Seeing that I meant to start working, Wendy stood. “The revisions will need to go through the panel once more, so you have an hour to get it done. We’ll need to submit it and get it back, then have time to do any edits before the deadline at the end of the business day.”I nodded. “I’ll get on that right away.”“I’m going to go talk to the photographers who were there with us yesterday. And we’re going to select the photographs that go along with the story. When you finish up, I’ll be in the photography department if you’d like to come and join us and see how that process goes.”“I might just do that,” I said.I waited until she was gone and then slumped in my seat, letting out a huge sigh. How was I ever going to help Charles now? If the palace had really decided, like he seemed to think, that the alphas were already guilty and the press wasn’t interested in hearing a dissenting viewpoint, then how was I supposed to get the truth out there?If we found out that government officials w
Theo was waiting right outside the door of the photography department, involved in something on his phone but not interrupting my day in any way. When Wendy and I left, Theo followed behind us at a respectful distance.Wendy flashed a glance over her shoulder and crooked a finger at him. “Why don’t you come up here, sweetheart? You can walk with us.”She purred the words, and I rolled my eyes. This was a married woman with children. Why was she drooling over him like I had candies in my purse or something?He got a hangdog look on his face and hurried up to walk with us, but he kept me between himself and Wendy. She kept her gaze locked on him so that I had to watch where we were going and kind of directed her with my shoulder to stop her from stepping on my feet.This continued all the way out the doors of the main building and onto the street. Something about the fresh air seemed to startle her out of her lust, and she looked around.“There’s a great little cafe just up the street w
“Are you going to work on redecorating your apartment?” Wendy asked after I told her how Theo and David had set it up for us.“I don’t know. I’m honestly so confused by everything that’s gone on that I haven’t thought about it. I think you got the idea before, but no one specifically told us how long Charles and I were going to be here.”I rubbed my face tiredly. “Initially, we thought our stay was going to be brief, so there didn’t seem to be any need to redecorate. And now that I know that it’s probably not the case, my head is just swimming while I’m trying to keep up with everything.”She leaned closer and spoke softly, and I understood why the moment the question was out of her mouth because it wasn’t totally appropriate material for eating out in a restaurant. “What’s it like having an alpha in bed? Is he all dominating and sexy? Does he take what he wants, or does he spend time on you, too?”She fanned herself with her hand. “I just can’t stop imagining it must be like being wi
The doorbell rang just as Charles and I were finishing our meal. He answered and let in a young woman who looked barely out of her teens.“Um, hi,” she murmured, fiddling with her purse. “I-is Theo here?”“Ah, you must be Theo’s girlfriend.” Charles opened the door wider, and she entered, looking nervous.When she passed him, she scooted wide to give him room, but I saw her nostrils flare as she took in his scent. She might be nervous around an alpha, but she liked what she smelled.A momentary flare of jealousy ripped through me, but Charles shut the door and returned to my side, slipping an arm around me. He was visually telling her he was taken by me. I relaxed into his side.“That’s his door,” Charles said, pointing at the interior door to the guards’ apartment.“Oh. Uh. Thanks.” She smiled at each of us shyly. “I’m Violet. Nice to meet you. And, um, sorry to disturb you.”She knocked on the door and stood waiting, still clearly nervous. In most circumstances, I might have tried t
Charles chuckled and patted my backside. “That it was. You should go clean up. I’ll let you shower first.”“Thanks,” I muttered.I climbed off the bed and hurried into the shower, trying not to leave any of the mess behind me as I did. My body still trembled with desire. So I waited until the hot water was on and the sounds of the shower would mask any indiscretions, and then I put my hand between my legs and finished the job.Being that I was so turned on, there was no way I would spend the rest of the evening comfortably in bed with Charles if I was still that hot and bothered. And the last thing I wanted to do was invite him to go again.I seriously had to get my shit together and figure out what I wanted from family planning. Or, at the very least, he and I needed to have some sort of conversation about contraception.That got me thinking. I wonder if we had been enrolled in any sort of health plan with our jobs at the government? If I was, I could go and get myself on the pill.B
We headed back down through the building to the parking garage, and Ed loaded us into a small blue car. Since I didn’t know him at all, I let Wendy sit up front with him and took the back with Theo. I kind of liked riding along with everybody on these jobs because it gave me a chance to see all the different areas in Packhaven.Today, we went in the opposite direction to what we had for the municipal park opening. And within fifteen minutes, we were leaving the city behind us. The steel and glass of Packhaven’s downtown dropped away, and we entered well-kept, green suburban neighborhoods. Intermixed with these were small mom-and-pop shops: cafes, boutiques, hardware stores, and all of the other essential places that made living in the suburbs comfortable.The homes were upscale, and the grounds were meticulously manicured. I could tell just by driving through them that there was definite truth to the story about Southhaven. We went through these for quite a while, and I didn’t see a s
Ed frowned. “But, I won’t get pictures of whatever Elena sees, just in case I need them.”“It’s definitely more scenic to the North,” Mr. Wladron said. “If you’re looking for pictures and are only going one direction, north is the direction to go.”Mr. Dale nodded in agreement. “I can’t let you take pictures inside the mechanical room, anyway. You’re welcome to take pictures of any of the test results I take down there. But for security reasons, we can’t have photography inside the pump houses.”“I guess that makes sense,” I said. I looked at Ed. “Do you have a spare camera? Theo can carry it, and one of us can take pictures of all of the tests and maybe the exterior of the building or anything else Mr. Dale says we can take pictures of.”Ed hesitated.I gave him my most charming smile. “I promise I know what I’m doing. I’ve been reporting for quite a while. This isn’t something I’m likely to screw up. I’ll do it all myself if it makes you nervous to let Theo have the camera.”Ed let
“I hadn’t even thought about that. I hadn’t looked up any of my old work. Everybody in the Palace Press said that they had researched my work. I just assumed it was public.”He nodded. “I thought as much. They would research it. But that doesn’t mean that it’s available to the public.” Mr. Dale looked around furtively. “I know I can trust you, but I don’t know who else I can trust, And that’s why I had to send your bodyguard off.”“You should know I’ve read your work, and I’m one of only a few in Packhaven. I just happen to have relatives who live elsewhere in Orlune, and I had them send me a paper copy in the regular mail. They monitor email and such here, but I could get away with it that way.”He made a face. “I wouldn’t have wanted to get my family in trouble sending it in a way that might be intercepted. I’ve even made sure there’s no paper trail. I’ve already shredded the envelope and the article. But after reading it, I knew you were the person that I needed to talk to.”“Expla
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