ADAN
Everything was falling right into place. Adan swirled the last of the whiskey in his glass, holding it up against the sunlight pouring in through the open windows, taking a moment to admire its beautiful amber hue. Then he downed it in a single gulp and slammed the empty glass down in front of his friend. “One more?” Kerr asked, mid-pour as he filled another glass for himself. They were in Kerr’s office at the back of his mansion estate, awaiting nine other guests expected to arrive shortly. It was a small but continuously growing group of powerful allies that Adan was satisfied, for now, to consider his inner circle. “No,” Adan said simply, already walking off in the other direction. His heart was beating fast. It had been hammering in his chest like this for days. The excitement of everything coming to fruition had him completely wired, high on adrenaline and anticipation. He started pacing the length of the enormous offiYENAI was getting so sick of hearing from Lily.She would not shut up. It was all anxiety, all talk of Nolan and how I should go back to him.He doesn’t want me back, I told her. I offered to go back, and he told me no.The only way to argue against that logic was to repeat herself over and over like a lunatic.“He does love you,” she insisted stupidly. “Go to him!”Evan was quiet throughout the drive. I was grateful he was distracted with his own thoughts, because I needed all my focus to deal with Lily. And he didn’t seem to notice as I shook my head and rolled my eyes in frustration with her while we argued in my mind.Each lost in our own worlds, Evan and I were both a bit startled when the car parked alongside the curb at the airport and we realized it was time to get out already. Time to fly.Dense crowds, bright lights, and a symphony of noise swallowed us as soon as we set foot inside the airport. My stomach felt like it was full of butterflies. And that was even before peopl
ADAN The others had been sent away on their assignments. Only Adan and Kerr remained behind in the mansion after they concluded their meeting with the inner circle. Only the two of them knew precisely what was happening tonight, and where, and how. They had set up their control room with two leather armchairs facing a big wall-mounted TV, on which a video feed was streaming live. The camera was attached to their assassin’s glasses, and right now the feed showed nothing but an empty room. The assassin was as still and quiet as a living person could possibly be. The video held perfectly steady. The man’s breathing was slow and shallow. He had been lying in wait inside an air duct for nearly fifteen hours before the prince finally arrived at the orphanage, and had squeezed his body out of the chamber, inch by inch, only after the Gamma warriors had swept the building and determined it was all clear for Nolan’s arrival. Now the assassin wa
NOLAN“And how is Yena doing? I just adore her, you know.” Cindy put her hand over her heart and pressed her lips into a smile. “She really made quite an impact on me.”Nolan’s eyes slipped briefly away from Cindy’s. “Yena is doing great. Thank you for asking.” He manufactured a polite smile before meeting her eyes again. She didn’t notice his hesitation. The room was bustling with voices and activity, distractions everywhere.“Please tell me that you’ll bring her along the next time you come to visit,” Cindy said. “The children just loved her, too. Oh, and I’m sure she would enjoy seeing all the art they created after she came here and gave them that drawing lesson. They really haven’t stopped talking about it since.”“I will be sure to let her know that,” Nolan replied. “She’ll be happy to hear it.”A meek, very small boy
Nolan landed flat on his back.He knew he’d been hit. The bullet had sent him flying backward.His ears were ringing painfully from the gunshot blast. The high-pitched squeal was brutally loud, rendering him deaf to all other sound.But he didn’t feel the injury. There was no pain in his body. He figured he must be in shock.He didn’t like that he didn’t know where he had been hit, or how bad it was.He blinked, trying to focus his eyes. The ceiling above, the only thing in his line of sight, was a blur of gray. Then it started moving. It looked like ocean waves moving over the surface of the water. Then it looked like a watercolor painting. Nolan tried to move his legs. Tried to plant his feet on the floor. Tried to roll onto his side.Nope. None of those things were going to happen.He did manage, with incredible difficulty, to slowly lift up one of his arms. It felt like he was tryi
NOLANHe returned to consciousness, or as close to it as he could get, a little at a time.Sounds came first. Voices. Cindy, and others. A machine was beeping. An engine was droning. A siren was wailing.When Nolan finally got his eyes open, he confirmed he was in an ambulance. He still couldn’t see anything clearly. But he could see the white lights and the hurried movements of blue-uniformed medical personnel as they hovered over him, doing whatever they were doing, trying to save his life.“He’s awake!” Cindy cried.“Nolan,” one of the medics said, coming close to the prince’s face. “Can you hear me?”Nolan’s mouth didn’t work. His voice didn’t work.“Blink once if you can hear me, Nolan.”His eyelids fell down like lead curtains. He forced them open once more.“That’s good, Nolan. My name is Camron and I’m an emergen
YENA My phone started going off, something I hardly even noticed at first. The little pinging sounds didn’t register as important, in the midst of everything that I was thinking and feeling. They just joined in with all the other miscellaneous noise out there on the tarmac.But the notifications did not stop. They were persistent, coming in one after the other, and started forcing their way into the center of my attention.And then I realized they weren’t just from my own phone, actually. All kinds of different electronic chimes and buzzes and rings were sounding out from all around me and Evan. Everyone’s phones were blowing up with calls and notifications.I looked around. Every person in the crowd was now doing same thing—they had their phones out and were either holding them to their ears or staring, slack-jawed, at the screens.And then, a few at a time, they all started looking at me expectantly.Even my
YENAI had never run as wolf before.It was exhilarating.And Lily was right—she did know where to go. I didn’t have to think about anything. I just put my trust in her, like she asked, and let her lead the way. The instinct was so strong, it felt irresistible. I was being drawn in one direction. Pulled, almost. Like there was a magnet somewhere dragging me forward.All I had to do was keep putting my paws to the ground, keep running, and I would get to Nolan.I had healed him before. I could heal him now.He was in a very bad state, yes. But I had the cure in my veins. I knew that I did. I knew that if I could reach him in time I could do it. I could bring him back, make him whole again.The airport, the crowd of people there—everything vanished into the distance behind me.My wolf body felt light as air, full of power and energy.The city passed me by in a blur of sensations. Every smell
EVANThe royal staff that had been fussing over him and Yena earlier were now coming up to Evan, ready to serve him. He was taken aback. His mind had been on deeper concerns than what he was going to do now, so he didn’t know what to tell them.“How can we help you, sir? What do you need?” they were all asking. “What can we do for you? Would you like us to retrieve your luggage? Would you like us to call you a car?”“Yes, thank you,” he said slowly, suddenly very grateful for these people and their helpful guidance.“Right away, sir.” They got all of his and Yena’s belongings piled up in a cart and were pushing it alongside Evan back through the airport, heading for the exit. Daring glances around as they moved through the throngs of people, he realized all regular business in the airport had come to a stop. At this moment, every werewolf in the nation was pausing their lives to watch the news, waiting as the fate of their world hung in
YENANolan took one look at me, as I stepped out into the surprisingly bright morning light, and placed a hand flat on his chest. His mouth dropped open, releasing a sigh.I watched as his keen eyes roved the entire length of my body, taking in every detail. From the clear glass peep-toe high heels on my feet, to the dress, the earrings, the hair, and… the finishing touch: my golden laurel leaf crown. The one Nolan gave me the first time we married, which marked me as his Luna.I had to stop in my tracks and catch my breath, myself. This, I realized as I took everything in, was the wedding of my dreams.To my surprise, our friend Cindy was standing under the very center of the vine-laced archway – she was clearly all set up to be the officiant for our ceremony. She grinned and winked at me when our eyes met, as if to say, Surprise! The King and Queen stood to one side of the aisle, eyes on me as I walked down with my parents, each with approving expressions and slight smiles. At Nola
Evan smiled broadly at the sight of me and Lucy in our dresses, our hair and makeup all done up. “Whoa,” he said, going wide-eyed. “You girls look incredible.”“Oh my Goddess, back at you!” I cried, making my brother blush. Evan was all cleaned up, had even gotten a haircut, and he was wearing a gorgeous, expensive tuxedo with a boutonniere in the lapel that matched my bouquet. “What is all this?”“Oh. Didn’t you know? I am the Best Man.” He grinned guiltily, cheesing with his teeth clenched.“Oh, that is so…” I felt tears pinging at my eyes, thinking about Nolan making the gesture of asking Evan to stand beside him at our ceremony. That must have been what they were discussing at Tina’s. “That’s sweet, Evan. I’m sure it means a lot to Nolan. Thank you.”He shrugged, starting to look awkward.“Be right back, guys,” Lucy said, heading for the fancy little half-bathroom that was directly across the hall from my studio.“Yena, I’m really happy for you,” Evan said to me quietly once she w
“Can I see it?” Nolan asked. His green eyes lit up with curious excitement.He and I were just finishing dinner together, and I’d told him all about my day with Lucy and how hard we’d worked to finish my wedding dress for tomorrow. I was absolutely thrilled with the end result, but my eyes were also tired from all the focused work and lack of breaks, and my fingers were stiff from so much sewing. It had been a while since I had done this much detail work in such a short period of time. “Hmm.” I thought over Nolan’s request. “Can you wait? I think it’ll be more fun if you see it on me tomorrow for the first time.”He nodded reluctantly. “I can wait. If I must.”“I’m so excited.” I beamed. I didn’t mean just about the dress. “This is going to be really fun. Thank you for doing this with me.”Nolan offered me one of his own big, beautiful smiles in return. “I’m excited, too. And listen, I had an idea…” He pushed his dinner plate away and turned his full body to face me.“Oh? What’s that
Nolan shook his head and mumbled “no” between soft little kisses. “I don’t want to do that to you too much, Yena. Not if I don’t need it.”I hummed out a reproving, “Hmmm…” and used a single finger to gently guide Nolan’s face up to mine. “You don’t have to hold back with me, you know.”Suddenly, while he held my gaze, I felt Nolan’s big dick starting to swell, tapping against my thigh.“Bite me. Drink my blood. Please.”My voice took on a silky quality.“I want you to. I think you do need it.” I moved my mouth to his strong neck, planted a soft kiss there and then dragged my lips up to his ear. “And you know that it feels good for me too, right?”I teased his ear with my tongue, and Nolan groaned.I angled my hips up toward his, and soon he was easing himself inside me while I breathed deeply and mumbled lot of little begs for him to keep going.He moved one hand to the back of my head and fisted a sloppy bunch of my hair.My eyes flew open—I didn’t realized they’d fallen closed. His
YENAWatching my adoptive mother embracing my giant husband right now was hilarious.Tina did this to everyone she loved – and who knows why? – tried to show them how much she cared by embracing them in tight, smothering bear hugs. If I hadn’t known it before today, I knew now that she loved Nolan like family, because she appeared to be trying her best to strangle him to death.The look on my Alpha’s face was what was killing me. Nolan didn’t know what to do, how to escape Tina politely and with dignity. So I sacrificed myself to save him, squishing between the two and taking the next big hug from Tina for myself.“Oh, I was so very happy to hear from you, sweetheart! To what do we owe this visit?”Tina released my bear hug and started playing with my hair, fluffing it up and pulling loose curls forward over my shoulders. I could tell she was admiring how long it had gotten.“Well, we have something to invite you to,” I said vaguely. “But I’d rather wait to talk about it till we can a
NOLANThick morning fog rolled through the cemetery in a hurry, kissing the edges of headstones that cluttered its path. It dissolved under the slow footsteps of three black-clad mourners crossing the dewy grounds as they picked their way toward the yawning mouth of an open grave.A lone priest in a long black cassock stood waiting near the casket. In one hand he clutched an old book, a fragile artifact bound in soft purple cloth. The other hand rose in greeting as first Nolan, then Yena and Cindy came into his view, stomping out fog in their wake.Nolan let go of Yena’s hand when they reached the old man’s graveside. He exchanged some words with the priest, with whom he’d earlier spoken on the phone, and then made introductions between the holy man and his wife and good friend.“An honor to meet you all.” The priest bowed his head. “I am very sorry it is under these circumstances.”The man was middle-aged, but his voice sounded weathered, perhaps permanently hoarse from decades of ov
YENAI’m not sure how exactly, but I felt Nolan’s presence as he approached from down the hall. I looked up, expecting to see him in the doorway, but he was not there yet.The sound of his footsteps on the marble floors hit my ears next. Then finally my prince appeared, pausing at the threshold of my studio and raising his hand to knock on the open door. He met my eyes instantly, since I’d been watching for him. “Hey.” He lowered his arm and stepped inside.“Hi. How’s your mom?”“She’s good. She seems to like the idea of the vow renewal ceremony.”I stood as Nolan reached my desk. He bent to kiss me, his arms wrapping around my waist. I circled his neck with my forearms and let him lift me up off my feet for a second.He put me down, pulled away and smiled. “You’re in a good mood.”“Funny, I was just thinking the same thing about you.”He shrugged. “Maybe I am. Kind of strange.”“Being in a good mood is strange?”Nolan stepped away and started a slow stroll around the room. “Honestl
Nolan teased me with his fingertips till I was writhing, unable to stay still though he had a tight hold on my body and kept me seated in his lap. His mouth was busy on my neck, alternately breathing heavily to take in my scent and giving me hard, sloppy bite-kisses that felt like they’d leave bruises.I ran my fingers through his hair, slid my hands down his neck and all across the broad muscles of his shoulders.And grumbled impatiently, “Oh, fuck me.”“Thought you’d never ask,” he said, then he stood up with one easy step, turned, and threw me down onto the bed.He climbed on top of me. My legs wrapped back around his middle like they belonged there. His mouth went my ear and he licked the edge of it, giving me a chill.Then he whispered, “Any other requests?”“Hmm. Just a question.”He arched one of his dark, thick and lovely eyebrows. “Oh yeah? What’s that?”“Do you want me to be quiet this time?” I asked. “Or do you want everyone on this train to hear what you can do to me?”The
I had not meant to bring up the subject of sexual fidelity. But that’s what I did, by accident.That’s what a wedding ring represents, isn’t it? And here I had gone and asked my husband if he ever took his ring off. Just after we reunited after being separated.“No,” I answered, shaking my head. “I’ve never taken my ring off, not since you gave it to me. When I thought you really wanted to divorce me, I thought about it. But it seemed wrong and sad and I never could do it. And I didn’t mean to imply anything by asking you that…”He arched an eyebrow. Said nothing. And kept watching me, with less and less patient curiosity, as I continued on with my efforts to remove his wedding ring.My little plan was not going super smoothly so far.“Yena. Why are you trying to take that off?”“Hush,” I said, giggling nervously. “I will explain in just a minute. I only want to take it off for a second, okay?”“Okay.” An amused smile tugged at his lips, but his eyebrows still looked stern.“Why didn’