ANSEL POV “I think I should get going,” Maggie said from behind Karin, but Ansel hardly heard her. He continued to look from the ring to Karin. Quickly moving past them, Maggie all but sprinted to get out of the line of fire. Karin backed into the villa and Ansel followed her, shutting the door behind him. “I see the good doctor has proposed,” he said.The unhinged look on his face had returned. “Yes, he did,” she said cautiously.“So he proposed knowing that you’re my surrogate?”“Yes.”“Just making sure that I have the story correct before I kill him.”“Ansel, you can’t kill him.”“Yes I can,” he said lethally. “I suggest you learn that rather quickly. I may have remained calm earlier today, but make no mistake, I will slaughter anyone who touches you.”Karin’s bottom lip quivered. “Please, I’m begging you not to kill him. If you just let me fin—”Ansel grabbed her in his arms. “Stop talking,” he demanded. Wrapping his hands in her hair, he craned her head back, making her l
KARIN POV “You look pretty, mommy,” Jemma says as she beams up at me. She tugs at my tutu. “Can I dance, too?” “Of course you can,” I say, returning her smile. She jumps up and down, making the large yellow bow in her hair wiggle. “Yay! I’m going to be a famous ballerina like you!” I find myself elated at the idea of her considering me someone she could look up to. I’m dreaming. I realize, but it doesn’t matter. If anything, I’d been secretly hoping that I would dream of her again. I watch as she runs across the massive ballroom to turn on the music. The sweet melody emitted from the speaker fills the air with music that somehow brings a familiar routine to my mind. Jemma does a twirl and falls on her bottom, causing a fit of giggles. “Oops,” she says, still laughing. “I got dizzy.” I walked over and helped her stand. “That’s alright. Just remember to find a focal point that way when you spin, you won’t get dizzy.” I do a spin that ends
Ansel remained silent, and Aron sighed. “Ansel, again, we jest a lot, but these are the things that are important factors in your sessions. I can only help if I know even the things that make you uncomfortable. I’ve seen you grow so much over the years, and I hope to see that continue.” “You’re right,” he said, sighing. “Yes, to your question. I’m still working through that part at the moment, that’s all.” “Why?” “Because it was unexpected. Honestly, the entire thing was. We got into a bit of an argument and next thing you know we were in bed. I only planned to tease her, but there was something about the way she looked at me that made it impossible to pull away.” “How did she look at you?” “With love,” he replied. “I could see it in her eyes. At first I thought I was imagining it, but the longer she looked at me, the more it seemed to grow. Next thing you know, one incident turned into the entire night.” “…Ansel
KARIN POV Climbing the steps to the manor two by two, I knock on the door. “Hello, Lady Karin,” the butler greeted me warmly. I tried to contain my temper, knowing it was not directed at him. “Hello. Is Ansel in?” The butler raises his eyebrow but doesn’t address my informality. There is a sly smirk on his face. At this point I may as well tattoo we had sex on my forehead. “Sir Ansel just returned. I believe he’s in his office,” he says. “Of course he is,” I reply, and the butler moves to the side to let me in. “Thank you.” “You’re very welcome.” I stalked past him and made my way to Ansel’s office. Barging in, I don’t let him get a word out. “Ansel, I understand that I’m your surrogate and I respect the ins and outs of our deal, but if you think you’re going to sleep with me and then bolt, you have another thing coming!” From the corner of his office, I hear someone clearing th
ANSEL POV“Nice of you and your men to join us, Ansel,” King David said with a huff. “At your convenience, nonetheless.”“Apologies, father, there was a pressing issue that I needed to handle.”King David rolled his eyes. “Let me guess. This pressing issue had something to do with Karin.”“Yes, but she remedied it as well, so all is forgiven.” Ansel heard muffled laughter from his men, and he covered his mouth to hide his own.“I would have never guessed you would become one of those men who lets a woman impede him conducting business,” Edwin said. “Perhaps you should rethink accepting the role of Alpha if you’re so distracted.”“You somehow always find yourself in affairs that don’t belong to you, don’t you Edwin?” Ansel replied. Edwin raised his hands. “No need to get defensive. I’m only pointing out the difference between you and I. Anyone who has met me knows that when something comes up, I handle it with speed and ensure things are done to my satisfaction.” “So I’v
“I can’t tell you,” I say, unable to hold in my tears. Maggie nodded. “Yes, you can. I may not understand, but I can try.” “No, I really can’t, Mags.” “How are things going?” Ansel asked from the doorway, making us jump. Maggie dropped my hands, and I tried to wipe my face without him seeing, but it didn’t work. He enters my room and grabs my shoulders. “Hey, what’s the matter?” “I miss my father is all.” It may not have been the reason for my current tears, but it also wasn’t a lie. After our last visit, my father banned me from coming back. It hurt, especially because I know deep in my heart that something is wrong. Ansel kisses my forehead to comfort me. I smile softly at him. “Sorry for worrying you.” “Don’t apologize. I understand how much he means to you.” He rubs my cheek with his thumb. “How about we go for that walk now?” “You’re not too busy?” He shakes his head. “I can make time. besides I realize you’ve been here for a while
ANSEL POV Ansel and Karin enter the manor and find Henry and Maggie waiting for them. “Where’s the fire?” Ansel asked sarcastically, looking around. Seeing Karin’s disheveled clothes, Henry rubbed the back of his neck. “Sorry boss. If it wasn’t so important, I would have waited until you were no longer occupied.” “Mhm,” Ansel replied, enjoying the red forming on Karin’s cheeks. “Don’t worry about it. We’re here now. What’s so urgent?” Henry lowered his voice. “I was on my way to the manor and happened to have overheard something that I’m sure I wasn’t supposed to.” “From whom?” &
KARIN POV “It’s all frivolous in my opinion. There are so many other things I could do with my time…” I say, mocking Ansel. “Like he’s that damn busy. I have stuff going on too. Tomorrow I have two books on the history of fire that I promised myself I would finish.” Maggie smirked as we worked together to fold Ansel’s clothes for his travels. “Of course, shame on him for not seeing the dangers of unfinished books over battling bearmen.” “You know sarcasm is said to be the lowest form of wit,” I say, turning up my nose.She nods. “I’ll make sure to remember that the next time we converse. Instead, how about we discuss the pyromania that swept the land in the 1950s?”“What really?! I haven’t gotten to that pa
#Ansel’s Epilogue: A New Tomorrow Ansel and Karin waited together on the wings of the stage, listening to the cheers and booming voice over the microphone. Edwin had been removed from the election ballot. The next in-line for the throne, a cousin, replaced him. Ansel won in a landslide. Ansel looked at Karin. She was leaning against her crutches. Her raven hair fell down over her shoulders. Her brown eyes were warm and flecked with gold. “Did I ever tell you,” he said, “How proud I am of you?” A blush came over her cheeks. She raised her eyebrow. “What for?” “You llean into your confidence more and more everyday,” he said. “I always knew you were feisty as shit, but until the day of the attack, when I really saw you in action, I didn’t fully recognize just how courageous and strong you are.” Karin looked down at her feet, hiding a smile. “I was always scared of Ada’s power,” she said. She looked back up at Ansel. “I held her back constantly, but I think I’ve finally learned to
“Do not leave,” Ansel whispers. “Got it?” His voice is a command. I shake my head. Ansel opens his mouth to argue when we hear a cry. The hair stands up on the back of my neck and my stomach lurches. It’s Charles. Without another second, he is out of the room. Ada’s pacing, urging me to go. She pushes against me with such a force, I can’t ignore it. Quietly as I can, I slip out the door and begin to slink down the stairs. As I do, I pick up on the scents of multiple Weres. The alarm bells are ringing, but Ada keeps edging me closer. I hear Ansel’s voice as I continue creeping down the stairway. “Go on,” he shouts. “Give me the ‘bad guy’ exposition, Edwin.” As I tiptoe around the corner, I see Charles, lying still on the ground. Where I would have panicked, Ada is an intense calm. Ansel’s eyes dart over, likely picking up my scent. We make eye contact before he whips his eyes back, so as not to give me away. Then, he mindlinks with me. “Go upstairs.” I don’t argue back. Ho
Ansel Ansel’s eyes flew open and chaos ensued. Filled with adrenaline, he sprang up in the bed, grabbing a masked stranger by the neck. “Lorazepam!” Ansel could not place where he was or what was happening. The lights were blinding and painful. Blue gloves, blue masks, and eyes of strangers encroached him, swirled over him and around him. He felt overwhelmed and attacked. Hands pried Ansel’s hand from the neck. A dozen arms held Ansel back from flinging himself off the bed or doing further damage. Ansel felt something cold in his arm and it spread through his body. A voice chuckled. “I think the atro-corticoid worked a little too well.” Ansel’s fight instinct abated. His body relaxed. The glaring light dissipated and his eyes adjusted. He registered for the first time where he was. A hospital room, with whirs and beeps, white tile floor, the sound of footsteps outside in the hall, and the smell of sickness, chemical cleaners, and grief in the air. Ansel was surrounded by a conce
KarinThe dream flickers away, like a candle blown out. For a moment, I’m filled with terror, afraid that I’ve lost Ansel, but I feel his presence even if I can’t see or hear him. Still, the control and the energy I’m trying to hold on to is quickly fading. It’s twilight. I’m standing outside the sanitorium. I fight it, but I feel myself slipping into a nightmare redux.“My son tells me good things about you.” Sir David looks nothing like Ansel. His hair is gray, his body is imposingly muscular, and his face is weathered and scarred from fights, but it’s the menacing look in his eyes and the hardened expression on his face that’s the real difference.For once, Ada and are in complete agreement on something - we don’t like him. Sir David’s eyeing me. I pull my hair around, making sure to hide Ansel’s bite mark on my neck. I nod my head. “He’s very serious about you,” he says. “Did you know?”I hesitate. A swallow chirps nearby. There’s no one in sight and he scares me. Ada jumps i
Karin“Tick tick tick…” The jet of a sprinkler shoots water across the green lawn, painting a rainbow in the shimmer of water droplets against the morning sun. Henry wakes up to the sound of his wife crying against the closed bathroom door. “Mags?” Silence. Apathy. Untouched plates of food.Henry sits on the porch, wearing a faded Hawaiian shirt with a surfboard print. Maggie’s in a chair across from him, almost unrecognizable with greasy, unwashed hair and wrinkled clothes. He’s made her iced tea. “With a dash of mint,” he says, his tone gentle. Maggie stares ahead. There’s a dead look to her eyes.Leaves crunching. Greased palm. Black car. Maggie’s hollow eyes torment him. He misses when her eyes were alive, when they sparkled with joy, and even when they sizzled in anger at whatever dumb things he did. It’s her eyes that flicker in his mind when he’s approached. ‘I can be a rat,’ he thinks. He says “yes,” without asking the obvious: “Why me?” Later, he will ask himself
The sea is outside. We’re in the bedroom of a small cottage. The door’s open and I can see his mom’s old piano is tucked into the corner of the living room. My ballet shoes sit near the bench.He looks beautiful in the dim light.Everything about Ansel is strong - from the tenor of his voice, his height and broad shoulders, to the muscular lines of his body and the chiseled features of his face.It’s all there - the power of him, the hard lines I resented because he had changed, but his defenses are stripped away, revealing the totality of him and the gentle warmth inside.We’re shoulder-to-shoulder. He tilts his head over to me and smiles, and I like the way his eyes crinkle when he does. I let my head fall against his shoulder. He hums in my ear and loops his index finger around mine.“Is that a new song?”“Just a bit of a melody that popped in,” he says, shr
I stay frozen in my spot. The dream version of Ansel sweeps back a flyaway strand of hair from Zara’s face. My stomach knots itself into a pretzel when she leans in to kiss him. His arms are around her. Her hand is in his hair.My Ansel is as awkward as I’ve ever seen him. He’s looking down, and seems to be holding his breath.Dream Ansel puts on the brakes, pulling back.“What’s wrong,” Zara asks. “Did I… do something?”“No.” He looks frustrated and runs his hands through his hair. “Not at all.” He clears his throat. “I think we need to stay focused,” he says, standing, “On the task at hand.”“That was the extent of it, mostly,” Ansel says next to me, wearing a guilty expression. “This was as close as it got to a rebound.”“I don’t have room to talk,” I say, thinking ashamedly about kissing Ethan. “And, we were broken up.”I blush. “We are broken
“Really?” My heart kicks up a notch. “Why… Why do you want to take me on a date?”“Because you wanted me to,” he says. “Remember?”There’s a lump in my throat as we walk down the sidewalk together.We stop at a cafe. He holds the door for me. I pause just inside, marveling, wide-eyed at the very 1970’s Americana-style diner.I’m in a fringed, suede miniskirt and blouse. Ansel seems to appreciate the skirt. He raises his eyebrows and smiles.He’s wearing an orange, short-sleeve shirt and mustard-colored pants with flared legs.“Think I can pull this off?” He looks down at his clothes.I think he could pull off a flour-sack, but I’m not going to tell him that.We sit down at a table. The booth is vinyl green and the table is
“Final boarding call for Pioneer-Blue, flight 105.”Shit.The gate check-in counter is in sight. I dash to it like I’m in an Olympic relay, ticket in hand. With the other hand, I clutch the duffel bag slung over my shoulder to keep it from clobbering me as I run.I weave my way around other passengers, milling about during their layovers or filing to their own gates, and I race past emergency workers trying to revive Ethan. He’s lying on the floor of the airport, muddied and limp.Ahead, and just to my left, a little boy is watching. He looks small and scared. There are grass stains on his jeans. A bike is laying on the ground next to him.“Last call for flight 105.”“I’m here,” I say, shoving the ticket in front of the worker.She radios to the flight crew and sends me down the jetway