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Chapter 33: Giving birth
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MARRYING HER ENEMY Chapter 34: Haggoz and Keanna
Much later, Akari was doodling on a pad of paper by her bed while Nikolai dozed beside her. She poked Nikolai in the side and held out the paper to him. “I like this name,” she said, pointing at the name she’d written. “Nicole. It’s so much like Nikolai, and since it’s also my middle name, I was thinking…” she looked up at her husband and smiled. “It will represent me some too. What do you think?” “Yes, it’s good. But I don’t like the way you spelled it. We’ll spell it N-i-k-o-l. It’s a good, strong name and looks more like mine.” Akari rolled her eyes and smiled. “Okay, Nikol it is, but the next one will be named after me.” “Anything you say, my dear wife. I’m very easy to get along with.” He looked up at Akari as she laughed. “Why is that so funny?” He pulled Akari's hand to his lips and kissed it. “I apologize for ever believing you could have been involved with FeRes. I can’t tell you how sorry I am for not totally believing you and for sending you away when I did. If it’s any
MARRYING HER ENEMY Chapter 35: Punishment
Akari scooted back against Nikolai as she spooned him. The hard, steely planes of his body felt so much warmer than any human’s. It was always surprising to Akari and felt wonderful in the middle of the night in this cold palace.The weather at the Kingdom was considered fairly cold year round by human standards. And a Werewolf had warmer body temperatures, a characteristic that may have evolved due to the colder climate, so that's why Nikolai didn’t always understand how chilly Akari found the palace to be and often complained about how warm he kept their room. The temperature outside rarely rose above forty degrees, and despite the braziers that were kept running full blast day and night for the comfort of the humans inhabiting the king’s quarters, it was still downright cold in the ancient stone palace for Akari and the king’s human consort, Beatrice.Akari and Nikolai had sex before they settled in for the night. Actually they had fallen off each other in exhaustion after making
MARRYING HER ENEMY Chapter 36: Workout with mother-in-law
Since Akari had first heard of them, she had been fascinated by the concept of the Exhibition Games. They were a popular, once quite bloodthirsty sport that took place in the national arena, though now, prisoners were no longer executed in this way, and it was rare that a serious injury ever even occurred. Akari knew Nikolai loved nothing better than to fight in the Exhibition games, held every Eightday, which was a non-work day for most on their cities, and sometimes Akari went with him to cheer him on from her seat in the king’s box. Akari liked to watch the matches, but after a while she found it boring to simply look on, and more and more the idea grew in her mind that she wanted to be out on the field herself. Now she’d come up with this great idea for the humans to form their own team and Nikolai had immediately shot it down. Akari had made the wager to gain his agreement, as she knew Werewolves loved gambling. At the games, the young men bet wildly on each match and small fort
MARRYING HER ENEMY Chapter 37: Staff Sergeant Keanna Neely
In one of the towers of the king’s vast palace, the man formerly known as Staff Sergeant Keanna Neely pulled one of the fur blankets more closely around her shoulders and snuggled down into the bed, trying to stay warm. She wished for Haggoz’s warmth behind her, but Haggoz had left before it got light. He rarely stayed with her all night, and on the rare occasions she did fall asleep after their lovemaking, he left as soon as he awoke. Keanna was lucky, she supposed, that her bed was heaped with furs and quilts. Though Haggoz played the elaborate game of pretending he wanted hrr to suffer, he didn’t mean for her to go without creature comforts. Her room, though isolated in a tower far away from the king’s quarters, was kept warm with braziers and a fire in the fireplace. She had an elderly male servant who brought her food to her each day, a man named Sung-la, who never said much of anything to her, just swapped out her food trays and cleaned her room. She had learned a great deal
MARRYING HER ENEMY Chapter 38: Keanna's son
Keanna had always known that she was considered to be a very good-looking woman. Although she wasn’t conceited over it—it was a simple matter of genetics, after all, and it was only through sheer luck that she had won the equivalent of the genetic lottery. Most of her striking good looks came from her mother, anyway. Then as if God or fate or somebody had decided such beauty was enough luck for one person’s lifetime, her mother had died when Keanna was only a baby, struck down by a huge falling limb from a tree as she walked home from work one day. Keanna knew her only from a picture hanging on the wall in her childhood bedroom. Her father had remarried when she was only five years old. The new wife didn’t want reminders of his former wife hanging around the house, so she had put all the pictures away, except for the one picture in Keanna's room taken not long before his mother’s death. She wasn’t smiling in the image. In fact, she was looking off camera over the shoulder of the per
MARRYING HER ENEMY Chapter 39: Heart to heart talk with Queen mother
Nikolai was sitting beside his father in the king’s council room, listening to the Minister of Home Affairs explained his report. Normally, the report would have held his interest, but today he was too concerned about Akari and her state of mind. Since the baby had come, and for some time before that if she was honest, Akari had been restless and moody. Some of the irritability was perhaps due to changes in her body since the injections to alter her womb had stopped, but that didn’t account for all of it. Akari could go from charming and sweet to bad-tempered and intractable in mere minutes and no matter how much Nikolai wanted it not to be true, he was sometimes afraid she was regretting her decision to stay with him. Their sex life was still off the charts, and he loved Akari and the baby more than he would ever have thought possible. Akari said she loved him just as much. But they argued a little too often and even though making up aft
MARRYING HER ENEMY Chapter 40: Haggoz Dilemma
Word had reached Haggoz just as he was leaving a meeting with the king and his council that the prisoner might be ill. It had alarmed him, and he had quickly made an excuse to the king and rushed from the chamber as soon as he could to go check on her. Love had come late in life to Haggoz, and when it had, it hit him hard. Werewolves matured early and Haggoz had been not quite thirty years old when he first met Keanna. Werewolf males usually were mated and raising children by their early twenties, but the war had been far more important to Haggoz. He was content with casual partners, having no wish to tie himself down and have a nursery full of children like some of the younger officers. He was from a noble house and had first asked to become a warrior at age twelve, anxious to get away from his mother and her cruelties. He had worked his way up through the ranks, aided by battlefield promotions and a few desperate skirmishes with the Federation forces in which he and his men had ma
MARRYING HER ENEMY Chapter 41: 2 Years Ago
Keanna had lost track of how long she’d been in the tower. Months, certainly. She didn’t think it was a year yet. The only bright spot in her days continued to be Haggoz’s visits. After her heartfelt confession to him, Haggoz still remain the same.Although he had kept her out of the general prison population and made sure she was properly fed and taken care of. He still refused to give her his forgiveness. With a lot of extra time on her hands, Keanna had many hours to daydream, to remember. She thought often of how it had all begun—this all-consuming passion she and Haggoz had for each other, right from the start. She certainly never would have believed it could have happened when they first met on that windy, storm-swept day. Yet that day on the docks had started this journey and had led her to fall desperately and irrevocably in love and banish any idea she’d ever had of killing Haggoz. She sometimes wondered how she could have ever ev
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MARRYING HER ENEMY Chapter 60: Epilogue
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
MARRYING HER ENEMY Chapter 59
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
MARRYING HER ENEMY Chapter 58
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
MARRYING HER ENEMY Chapter 57
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
MARRYING HER ENEMY Chapter 56
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
MARRYING HER ENEMY Chapter 55
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
MARRYING HER ENEMY Chapter 54
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
MARRYING HER ENEMY Chapter 53
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
MARRYING HER ENEMY Chapter 52
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
