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
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
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
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
The knocking on the door of his private quarters had been soft and respectful, but it was getting annoying. Prince Nikolai, who couldn’t slept at all, opened one eye and glared at the time display on the wall. When he saw how early it is he couldn’t help but silently curse his fate.It was way too early for any of his servants to be disturbing him unless there was some dire emergency. And since somebody was bothering him after so little sleep, there had damn well better be. This house provided for them by the Humans were surprisingly divided into two parts—a business/military base of operations and an adjacent luxury hotel for visiting guests and dignitaries. Prince Nikolai and his faction had been assigned an entire floor for the duration of their stay, so Nikolai figured whoever was knocking was one of his own people. The guards would surely have stopped anyone else. “Enter!” he said, as he sat up and leaned back against the headboard of his bed.“Enter, I said! For the gods’ sa
Akari Kingston stared sullenly out the huge windows in her father’s office. She was trying so hard to hold on to the rags of her temper as she watched the people in the room behind her, or rather, their reflections in the window glass. It was probably rude to keep her back to these important visitors, but it would have been far more impolite for her to turn and let them see the utter fury on her face. For just under an hour her father, the President of the United Human Federation, had been trying unsuccessfully to apologize and salvage some of the important treaties they’d been about to negotiate until Allison pulled this stunt and ran away. The truth is, Akari had been honestly shocked —she’d known she was having second thoughts, but these diplomatic marriages of state were still quite common especially if your part of the High Status. She knew that. And once she learned she’d be a princess and eventually queen, she had agreed to go through with it, damn it. If she’d had cold feet
Nikolai had to be hearing things—his mother couldn’t have just said what he thought she’d said. He growled out, “No fucking way,” at the exact moment the Federation colonel cried out, “Oh, hell no!” Nikolai glared at her, only to find a pair of big brown eyes scowling right back at him. Nikolai growled again and showed his teeth for good measure. The growl of a Werewolf when his blood was high was a truly frightening thing. It was low and guttural and far from a sound any human could make. He saw the colonel’s eyes widen with alarm and fear as she took a hasty step backward. Good. She needed to remember who she was dealing with. Obviously, his mother had gone crazy thinking he could ever enter into a marriage contract with a bitchy Federation colonel, no matter how good-looking she was. It was ridiculous. Ludicrous. Impossible! He’d noticed the woman when they first came in, of course, distracting himself from the boring talks by admiring the way the woman’s round, perky ass filled
Almost an hour had passed since Queen Beatrice had made her proposal and no word had yet come from the colonel. The Queen was beginning to get worried.“Mother, can you please sit down before you wear a hole in the carpets,” Nikolai said lazily, while he flip through his phone. One of his friends had sent him a video of the Games from the night before, one he had placed heavy bets on, and he was idly trying to find it in all his messages. “Either she says no and we go home, or she says yes, and I have to figure out a way to tolerate her for the next coming years or so. I suppose I can give her a bunch of children to keep her so busy she won’t have time to run that mouth at me. It’s not anything to worry yourself about, though.” Beatrice stopped pacing and turned on her eldest son. “Not worry myself? Niko, you do understand that this marriage could help bring about the end of a war that’s been going on for over a hundred and fifty years? A war that has killed millions of people?” Nik