Cassie POV“We’re not going to be long, I just have to get the party things and then will be right back,” I told Enota, the teenager who babysat Theo whenever I was desperate. “Are you sure you’ll manage with the two of them?” I looked from my tiny terror, who sat in the living room gnawing on the coffee table while Gianna, Elle’s sassy four year old, sat on the other side with her crayons and a colouring book. Enota laughed and patted my arm in a way which bordered on condescending. “You do know I’ve done this before, right?” Of course she had. She had been a life saver the night of Enzo’s trial. “Call me if there are any problems and we’ll come right back,” I said again, bending down to kiss the top of Theo’s head. Gia waved to me as she coloured in sweetly, an absolute angel - or so she seemed. I secretly would bet all I owned that she would manipulate Enota into doing something her mother refused to let her do. “All set?” Elle asked as she walked toward Gia for a goodbye hu
Kat POV“What’s wrong?” Enzo asked, taking my hand and guiding me to the empty chair before standing behind it. Everyone seemed to ignore his question; Eliana fiddling with the fold in her skirt, Luca preoccupied with something outside the window, Jurgen - who I was surprised to see in Vasilios’s home in the first place - was drinking some sort of fruit juice from one of Cassie’s ‘I heart NY’ tumblers, while Vasilios and Cassie seemed to be having a staring competition.Apparently the pair were actually having a silent argument as Cassie threw her hands in the air and sighed dramatically before she turned in her chair to face us. “Elle and I went to town today to get some party stuff for Theo’s birthday,” she paused, a strange expression flitting across her face before she continued. “We saw Damian there, and something is definitely not right with him. He completely forgot Theo and thought I had a daughter.” “That’s really strange,” Enzo agreed, and I could feel the tension through
Enzo POVI sat on the sofa and stared at the glass of whiskey in my hand, watching the way the fading sun turned the amber liquid into fire. Soon, it would be time to go to sleep - and then the nightmares would start. It was always the same; me tied up and struggling to break free, blood dripping from my chafed wrists as men with hoods covering their faces took turns abusing Kat. When they had first started I hadn’t even known her, she was merely Princess Katerina, the woman I knew was my mate just by the connection I had felt through a computer screen. But now, she was my Kat, and the emotions which surged through me each time her screams rang out were what kept me awake. “There you are,” Kat grinned as she made herself comfortable on my lap. “I thought you might have slipped out for a run by yourself. I know I hold you back.” I chuckled and tucked a strand of her golden hair behind her ear. “Yes, you do,” I admitted with a wink, “but I still prefer running with you than running al
Enzo POVI bolted upright in bed, beads of sweat trickling down my forehead and my breathing harsh as my heart beat loudly against my chest. “It was a dream,” I whispered to myself, a vain attempt to convince myself that I hadn’t witnessed the secret meeting between Anka and the last person on earth I would have suspected to be in collaboration with the Council, and yet my eyes could not have deceived me. The warm hand which brushed against my back almost sent me bolting for the door, but Kat’s scent wafted toward me and I remembered where I was and who I was with. “Are you alright?” she asked sleepily as she sat up and wrapped her hand around my arm, kissing my shoulder gently. I nodded, stroking the back of my hand down her soft cheek. “It was just a bad dream,” I told her. “Go back to sleep.” She yawned as she grabbed her pillow and hugged it as she lay back down again, falling asleep almost as soon as her eyes closed. I watched her for a few moments, a strange sense that the
Kat POVWaking up to Jurgen standing in the kitchen sipping a cup of coffee was certainly not what I had expected when I stepped out of the bedroom.“Jurgen!” I squeaked, pulling my dressing gown tighter around me to cover the fact that I was naked beneath it. He bowed his head slightly, but the faint blush on his cheeks told me that he had seen more than I had hoped he would. “Good morning, my Princess,” he said, turning to place his mug on the kitchen counter. “I hope you slept well.” “Very well, thank you,” I responded and glanced around the small home. “Where is Enzo?” Jurgen smiled slightly and nodded his head toward the door. “He’s out on the training fields. He has realised how unfit incarceration has made him, so he decided to put in a few extra hours into his training.” “Oh,” I replied, still trying to figure out what on earth Jurgen was doing in my kitchen at 7 o’clock in the morning. “I hope you’re already packed,” he said casually, and I blinked a few times as I tried
Kat POVI sat next to my uncle’s bedside, holding his pale hand in my own as the doctor spoke with Jurgen outside the room. King Mattias, the great king of the werewolf nation, looked so fragile and weak in the gigantic bed, but not nearly as much as he had been when Jurgen and I had discovered him. A shudder coursed its way through my body as I remembered the image of my uncle lying beneath his desk, his eyes rolled back to show the bloodshot whites of his eyeballs as every breath he took resulted in foamy saliva bubbles forming at his mouth. I have never seen Jurgen move so fast as when I screamed. Within seconds, the tall man was by my side, his body poised and ready to protect me from whatever danger there was… only to quickly turn into my uncle’s rescuer as he launched into action. Within mere minutes, the doctor had been fetched and my uncle was stabilized in the middle of his office floor, curious eyes kept at bay by a rather fierce looking Vasilios. “Are you alright, Prince
Kat POVTo say that I was starting to hate my life may be the understatement of the century. The three bodyguards trailed behind me like puppies and I could do nothing without them hovering. Even going to the bathroom had become a chore, and just a few short hours after they had been assigned, I found myself shouting, “can I please pee in peace?” So by the time Saturday came around, I was fully ready to be free of the trio for a few hours. “Are you almost ready to leave?” Jurgen asked as he closed my bedroom door behind him and leaned against it, looking a lot less formal than he usually did in his jeans and a Metallica t-shirt. Enzo raised an eyebrow at him, but I wasn’t sure if it was because of the t-shirt or because Jurgen was still playing babysitter. Either way, my mate remained quiet as he helped me with the zip on the back of my dress. “I just need to fetch the cake from the kitchen, and then we can go,” I told the two men, checking my makeup one last time. I was incredi
Enzo POV “Darius?” Eli asked again, stepping toward where the rest of the guys were standing. I frowned in confusion. Darius? Who the hell was Darius? “Too much hard liquor on the plane again, Eli?” Vasilios joked good humouredly as he patted Eli on the back. “That’s Damian.” Eli blinked hard and shook his head, as if to clear it, but even from where I stood in the doorway to Vasi’s house, I could see how pale he looked. And judging by the look on Eliana’s face, so could she. I darted forward, grabbing his arm as reached his side. “Looks like you’ve been working too hard since I abandoned you to bring Kat back here,” I forced a laugh. “Let’s get some coffee into you, and you can give me some feedback before we join the party.” Even though all eyes were on us, I knew that my friends and family would brush this aside like nothing happened. That’s what they were good at - the subtle art of pretending everything was okay when there was an inferno of shit happening behind closed
Chapter 1Lexi POV“I don’t know about this, Becky,” I said to my best friend, looking nervously around the busy nightclub lit with strobe lights.Becky sighed and hugged me before holding me at arm’s length, looking very much like the preschool teacher she was.“We’ve been through this already, Lex. If your father can force you into a marriage then he can’t stop me from throwing you a bachelorette party,” Becky lectured me in the same tone of voice I was sure she used on the little kids in her class. “Besides, we’re already here so you can’t back out now. Do you even know how hard it is to get into Skyline? It’s practically an exclusive club and I had to kiss arse to get us on the list!”I sighed loudly and tugged on the minidress Becky had somehow convinced me to wear. “I know, I know. It’s just that Hector…”“Don’t you dare even mention Hector,” Becky cut me off with a raised eyebrow. “You’re twenty-one years old for crying in a fucking bucket. Your cousin cannot dictate to you wh
Kat POVI sat in front of the mirror while the hair stylist finished prodding and poking at my scalp with his tiny pins of torture, a look of concentration on his face. “Et voila!” he declared proudly, clapping his hands together as if he were applauding himself for his hard effort. In the mirror’s reflection, I caught Eliana rolling her eyes and muttering something under her breath before she stood up from where she was perched on my bed and ushered him out of the door, ignoring his self praising monologue until she shut the door firmly behind him. “Thank goodness! I thought he would never finish!” she groaned, leaning back against the door. “Tell me about it,” I responded, rubbing my temples. My head pounded from the sleepless night I’d had, so having him tug at my hair for over an hour seemed like an unnecessary abuse. Elle smiled but it didn’t reach her eyes as she came and sat beside me, taking my hand in hers. I could tell that something was weighing heavily on her, she had
Kat POVThe dining hall was abuzz as Enzo and I followed Elijah into the crowded room. People immediately stepped aside and bowed to us as we passed, something I felt that I would never get used to. As the crowd parted, a sight I could have never even imagined had me stumbling, my feet refusing to cooperate with me. Giulia stood proudly in the middle of the room, her hair pulled back from her face and tied in a high ponytail which made her look rather fierce. She wore a pair of jeans and a halterneck top which revealed the scars on her arms from her months of torture at the hands of Fabio, and yet she wore them proudly, as if they were a sign of resilience which I guess they were. But that wasn’t the sight that had my stomach clenching. No, it was the sight of Sofia Milano - Mother in the flesh - kneeling before Guilia with her hands tied behind her back. The image was a far cry from the woman I had known back in Italy, her face bare of the bold makeup she had preferred and the pe
Kat POVI felt the icy fingers of fear wrap around my heart as Damian let out a deep growl, his eyes glued on me. He was going to kill me, of that I was sure, and my beloved Enzo was going to watch it all. “I guess you get to choose how you die,” Anka giggled, tapping her dagger on her chin. “My blade, or your lover’s hands.” Anka swung her blade out at me, catching me off guard and the sharp steel sank into my forearm. I let out a hiss in pain as I jumped backwards, my hip crashing into the cement balustrade of the balcony. “Kat!” I heard Enzo call out followed by a strange metallic sound. Damian launched himself forward, anger in his eyes as his heavy footsteps thudded on the stone flooring as he began to run at me. I gripped the banister, my body frozen in fear and dread. This was it. This was how I was going to meet my death. It was as if it all happened in slow motion as Damian’s body shifted ever so slightly as he ran, and I saw something flash in his eyes - almost as if he
Otis POV“Was it really necessary to lock ourselves in this room?” Henry grumbled from across the colossal dining table in the palace dining hall. “We could have stayed in our rooms, or left Slovenia entirely.”Gunter let out a deep sigh, “would you have liked Katerina’s rebels to twist the narrative to make it seem as if we were letting her take the throne? No. We stay put until Anka kills the little bitch, and then we announce the victory with pride.”Devon nodded enthusiastically before adding, “besides, it is best that we are together while the killing of Katerina takes place. No one would be able to say that we intervened in any way, even though Damian is there to make sure that the job is done. That was a clever idea, Otis. Well done old man.”A smile tugged on the corner of my mouth but I bit my cheek to stop it from escaping. I would be lying if I were not proud of my plan. Having one of Katerina’s mates be the instrument of her death while the other was forced to watch? That w
Kat POV“Damian.”I breathed his name, my voice failing me as I watched him confidently stand beside Anka, her personal bodyguard.“What the hell did they do to you?” Enzo shouted his way, but Damian didn’t even respond in the slightest… not even a twitch of a muscle or a blink.Vasilios gripped the bars beside my head even tighter, his fists turning white as his voice dropped to a mere whisper. “That is Damian, right? It isn’t Darius?”Jurgen nodded… well, I think he nodded because the next words out of Vasilios’s mouth were, “what the fuck did they do to him? He doesn’t even look like he recognises us!”I had honestly wondered why I hadn’t seen Damian on the battlefield, and a part of me had hoped that he had escaped – oh, how wrong I had been.“Ah, I see you haven’t forgotten my darling pet over here,” Anka purred, stroking Damian’s cheek lovingly. “When the council asked me to choose who I wanted to serve me, I could think of no one better than the King of the Rogues. Ha! King!”S
Enzo POV“It has to be a trap,” I grumbled as I stomped up the hill toward the castle with Kat by my side, her hand in mine. “Are you certain that you need to do this? None of us will blame you if you cancel and tell Anka that the fight should be on neutral ground.” She sighed and leaned against me as we walked, lifting our joined hands to kiss mine. “If I try to back out now, she will twist the situation and make it seem as if I have bowed down to her. Anka is a master manipulator, and I can’t take that chance.” I didn’t like it, not one bit. But Kat was determined to end this fight for the crown today, and nothing I could say or do would change her mind. She didn’t even let the rest of her guards follow us up to the castle - only Vasilios and myself had been allowed to accompany her, with Jurgen trailing behind like a beaten puppy. He was just mopey because his mate still hadn’t been returned to his side after being taken for medical treatment. She and the rest of the council’s
Kat POVAnka stood just on the edge of the parking lot, two of her bear bodyguards beside her with guns and a mean glint in their eyes. Okay, I might have been too far away to see their eyes, but I’m pretty sure that they looked as mean up close as they did from my distance away. “Oh, Katerina,” Anka laughed bitterly, “I wouldn’t have thought you would be so stupid to have come back to Slovenia, but I guess you couldn’t tell that you aren’t welcome. If you had a death wish, you should have just said so. I’m sure my men would be happy to oblige you.” Anka laughed at her own joke and the bears chimed in, causing the hair at the back of my neck to stand up. Aurora growled lowly and the men kneeling before me slowly stood up, creating a shield with their bodies against any attack. “Why should I be afraid of her?” I asked myself, shaking my head. I nudged Vasilios aside and stepped in front of him as Enzo tried to pull me back, but I shrugged off his hand and he came to stand beside m
Kat POVI had heard so much about the way adrenaline pumped through the body when you’re in battle that it’s like someone else takes over - and I guess they were right - but no one had ever told me the effects of coming down off of that adrenaline high. One look at the dead bodies strewn across the parking lot had my stomach churning, and I realised that I had actually killed someone. The nausea clawed its way up my throat, and I couldn’t hold back any longer, emptying whatever was in my stomach in a manner which certainly didn’t suit a princess. “Are you alright, Kat?” I heard my brother-in-law ask, concern evident in his voice. I nodded to Luca as I wiped my mouth on my sleeve, fighting the dry heaves which I knew were far from gone. “Of course she is alright, Castello,” Jurgen replied, his chest puffed out as if he had something to do with my composure. “She is Princess Katerina, the only royal woman to ever have joined in a battle.” I blinked hard as my voice found its own fr