My head pounded, and my stomach churned. These unpleasant sensations pushed a groan from my lips.“What on the goddess’ green earth had just happened?” I groaned.I felt like I’d been bashed in the head. That thought made me jerk upright so fast that my stomach rolled. I patted around the back of my head, running my fingers through my hair, looking for a place where maybe I had been hit over the head. I had enough enemies out there that an attack wasn’t out of the realm of possibility.A blurry room came into focus as I checked myself over. There was so
Theo wrinkled his nose. “I don’t think that’s the case,” he said slowly, taking his time over the words.“How can you be so sure?” I asked.“Because if it really is a plot to discredit you, then what good does it do to leave us in a room naked together where no one can see? Whatever walk of shame we have to take to get out of this building isn’t going to be public enough to have a large-scale impact.”“Yes, but if we’re seen coming out together, then people will assume the worst of us. And maybe even post pictures on
Theo and I dashed down the street and around the edges of the buildings. He kept making strange turns, even doubling back, before ducking inside one last alley and behind a dumpster. Thank goodness the cold autumn air kept the place from stinking. However, the tang of old metal stung my nose.“What was all that about?” I asked.“I was looking for spots between surveillance cameras on the outside of businesses. Well, we won’t be able to avoid the fact that they’ll be able to go back and look at the footage and see us leaving the club. But at least they won’t track us down until we’ve had a chance to find out what the damage
I stepped back and gave Charles and his temper some space. “And I have no memory of what happened last night after we arrived for the interview. Someone drugged us, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that it was Anthony Bellweather.”Charles’s jaw twitched in anger. “How can you defend him?” he snarled.I put up my hands and shook my head. “I’m not defending him,” I said. “I’m just simply saying that you don’t want to be just like the people that we all hate. You don’t want to hold him guilty until we prove him innocent. Do it the other way around. Assume that he’s innocent until we
I stopped him with my hand out and caressed him the way that he had been caressing me, running my fingers over every ridge of the muscles in his chest and stomach, down the gentle line that led from his hips to his cock.I took a pillar of flesh between my fingers and ran my hands across the sensitive rim. I reached behind me, wetting my hand in the sink, then came back, stroking his member and watching it leap in my fingers, thrilled at my touch.I slowly took long strokes along the skin, and Charles closed his eyes, allowing me to cup his balls while I gave more pressure to his shaft.
“I’m not planning on going anywhere today,” Charles said, reassuring Theo. “I already called in when you guys were missing this morning, saying that I wouldn’t be in to work until I found you. Not to mention, I had to shut my phone off because I kept getting all sorts of messages about this story. It was better not to make a public statement until I knew exactly what was going on.”“But,” he looked at me, and he looked at both our guards, “I will have to make a public statement soon. As the owner and operator of Rafe Media, if I don’t come out and make a statement, I look like I’m hiding something or worse.”
Charles was waiting inside the apartment when I got home. David was busy on his laptop beside him.Charles jumped up and rushed to meet us at the door. “Please tell me you found something,” he said. “My stock is diving like crazy. It’s costing us millions to be continuously embroiled in this supposed scandal. I’ve been getting phone calls from my family, but I have no reassurances to offer anyone.”“We got the test results,” I said. “There were definitely traces of tranquilizers in both our systems. The same type. So, whoever did it to one of us did it to both of us.”
“I don’t know if I can find the mood to fool around right now,” I said.“I guess I can see that,” he replied. “How about this? Give me five minutes to try, and we’ll see if we find the mood. If not, I’ll leave you alone while you shower and get ready. But I honestly think you could use to do something besides sit and think too hard about the possibilities.”I beckoned him over to the bed, fished my laptop out, and stashed it back in its permanent hiding spot so that we wouldn’t crush it under the pillows and forget about it and leave it where our guards could see. While I was getting more and more comfort
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