Half an hour later I was pacing Rake’s rooms, clawing hands through my hair and growling.
Where the fuck was she? I wanted to run, to shift, to go after her, scent her for myself, follow her and drag her back here. But I couldn’t leave this fucker to escape.
Rake, on the other hand, sat in the simple chair in his room, watching me pace. The only clue to his tension, the way he drummed his fingers on the arm of the chair.
“Would you sit down?” he growled. “This isn’t what you think it is. She’s going to come back and tell you and you’re going to see. You know that, Cazz. You know her. You’re just creating divisions where n
~ CASIMIR ~I growled at the girl, ready to tell her exactly what I thought of that—but Rake cursed.“She’s gone to talk to her brothers. She’s gone to prove herself. You fucking did it, Cazz. You finally pushed her too far—and she’s going to put herself in danger to prove you wrong.”I turned on him then, every ounce of protectiveness of her as my mate and our Queen making me quiver with rage. “I told her no,” I snarled. “I tried to stop her. To protect her. If they kill her, I’m holding you responsible.”“That is such bull
~ CASIMIR ~I was quivering, my whole body shivering with rage and fear and a deeply painful sense of betrayal and—Maya’s knobbly walking stick appeared next to my wrist, pushing my hand away from Rake’s throat with a surprising strength.I considered fighting her, but what was I going to do? Kill my aunt? I snarled and let go of Rake, glaring at him as he sucked in deep, gulping breaths, but didn’t move away. He was still upright against the wall, though his color looked a bit odd.Good. He needed to pay for—Then Maya tsked. “Stop throwing blame to save your heart, Cazz. Jesse didn’t leave to refuse you, or
~ CASIMIR ~When the tunnel outside was quiet and we were alone, Maya sighed, and suddenly the blocks disappeared—I drank in the power as it washed back into my veins, sighing with relief, trembling with it, pushing away the shock of how reliant I was upon it to keep my control.Rake slumped. She’d obviously held some kind of grip on him as well.“If either so much as looks at the other the wrong way, I will return your blocks, and I will not be gentle. I need both of you to set aside your differences and act like the adults that I know you can be.” Then she looked back and forth between us with a sniff. “Well… I hope, at least,” she qualified with disdain.Then she turned and hobbled towards Rake’s chair, speaking as
~ CASIMIR ~I ground my teeth, shocked and furious that Maya was revealing her strength in front of Rake. She’d already revealed far too much in front of the guards and that servant. But none of them would actually know what had happened. Now she was going to tell Rake what she could do?None of the wolves understood my aunt’s power.Our family’s bloodline always held power. Every single one of us. It was why we had risen to the throne. But those in her generation had all been dead for a while, and every generation since had killed every living sibling, so there was never record of adults in the bloodline and their gifts. Maya had vowed to every King after her brother to keep her gifts a secret and retain them o
~ CASIMIR ~I stood there, in Rake’s chamber, seething. Maya was at my shoulder, murmuring in my head that if I so much as twitched a finger towards my power, she’d cut me off for good.‘I don’t believe you can do that.’‘Do you want to risk the possibility?’I growled and the elders all watched me, disapproval heavy on their faces.They’d already expressed their shock and unhappiness that I was even willing to put them in the position of having to make a judgment on this. But I did not back down.And the longer we stood th
~ JESSE ~I had been walking for hours. At first I’d cried a lot, the humiliation and anger roiling in my stomach because I couldn’t stop seeing those images Maya had shared, or thinking of all the wolves seeing them… but I quickly pulled myself together.I was alone in the forest, heading towards the city, but still with at least a day’s travel if I couldn’t find a ride. I knew there was a house out here somewhere. A cabin. I thought I was following a path, but it was so faint, and at times I wasn’t even sure it wasn’t just the roll of the land between tree roots. So I wasn’t sure I would even find it.
~ CASIMIR ~It was an hour or more after Maya had fallen asleep before I dozed off. But my sleep was uneasy. Tense. I couldn’t get comfortable in that pathetic cot, and kept half-waking, shifting my body to change position and try and release myself from the sensation that there was a great weight pressing down on me.But then, just as I’d sunk deeply into sleep for the first time…‘CAZZ!’I shuddered awake and sat bolt upright.The scream was so loud, so present, for a moment I was certain Jesse had returned and was in the room. I came awake with such a jolt, my entire body quivered and my chest heaved. I was on my feet and ready to shift, turning, looking, searching… but she
~ CASIMIR ~I was pacing the cell when Maya returned, arching one brow when I whirled towards the door as she entered. She hobbled inside, thanking Sven, the guard who’d accompanied her, but reassuring him that he didn’t need to come inside.I frowned. Had she taken the loyalty of some of my wolves?“Oh, stop scowling, Cazz. You brought this on yourself and you know it,” Maya muttered as she shuffled to the chair and lowered herself slowly into it with a heavy sigh.I went back to my pacing and waited until she was settled, but didn’t give her a chance to take another dig.“Release my power,” I growled. “You place the entire Kingdom at risk in the event—”