Charles stared directly at me, pretty much ignoring the bodyguards. “You were one of the few girls at school that I wasn’t positive about. It’s one thing when you’re popular and in the middle of everybody’s attention to ask a girl out and know for sure that she’s going to say yes. But I didn’t think I could swallow the teasing that my friends would have given me if I asked someone…”“Someone scentless and without a family like me,” I supplied.Charles nodded sheepishly. “Yes. If I asked someone like you out and you’d said no, my friends would never have let me live it down. The teasing would have been merciless, seeing as how I’m an alpha and everything. There were only a couple of girls at school who were so popular that I might not have had a chance with them. But you…”He shrugged and said, “I couldn’t have been sure that you would have said yes, and so I couldn’t take the risk. Even back then, you never caved into peer pressure.”Shot me an apologetic gaze. “I’m sorry for that now.
Grabbing my pants, I stomped back into the bedroom so he’d know I didn’t like being a prop without warning. Charles followed along, snatching me around the waist and kissing the back of my neck.“Sorry,” He murmured. “The plan to test if they were listening in was kind of an impulse.”He rubbed himself along my mostly naked body and then stopped with a sigh. “You were right about being tired. As much as I would love to have additional impulses…” He pressed his hips to mine, soft and warm. “As you can see, it looks like I need a good night’s sleep to recuperate.”“There’s no shame in that,” I said. “Because I certainly don’t have the energy for more sex tonight. So even if you were ready to go… Well, I probably wouldn’t pass,” I admitted. “But I would make you let me sleep in.”“I’m fully planning on doing that anyway,” Charles said, taking my hand and pulling me into the bedroom with him.He guided me to the bed, took off my shirt, tossed his own clothes on the floor, and snuggled us b
After that fantastic breakfast, Charles kicked Theo and David out. We had agreed to meet them at 11:30 to go out to lunch on our way to the governor’s office. Once the door between our apartments was shut, Charles gave a playful growl and pounced on me, pulling me close. “Let’s see how much of the list we can get through in the next hour and a half. That should give us just enough time to shower and get dressed before we leave for lunch.” “Since when has sex become a challenge?” I asked. Charles laughed. “You were never a teenage boy. It’s always been a challenge.” “I resent that,” I said. He laughed and pulled me next to him, slowly unbuttoning the top two buttons of my dress. “It’s not as bad as it sounds,” he reassured me. “See, it starts as a challenge trying to get a girl to pay attention to you. Then, trying to get a girl to go on a date with you. And trying to get a girl to let you touch something, or trying to get a girl to let you kiss her.” He kissed all the way down my
Such promptness was refreshing. I had expected to be left waiting for like an hour, or at least long enough for us to know who was in charge. Before we’d even gotten out of earshot of the front desk, the secretary greeted somebody else. “Good afternoon, Minister Grey. Yes, yes, they’ve arrived, and they’re just there down the hall.” Back in the lobby, I could see a man in his early middle age. He strode up the hall toward us, his gaze taking in the four of us. He had a very important aire to him, and we all stepped off to the side to let him pass. So this was the palace administrator Theo and David mentioned. I braced myself for his disdain, but he stopped at the door to conference room two and held it open for us. “You must be Ms. Laurentia and Mr. Rafe. It’s nice to meet you. I’m the palace administrator, Dale Grey. I’ll be sitting in on this meeting if you don’t mind.” “Not at all,” Charles replied. He took the offer of the open door and entered the conference room, and
Charles’ glare turned into an open-mouthed gape. “I just can’t believe it,” he muttered. “The alphas constantly work with one another as we preside over pack structure within our cities. I can’t believe that they would allow their cities to fall into that state.”“You honestly think that you know every single one of the alphas well enough to know that they couldn’t possibly have any involvement at all?”Governor Allen gave Charles a very intent eye-to-eye look.Charles sat back in his chair, rubbing his chin. And I could tell by the expression on his face that there were alphas he wouldn’t vouch for. Whether he didn’t like them or didn’t know them, I couldn’t tell. But it was obvious that he wouldn’t give his word for everyone’s behavior.Minister Grey gave a slight nod. “That’s what we thought. That’s why we’re bringing you, an alpha, on board the task force within the governor’s office. Who better to help us get to the bottom of this? It will be easier for an alpha to investigate th
Charles gave me an irritated look. “You can’t possibly be okay with this?”“No. I’m not,” I said. I leaned in placing myself directly under his nose. At the same time, I drew a deep breath of his vetiver to steady myself. A moment later he did the same.When his body relaxed, I continued.“What they’re telling us makes sense, though, and no one here seems to be acting with any sort of spite. It seems like they’re doing what they can. At least, right now, I think the best thing that we can do is go along with what they’ve said. It’s not like they’re leaving us uncomfortable.”“That’s right. Aside from the fact that I don’t have access to my money, or my business, or you with your friends or your contacts, or even something as simple as our phones,” Charles countered.“We should be patient,” I suggested. “If this is just one more trick to get us to submit to them, we won’t find out any faster by throwing around accusations than if we ride it out. In fact, they’re more likely to slip up a
Bruce Conroy’s expression shifted to one of all business. “So, how much did the administrator explain to you?” he asked. “I don’t want to double up on what you’ve already been told. That’s boring for everybody.”“I haven’t been told much,” I replied, “except that I would be partnering with somebody for the first couple of stories.”“That’s exactly how it’s going to go,” my new editor said. “I’m going to put you with one of our top writers. And you’ll be doing three stories where you co-write with her. When you finish those three, you’ll have a good idea of how the Palace Press runs. And then you’ll be free to pitch ideas at the next available morning meeting.”“What do you mean how it’s run? Don’t we just write once you accept a pitch?”“Not here at the Palace Press,” Bruce Conroy explained. “Things run a little bit differently here than at a general media company. Because we represent the palace, everything goes through a panel for approval before we release it. After all, every stor
The moment we were alone, Wendy started gushing words faster than I could keep up like we’ve known each other all our lives.“Oh my gosh, I am so glad to meet you, Ms. Laurentia. My name is Wendy Lowell. You can call me Wendy. Do you mind if I call you Elena?”I managed to shake my head.“Fantastic. Welcome to the Palace Press. I suppose everyone has said the same thing, but I guess it doesn’t get tiring to hear how much everyone is looking forward to working with you.”She prattled on for a few moments about looking up my portfolio and how impressed she was with my work.All the while, my brain kept turning over, trying to keep up with her. After a minute, she took a deep breath and stared at me expectedly. It was then that it registered she had asked me a question.“I’m sorry, what was that again?” I asked. “I’m just feeling kind of overwhelmed. And it went right by me, and it went right by me.”“That’s okay,” she said, waving a hand as if it didn’t matter. “So I picked an assignmen
For one moment after I arrived in the garden, the sun blinded me, and then my eyes cleared. Before me spread an amazing event: the wedding of our country's princess.It still hadn't fully sunken that I was that princess.The guests sat in orderly rows of brilliantly white chairs festooned in lovely shades of blue and lavender. I had chosen them because they most reminded me of the moon, and I wanted to honor the goddess at this event, as well. Without her, I would not only not have been at this wedding, but I wouldn't have been alive. She had done so much for me. The least I could do was throw a little recognition her way.I clutched the bouquet in my hand, and Theo hooked his arm through my elbow. “Are you ready?” he asked.“I'm ready.”We took a step toward the altar on the red carpet spread out in front of me, and the music swelled. The quartet played a beautiful melody full of promise and love.I didn't see the people looking at me, specifically, only that all eyes were on me. My
I signed and kept my head tipped back, inviting him to kiss my neck. Charles obliged, working himself inside me with the magic he always seemed to conjure up, driving my excitement higher. My heels fumbled for a place to rest, and finally, I settled for wrapping my legs around him, gripping his hips with my thighs and locking us together.Charles groaned and pulled us as tightly together as possible. And I wouldn't let him go. This left his movements small but the pleasure intense.His rubbing quickly brought me to orgasm, and I tried not to make too much noise and call attention to what we were doing. I really didn't want to be held in contempt for defiling the judge's bench or some such.A moment later, Charles got his release. He stepped back and tided himself, allowing me to do the same.“Now,” he asked with a grin, “Are you ready to go outside and face your adoring public, my princess?”“As long as you're by my side, I can face anything,” I agreed, hopping off the judge's bench.
“Of course,” Queen Yarrow said, “details like training successors aren't left to chance. The king and I already had arrangements made for a royal tutor, assuming that I would get pregnant one day. I'll connect you both with him. Hopefully, you can get started right away.”“So?” I asked the judge. How exactly does this work? What do you mean? She asked, looking quizzically at me. “I mean, what do I do with myself? Where do I go from here? When does all of this happen now?”She said, “The king will be escorted out of Orlune. They're probably already helping him pack. From there, he'll be on the next flight off the vampire kingdom. You get to move straight into the castle if you wish. It's essentially your house now.”“There's no, there's no legal paperwork or anything like that?” I babbled. “It just seems so abrupt.”The judge grinned. “I'll have all of that taken care of taken care of for you. So you don't have to worry about it, your majesty.”“Come, my dear,” Queen Yarrow said, putti
By now, the king’s lawyer had a hand on his shoulder, whispering furiously in his ear. The king gripped the arms of his chair so hard his knuckles were white. And if he could have turned people to stone with a look like a gorgon, the judge and I would already be statues.Still, the judge spoke as if unafraid. “The former king will serve out his sentence off the shifter continent, in the vampire countries,” she announced.A murmur went up from everyone in the gallery at that, but the judge held up her hands. “I chose that location specifically. It has been a standing tradition for generations upon generations that vampires and werewolves do not get involved in one another's politics.”“I would imagine he will find it very difficult to sway anyone into doing his dirty work for him in a country that holds itself neutral. Thereby providing anyone in Orlune that the king feels has wronged him in the safest position that I am able to leave them in.”Further murmurs rose up from the crowd, a
I hadn't even caught my breath when Charles scooped me up in the hardest hug I'd ever gotten from him. It was so hard that it almost drove the remaining air from my lungs.The rest of that morning flew by as Charles and Gwen helped me to avoid questions I couldn't answer from the press while Theo, David, and the other four guards pushed a path through the paparazzi so we could navigate our way back to the safehouse.We decided it was better to stay there than go back to our apartment, yet, at least until we made sure that any of the king's remaining supporters were under control.Gwen wore a mysterious smile on her face for the rest of that night and into the following morning. But I couldn't get her to confess to what she was up to. We'd barely finished breakfast when someone knocked on the door.Gwen hurried to answer it and admitted two people who took my breath away. One of them was Cathy!Since I didn't know the other, I ran straight to Cathy, hugging her as tightly as I could. T
It took me a long time to fall asleep that night, plagued both by worry and growing apprehension over how the next day was going to play out. It could end up being the longest, most brutal day of my life, if I had to spend it waiting and wondering what the jury was going to decide.Worse, what if they took weeks? Months? I’d go crazy before I found myself free from this mess.When we woke in the morning, Charles distracted me by teasing me in every possible way before bringing me to yet another overwhelmingly intense orgasm. I would never have thought that pleasure and pain could be such close neighbors, but he managed. However Charles and I were connecting in bed right now, it was certainly coming very close to more than I could handle.Theo must have told the chef what my favorite foods were because when Charles and I left the bedroom, breakfast was waiting for us. And it was one of my favorites. Belgian waffles with lots of fresh strawberries and whipped cream.I sat down and ate r
I kissed Charles, and he pulled back, eyeing me. “Should we be careful or anything?” he asked. “You know, for the baby.”I shrugged. “It's not like I've been pregnant before, but I would guess not. The doctor didn't say anything about that.”“And you haven't even searched things like that online yet?”I shook my head. “How could I? I've been so busy, not to mention the fact that I'm trying to keep certain people from finding out.”“Then we'll go slow and be careful,” he said.His kisses came soft and gentle, and his caresses all over my body were the same. Keeping secrets from him had been a bad idea. Now that they were out in the open, just these small touches made the connection between us feel so much more real as if I had closed some invisible distance between the two of us.This drove me to smash our lips together, desperately seeking the rest of the connection that I hadn't even realized I'd been missing.He chuckled and pushed me back. “What happened to taking it easy?” he teas
All of a sudden, a whisper of a breeze rippled through the courtroom and around my head, whispering reassurance in my ear. This breeze wrapped itself around me and then swirled out into the courtroom, where it produced an answering wind of murmuring whispers. Suddenly, everyone was shaking their heads, turning toward one another. Members of the jury shook their heads as if trying to clear them.Again, I heard a whisper in my ear, and I recognized the voice of the moon goddess. “Don't fear,” was all she said. And then her presence was gone. But the entire courtroom, everybody in the gallery, the jury, the judge, the lawyers, and even the king had all relaxed.The judge brought her gavel down and dismissed the jury to go deliberate. But this time, I wasn't frightened. The goddess had never steered me wrong yet. And she told me not to fear, that I needed to trust her and the fate surrounding her and me.I scurried out of the witness stand and back to my spot beside Mr. Wilcox. “What was
When I exited the bathroom, the importance of the day hit me in full measure. Today I was going to court. What and God's name was I supposed to wear?Someone knocked on the door, and I wrapped my towel tighter. “In a few minutes,” I called.“Elena?” I recognized Gwen's voice. “I brought you a suit for today. May I come in?”“Yes,” I said.She opened the door and entered the bedroom.“I'm just fresh out of the shower.” I bit my lip, feeling foolish. As if she couldn't gather that by my wet hair. But I seem to need something to fill the silence.She held up a garment bag. “You'll want to look your best today,” she said.I let Gwen dress me, taking comfort in the fact that she knew her way around important functions as a luna. When she finished, she grabbed my face and gave my forehead a kiss.“Do exactly what the lawyers, Charles, and I tell you to,” she said. “I don't want you to leave my son a widower before he's even officially married.”I patted her hands, which still rested on my c