JessamineFinding the cave was hard. Gamma Lloyd conveniently forgot to add that I had to swim to get into it. I’m cold, shivering and risking hypothermia remaining in these clothes, but there isn’t a change of clothes hanging anywhere.Screams echo through the forest and I’m grateful that I’m not out there. Outrunning Moira and Katherine happened on pure luck. They were much too distracted trying to kill each other to even notice me slip into the water, and I’d almost drowned, remaining under as they searched for me.I stand from the rock I’d been sitting on and blow hot breaths into my freezing palms, rubbing them together as I risk a step towards the cave’s entrance. I look beyond the water and I freeze when I spot someone at the edge of it.The rogue, I recognize her from her clothes. She halts when her light blue eyes land on me and she looks back, trying to decide if I’m a high risk. She suddenly lets out a cry when an arrow pierced her shoulder, toppling her into the wate
The acrid scent of burning skin marred the air around us, and a tear drops from my eyes to the bloodied, yet healing skin. “You love him,” the rogue says behind me, stoking the fire. “Father says love is weakness. You are not weak.”My fingers tremble as I push the burning branch into Kier’s skin again, and he groans, trashing. All that pain, and his eyes won’t open. I feel the burn in my heart, my soul, and it hurts me to hurt him. “Is that a question or a statement?” I ask, surprised to find my voice steady and unnervingly cold.“Why did you help me?” she asks, changing the topic entirely. Great, because I have no interest in conversing about my love or life with a rogue. “I was due the death sentence. Two years, I’ve been in that dungeon, waiting to die. I’d hoped for an execution. A quick one. I dreamt of it every night, you know. I didn’t expect to be used for sport by your stupid—”“Keep talking and I will gut you,” I tell her without looking back, and I mean it. At least, I so
“Jessamine.”I jolt awake, sitting up so fast, stars explode in the back of my head. I squint through the darkness in the cave. The fire has died out, but moonlight filters in, illuminating the cave a little. The rogue is gone, and so are my bow, my daggers, and Alpha Kier’s tailored jacket.Alpha Kier is awake, his head leaning against the wall and his elbow rests on his knee. Tears of relief spring to my eyes and I raise my gaze to the hollow ceiling to keep them from falling. “How do you feel?”“Dead,” he breathes. After a moment of awkward silence, he adds, “Thank you.”“There’s no need to. I take care of those I consider mine.”He snorts. “You’re delusional. I belong only to me.”I smile a little and say the silliest thing I used to say to my mother as a child. “You are me, I am you.”“What?”My grin widens. “You’ll understand on the night we consummate our marriage.” I get a blank look in response and my grin falters. Not funny, point taken. “You came here for me. Why?”He is s
It'd been two years since she was home, but all she felt was dread as she yanked the horse's reins and it neighed pulling to a stop by the stables. "Not on the hay!" Coral, the stable's master yelled, stomping his feet as he approached her. "Do you have any idea how long it took to gather those, peasant?!" Nymeria narrowed her gaze at Coral, and she pulled off her hood. "Repeat that again, Coral." He drew up short, halting with such suddenness, one would think there was a wall barring his path. His lips parted and his maroon gaze widened. With a yell that shook the stables, he announced, “The Princess has returned!”************“Where is father?” Nymeria asked as the servant fixed her hair. Stupid lot. She missed her first chambermaid, Lysandra. She was as useless as the rest, but the woman did have a way with her hands. Apparently, they’d all assumed she had run again and her room had been cleared out, her servants relieved from her duty.It wasn’t a lie. She had run
Kier "Not now, Mother." "When then? She won the Hunt. How in the world does an Omega win the Hunt?!" I turn, jaw clenching tightly. "I don't know, and I don't fucking care, Mother! I have other things to ponder on, like the rogues that attacked. You have questions, ask the lady yourself!" Tedious, all of this. I didn't want the selection in the first place. Hell, I didn't even want to get mated yet. Nobody seemed to care I was injured and still feverish with wolfsbane. Not when Jessamine held up the lock of hair they'd been asked to retrieve at the Hunt and Elder Bane had named her the winner, howbeit reluctantly. She wins two more tasks and she'll undeniably be the winner of the selection. It isn't about the selection for me anymore. It's about getting her in my bed and out of my skin and mind. I have to bed her. I need to. I'd visit the brothel again, but I know bedding the brothel owner will do nothing to quench my hunger. "Have you heard the
JessamineMoira. Katherine. Helen. Vivian. Keisha. A horrible bunch, really.I sip my tea, watching them beneath long lashes. My head inches left. Evelyn. Cassandra. Ava. Emma. Daphne. The less terrible group. Saved only by the arrival of rogues before they could be hunted to death as well.And then, there’s me, belonging to neither group. I’m the one who spent the night with Alpha Kier and saved his life. Today, I’m not a maid or an Omega. Today, I’m special. Today is when the tables turn. They can feel it, I’m sure. The shift in the air. The tension. The storm brewing. “Jessamine.”I drop the tea cup on the saucer without making a sound, and I raise my head, waiting.Moira nods toward the platters piled with various foods: cheeses, bread, fruits, pastries of every kind, all arrayed before us. "The servants are rather slow today?" She leans forward in her seat and pushes the platter nearer to me. "Serve us."My fingers curl in my lap as I stare her down. “Why?”Katherine snort
JessamineThe water runs cold—too cold, but I allow it.There's a persistent knocking on my door, echoing for the past hour, but I’m too tired to get out of the water. I shiver, teeth clattering, but I remain in the tub. The water around me is murky and dirty, and under my foot, I feel grapes. I didn’t bother getting out of the dress. It’s as filthy as I am.Maybe the water will wash it all away—the tea, the blood, and my tears.I doze off for a moment, and when I awaken, the water has risen from around my knees to my neck. The cold seeps into my skin, riding me of the horrible heat I feel within me. It’s comfortable, and so I rest.Fingers on my face jolt me awake. I squint to find Alpha Kier's hard, hazel eyes peering down at me. "You're so cold," he mutters, cursing under his breath. He straightens, reaching fully into the tub. When I flinch, he pauses.“Jessamine, I need to lift you out,” he tells me, and I stare at him, wondering why an Alpha bothers to ask a nobody like me for p
KierMy footsteps echo down the empty hallway, and the silence between each step is unnerving. I rarely pay visits to this wing of the castle—the dungeons. It reminds me too much of the visits I’d paid to my father before he was executed.A soul-rending howl splits the air, and the sound of a desperate plea follows. Lloyd walks ahead, motioning to the guards to let us through. I stare at him and stifle the anger that threatens to build. It’s been four days since I spoke to Jessamine, four days since I tucked her in to sleep. She won’t even look at me, the ungrateful witch. Or talk to me. For four days, I’ve been on edge, anticipating what she might do next, when she will visit my study again, when next she might taunt and haunt me.She’s everywhere. The hallways, the breakfast table, the training halls, the gardens, outside my study, the library, every godsdamned place in my castle, and yet, all she’s done, is act like I do not fucking exist. She’s either laughing or joking around wi
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