“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
Adan first set foot back on the soil of the sovereign Lycan nation almost a week ago, and the first thing he’d wanted to do was talk to his oldest friend.But getting an audience with the Secretary of State, and doing so without leaving any evidence, hadn’t been easy.He wound up just breaking into the building the good old-fashioned way. Through a smashed window while an insignificant, paid conspirator created a noisy diversion nearby.At the reception desk he simply claimed to have an appointment. When questioned, he played it like he was fine to leave, only he’d tell Kerr later that he’d been denied entry.It may have been years since he’d lived in the palace or performed any princely duties. But Adan still had a royal swagger that commanded attention and obedience.A side door opened into the office and Kerr walked in.Adan broke out into a big, handsome grin.The two embraced. Then the Secretary led his guest out to a private balcony, taking two glasses and a bottle of whiskey wi