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
Akari wondered how difficult it would be to sneak away and run away far, far away from the Sechuan's, the Federation's Central Command and pretty much everything and everyone she knew. She was still stuck on this godforsaken city, in the Sechuan consulate, three long days after learning that she was carrying Nikolai's baby and her headlong flight down the town to ask for asylum. Nikolai, along with her father and an entire contingent of Werewolves were supposed to be arriving any time here at Central Command, this same place where she’d first met and married the Bloody Prince. Could it really have been only six months before? She had thought for a while that she would spend the rest of her life with Nikolai, far from everything she’d ever known. She’d been so scared to go to their Kingdom, but in only a few short weeks, Werewolf Kingdom had come to seem like her home—maybe because it had been where Nikolai was and because Akari had fallen so much in love with him when she wasn’t even
The knock that came on her door a few minutes later was loud and insistent. She went to the door, opening it just a crack, but the door was pushed open by a big hand as she was shoved back into the room. “I was wondering why you didn’t notify me directly and immediately that you were going to have my baby,” Nikolai said, even bigger and more arrogant than Akari remembered, as he filled her doorway and crowded into the room, frowning at her. “Well, hello, Nikolai, so nice to see you too.” Nikolai slammed the door closed behind him and turned to face Akari with his arms crossed over his chest. He spoke to her again as if they had already been having a conversation, and it had just been interrupted. “More human foolishness. I never said it was nice to see you.” “No you didn’t. Common courtesy is beyond you. I should have known.” Nikolai narrowed his eyes at her. “Tell me why didn’t you let me know about the child?” “And how exactly was I supposed to do that, Nikolai? I don’t have a
After five months....Akari eased out of bed and made her way toward the bathroom. The baby seemed to be growing in leaps and bounds every single day, and that meant he was pressing on Akari's bladder more with every day. She had been deeply asleep in her bed when the pressure woke her up, that she wasn’t even sure she was going to make it to the bathroom in time and wouldn’t that just be perfect? To make a mess on Nikolai's floor! She was hurrying, trying not to wake her mate, but hadn’t gone more than a few steps when she was suddenly swept up in strong arms and pulled up to Nikolai's chest. “Where do you think you’re going?” Akari gave an undignified squeak and flailed out at Nikolai's arms, and tried punching him. She hated being manhandled by the big prince she was married to, but even with the extra baby weight she was carrying, the man still outweighed her by fifty pounds of pure muscle so there wasn’t much she could do about it. “You’re going to find out in about three sec
When Akari woke up the next day, sunlight was already streaming in the windows, and then she gradually became aware that two people were leaning over the end of her bed, discussing her in quiet tones. “Do you think we should go get somebody?” “No, I don’t think so. She’s still breathing, see? Her chest is going up and down.” “But I called her name and she just made that funny sound. I don’t think that’s normal.” “Maybe it is for humans. Father says our mother does it all the time when she lies on her back. He says it’s called ‘snoring.’” Akari opened one eye all the way and peered down the bed at her tormentors. Nikolai's little brothers, Nicarr and Laurel were standing at the foot, looking up at her with curiosity. “What did your brother tell you two about knocking?” Akari said, then close her eyes again. “And what time is it anyway?” “Time to get up, Akari,” Nicarr said, coming
The Exhibition Games were played in a huge, round, dusty amphitheater, lined with tiered seating, and currently occupied by a raucous, noisy crowd. The atmosphere inside reminded Akari a little of unruly soccer fans back home. Vendors prowled the aisles selling banners from the various battle teams, along with packaged food and bottles of alcoholic beverages. Loud music blared over the speakers and some werewolves were cheering on their teams and slapping down money on the bench seating as bets were lost and won all across the arena. Nicarr was bouncing with excitement as they made their way to the king’s box. Once they reached it, they would be completely enclosed in heavy, unbreakable glass, but it was the getting there that was the problem. The young men inside the arena were mostly both rowdy and drunk, though good natured enough. Akari was a little horrified, though, that she’d brought the two young boys to such a place. She knew enough about crowds to know that their mood coul