AnwenWith Nessa’s list in hand and all three of us dressed in plain, heavy clothes, Baz, Castor, and I sneak down into the city proper, through my favorite secret passage so even the guards don’t know we’re gone. My whole body hums with adrenaline. I couldn’t—can’t kill Floyd. Not yet. But this fuc
Like he can read my fucking mind, he hangs a hard right into a narrow alley with a standing market. Vendors in layers of mismatched clothes crowd the tiny space. Speed won’t help me here. I could throw back my hood and demand they stop him as their prince, but—“Allow me.” Castor breezes past me int
EstrellaMy room!’ Castor shouted through the mind-link. ‘Now!’I turned and sprinted out of the solarium without a second thought, leaving the party behind. I hurtle down the halls of Solberg Castle, the veil of my wedding dress flapping behind me like a broken wing, without a thought in my mind b
I shake my head furiously. “I killed him.”“What?”“Father.” My shoulders shake with sobs. “I knew the bond would make me stronger. Strong enough to—to—”“Oh, love.” Anwen kisses my cheeks.I tear out of his arms. Everything is too loud, too much.“Don’t say that about yourself,” Castor says roughly
Anwen“Are you sure of this?” King Andri rumbles.I hold the massive Alpha’s dark stare. “Someone working with Floyd on the whole plan told us everything. I’m sure you understand why I can’t tell you who.”“You think you cannot trust me.” He studies me.I hold my straight-backed posture. The king of
She laughs then covers her mouth. “No. Father’s… I’ve never seen him give up on anything. He’s probably just changing the plan, now that he’s lost the element of surprise.”That, too. She’s weirdly calm for having turned her back on her father.Kieran said I was projecting when I told him my worries
EstrellaI tug Anwen through the forest. While I do have a map in the bag strapped to my back, I don’t pull it out. The bag is heavy because King Kieran packed us enough fresh water in canteens to last a week. I need a moment alone with my mate.The twisting, winding roots guide my steps deeper. Th
“Close,” I manage to nearly sob.I expect him to let off, to string out this beautiful torture as long as he can like he seems to prefer. He doesn’t even hesitate.My orgasm rattles through me. I clutch his bare shoulder, and the scent of his blood licks the air as my claws extend for a better hold.
‘Ah,’ she says like she’s finally cracked one of the secrets of the universe. ‘It wasn’t Blanca, was it?’‘Help!’ I yell to Kieran, Taner, and Finn. The rest of our reinforcements aren’t here yet, so they’re my only hopes.‘It was you.’A finger of wind lashes out and flogs my back, like I remember
CandaceA wolf dives at me out of the screaming, clashing mayhem, its maw drenched in blood. One half of my brain orders a paw to swing. The other shouts, RUN! I manage a hopping scramble that seems more likely to get me killed than anything else.And one of the men Hollis picked to stay at my side
If I don’t admit I love her, maybe the Goddess won’t think to take her from me like She’s taken damn near everyone else.All together like that, it sounds fucking stupid. Like a kid trying to keep the monsters under the bed from becoming real by saying they’re not there. Like screaming into the wind
HollisI stand with my squad at one of the side doors, waiting for the final signal from Father. Pinning Soren’s forces in, making it so their numbers are useless because they can’t get enough of them out to change anything, is the highest priority, so everyone is attacking from different angles. Ca
The doors swing open. We leap to our feet at varying speeds, like Soren could’ve gotten this deep into the castle without us hearing a peep.Kash strides in, an easy grin on his face. “Sorry I’m late.”“I do not believe you were invited,” King Andri says coldly.So his change of heart has its limits
Candace‘He’s in,’ Kieran says through the mind-link. ‘Everyone convene in the main dining room in fifteen minutes.’I look up at Ingrid, painting on the other side of her sitting room. She grins at me. I don’t know what comes next from here, and I doubt she does either, but we won’t be trapped in K
My gaze drifts to Eva. She watches the two of them dully, almost disinterested, but she has her arms wrapped around herself the way she always does when she’s upset. Holding herself together.She and I weren’t supposed to see all the same tutors, I remember suddenly. While I studied government, she
HollisFather and I march in lockstep up to the small door beside the front gates. Early morning sunlight promises spring might actually arrive in the mountains someday soon, as soft and sweet as waking up to Candace slipping back into the room with a sheepish smile on her face. Low conversation and
I close my eyes and try to sort through half-remembered geography lessons. LeClair belongs to…“Starfall Mountain.”He nods. “My sister Luci, my parents, all my younger brothers, burned alive in the temple on her wedding day because Gavin’s invasion wasn’t working. If I hadn’t run off, I’d have been