JessamineThis is awful.When Kier had mentioned the trip and blowing off steam, I had a certain image in mind. I had anticipated…something, had clenched every time the horse galloped, nearly betraying my thoughts to my seemingly gloomy companions, and now, I can swear Kier is trying to torture me. He’s trying to starve me.“Shift,” he hisses for the fifth time.I merely pick the dirt from out of my nails and move onto the next. Darrock snickers nearby, not bothering to hide his delight at Kier’s frustration. “She will, when the time is right. Not everything must be resolved with brute force—”“Did I fucking ask your opinion?!” Kier scowls at Darrock, and before the latter can decide he wants to fight back, Randale lifts his blade to Darrock’s throat. “Watch it, mate.” Darrock’s eyes flash, but he says nothing in response, staring at the fire.Guilt stabs my chest. We haven’t spoken and so far, all we’ve done is avoid each other’s paths and avert our gazes from meeting. It doesn’t mat
Jessamine Kier’s ‘signal’ was shifting.I’d thought fifteen men, who were nearly as skilled with their weapons as I was, closing in on us was scary, but fear had been watching Kier rip out of his clothes and transforming into something brought straight out of nightmares. A red wolf, taller than any of the gathered men, more menacing, much, more terrifying. Demonic, is what he is. Hauntingly beautiful. I couldn’t take my eyes off him, both in fear and awe, and I completely forgot what the plan had been.To run.He leaps, and Darrock seems just as frightened as I am, staggering back and falling to avoid getting shredded into pieces like the male, whose head is currently in Kier—Zephyr’s mouth. “Jessamine!” Randale snaps as he surges forward, snapping the neck of another who blocks his path. He discards the body like a weightless, empty sack. “You can eye-fuck him later. There are more coming from that direction!” He nods towards the dense expanse of the forest ea
KierMy chest heaves. Blood gurgles as his fingers search, brushing against the pounding organ. More metal coats my tongue and I will my body to move. Nothing works. Nothing—The male suddenly jerks, his face crumpling as a pained moan slips from him. His fingers retract from my chest as he reaches for his, confused. He touches his black shirt and his fingers come away bloody. “Mick?” the bulky one named Balor says, approaching skeptically, but when Mick coughs up blood, sputtering the repulsive liquid all over my face, Balor breaks into a sprint, falling to his knees by Mick’s side. His eyes widen with horror as he sees something I don’t and his head whips back to the forest behind his fallen friend who’s gasping for breath and dying, to my delight—not that I’m any better. My chest is ripped open, and I’m not healing.Doesn’t stop me from barking a startled laugh when an arrow flies, much too quietly for the rest to pick up and tears into Balor’s throat, protruding from the other si
JessamineFor the most part of the journey back, I was bleary-eyed, exhaustion taking a hold of me like never before. Kier said my body would demand rest from me, and I could barely walk without keeling over.Moira’s sobbing when we reach the courtyard, and I’m amazed by how quickly it’s all been set up; the pyres upon which two bodies lay—I’m assuming Kier’s and Randale’s—the torches and the fucking crowd. There are people wailing, and if I didn’t already know how much they loved Kier, this would be a testament. There are children here, hiding the behind the skirts of their weeping mothers. Never have I seen so many pack warriors in one place at once. They all hold a fist to their hearts, their solemn faces turned up to the sky as the priestess sings an awfully sad song that manages to get goosebumps crawling up my skin. If I wasn’t already so tired, I may have started sobbing too. The atmosphere is just…sorrowful. We remain hidden in the shadows, until Moira begins to speak, her v
************AzHe should despise her, for rejecting and neglecting their bond. For not giving it a chance to thrive before killing it. He should leave her there, like everyone else. She deserved it. She was cruel. He’d seen good in his life, and Moira had none of that in her.But when she screamed for help, watching her father die, he’d felt her pain as genuine as it had been when she’d thought Kier dead. And even now, hours after her sentence, she sat outside in the courtyard still, staring at her father’s body. She was cold, but he knew she could barely feel it as she rocked back and forth, whispering to herself. “What will you do?” Mikkel asked, and Az only stared from the window, swirling the wine goblet in his hand.He turned his back on her and shrugged. “Nothing.”But it was a lie and Mikkel knew it too as he smiled knowingly. Mikkel knew too much, Az told himself half an hour later as he descended the stairs with a cloak in one hand and food in the other. She’d likely reject
JessamineThe days that follow are hard on everyone. News of Kier’s apparent death spreads as far as the borders and Atticus’s army moved early than normal. If I had hoped even for one day of rest, I was sorely mistaken. The days are sweaty and the nights are barely enough to spend with Kier. He returns so tired, he falls asleep the moment his head hits the pillow.I’m content with just holding him, brushing his hair back and watching him lean into my touch, or sigh contently. Though, there are times I crave even a moment of peace, but I know we won’t have that until the war is over. Until we’ve won, because there’s simply no other option.The reports we have received on Atticus’s army has given us a spark of hope and it is growing into something more confident. Our numbers triple his. It’ll be an easy battle, everyone says, but Kier worries endlessly that it’s too easy. He worries and I feel it down the bond. His constant state of duress. I have received no letters from Atticus, and
JessamineGroaning, I turn, clutching my aching head. Something moves under me and my cheek smacks into something equally hard. My eyes drift open and sunlight streams in through the open window of the…carriage??I sit up abruptly, confused, and the movement only causes my head to implode with a worse ache. The last thing I remember was swinging my sword and having something heavy ram into the back of my head. We were winning. There weren’t many of Atticus’s men left. Maybe I got knocked out and we’re headed home?My vision clears briefly and Darrock’s peering at me intensely. “I was afraid you had a concussion.”Blinking slowly, I force my gaze to focus on him. “I’ll live. Where’s Kier? I got hit by one of them, I take? Hurts like hell, though.” I touch the back of my head and it’s wet and sticky with blood.The corner of his mouth tightens and the carriage bumps into something rough. “I hit you.”It takes several seconds for his words to sink in and I’m suddenly wondering in what un
Kier“It can’t be breached,” Lloyd explains and a disgruntled sound from the man seated beside me, whose aura rivals against mine greatly seems to set us all over the edge again. “Do not speak in absolutes,” King Hunter murmurs, his grimace turning darker. “He doesn’t have enough of us to guard his foothold. Surely, an army of humans can’t be that lethal.”Lloyd laughs, and it is nothing charming. He’d been the first I’d gone to for help after Randale convinced me that I’d get myself and Jessamine killed if I headed first into Ashbourne without a plan, and it had taken a lot of convincing to get him in here—the council room. “They have weapons and banes that’d render you useless in the twinkle of an eye. If you wish to bring him down, you must do it from within. An outright attack will if anything, help him kill your daughter quicker—and believe me, there is no level of relevance that would prevent him from doing that once he decides he has no use for her.”Pain flickers behind Lloyd
Az rubbed his eyes tiredly. It’d been days since he last had a peaceful night’s rest. Lord of Grimstone. He often found himself laughing at the title. He wasn’t lord of anything—at least not yet. His people didn’t seem to think so with their constant rebellion of him and stealing from him, no matter that he tried his best to ensure even the darkest parts of Grimstone got ridded of their poverty.They didn’t warm up to him. They called him a freak. It was pathetic and he should have known Jessamine was lying the moment she started batting those long lashes of hers and speaking to him sweetly.He left Dawn after the wedding and he’d been at Grimstone for a total of seven months now. And in that time she’d come to see him thrice, with her twin boys, Wren and Alder. They both had their mother's eyes, but that was where the resemblance ended. The rest was all Kier. From their red hair down to their angry growls whenever Az didn't give them what they wanted.Of course, Jessamine had come to
Jessamine If you’ve ever been away from home for too long, you’d understand the feeling of your stomach plummeting at the most familiar scents, the urge to breathe in deeply, feel everything, reacquaint yourself with every single detail—details that suddenly seem more vivid and…and intense. That is all I can call this—coming home. Somehow, between punching Kier and telling him I hate him and I’ll return to my father’s castle and find me a man who isn’t quite as infuriating as he is, he’d kissed me. Concussion be damned, Kier’s lips heal me in more ways than any physician could. I walk Kier back into the throne room, pushing off the remains of his shirt. His fingers tangle in my hair as his lips on mine reminds me of the first time…the first time I saw him. His eyes looked like a tear from an ocean of peridots. His hair was shorter, not long enough to run my fingers through, but I was fascinated by the rich hue of it. He rarely smiled then, but when he did, it was bright as starlight
My fingers shake and I hide them behind my back as I round the corner. Slowly, I approach, the large oak door standing ominously in the distance. I wipe the sweat from my wrist against my light skirts and grip tightly as my chest thumps. Once. Twice. The closer I draw, the heavier the dagger under my skirt weighs. The maids behind me chatter, but I barely hear the words they say. I try to hide it behind a show of boredom but the fear creeps up my spine and it is all I can do to keep going. It takes an eternity, but I reach the door eventually. “He’s not in,” the guard tells me when I start to open the door. There usually aren’t any, but after this morning, I understand why he has his chambers guarded. My fingers still by the door. Not in? This is when we have dinner. Every night. I didn’t factor his possible absence into my plans. Gods above. “Where is he?”“Throne room. The reports from the prisoners came back. He’s off attending to it and said to tell you to wait for him.”Oh no.
Jessamine“I didn’t do it,” Killian growls for the umpteenth time. His gaze darts to me. “She did. This is her attempt at trying to get rid of me. Tell me what motive I would have to set the freak free. I’d gain nothing from it. I wasn’t even in the castle!”His argument would seem solid enough to Atticus if he wasn’t also accusing me of framing him. Darrock got out last night. Kier didn’t. When I heard the news, I bawled for hours in the bathroom, keeping the water running to drown out the sound. Why didn’t he leave? Because he’s mad at me? He claimed that I destroyed him last night. His eyes were hurt and broken. Why didn’t he just fucking leave?Atticus’s head tilts left. “Where were you last night?”Killian hesitates, his jaw grinding. I ponder on his reluctance to tell Atticus where he’d run off to. The bonfire. His gaze cuts to Raya and his fists clench. “The queen informed me of Raya’s plans to leave. I had to go bring her back.”Raya gives me a look that is equal parts be
JessamineHe’s drunk. I should have known serving him glass after glass would lead here. My hands trapped in his, held above my head, and his body a cage above mine. His long lashes flutter as he breathes in deeply. “Say it again.”The lie comes as easy as breathing. “I’m yours.”His canines gleam as he gives me a smile no one else has seen. “Youknowwhat intriguesme themostaboutyou?” His words tumble out together and it takes only a second to pull them apart as he leans in, his hot breath tickling my nose. “That I can’t tell your lies apart from your truths.”“Now, that is a terrible lie,” I whisper, reaching up to brush my lips against his chin. He shudders, a strangled noise building in his throat. “You like that you never know what I’m thinking. You love the danger I present. It excites you. It is why you keep me close, despite knowing I have a dagger strapped to my thigh, especially made to kill you. You romanticize with death, and death I will be, for you.”His response is a hea
JessamineKier might have been in chains and covered in dirt and blood, but there will never be any man as beautiful as him. He hasn’t noticed me yet, his teeth bared at the guards fighting to put him on his knees. The humans gasp, the smell of their fear filling the room when his bound arms ram into the side of a guard’s head, knocking him out.That earns him a growl from Killian who doesn’t hesitate to draw his sword and ram it into the back of Kier’s head. My mate stumbles, his blood spilling down his torn brown shirt, and he falls on one knee. I start to stand from Atticus’s lap, a growl traveling up my throat, when Atticus breathes against my neck, “Does his discomfort trouble you? You forget that he abandoned you, left you to rot here while he chose them again over you.”Kier would never, but I don’t say that. My mind is whirling in so many directions. How could he surrender? How could he let them…take him? How…my eyes widen when Lloyd walks in next and bows low, to the hip as h
JessamineI’ve been involved in an unhealthy number of ceremonies, and each time, it’s even less eventful. That isn’t to say that our wedding wasn’t a large affair. I’m fairly certain nearly all of Ashbourne was in attendance, all eager to see the werewolf princess with eyes like precious stones. Yes, someone said that as she delivered gifts to me, wishing me a long, happy marriage—a duchess, maybe. If only she knew.The castle couldn’t contain all of the guests and the guards around me were triple the normal size, like Atticus half expected someone to disrupt the ceremony. Someone who I can bet is Kier. Nervous, the entire time, I’d waited, staring at the door, hoping for a commotion that would bring a special redhead to me.But Kier never showed up and the ceremony was sealed. I was the puppet queen of Ashbourne. I was Atticus’s dove, his pet. I was thankful that nothing else was expected of me, other than sitting still and looking pretty. Unlike Kier, Atticus didn’t entertain the
JessamineI get a visitor a few minutes to my…wedding. My gaze lands on Darrock’s and nothing could have held me back. I launch myself at him with whatever little strength I have garnered in the past hour—which is close to nothing and he snatches my wrist before I can impale him with the butterknife I’d stolen from my dinner tray earlier.“Violet, please,” he rasps. “Listen to me—”Reaching up, I slam my head into his. He groans, retreating a step back and I see that I have caused no damage except the ache spreading through my head. I stumble in the bid to attack him again and he steadies me before I can fall. “Take your hands off me—” A firm hand clamps down on my mouth, silencing my scream of outrage before it can escape. “I’m trying to help,” he whispers. “We’re leaving. Now.”I let him see the response to that in my gaze; Over my dead body will I follow him anywhere.Darrock glances over his shoulder and when his eyes return to me, they’re troubled. “I know you have questions, an
Kier“It can’t be breached,” Lloyd explains and a disgruntled sound from the man seated beside me, whose aura rivals against mine greatly seems to set us all over the edge again. “Do not speak in absolutes,” King Hunter murmurs, his grimace turning darker. “He doesn’t have enough of us to guard his foothold. Surely, an army of humans can’t be that lethal.”Lloyd laughs, and it is nothing charming. He’d been the first I’d gone to for help after Randale convinced me that I’d get myself and Jessamine killed if I headed first into Ashbourne without a plan, and it had taken a lot of convincing to get him in here—the council room. “They have weapons and banes that’d render you useless in the twinkle of an eye. If you wish to bring him down, you must do it from within. An outright attack will if anything, help him kill your daughter quicker—and believe me, there is no level of relevance that would prevent him from doing that once he decides he has no use for her.”Pain flickers behind Lloyd