Akari woke up with a start and then she wished she hadn't. When she was suddenly felt pain so intense she couldn’t breathe. She tried to take in air and gasped instead, her head is killing her, wrecking her, destroying her. She must be dying, do she weakly reached out blindly for help. A hand pushed her roughly away and then she heard voices nearby. Then other hands were poking at her, prodding her. Something wet, cold and stinging dabbed at the back of her head and a man’s angry voice was too loud next to her ear. “Why’d you hit her so hard, damn it?” A muffled voice answered her from across the room, but Akari couldn’t understand the words to make any sense. She allowed herself to sink back down in the darkness to get away. The next time she woke up, the pain was still intense but she could breathe again. She cracked her eyes open the slightest bit, but the light that hit her pierced her brain, and she closed them tight again. Where was Nikolai? What
Akari was sitting by the window in her room, gazing out at the stars. She was cold, like she had been since she woke up in this room several days before, and she couldn’t seem to get warm, no matter how many blankets she piled on. She had a woolen one wrapped around her shoulders now, but felt no warmth from it. She didn’t feel much of anything really, other than a dull ache in her head that didn’t seem to go away, which according to her doctors was a result of the concussion. She hadn’t allowed herself to feel anything emotionally. Not if she could help it. If Nikolai was dead, then… But she wouldn’t allow herself to go there, even in her own mind. If she didn’t think about it, it wasn’t real and that was all that mattered, at least for now. The one thing that kept running through her mind over and over on constant replay was that she’d never told Nikolai that she loved him. She’d never told him how her feelings had changed toward him since that first time she saw him in her father’
Akari was sleeping when an alarm sounded, waking her from her nightmare and the ship was suddenly rocked by explosions. Loud ones, coming from above decks and rocking the entire ship—it sounded like an all-out attack, like the end of the world. Something had happened, she thought, to the engines the afternoon before, and the ship hadn’t moved all night. She’d thought they must be working on the engines, but this sounded more like an attack. Had Davos finally caught up with them? The explosions threw her out of bed and made her heart bang loudly in her chest as the sound pierced right through her. She sat up on the floor, disoriented. She had bitten down so hard on her tongue when she fell that it brought blood. She could taste it in her mouth and gagged a little, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. The door to his her was suddenly flung open and three swarthy looking men crowded in, dressed in brightly colored clothing with strips of cloth wrapped around their head
Akari sleepily rubbed her eyes and sat up. She blinked rapidly as she looked around, trying to remember what happened and figure out where she was. Her whole body jolted as she remembered and her eyes searched the room once more. She looked for Nikolai but she was all alone. Had it all been some kind of cruel dream then? Had she only imagined seeing Nikolai? Her heart beat more rapidly at the thought. But before she could work herself into a full-blown panic attack, the door slid open and Nikolai stepped in. When he saw that Akari was awake, he stopped short just inside the door and leaned back against it, folding his arms over his chest. “Nikolai …” Akari said breathlessly, holding out her arms to him. Her heart was pounding in her chest, and if this was some kind of crazy dream, then she didn’t want to ever wake up. “It’s true then. I didn’t imagine it. You’re alive—you’re actually here!” Nikolai didn’t reply, just stared at her with that cold, distant look on his face. Akari dr
Akari was exhausted, but what else was new? It seemed like sehe’d been tired and drained and sick like this forever. Pushing her hair back out of her eyes, she faced her tormentors again. They had come in while she was moving the food around on her breakfast tray. It was cold now, but that really didn’t matter much, as she hadn’t planned on eating it anyway. “For the hundredth time, I didn’t have anything to do with the plot against the prince. You can keep asking if you want to, but you’ll get the same answer.” “Colonel Kingston,” one of the big Werewolves said, his voice low and menacing. “We have all the proof we need, you know. You and your fellow conspirators will face judgement from the king soon.” There were three interrogators, two young ones and this older man who faced him now. Always the same ones and always the same questions, over and over. How long have you been a member of FeRes? Was her father, the President, aware that she was in FeRes? Is she planning to assassi
Akari flushed as the words came out of her mouth—all she’d been doing since she got here was asking for Nikolai but it was such a terrible lie and they both knew it. Nikolai folded his arms across his broad chest and glared at her. “I’m having the servants bring you a tray and you’re going to eat every bite of food on it.” Akari raised his chin. “No I’m not.” “Yes, you will!” “No!” Nikolai growled at her and took a step forward. But Akari stood her ground, even though Nikolai ureally was pretty impressive. “Then I’ll beat you.” “Go ahead. I’m not afraid of you. I’m not afraid of any of you.” “Then why are you trembling?” “Fuck you, that’s why!” A ridiculous response, and Akari knew it as soon as the words left her mouth. She⁷e backed up putting the table between them. “Leave me alone, Nikolai. I mean it! Just leave me in peace.” “Don’t you think I wa
They came for her the next morning. The servant had been in earlier and brought her fresh clothing. Dark trousers and fitted shirt she used to wear under her long uniform jacket. They had forgotten her boots though, so she wore the soft, black slippers she usually wore under her dress robes. And as she washed her face that morning, she hardly recognized the woman she's seeing in the mirror. Nikolai was right—she’d lost weight and looked tired and thin. Her cheekbones were more prominent than usual and her eyes looked haunted. Most of the bruising at her temple was already gone, though. Since she was captured, no one had laid a hand on her, though she thought the investigators were dying to beat her and force a confession. Two young guards came to her door soon after she got dressed and “escorted” her to the main part of the palace, if by escort, it meant to be practically dragged along by her arms as their much longer legs ate up the distance between her room and the king’s throne r
Really, what was the point of having a plan if things never went according to it? A week ago, three weeks to be exact after leaving Werewolf Kingdom and arriving back on America she’d awakened to find herelf desperately ill. She’d barely made it to the bathroom in time to lose the entire contents and what felt like the lining of her stomach. After thirty minutes of puking her guts out, she finally made it back to bed, feeling like she might be dying and kind of hoping she would if this kept up. And couldn't help but wondered if she had picked up some exotic stomach virus and rolled, moaning, to her side to hug her pillow until she finally managed to go back to sleep. She woke up hours later feeling…surprisingly okay. She was thirsty and hungry, even, but the nausea was mostly gone, and she felt good considering she’d been so sick when she first woke up that morning. Deciding to take it easy and work from her room she’d done just that and felt good all day until along about early ev
It took a little over an hour to make it back to their ship, and Akari spent all of that time sitting as close to Nikolai as she could.After an hour of torturing Winters and Guzman they finally told them where they had kept the survivors. Thankfully other than the young soldier who was murdered in cold blood everyone else were spared. Looking at the man she's so worried about, she started touching him all over and couldn’t seem to stop, just to reassure herself he was really there. This whole thing had been a nightmare from start to finish, and she needed to get Nikolai and the others back home as soon as she could.As soon as they got back to the ship, all of the men they had rescued, including Nikolai, were thoroughly checked out by the physician that Akari had insisted be brought along with them, not knowing what they’d find on their search. “I don’t know what you’re doing here like this, but I thank the gods for it,” Nikolai said, nuzzling Akari's neck. “When we got closer to t
Submarines were faster than warships and operated with ruthless efficiency against any of them they might have encountered. Cigar-shaped vessels, long and sleek and unbelievably fast, dotted with an array of weapon batteries and shields, they were massive crafts, and the king’s personal submarine was both luxurious and deadly. The kitchens, however, still served werewolf food, which, in Keanna's opinion, left a great deal to be desired. After Akari realized something from the grainy pictures that was sent to them she immediately went to the King to asked them if she could go and find out if Nikolai was still alive. Because she knew it in her heart that her mate couldn't be dead just like that. She has to do something or she'll become crazy from grief. Beatrice who also wanted to believe her gave her permission and the king is helpless when it came to his beloved's plea so he agreed and even gave them permission use anything for their disposal. Beatrice even asked Keanna to help Aka
King Davos paced up and down the length of his council chamber, his mind in turmoil. He had torn at his robe in agony when he first got the news and it was hanging off his shoulder on one side. He couldn’t be bothered to care about his disheveled appearance. It was the last thing on his mind. He’d just received news that he still couldn’t fathom, and he couldn’t think clearly about how to break it to Beatrice. Or, great gods, to Akari. Running his hand through his hair again, he wished he could pull it all out instead—he needed to inflict some kind of pain on himself to distract from the awful pain in his mind and his heart. It couldn’t be true, and yet he’d seen the images, brought to him personally by his old ally, a Sechuan general named Cadimun Pax. He had arrived only an hour before and told the guards that he had urgent business with the king. Davos, who had been in council, had allowed him to enter and the general had laid out the images on the table in front of the king, his
Beatrice stood in the middle of the small arena, waiting. She didn’t have to wait long. Her opponent came out slowly, stalking toward her to the middle of the ring, posturing to the small crowd of observers watching from the stands. Beatrice watched silently as the tall, muscular young man posed and flexed his muscles. He was dressed all in black, with a close-fitting metal helmet covering the top of his head and the upper part of his face. When he turned and faced Beatrice, he bared his teeth in a sneer and stepped forward. He swung the chain at Beatrice's feet and Beatrice jumped over it easily, landing on her feet as she’d been taught, and swung her huge club at her opponent’s head, almost in one motion. The younger man got his shield up just in time, but the impact caused him to stagger backward. Yelling in rage, the young man surged forward and swung his own club, but Beatrice sidestepped the blow, ducking low and coming in at the opponent’s side to jab at him with his short s
When Akari got back to the palace she went immediately to her and Nikolai's private quarters. She flung open the door to see Nikol sitting quietly in his cordoned-off play area, banging a rattle on the floor and gurgling some baby nonsense. He looked up at Akari when she came in and gave her a toothless grin. Unable to bear the cuteness, Akari scooped him up and kissed him. “You’re such a good baby, yes you are.” She held him up over her head as Nikol grinned down at her, a long string of drool sliding from his lips. “Where’s your father, sweetheart? Surely he didn’t leave you all alone? If he did, Mommy will kill him. Yes, she will.” “What kind of thing is that to say to our baby?” Akari turned and grinned at her mate. “The truth. But he doesn’t understand what I’m saying anyway. He’s not quite seven months old, you know.” “He’s a very intelligent child.” “Yeah, yeah….” Akari crossed over to him, and Nikolai automatically opened his arms for her. Stepping into his embrace, Akari
Akari realized she was trembling a little and stuck her hands under the table to hide it. She'd had a long time to think about what her sister had done, but to hear this…that her crimes had even extended to ordering the death of an innocent child. It had shocked her like nothing had for a long time. She sat very still, not knowing what she could possibly say in the face of this awful revelation. Across from her, Keanna was speaking again, her eyelids thankfully falling down over the haunted blue-green eyes, hiding some of the pain. Akari pressed a hand to her mouth for a moment and then shifted her gaze back down at the scarred table. “How?” she asked quietly. “I suppose she left orders. Or maybe she had contacts still left in the palace. I don’t know.” Keanna's shoulders slumped. “She could have been lying. She’s good at that. Always was.” Keanna looked up hopefully, but then sighed. “No, I don’t want to get my hopes up about that. Not when I can’t do anything to help him in an
A knock on the door startled Keanna out of her daydreaming of those first days of training and she stood up as the door opened. It was Haggoz and he’d brought the consort with him. Akari Kingston stood behind him halfway in the corridor as if she hadn’t quite committed to entering yet. Keanna noticed what a warm shade of brown her eyes were and how they framed her eyes with long eyelashes that make her too pretty. It was said that the Bloody Prince had taken one look at her and fallen instantly and irrevocably in love with her. And seeing her again Keanna could easily believe it. “Hello, Akari,” she said softly and Akari's eyes narrowed as she stepped into the room. She frowned, looking angry, and Keanna took a step backward, sitting down hard in her chair. This was a mistake—she should have known the royal consort would hate her guts and have no use for anything she had to say. Instead of speaking to Keanna, however, she whirled around to glare at Haggoz. “What have you done to
Nikolai's full lips covered Akari's mouth, as Nikolai gave her a scorching kiss. The kiss gentled and deepened as Akari relaxed into it and a low hum of satisfaction began in Nikolai's chest. He ran his hands possessively, hungrily over Akari's bare body, pulling her closer and grinding against her. He shoved Akari around, face first against the fence again. One hand held Akari's head against the rough wood of the fence, while Nikolai kicked against Akari's ankles to make her spread her legs. The other hand jerked Akari's hips out toward him so that she was entirely vulnerable. Akari gave in to him and another hum of approval came from Nikolai's throat. Akari felt Nikolai rubbing his thick cock against her wet pussy, spreading his pre-cum over her. Nikolai was still exerting his dominance and showing Akari who was really in charge, so Akari braced herself against the fence, ready for him. The head of Nikolai's cock nudged inside, the tip barely breaching her, pushing against the ba
Haggoz watched the play of emotions on his prince’s face go quickly from shock to outrage. His mate’s reactions were more subtle, but she was just as startled as Nikolai. Haggoz suspected he was trying hard not to show it. He had noticed this tendency in humans before—a striving not to say something rude or bad-mannered to another person’s face in an attempt not to insult them, though humans thought nothing of saying the same things behind that person’s back. So different from his own people, who ranked honesty and outspokenness above everything else. Haggoz had been searching for some time now for something to help the prisoner, some way to break him free from what Haggoz thought of as a downward spiral. Perhaps this would be a way for him to provide a useful service to the man Keanna had wronged and still give Keanna some diversion. Perhaps it would be the key to restoring the fire that used to burn so brightly inside her. “That’s out of the question,” Nikolai said, angrily, turn