I couldn’t help it.
I kept thinking about that night in the cave. The shockwaves of pleasure the stranger sent through me. The primal sounds he made.
It was hard to reconcile that memory with the man I saw before me now.
I remembered the feeling of his strong arms wrapped around me. His big hands on my hips. His hot breath on my neck.
And his big dick.
He seemed to have a good idea how to use it.
“Wait…” I said, snapping myself back to reality. “Were you really a virgin before that night?”
“Yes,” he replied flatly.
“Seemed like… you knew what you were doing.”
He raised his eyebrows. “Are you complimenting me?”
His mouth twitched, resisting a smug smile.
I hadn’t really meant to do that.
“Alright,” he said, “If that’s the case, then what’s the problem? I would guess that this” — he gestured to the laurel crown, which he’d set aside, having missed the opportunity to put it on my head during the ceremony — “is the best offer you may ever receive.”
I cleared my throat and said, “Wait. Let me make sure I’m hearing this right.”
I stepped over to the crown and reached out to touch it.
The gold was hard, cold, and heavy. The edges of the leaves were sharp and delicate. It was gorgeous.
“Because I’m a big girl,” I said, “I’ll never find another handsome man to marry? I’m supposed to just let you sweep me off to the palace where you can fuck me when you feel like it, and I’m supposed to be happy with that even though you’ll never love me?”
His eyes widened.
I coughed out an airy laugh, shrugged, and smiled.
“I don’t need that,” I said. “I don’t need to be Luna.”
Nolan opened his mouth to speak, but I kept going before he could interrupt me.
“You said you were grateful for I saved you. Well, I enjoyed myself that night, and that’s enough for me. You don’t owe me anything else.”
Nolan narrowed his eyes at me. There was that little spark of danger in them.
It was awful how badly I wanted him, especially when he locked eyes with me like that, and let a little of his darkness show through.
I reminded myself of what he’d said.
What he said I should really learn right away: that he will never fall in love with me.
There was no good reason to let myself give in to him.
My stomach felt hollow. I was aching to get home, to eat a hot meal, lie in bed, just be done with this whole awful night.
“Do you really need to marry for love?” Nolan asked.
“Yeah,” I replied, realizing as I said it that this wasn’t actually something I’d given much thought before.
“It’s a nice idea,” he said, “but people fall out of love just as quickly as they fall into it. Marriage is a choice. Love isn’t necessary.”
He stepped closer to me and leaned in so close I could feel the heat of his breath.
He reached his hand out toward my face.
And touched my double chin.
It felt like he wanted me to swat his hand away. Or get angry or insecure.
“Marrying for love is just as good a reason as any other,” I said. “And I can find someone I’m more compatible with anyway. A commoner, maybe even a fat man who cooks for me and doesn’t think there’s anything wrong with my body.”
“Oh,” Nolan said, “so you can keep yourself in as low a position in life as possible?”
He ran his fingertips under my chin, scratching my soft flesh with his rough skin and reminding me of the mix of pleasure and pain his touch could bring.
I have a round face and used to be self-conscious about it. Back in high school the girls called me Pizza Face, especially since when I got embarrassed, my cheeks turned bright red.
Tina says my face is like a sweet red apple. That one’s supposed to be affectionate.
“You’re taunting me,” I said coolly, meeting the prince’s stare. “My mother once told me I shouldn’t waste my time with anyone who doesn’t make me happy.”
I could tell that he understood me.
His eyes were still hard and impenetrable, like the surface of a frozen lake.
But his heart was pounding.
I watched his pulse thrumming away in the big artery in his neck.
“Now, if you don’t mind,” I said, clearing my throat, “I’m late for dinner with my family. Am I free to go, Your Royal Highness?”
He was pretty good at hiding his emotions. But I was on to him.
Mom had been right, of course. I wasn’t using her as an excuse. She knew what she was talking about.
I couldn’t sell out for the cash. Or whatever other reason a girl might have for deciding to throw away everything to run off with a prince.
I needed to wait for the real thing.
Real love with someone who’d let me know him, and who wanted to know me. Real love wouldn’t be like a fairy tale, either. It would be work, and passion, and heartache, and bliss.
Sometimes worth it, and sometimes maybe not.
But I wasn’t ready to sign on for a life that promised no love at all.
Nolan and I had something electric between us. Maybe it was just sexual chemistry and a trauma bond formed the night we both almost died.
But he was cold. Uncaring.
And emotionally unavailable.
A long, tense silence passed between us.
Finally he closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
“Alright,” he said, with the haste of a person trying not to expose their feelings. “I’ll take you home.”
“Thank you, Your Highness,” I replied politely. “You’re too kind.”
#
He took me home in a Rolls-Royce limousine.
We sat in the very back with what felt like a football field’s length of red leather couches between us and the chauffeur up front. The Gamma warriors surrounded the limo in a protective motorcade, leading and following us to Tina’s house.
I was beyond tired.
Nolan got on his phone and started talking to some business associate within seconds of getting into the limo. He was arranging a payment for something.
He had paperwork on his lap that seemed to have appeared out of nowhere.
I rested my head on the seat back and let myself doze off.
#
I woke to the sound of chaos. Car doors slamming. Voices shouting.
We’d come to a stop.
Dozens of people were buzzing around outside the limo. Knocking on the windows. Waiting on the sidewalk outside my house, with cameras pointed at the front door.
As I roused, I realized I was no longer leaning my head on the seat, but instead on the prince’s shoulder. He was still on the phone, but just listening to some voice chattering on the other end.
In my drowsiness and surprise, I jumped back.
My head thunked into the roof of the limousine.
It hurt a little. But worse was my embarrassment.
Nolan, still listening to his call, just looked at me and made a shape with his mouth that looked both amused and embarrassed.
“I’ve got to go,” he told the person on the phone, and hung up.
He opened the door and went out first. He held the door open for me, turning his broad back to the crowd to create a sort of human shield, so I could step out with a little privacy.
The Gamma warriors kept the media at a short distance while Nolan walked me up to the house. Again, I became very aware of the disturbing ease with which he slipped into this charade in public. Pretending to have affection for me.
He kissed me on the forehead when we reached the door.
“You better behave,” he whispered in my ear.
His face was close to mine, and I felt his breath on my neck. It sent a shiver running down my spine. The reporters, kept at bay on the sidewalk, were snapping away with their cameras and talking loudly into microphones. I turned away and reached for the front door, but he kept pace with me and slipped his arm around my waist. It felt like it belonged there. His hands fit themselves around my curves so naturally. I guess because… he knew them. His arms were so strong. Every muscle along the whole length of them bulged. He smelled like pine and sandalwood, like he’d just stepped out of the forest. I remembered this smell from the morning after our night together in the cave. But no. I had to stop letting my thoughts drip down into that memory. Every time, it made me feel like I was melting. Every time I thought about the feeling of his hot, rough hands all over every inch of my body. The way he’d fucked me. Shameless and giving and desperate and wild. His incredible strength.
“You stop right there,” Tina said. She put my coffee down on the table in front of me, a little too hard. A blob of whipped cream slid off the top and started melting down the side. “Peter, you are not going to sell our daughter to settle a debt,” she said, staring daggers at him. “It’s okay,” I said, and I reached out to Tina. She pulled away. “It’s not okay,” Evan snapped. I already had the gold business card, and my cell phone, in my hand. “It’s actually my choice, alright?” I said. That got them to quiet down. I made the call. While it rang I took a few shallow breaths and tried to prepare what I was going to say. I didn’t plan to, but when the line picked up I just started talking before the prince could answer. The words just rushed out. “Hello Nolan — I mean, Your Highness — I changed my mind and I’m so sorry about what I said last night. If you’ll still have me, I’ll marry you, but I’ll need your help with something first and I just have to get it out, I need ten millio
YENA We hid out in the house all morning. Peter had been taking calls from his lawyer, his partners, and his creditors. He told them he was doing everything he could, but that he needed more time. Then they showed up at the house. Evan went around and locked all the doors. Tina pulled the curtains closed over every window. Men were knocking on the door nonstop — banging it hard — trying to wear us down, get us to open up. Peter told us not to be scared. They’ll go away, he said, if we ignore them. I was pretty sure he was wrong about that, though I really couldn’t guess what would happen if we just kept on hiding there in the dark. Peter turned his phone off. He hadn’t told anyone the whole story yet. Hopefully, no one besides us and the prince knew yet that I’d rejected his proposal. Not that anyone would believe it, anyway, if we told them. How could an ordinary girl — a commoner, and a fat girl at that — not take the prince up on such an undeserved offer? I stared at the phon
Evan’s face flushed, going beet red. “My relationship with Yena,” he said, is none of your business.” Nolan knew full well what kind of relationship Evan wanted with Yena. He could smell it. It almost made him laugh, to think that the boy actually felt he was fooling anyone. The way he followed his sister around, watching her every move… Nolan’s blood felt hot. It gave him a tight, unpleasant feeling in his chest, thinking about Yena and Evan. He took a step toward the door. Yena was still standing there on the porch in an embrace with her adoptive mother, oblivious to the conversation taking place inside. The prince turned back to Evan and looked him dead in the eye. “Why is it,” Nolan asked, “that you are so obsessed with her?” Evan was silent for a few seconds. The two stared each other down, neither one flinching. “Yena,” Evan finally said, “is the most beautiful girl in the world to me. If you can’t see that — if you can’t see how amazing she is, then let her stay here wi
YENAOn some sort of embarrassed impulse, I actually reached up to my mouth and wiped it with my hand.There was no drool.I felt my face get hot.It was unbelievable. He had such a skill for pushing my buttons. And could do it so fast.He took one step forward and leaned against the door frame. We were face to face at a sort of four-way intersection of dark, empty hallways.Nolan was tall and broad, and cast a shadow that enveloped me in darkness.“Stop fucking with me,” I said.“Well,” he replied, “you were the one eye-fucking me first.”The dim moonlight drifting in through the windows hit his eyes and lit them up. They were hard like stone, deep green in shadow, and staring down at me with the prince’s signature brand of smoldering condescension.A rush of desperate desire surged through me, starting at my throat and flooding downwards.I swallowed as quietly as I could and thought about turning around. I couldn’t give him the satisfaction of being rewarded for this kind of behavi
NOLANHe pressed his ear to the door but heard nothing further.He knocked. Nothing.Without thinking, he gave the door a little push, and it swung open.Yena was sprawled out in bed with a white bedsheet wrapped tightly around her dramatic curves. She was talking in her sleep.“Evan…” she whispered.Nolan tensed. She was dreaming about the boy. The brother.His pulse increased. His heart started hammering away in his chest again.“Where did you put…” Yena continued, her voice soft and sleepy. “The chocolates… Where are my chocolates?”Nolan stifled a laugh.“Greedy girl,” he whispered.A breeze drifted through the hall and swept a chill into the bedroom. Yena shivered in her sleep.A quilt was on the floor in a heap, having fallen off the bed.He waved his hand. It slid back up onto the bed, covering the girl as she slept.Her body relaxed and her breathing grew steady and quiet.Nolan let himself look at her soft round face for just a moment longer. Then he turned and left. He pulle
YENANolan was all business as we went to meet his mother.I couldn’t believe he was actually going to let it lie. He didn’t tease me about last night at all. But he was again cold and indifferent with me.Given a choice between the two, I’d take the indifference over the taunting any day.We walked a stone bridge over a big open open courtyard. It took us almost half an hour.Then the Gamma warriors unlocked a set of heavy stone doors that rolled open to reveal a glass elevator. We rode it to the top.My ears popped as we went up, adjusting to the altitude.The Lycan palace had been built into the side of a mountain. The king and queen resided in the very back, in a wing that was, in part, embedded into the actual stone and earthen slope of the mountainside.We stepped out of the elevator into a bright, opulent sitting room. Luna was sitting atop a sort of small throne, looking comfortable and effortlessly beautiful. A delicate golden crown was nestled into her thick black hair, whic
YENAThe next few days flew by in a flurry of exercise and etiquette training. By the end of the week, I’d never been so exhausted in my life. I was on a diet, too, and just fatigued.I was lying in bed staring up at the gold ceiling tiles, missing Tina’s house. It was always warm in there. The oven was always on, marking up something that filled the house with a smell of spice.The palace was always cold. It was the marble floors and all the windows. And the elevation.The deaconess knocked lightly and entered. I’d already been to dinner, but Rafaela was bringing in the fold-out table and a few dishes.I opened a cloche and found a platter of chocolate covered strawberries.Rafaela disappeared and then returned, this time carrying a stack of books that she set down on my bed.They were design books. And a few fashion magazines.“How did you know I’d like these?” I asked.“Oh, Miss Yena,” she said. “These are not from me. They are gifts from the prince.”She shook her head. “Oh Goddes