where are we going?" I ask, but they ignore me.The squat, concrete building they manhandle me into fills me with fear, and when the door slams shut behind me, it feels like a de
I've never hated anyone the way I hate this cocky Lycan in front of me. I would love to wipe that smirk off his face, but I have no proof of anything I say."It was a gift," I tell him again, but this time more desperately. "I swear. I'm not an emissary, a spy, or a thief. I just want to cross the border." I can't help the tears that form in my eyes. "I just want to go home.""No, you're just an innocent wolfless wolf, crossing the border from the Lycan side, carrying the token of your King of Kings. A token so precious only a select few have the honor of owning them."I don't know what to say to that, so I say nothing at all. That is the truth, but he's never going to believe it.He smiles suddenly, his eyes lighting up with glee. Menace comes off him in waves. Try as I might, I cannot suppress my shudder."I've got to be honest," he says, his voice eerily cheerful. "Breaking you is going to be fun."I'm going to die here. The last thing I'm going to see in this life is this hateful
"Evander, what are you doing!?"I can't believe what I'm seeing. Evander's malevolent grin is so far out of character for him, it's hard to believe this is the same man I married.My gaze shifts to my father who is struggling to regain consciousness after Evander knocked him out. My ex could be harsh at times, but I've never before felt such…evil."You're coming with me," my blood-soaked former mate tells me. He crosses the room in two great strides, then takes hold of my arm."We can't go anywhere!" I protest. "You're injured, all that blood, and my dad… What did you do to my father?"My brain is having a hard time keeping up with all that I'm witnessing. None of this makes any sense. Five minutes ago, I believed Evander to be on the brink of death, mortally wounded in an ambush that took him and the pack by surprise.But now, he seems as fit as ever despite all the blood on his tattered clothes.His grip on me tightens painfully. I look into his eyes, but instead of finding the man
Consciousness comes to me slowly. I drift into awareness from a cozy pink cloud of good dreams.I smile, reveling in the simplicity of my deepest desires. Evander was with me in the dream and he was my husband again. I felt his warmth, his care, and there was no doubt in my mind that as long as he was watching over me all would be well.The best part of the dream was that I felt loved. I have not felt that in quite a while.Stupid, silly, wish fulfillment fantasies of the lovelorn. If I ever write my memoirs, that'll definitely be a chapter in the book.There is a knock on my door and I relinquish the last remnants of my dream with a sigh.Real life always intrudes.There's only one person who would be knocking on my door at this hour of the morning. I call for my father to enter while I'm still rubbing the sleep out of my eyes.He enters my room and I know right away something is wrong."Aurora, we need to go. There are skirmishes happening in the woods all around us. It's not safe f
There is a lot on my mind as I walk back to the camp. Aurora, her mother, the price of her gift. Porter's face when he talked about the possibility of losing his little girl to an early grave. The way her skin shone in the moonlight – smooth and silken.I touch a finger to my lips. I can still feel the warmth of her forehead there. My lips burn to taste her kiss again, but first–Something stops me in my tracks, the hair on the nape of my neck rising. I sniff the air, but can't detect anything untoward. But someone or something is closing in.Every instinct I have is screaming for me to fight, to tear the menace to shreds.I move as quickly as I dare through the woods and back to the campsite. I hear the battle before I see it, the snarls and clashes of steel. Gunpowder now reaches my nose along with singed wood and copper blood.Using every bit of stealth I possess, I sneak up on one of the attackers and break his neck from behind. He drops to the ground without a sound.In the moonl
I follow the scent, so light and refreshing. My heart longs to breathe it in more fully, to bury my face in her hair while I hold her in my arms.Aurora.A quiver goes through me at the thought of seeing her at the end of this trail.I should be tracking the scout, trying to pick up his path, but my feet refuse to heed my brain's command and instead take the route my heart craves most.The scent leads me to a clearing in the woods, then finally a cabin. It's a modest structure, built from logs and slate. It's well below the means I am used to living in, but it appears sturdy.A man exits the cabin and I instinctively draw back behind a tree. By the moonlight I can see he's an older wolf, past his prime, but still strong. His head tilts, and there in the lines of his profile, I see Aurora's features made masculine and bold."I know you're out there," Aurora's father calls. I hear him pump the barrel on a shotgun, then see it when he brings it to his shoulder to take aim into the night.
The battle rages all around me. I can taste my own sweat. Blood is on the wind."Evander! This is the spot we scouted earlier." One of my lieutenants points to a clearing on the top of a rise. "We need to set up our operation before we lose the moonlight."I give him a nod, granting him leave to begin preparations. He doesn't make it ten feet before we hear a yelp from below. Someone got caught in a trap.I hope it was one of the Moonvalley pack.I breathe in the night, taking the measure of the woods. The forest is dark, but not entirely unfamiliar to me. The Amber Sky pack – Aurora's familial pack – has territory not many miles from where I'm standing.I can only hope that scant distance is enough to keep her safe.My warriors are ready to fine tune our plan of attack when I enter the clearing. I look at each of their faces before I speak, happy to find resolution in every single one."You know the plan," I tell them brusquely. "In the hour before dawn, we bypass the forest and atta
I pull open the cabin's front door and find Prince Mykal standing there."Hello, Aurora," he says, smiling so brightly his beauty is nearly blinding."I've only been gone three days!" I blurt out, too surprised to see him to self-edit. "Did you miss me that much?""I did," he replies charmingly.I'm not sure if he's joking or not."Who's there?" my father calls out from behind me, and I realize I've kept the prince standing outside this whole time."Come, in, Mykal," I say, stepping aside to allow him to enter.My father gabs at the royal Lycan now standing in his living room."Dad, I'd like you to meet Prince Mykal Boreal."My dad's jaw drops open and he fumbles to make some sort of bow. "Hello, um, Your Highness?""Please, sir," Mykal says affably. "There's no need for formalities. Call me Mykal.""What brings you here, Mykal?" I jump in, saving my father from his own awkwardness. "You've come a long way to see us.""I'll confess," the prince says, reaching out to take my hand. "I w
"What are you saying?!" I am beyond shocked. I'm so appalled, I'm sick to my stomach. "How could you even suggest such a thing?""I don't do it lightly," my father replies wearily. "But giving up that child might be the best thing for you.""No." I can't believe that. I won't."This child is everything to me. I will never abandon my baby.""Even though its father left you? Even knowing it will carry Lycan in its veins and never truly be accepted among Werewolf kind?""Even so." I will not argue about this with him. "I'm not going to change my mind.""Your mother was headstrong too," he says. He looks like he has the weight of the world on his shoulders."What are you not telling me, Dad?" I'm too tired to beg, too worn down from this life. "The time for secrets is over.""You have grown, Aurora," my father says. "I'm proud of you."I flush under his praise even though I don't want to. I feel like a little girl again.It's not a bad feeling at all."While your mother and I were on the
It took longer than I would have liked, but eventually, I set out for Werewolf lands, and my father's cabin beyond. The journey was long, but mostly boring, thank the gods. There were no problems at the border crossings.I stand now on the crest opposite the property, gazing upon the house from the outside. It's been years since I've been back. I approach the house cautiously, the memories flooding back with every step I take. The back porch where we all used to sit and watch the sunset. The giant boulder on the north side of the property – I used to climb to the top and pretend I was a princess trapped in a tower, waiting for my hero to come.As I walk around to the front door, I spot a familiar figure walking up the path.He stops in tracks when he sees me, both of us stuck dumb by the sight of the other.I always thought of my father as a mountain of man, and he is robust and powerful, but I see gray at his temples that was not here before, wrinkles at the corners of his eyes.My
Two guards haul me to my feet, my clothes in tatters, my back a bloody mess. My whole body wants to sway, then topple over, maybe even curl up in a ball on the ground.But just like I wouldn't give the King of Kings the satisfaction of my screams, I refuse to fall down now."You're so funny, Evander," King Tozen says, looking me over. "Anything for your cause, huh? I won't deny that you've impressed me. For that alone, I'm willing to entertain your plea."There was no 'plea.' I didn't beg him. But I'm in no position to argue the point right now. He can use whatever words he wants as long as he gives me what I need."Return to the throne room in an hour's time," the king commands. "Clean yourself up. You're in no state to present yourself to royalty."And who's fault is that? I wonder, even as I keep my mouth firmly shut.Having said all that he intended to say to me at the moment, King Tozen glides out the room, the train of his royal cloak once again following along behind him."Come