Adelaide is kissing Lyros. I hate the way my heart hurts at the sight of it but it does. They are at the window to Rafie’s study and they kiss for half the kingdom to see. Safira stops near me and her eyes track the direction of mine. When her gaze lands on them, she sighs and I hate the fact that she does. “I was wondering who he was kissing.” A chuckle escapes my lips and I look away, my eyes now decidedly staying on my sword as thoughts run through my head.“Am I a fool Safira?” If she hears me she doesn’t reply at all, just keeps her eyes glued to the window and the two people in it. For some time I let myself believe that this will all come to an end soon. We will find the chalice, we will couple the Lycan’s flame together, and then we will get out of here. Adelaide will make her choice, and I will make mine. This current US sucks. “You know Lyros is just playing you guys against each other right?”Safira hacks away at some dirt on a stone and keeps her eyes away from me
Cain just entered the library. I want the earth to open up and swallow me right now. I watch as he walks in. Safira is hot on his heels and they are silent, silent enough that I know something is up but I have my problems to worry about, and as much as I want to go to Cain, as much as I want to run my hands down his skin and tell him I’m fucking sorry for being a slut and kissing Lyros, I stay where I am. I have enough problems of my own. I chuckle at the thought of that and hope for something sudden to happen. Maybe an arrow lodges into my chest suddenly or a lightning bolt strikes me, suddenly. The book on werewolves is in my hands and I look at the huge tome. The leatherbound item is on the table and one of King Rafie’s guards is waiting outside for me. I can’t take the tome to my room, or rather our room. Lyros and I are sharing a room. Isn’t that fucking great?“Adelaide?” Kill me. “Adelaide, are you in here?” My blood boils as Rhys’s recklessly loud voice booms in th
Safira stares at me and blinks twice, confusion is evident on her face but she finally shakes her head in the negative.“I don’t think so. Not as far as I can recall at least.”I want to turn to Cain and ask the same question just for added emphasis when I remember where I am with him right now. I decide it’s best I keep my questions to myself but that only makes my anger simmer even more.I look at Rhys and he still has the guts to look annoyed, enraged even.“Did you just insult me, Adelaide?”I chuckle and relax in my seat.“Not yet, but I'll get there. You said you’ve been worried sick about me?”He doesn’t nod but I don't need him to.“What were you up to while I was being punched into the ground by Raymel?”“I was trying to come out of the effects of the drowsiness I was still under. My limbs felt like sticks at that time!”“And afterward? What were you doing when I was on the grass, writhing in pain and barely able to breathe?”My emotions are roiling so violently that it must
“You said you were abducted on your way here?”I nod and sip my third cup of tea slowly, ignoring the amused look Safira is giving me.“We were on a horse and we passed through a small town, but on our way into the forest we met three men.”“Three men Adelaide killed by promising to let them fuck her.”My wrist aches so badly with the need to flick this tea into Rhys’s face but my body is too calm for that. I ignore him and continue.“They had crescent moon eyes…. Like yours.” Cain averts his eyes immediately and it frustrates me.How do I tell him his eyes look beautiful? They’re crescent moon eyes and they do look eerie, but at the same time, they feel like they could have only ever looked good on him.Sure it looked sexy on Atreau, the one with the green crescent eyes, but on Cain… it looks like someone hung the moon up on the darkest night. A crescent moon against a canvas of black. It’s breathtaking.“How did you kill them?”I take another sip of my tea and sink as far as I can i
“Are you going to ask Rhys what all that was about?”Safira is walking with a spring in her step by my side and her sprightly attitude has me frowning. To begin with, I can't imagine what has her feeling so excited.“Cain, it’s rude to ignore people y’know.”She places one of her legs in my path and I stop before turning to look at her. I frown.Safira is pretty, and she’s aware of it. Her smile is bright and she radiates that feminine presence.“Do you enjoy annoying me, Safira?”“It’s the only way I’ve managed to get close to you so far Cain, so I reason that if I annoy you enough, you’ll actually miss my presence when we’re back home.”I roll my eyes at that and step over the leg she’s put out.I don’t consider that place home but it is the only home I have known.Leah is there, as well as Raina and the warriors, my books and the forest are there, and speaking of forests…“Do you think you can help me figure out which village Rhys and Adelaide passed through on their way here? Ade
Safira rolls her eyes and pins me with a stare. “You look like a princess Adelaide.”“Exactly! This” I gesture to the dress on my body violently “Is too distracting. I am the one who’s wearing it and I can't even keep my eyes off it. Where did you get something like this?” “I stole it.” My fascinated thoughts come to a halt all at once and I turn to look at her. “You did what?” “Oh relax Adelaide. You don’t think Lyros didn’t have a wardrobe planned for this trip do you?” I consider the possibility and almost rule it out. He couldn’t possibly have thought of something like clothes for us to wear, but at the same time.., my mind takes me back to the moments at the Lycan house in the human realm. He did have that bag, and that dress for me to wear. I frown and stare at my reflection in the mirror once more. “I’ll admit he might have a sense of fashion, but I'm so lost Safira. No one told me anything about a ball. What should I do? What should I say? Shit, what do I do?” The last
The ball is well underway before Adelaide and Safira arrive.The music skids to a halt and conversation ends completely. The ballroom is silent at their arrival, and as they step into the glow of the enchanted flames that illuminate everything in this large room, I roll my eyes.“Well, don’t they look pretty.”Rhys is a sour voice behind me. I ignore him and keep my focus on the two people who have just been used to make a statement by Lyros. The ladies of Rafie’s court will stage an uprising after this, and I have to admit, those dresses look pretty.I look away and fight to breathe properly.Adelaide looks like a soft rose in the firelight.The pink fabric looks good on her. The dress is nothing scandalous. I think I've seen it somewhere.“Rhys?”My answer is a grunt and I turn to see him with a glass of wine to his mouth. His eyebrows are cocked up in question and half the ladies of the ball are openly ogling him.I would have been surprised if they didn’t, but what’s surprising i
“Isn’t this a pleasant surprise?”I’m staring daggers at the Queen of a kingdom I am currently in. I could be killed for that, maimed, and made to suffer greatly, at least I suppose so, but that isn’t the main crux of my problem.My problem is Queen Eretria, and the fact that she’s as beautiful as a dark night.Her hair is darker than Safira’s, if that’s possible, and it is because I'm looking at it. Her eyes, are startling. They aren’t wholly black, but the darkness in them is appealing. It doesn’t help that she has the attitude of a generous, humorous, very likable person, and the only person she’s chosen to lavish her charms on, is Cain.“Your dress looks spectacular Adelaide. Your husband spared no expense.”Cain chokes and The Queen looks away. If King Rafie sees that his wife just passed a message to Cain when they passed the next platter of delicacies over, he doesn’t say anything, he smiles. His smile is a knowing one so he knows, but Cain’s voice at the back of my mind tell
Cain grabs onto my waist and kisses me, hauling me up and plastering me against him. His voice is a rough husk in my ear as he whispers “You did it, Adelaide.” Tears run down my eyes and he hugs me, holding my body to his as I sob into his chest. I don’t think I'd believe what just happened if someone told me it would a few months ago. All I wanted was to be free and run off to hell knows where, but I'm glad for what I did. Now I know I have parents, parents who loved me and a mother who would have done anything for me. I’m not just the pack omega destined to be maltreated and beaten for all of her life. The suffering I went through changed me. It gave me tougher skin and with the power of my heritage… I've just won back my kingdom. Freedom is mine if I want it. Freedom, and power, and love, if I want any of it, and all of it, and I do. I really do. I kiss Cain again, just to cement the fact that we are a thing now. We’re more than a thing. I’m wearing his ring. He’s as much
Lyros is no longer the all-powerful Lycan lording his majesty over the weak populace. We are powerful in our own right now.And in the face of real power, the Lycan king can only do one thing, cower, like a coward.Lyros attempts to run but almost like he knows it’s futile there’s no spirit in it. Lycan speed might have given him a chance, but running was just one final way of making a dash for his life.I flash and slam Lyros with my sword, the blade slapping the side of his face and drawing blood as he tumbles to the ground. I lean down and whisper close to his ear,“I don’t intend to kill you Lord Lyros.”I feel his heartbeat intensify as my words graze his ears but I continue confidently, “I intend to make you pay for all you’ve done. For the young girls you plucked from weak werewolf packs, only to kill them after torturing them, their dreams ended and hopes cut short because of your wickedness. I intend to make you pay for the cities you’ve attacked, the people you have killed,
I rip through the fabric of space as I burn.I feel the Lycan’s flame coursing through my being and it sets me on fire with the force of a supernova. I feel the strength of a thousand stars in me. The flames lick at my dress, burning it short and tattered, turning me into a version these men see, but which they don’t see at all.I wonder how many times Lyros has looked at me and seen nothing but skin. Nothing but clothes in pieces, flesh for the taking, a body to be claimed, and a mind to have fun with.I wonder how many times he’s seen skin and ignored the fire that rages in my heart. Ignored the love I have for the simple things. Ignored the fact that I am more than just skin and flesh, that I am heart and brains and emotion. That I am not his plaything.I am a Queen, and this Kingdom is mine.I kill the King beyond the border first. The battle with him takes less than an hour.In my hand is a sword hot as flame and solid as diamond. Rafie attacks me next so I slay him too.Raymel
We all stand in wait for her.Me, Rafie, Alizadeh, and Galan, all four Lycan kings, we wait for a weak omega female and something hollow rings in my chest. It was stupid to think I could find love.Even before the truth of Elara’s betrayal was revealed to me, I already knew. I already knew something was wrong with my heart and that I couldn't love properly anymore.I should have left it out of the cards, left love to those foolish enough to crave it but instead, I had to go ahead and try to keep her. Adelaide made me imagine something hot and exciting between us, something fiery and passionate, but at the end of the day, she’s expendable.She’s always been. Only I matter.A kingdom rests on my shoulders.“Is she on her way?”Rafie’s voice grates against my nerves but I nod. I’m not angry at him anymore. He’s doing what I didn't have the strength to do.Galan chortles where he stands and I feel my hands clench. I should kill him for using his trickster magic on me, but he saved my life
“How sweet.”Cain’s hand stops immediately and my foggy brain can’t even make sense of what’s happening. Has Cain taken me to the point of release this morning? Yes.I’m worried I might be a horndog.I turn to see Safira leaning on the doorframe. Her dress is so pretty, it drapes over her body like liquid and damn, I almost forgot how pretty she was.She smirks as her eyes meet mine, “Should I leave?” Cain answers sweetly before I can and his reply makes me chuckle. He goes “Yes please.”Safira’s hand twitches and a pillow launches itself at the back of Cain’s head. I let it hit and burst into subdued chuckles when he lets out a slight “oof.”Safirs sighs and shakes her head “You have a meeting in like six minutes. Will you be down?”Cain smirks lazily and shrugs. Safira’s gaze darts to me and she fixes me with an inquisitive stare, “Will he be down?”I nod because despite how much I want him to stay with me and kiss me silly, he’s already explained to me how things are here.He has
Diane visits me one last time in my dreams. She smiles at me and though my heart breaks, I smile back at her.I know this is the end. This is the last time I will see her, and as we stand on the sandy beach, our eyes locked on each other and the resemblance undeniable, I let her embrace me as a mother would her child, and I cry so bad my heart feels like it’s going to break.Diane kisses my forehead and wipes my tears, “You’re stronger than your pain my love. You know that right?”I want to nod. I desperately want to nod. The moment I saw Cain, the reality of what had happened to me seemed to come crashing down on me. The moment I saw Lyros instead of him, saw flashes of me and him behind my closed eyes each time I blinked….. How do I live with that?How do I live with the knowledge of all the things I did with the man I hate? A man who used me?I wish I could forget.“This is fire Adelaide,” I clutch Diane closer as she pats my hair down, tears still streaming down my cheeks “Like g
Anger makes my teeth crack as Adelaide asks me a question. She looks up at me, uncertainty in her eyes, her expression scared and bleak.“Would you still love me, if I showed you what Lyros and I have been doing these past few months?”Something threatens to snap in me but I know what this is.I’ve seen this before. I’ve done this once.I nod and Adelaide’s shoulders shudder. I can see how fervently she’s trying to control herself. How ferociously she’s attacking the emotions that are surging forth.Something’s happened, and when I ask her, she tells me everything.Trapped in a memory chain of the Lycan King’s making for three months, her magic being the thing he used to fuel that spell, Lyros turned her magic into her trap, and then she tells me what the memories were about. Entire years' worth of memories of her waiting for him patiently in the fortress.Memories of how he saved her from her pack and brought her to a better life in his care, Memories of how she became his personal p
Cain and Safira comfort me and tell me it’s okay. I can feel Cain’s concern for me like eyes at the back of my head.He’s always staring at me. He looks at me with such intensity that I feel all the things in my stomach churn and my thoughts go filthy. Memories flash past my eyes each time I close them.Memories of me and him in this world.Memories of me and him in a cave, happy sated smiles on our faces and our bodies totally unclad. We’re nude, and we’re comfortable.I see memories of deep and easy loving. Love that took me to the peak of pleasure, and threw me off the edge of my climax, again, and again, and again.My body begins to warm and Safira hits me on the arm, “For skies’ sake, Focus Adelaide. Are you sure you’re okay?”I turn to her and at the sight of familiar deeply tan skin and obsidian black eyes, a smile lights up my face. “I haven’t spent a day here and I’m already being mothered.”Safira grins and chuckles at that, and I feel light in my heart.She and Cain give
My heart melts with each passing moment i listen to Cain’s words and I almost can’t believe this is happening.My mind tells me if I blink he’ll go away, so I keep my eyes wide open, and I stare at him. I know it’s real when he stares at me in that same way.The lines of Cain’s face look new to me now. His warmth feels so familiar yet so alien. There’s an air around him that I can’t place, but I love every bit of it.I love it the way I love him, and when he leans in to kiss me again, I can feel the desperation in his touch. He’s as scared of me leaving as I am of him not being real in this moment. Finding him shouldn’t be this easy.It shouldn’t have been this easy, yet it was and I can’t seem to believe that.A sudden scream makes me cling to him like a frightened puppy until my brain realizes i know that voice.I know the texture of that squeall. I’ve heard that feminine tilt before.Safira’s scent invades my senses immediately and a warm body plasters itself to mine. She’s sobbing