Poppy groans as I help her sit up in bed, her face twisting with discomfort. While my magic was about to heal the stab wounds across her belly, she is still recovering from the black and blue bruises that cover her entire abdomen. She looks terrible, but I do my best not to make a face as I lift up her shirt to look at the… carnage. That’s the only way I can describe it. “I’ll live, Isla,” she rasps, rolling her eyes as she playfully swats my hand away. “Pardon me for being worried about you, Poppy,” I tease, sitting down on the edge of her bed with a sigh. I glance at the warrior sitting on a stool by the door, his legs crossed and his head hanging as he sleeps. We made it through the day. No one else had been attacked. But I can’t help but feel like this is far from over. “Did Isaac make it safely?” she asks in a whisper, her eyes drifting to the warrior by the door. “Yes,” I reply, the word sticking to my throat. I fight back the rush of grief welling in my chest as I run a co
*Isla*“Get–her–out–of–FUCK!” Antony takes the warrior by the shoulders, bending the man at the waist before driving his knee up into the man’s chin. “Get her out of here, Isla!”I’m scrambling to get Poppy off the bed. She’s hurt again, but actively fighting against me as I drag her by the waist across the room and away from where Antony is beating the warrior into a bloody pulp. “The knife is still in his chest!” Poppy howls, clawing my arms. “Stop fighting me!” I cry, but she kicks her legs, pressing all her weight into her heels to halt my progress. The warrior breaks free of Antony’s grasp and pushes him away at the same time he grabs the knife and twists. Antony shouts–and to my great surprise–slaps the warrior across the face. I freeze, obviously in shock, and fight the urge to laugh in disbelief as Antony shoves the warrior away and removes the knife from his chest himself, tossing it across the room. “Slap him again!” Poppy roars. I put my hand over her mouth and continu
*Isla*“He’s on his way back,” Ben says hoarsely, running his fingers through his hair as he takes a seat in the dining room. I hold Isaac against my chest, patting his back as I pace along the far wall where the sunset is beaming through the windows. “I talked to him a few hours ago. He said he’d be here by morning.”I nod, glancing out a window as I pass, as if I can make Maddox just materialize out of nowhere. “How is Antony?” Ben asks as he reaches for a bottle of wine. He motions with his hand to offer me a glass but I shake my head. “Fine. Angry, but fine,” I sigh. I look down at Isaac, who is asleep with his chubby, perfect cheek squished on my shoulder. “He’s been holed up in Poppy’s room all day. He wants to skin that man alive, Ben.”“I understand why,” Ben says through gritted teeth as he pours himself some wine. “Has the man said anything?”“He won’t even give us his name. I interviewed some of the other warriors, and no one recognizes him. No one knows who he is or wher
*Isla*“It’s not even in the way she talks or handles business between the servants,” Poppy says as she winds a lock of my hair around a curling iron. “There’s just something strange about her.”“And Trinity hired her,” I add, dusting my cheeks with blush. “Yes, and that,” Poppy grimaces, starting on a new curl. “She probably just looks forward to the day I leave, Isla. If I leave. I don’t fall into the ‘be sweet and silent’ type of maid that she prefers, you know? And based on what you just told me, she thinks Trinity is dumb–”“She didn’t say dumb,” I laugh, smiling at Poppy through the reflection in the mirror. “But she did allude to Trinity being inexperienced and… well, I don’t really know how else to describe it. I want to like her because she’s done a great job in the role so far, but if Trinity is up to something… how can I trust her, or anyone in this house, for that matter?”“Well, Maddox will be home any minute now, and you won’t have to do all of this on your own anymore,
*Isla*Maddox is ravenous, and every cell in my body responds to his touch as he lifts me up from the floor and sets me on the stone table at the center of the gazebo. I can still taste him on my tongue, but he kisses me anyway as he unbuttons his shirt. My hands press into his chest, feeling the hard, solid muscles there. “Wrap your legs around my waist,” he rasps, his breath heavy and wanting as he trails kisses over my neck. I do as I’m told, locking my ankles together over his lower back. He reaches between us and drags his fingers over my slit, growling with approval. I exhale, trembling beneath his touch as he teases me, his eyes locked on mine. “I missed you, little flower.”“Show me how much you missed me,” I choke out, a moan leaving my lips as he positions himself at my entrance. He plunges into me with one hard, near violet thrust that leaves me seeing stars. I clutch his shoulders, digging my nails into his skin as he slowly pulls out again, dragging himself down. “I m
*Maddox*The dungeon beneath the castle is cleaner and less… damp, than most since the clean up of staff after the debacle with Zabrina. I still don’t like spending time down here, but there’s no other place to keep my enemies. I pass the cell where the man who’d attacked Isla and Poppy is sitting, his back to me. He doesn’t look up as I walk by, but I notice several scuffs on the smooth stone outside of the cell, like someone has been pacing back and forth just outside the bars. There is no doubt in my mind that Antony has been coming down here just to taunt the man, to walk along the bars and sneer and spit at him, and the man likely knows full well that Antony will take him apart piece by piece, slow and methodical, to avenge his mate, when I gave him the green light to do so.What will need to happen to Seth seems like a mercy in comparison.I turn a corner and come to a stop in front of a heavy metal door, a light flickering overhead. Amber light spills over the floor as I curl
*Isla*“Look at you,” Maddox beams as he balances on his hands and knees in front of Isaac on the floor in the large, airy sitting room near the library. I glance up from the magazine I’m reading to watch them, smiling as Maddox drops onto his elbows to look Isaac in the eyes. Isaac, hating every minute of what his nanny calls “tummy time”, screws his face into a scowl and lets out a howl of displeasure. “Oh, come on. You’re big and tough!”“You’re torturing him,” I chuckle, flipping a page. Maddox makes a face at Isaac, and the baby’s scowl turns into a grin. Seeing Maddox as a father is… a dream. Speaking of big and tough, this man used to intimate the hell out of me, and still intimates practically everyone else. Maddox just stepping into a room is enough to silence the space, and one look from him has Alphas cowering. But with Isaac he’s goofy, lighthearted, and… soft. The kindest, truest soul. I set my magazine down as Maddox rolls onto his back and lifts Isaac onto his chest.
*Maddox*Leo moves across the field of the stadium on the outskirts of my territory, the walls crawling with vines and smelling sharply of freshly cut grass. I stand with my arms crossed as Leo instructs a group of warriors who are setting up for the trials, watching their every move. Leo has fallen into his new role as one of my royal commanders without a hitch. I’d thought about making him my Beta, or at least letting him compete for it. But Leo is young, and also grew up far outside the traditional way of things. His mother may have been a member of my kingdom, but his father was a rogue. Leo’s education on matters of state and title wouldn’t be on par with what the other men vying for the position would be bringing to the table. Plus, I wanted to keep him as a warrior leader, a confidant, someone I could trust with the lives of my warriors and most importantly, my family. I might be bringing on a new Beta, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t over the incredible breach of trust Seth i