YENA
I woke to my phone chiming and turned it over to see a reply from Susan.
Fine. Meet me in the library at 730.
That was it.
I blinked and rubbed my eyes. Nolan was already up, talking quietly on the phone and pacing in his walk-in closet.
I was wrapping myself in a towel after taking a hot shower, when he knocked softly on the door. I told him to come in.
The door swung open gently and Nolan stepped just over the threshold. He glanced at me and then looked down at the floor for a moment. When he looked up at me again, it seemed like he was making an extra effort to focus on my eyes.
“Hey,” he said. “Would you like to come have some breakfast with me?”
I said, “Oh,” and stalled, fumbling for a lie that would explain why I
Susan was alone. At least that was a relief.“Hey,” I said as she walked in.She looked at me but said nothing. She walked over and sat at the other end of the table.“I just wanted to talk to you,” I continued, “to see if we can find a way to move on from all this. I know things will never be like they were before, but I just want to get to a place where you and I can be civil with each other… for both our sakes.”She crossed her arms and gave me a hard look. And more of the silent treatment.“I’m sorry,” I said. “About Nolan. I know that was hard for you.”Susan looked away and I saw tears flash into her eyes. One rolled down her cheek and she wiped it away quickly with the sleeve of her sweater.“You have to understand, though,” I explained, “that I never asked for any of this. It was actually awful for me, at first —”&ldq
The man returned with a bunch of paper towels from the bathroom. He pulled a water bottle out of his briefcase and crouched on the floor, insisting I step aside and let him handle it.He asked me what happened with the cupcake, and I’m not sure why, but I just told him everything.About Susan being my only friend at the start of the year. About how she begged me to go along with her to the Full Moon Ball, and then completely flipped out when, through no fault of my own, I was chosen by the prince instead of her. And about how I reached out to her last night, and felt so full of hope this morning, and how she got mad about my earrings, and all of the awful stuff she said about my family.Never before in my life had I just opened up and spilled my guts to a total stranger like that. But he was easy to talk to, a good listener, and kept asking questions.Finally I said, “I’m sorry, I’ve been rambling on about my problems and hav
I found the Philosophy building the next day and went inside, hoping I could just wander around a little and figure out which office was Adan’s. It was easy enough to find him. I strolled the first-floor halls for a few minutes, and glimpsed him seated at a desk in the first room I passed that had an open door.I knocked lightly. He looked up and smiled.“Yena,” he said, “Come in, please.”He jumped up from his desk and met me at the door, opening it wide with a welcoming gesture and a sweet smile. We exchanged pleasantries and then sat on either side of his desk.“So you wrote this book, did you?” I asked, producing the hardcover from my bag.I had forgotten that it was all out of shape from where it spent the night.Adan looked at it and grinned.“What did you think?” he asked.“It was super interesti
NOLANYena was sound asleep by the time Nolan got home. He slid into bed beside her and got about two solid hours of sleep before his phone woke him up.The prince had about a dozen news alerts set to trigger a notification on his phone any time something was published online that mentioned certain keywords.Waking to the sound he had assigned to news alerts, Nolan rolled over and reached out for his phone, expecting the notification be something trivial.It was not trivial.He shot straight up in bed and opened up the link.There was a photo of two people walking in the rain, together under a single umbrella. He recognized Yena but could not tell immediately who the tall man with his arm around her was.The headline at the top of the article read, Princess Yena Spotted in Intimate Embrace with Husband’s Half-Brother.Nolan scrolled down. There were more photos.And yes, the man in t
NOLAN Nolan returned to the palace and rounded up a few of his best Gamma warriors to come practice fencing with him. He was frustrated and needed to let off some steam. In the morning, he tracked down that chauffeur from the umbrella incident photos.The man told the prince that Yena had taken a ride to campus the previous morning, but not to attend classes. She said she was meeting with a professor and asked the driver to wait in the parking lot, saying she would only be a few minutes. It was about half an hour, the driver said, between their arrival at the school and the start of the sudden downpour, when he spotted Yena coming out of the building under her teacher’s umbrella. Nolan had the driver take him there. To the exact building where Yena had gone for that meeting
YENA “He’s your BROTHER?” I could hardly process what Nolan was saying to me. “Half-brother,” he corrected.He slid his phone over to me. The screen was open to a news article that had been published early this morning and was now, apparently, being reposted all over social media. The article had a horrible, salacious headline about me, and contained a bunch of pictures of me and Adan under his umbrella. I couldn’t believe it. And apparently, the professor had been keeping a secret from me — the fact that he was actually my brother-in-law. “Why didn’t you tell me about any of this before?” I asked Nolan, pushing the phone back over to
Lucy and I had classes on campus around the same time, so we met up afterward and drove together to the palace. She was coming over to try on the designs I had partially constructed, so that I could fit them to her and work out some of the final touches. I don’t think I have ever seen anyone so excited before in my life.Lucy was elated and wide-eyed, exclaiming over everything as I walked her through the palace to my and Nolan’s wing.And she might have been just as thrilled about the fitting, too. Everything I handed her was “beautiful,” “gorgeous,” or “perfect.” We worked on the green gown all afternoon. I had the base layer almost finished, so we fit that to her first. Then we played around with some diffserent fabrics layered over the skirt. Lucy was a good sport, and a good model.
NOLANIt had been a while since the princess had let him fuck her.It was all he could think about the whole time they were fencing. He blamed being distracted by her body for the point that she somehow scored against him.Still, she impressed him.She was more athletic than he had expected. She was motivated and focused too. He admired that.And he was surprised when she started flirting with him after their practice. Lately she had been acting disinterested in him. Keeping her distance.So when she started her little strip tease in the fencing room, he just about lost his mind.He threw her against the wall way too hard. But he couldn’t control himself, and he could feel that she was loving it. He stopped trying hold back.He wanted to taste her. He wrapped her legs around his waist and put a few fingers inside her. She was tight and dripping wet.He pulled his fingers out and licked one. S
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’