Kat POV“Who would dare to attack a guest in our home?” my uncle fumed, pacing back and forth to the point that I was sure that he would wear a groove in the floor of his office. Vasilios stood by the window, blocking most of the light and leaving a gigantic shadow on the floor. “I don’t know, Your Majesty. But it strikes me as strange that whoever attacked Prince Dimitri and his supporter did not kill either of them. In fact, it appears as if this was a deliberate ploy to stop the union between Princess Katerina and Prince Dimitri.” I chewed on my bottom lip, trying to keep myself from blurting out that there was no way in this universe that I would ever be forced into a relationship with that brute. I would honestly throw myself off the edge of the earth before I could ever find myself in bed with the monster. “Yes, I thought that was strange too,” my uncle mused, scratching his chin as he glanced at me out of the corner of his eye. I froze, wondering what my uncle was planning.
Kat POV“My man has been severely injured by one of your rabid dogs,” Dimitri spat out as soon as we entered the room. Just like that, all eyes were glued to my uncle and myself, waiting like vultures for the showdown they presumed would lead to bloodshed between our species. Otis and another elderly man from the council called Yanis, sat with rather smug expressions on their faces, as if they were enjoying every moment of it.“Come, Prince Dimitri,” my uncle tried to reason. “Let us talk about this in private where we do not have such an interested audience.” Dimitri snorted and grabbed the bottle of vodka from the table, taking a swig straight from the bottle which was half empty. “And let you trick me more than you already have? You promised me a union with your niece, but instead she is willing to spread her legs for every man beside me.”A gasp ran through the room as the accusation reached the spectators’ ears, and I’m pretty darn sure that the whole kingdom would be told that
Kat POVI hid out in my bedroom for the rest of the day, not able to summon up the courage to face the vultures which made up the Royal Court. I was also terrified to run into Damian, suspecting that the man was most likely behind the attack on the bears. And even if he wasn’t, he unsettled me. The sunlight faded quickly beyond the horizon, painting the sky with brilliant pink and golden hues which faded into the darkness of the night. Winter was well on its way, the night air cool even in the confines of my bedroom. I grabbed a blanket and wrapped it around me as I sat on my bed, wishing that I had someone to talk to about everything - wishing that Giulia was there. Her absence hadn’t felt as profound before that moment, even with everything that I had been going through in my brief time in Slovenia. “I do miss the days when I was just Kat,” I said aloud to no one in particular - Aurora had slipped out of the room hours ago, probably sick of my moping around. I sighed and lay down,
Kat POVThe sound of screaming pierced through my dreams and tore me from the peaceful sleep I had been enjoying. It was a tortured sound, as if someone was in true agony and panic filled me. I reached for Enzo subconsciously, only the side of the bed he had lain on was empty and cold - Enzo was long gone. The screaming seemed to be getting louder, joined by men’s angry voices and the stomping of boots along the hardwood flooring in the hallway. “What on earth is going on?” I whispered to myself, switching the bedside light on and looking around the dimly lit room. Aurora lay in her bed, her head on her paws as she watched me, obviously not as concerned with the commotion outside as I was. I clambered out of bed, grabbing my dressing gown as I made my way to the door to investigate, and had barely reached the door when it was flung open. My uncle stood, gripping the doorknob so hard that his knuckles had turned white, his jaw clenched and his face pale. “What’s wrong?” I asked in
Kat POVThe blood in my veins turned to ice as Damian uttered Enzo’s name, confidence oozing from him which made me feel sick to my stomach. “There is no fucking way that Enzo Castello killed Yanis,” Vasilios ground out through clenched teeth, a slight growl to his voice. “Yes. Enzo wouldn’t have attacked anyone,” I agreed, trying to sound more forceful than I felt. Damian casually circled me, like a bird of prey circling its next meal and waiting for the best opportunity to pounce on it. “If Enzo didn’t attack Yanis, then why did he sneak into the castle in the first place? And don’t try to tell everyone that he didn’t sneak in - I have evidence.”He held up his cellphone and waved it about, indicating that something on the device would incriminate Enzo. “Oh, come on Damian,” Vasilios grunted. “You know Enzo well enough to know that he’s just not like that. He had another reason to sneak into the castle, and it had nothing to do with killing anyone.”Damian shrugged, “then it is
Enzo POVDrip. Drip. Drip. I pried my eyes open, but it didn’t make any difference. The darkness around me was so thick that it seemed to swallow whatever light tried to enter its domain, and not even my werewolf senses could decipher where I was. I groaned as I struggled to sit up, my head throbbing as if someone had taken a hammer to my skull. “What the hell happened?” I moaned, rubbing the spot on the side of my head that seemed to be swollen. For the life of me, I couldn’t remember. The last thing I recalled was making myself some breakfast, a grin on my face after the wonderful night I had spent making love to Kat. “Fuck, what if that had been a dream?” I whispered, panic suddenly flooding my body as doubt made me question my memories. “Had it all been a dream?”The damp surface I was lying on seemed too familiar, but at least this time there were no chains. I double checked, rubbing my hands down my legs to my ankles and breathed a sigh of relief when I found that there was
Kat POV“You’ve got to eat something,” Cassie insisted as she pressed a sandwich into my hands. I met her red rimmed eyes and reminded myself that I wasn’t the only one who was affected by Enzo’s imprisonment. Cassie and Vasilios were equally distraught, and had backed me a hundred percent when I decided I could not live in the castle knowing that the man I loved was a few feet below me in some damp and dark prison cell. Cassie had been the one to suggest that I stay with them, and Vasilios supported the decision - even going up against my uncle when he tried to fight against the move. A door slammed shut as Vasilios entered the cottage, his face looking older than he had seemed just a few days ago. “Luca and Eliana will be here soon. Their plane has already landed, and they are just waiting for permission to enter the Royal lands,” he announced as he picked up the sandwich from the plate Cassie handed to him. I felt my stomach form a hard knot as nervous energy pulsed through me.
Eliana POVBeing in Enzo’s house without him felt strange and a part of me kept expecting him to walk into the room at any moment, that cheeky smirk on his face and his hair hanging in his eyes like some rebellious teenager. Even the scar across his right eye seemed to be vividly etched into my mind, a strange thing to remember about him, but there it was. I walked around aimlessly, dragging my fingertips along his belongings as if they somehow held remnants of his presence. “Are you ready to go?” Luca asked as he came up behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist, pressing his face into my hair. I nodded, turning in his arms and cupping his face with my hands. “Do you think we can take him something? Some food? A blanket?” Something flashed across Luca’s eyes, but he never said a word. Instead, he took my hand and in silence we walked up the winding path to the castle curtainwall. I’d only ever been to Slovenia a handful of times, the last being shortly after Cassie and Vasi
Kat POV“Luca has mindlinked me - they shouldn’t be too much longer,” Elle announced as she checked on the sourdough bread she was baking in the oven. Cassie sighed and picked up an orange from the bowl on the kitchen counter. “I still envy your ability to mindlink like that,” she said as she peeled the orange. “Although, knowing Vasilios, he would probably abuse that ability far too often.” She pulled a face as she popped a segment of the orange into her mouth and I bit back a giggle. “Oh, Luca abuses it too,” Elle replied with a wink. “But I guess he likes knowing that I am always there whenever he needs me.”I found myself smiling at the way she described their relationship. “You guys seem like the perfect power couple,” I gushed, leaning against the counter. “I can only hope that Enzo and I can build a relationship as strong and unshakable as yours.” Elle blushed prettily as Cassie smacked me lightly with the back of her hand. “And mine? I hope there is something in my relatio
Enzo POVWatching as that barn burned to the ground evoked dark emotions in me - emotions I had spent the last few years pushing down into the depths of my soul. Emotions of hatred, guilt and despair which ran so deep within me that I had stopped recognising them. But as the flames engulfed that barn of horrors, memories filled my mind and I found myself grappling with the overwhelming emotions once again. “Are you alright, child?” I felt a small hand touch my arm and I looked down at the bruised face of a woman, her split lip and blood-streaked hair a blatant testament to the strength the tiny woman had displayed at the hands of her captors. I nodded, unable to trust my own voice as I turned back to the flames.“You’re lying to me, young man,” she chastised, her hand gripping my arm tighter preventing me from walking away from her.“And what if I am?” I asked boldly.She chuckled lightly, drawing my gaze to her and I almost stumbled backward when my eyes met hers. It was as if she
Jurgen POVWe watched in numb horror as the helicopter set off, only for another two helicopters to join it - each massive machines which could easily carry twelve people. “They’re evacuating!” Enzo shouted, anger turning his voice into a harsh bark. “They would rather run away than face us and fight! Fucking cowards!” Vasilios kicked the barn door, the sound echoing in the silence of the night as he swore under his breath. Luca was equally frustrated by the turn of events, but instead of lashing out like the other two, he stood in silence, his hands in fists by his side as he watched the now empty sky. I sighed inwardly as I shifted back into my human form, the snow crunching beneath my feet and the cool breeze tickling my skin. “Well, what now?” I asked, stretching my neck. Luca shrugged, turning to face the barn and the atrocities that had been committed in its dark interior. “I guess we need to find out how many of their victims are still alive. We need evidence that this was
Enzo POV“Fuuuuuuuck,” Vasilios drawled incredulously.Jurgen sat beside me, slack jawed in shock while I wasn’t entirely sure that I had heard correctly. “Anka’s pregnant?” I asked, leaning forward and gripping the back of Vasilios’s chair. Luca nodded and I let out a low whistle. “I thought she would be too old to have kids now,” I admitted. “Besides, she drinks alcohol like it’s an olympic sport. There’s no way that baby’s brains aren’t already pickled, and they’re making it the heir?”Jurgen shook his head. “No. I don't believe it. They’re up to something, and this is just a way to discredit Princess Katerina’s claim to the throne.”I saw Vasilios’s brows knit together to form one furry caterpillar above his eyes. “Are you suggesting what I think you’re suggesting?” he asked, leaving us guessing for a few seconds before he spoke his mind. “Are you thinking that Anka isn’t actually pregnant, and that this baby is some other woman’s all together?”Luca scratched his chin thoughtf
Enzo POV“Have you got everything?” Kat asked me for the hundredth time, concern shining in her eyes. I grabbed her and wrapped my arms around her, kissing the top of her head as she leaned into my embrace. “I have everything I need in my backpack,” I reassured her. “And I am sure that I haven’t forgotten anything.” Her arms snaked around my neck and she pulled my head down for a lingering kiss, her fingers playing with the hair at the nape of my neck. “You have to make sure that you are safe. I need you to come back to me,” she whispered, not trusting her voice anymore. “Are you sure that I can’t come with you? You might need me.”I chuckled and squeezed her sexy arse, “as much as I don’t doubt your usefulness, I think it would be better if you stayed out of danger. I wouldn’t be able to concentrate if you came with us. I’d be too busy worrying about your safety. Besides, I think Jurgen and Vasilios would have my head on a spike if I even thought about letting you.” She sighed l
Kat POVThe figure slipped the hood from her face and the urge to punch the woman beneath the cloak almost overwhelmed me. “Yvonne!” Cassie exclaimed, and I watched as she started to take a step toward the small Asian woman before she stopped herself, crossing her arms across her chest instead. “What are you doing here?”Yvonne’s gaze shifted nervously around the group, her hands gripped tightly in front of her as she stood there in silence. “Yvonne,” Enzo’s voice dropped an octave as he stepped toward her. “Cassandra asked you a question. Why are you here? How did you find us? And what the fuck do you want?” Yvonne flinched slightly as he spat out the swear word, his hatred of her plain for everyone to see. “I…” she began before she let out a deep sigh. “This was a mistake. I’m sorry, I should rather go.” Yvonne tugged the hood back up, turning back to her table and picking up the tatty looking suitcase from where it had been placed on the chair. It was weird, but her whole deme
Enzo POVSpain.When I was younger, I used to dream of running away to Spain. In all the TV programmes and magazines I had seen, it always seemed like a place where everything was perfect and people were always happy as they spent their days sipping margaritas on the beach while watching the sun set. There weren’t any depressed mothers, or sullen brothers – and best of all, there were no abusive fathers. Then came the knowledge that there was potentially a warehouse nestled in the Spanish countryside filled with men and women like me - caged and tortured at the will of a sadistic jailer - made me sick to my stomach. In a flash, Spain had lost its shine as the rose-tinted glasses were whipped away from me.“I don’t know why Guilia isn’t answering my calls,” I heard Kat sigh with frustration from the other side of our hotel room as she flung her cellphone onto the sofa. “It’s been days now, and still nothing.”The concern on her face was as clear as daylight, and I wondered if I should
Kat POVThey say that in the moments before you die, your life flashes before your eyes - and I guess in my case, it was partly true. Memories came flooding back in a way I could have never dreamed possible. Memories of my childhood, of my uncle singing Slovenian nursery rhymes to me, of my mother watching from the corner of the room with a wine glass in her hand. I remembered the hours I sat listening to my uncle speak of ruling our people.“Remember, Katerina,” he had said to me as we had watched from the balcony as Anka and Otis walked side by side in the garden below. “Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer. Know them so well that you can anticipate their moves before they make them.” At the time I had thought he was talking about Otis, but as Anka rushed at me with the letter opener, I had to wonder if he had actually meant the woman I had once called Mother. She screamed as I ducked under her arm, the scent of the ever-present alcohol on her breath suddenly overpower
Kat POVAnka took control in a way which left me suspecting that it had been her plan all along - hell, it had been the plan of the Council’s too. By noon, all of the flags and banners which had decorated the castle with King Mattias’s personal crest were replaced with the gaudy imitations which Anka claimed as her own. The commanders were called en masse to the castle and were ordered to swear allegiance to Anka. Those who refused were banished and their titles were stripped from them. I watched in muted horror as Vasilios refused to kneel before the crazed woman. She had stormed up to him and slapped him hard, the slap echoing across the courtyard. “I will not kneel before a usurper,” he declared boldly, meeting her eye. She slapped him again, anger flashing in her eyes as other commanders took his lead and stood, refusing to submit to her. “Banished! You’re all banished! Leave before I have you all thrown into the dungeon!” Anka’s voice quivered and she tried hard to maintain h