I walk alone into the grand dining room where this evening’s dinner will be held, exhaling a long breath and looking around with interest. The room is already flooded with people – important Alphas with their Lunas on their arms, state officials, advisors. The Vendan officials are here too, obvious in their traditional black and looking for all things like a set of crows scattered around the room.Slowly I walk into the gorgeous room, which is elaborate in all of its white marble and gold accents, built to accommodate about one hundred guests in very fine circumstances. I accept a glass of champagne from a bowing Delta servant and take a stip. Those guests close to me who notice my entrance give me short bows of reverence – those due to a Queen, though of course I haven’t taken up that title yet.Still, in Mahl’s court – with the way he’s already claimed me? It’s as good as done.I step into the room, looking around, wondering how to handle this. Mahl is, of course, on his dais, where
Even though the rest of the banquet is as dull as I assumed it would be, anxiety turns in me the whole time because I know what’s coming next. Mahl laughs with his Alphas and consults with the delegation from Venda, hardly looking at me as he masterfully performs his role as King. But beneath our table he keeps a hand on my thigh, his palm so warm it feels like it scorches my skin beneath my satin gown.My cheeks grow red and I find that I have no appetite. What…what am I supposed to do if Margot doesn’t show up? How am I supposed to let her know that I need her if Mahl doesn’t let me escape from his side all night!?The night winds to a close and Mahl turns to me, finally, his face lit with a dark pleasure like he’s looking forward to what comes next. I gulp as I look up into his face, wondering if it’s the wine that has made him so loose, or…“Come, little doe,” he growls, giving my thigh a squeeze before standing and offering his hand. “To bed.”I do my best to hide my trepidation,
I just stare at the four tiny cakes that remain. “I’m…not hungry?”“It’s not for hunger,” Margot whispers, grinning at me. “At least, not that kind.”She holds out the plate a moment longer and then, when I stand frozen, just shrugs and moves for the bed. Mahl follows her, that growl still sounding, and gestures for me to come along too. “They’re here, highness Queen,” Margot says, placing them on the side table to Mahl’s bed. “Should you want one.”“Highness Queen,” Mahl murmurs, laughing a little. “Call her Everleigh – we’re more intimate than that. Or at least, we will be soon.” Then he breaks into his booming laugh, snatching Margot by the waist and pulling her into the sheets with him. She bursts into laughter too, a delighted sound.My eyes go wide as I just…watch these people, so comfortable with each other, so…easy and joyful in the world of sex.To my surprise, jealousy runs through me as Mahl playfully pins
“Highness,” the Prince murmurs, stepping close to my bed. “I like your nightgown.”My eyes fly open at this.I turn my head to glare at him.Auden smirks at me. “Very fine materials. Precisely my father’s taste.”I groan, turning my face away and burying it in my pillows. Behind me, I hear Auden laugh as he seats himself on the edge of the bed. “It’s so weird that you know your dad’s taste in lingerie.”“Yeah, I’m not sure we have…what could be understood as a healthy father/son dynamic.”I sigh and turn again, lounging back in the pillows, studying him in the dark. The soft fall of his dark hair over his forehead. The broad set of his shoulders and his strong, muscled arms. “How are you?” I ask.“Surprised that you’re here,” he says, studying me in turn, not letting me change the sub
I laugh, leaning forward to pat the mattress. “Well, come up, then. No sense in letting this perfectly fantastic bed mysteriously placed in the middle of a field go to waste.”Auden’s smirk deepens as he crawls onto the bed, surprising me by stretching himself out long at my side, resting his head against his hand, perfectly at ease and much less formal than he usually is. But then again, he’s a figment of my imagination, isn’t he? Of course this version of Auden is more relaxed.“I’ve never dreamed of a place like this before,” he murmurs, looking around with interest. “Though I have to admit, your presence is less of a surprise.”“Really?” I ask, a little delighted, sitting up all prim with my hands in my lap. “I’m a regular feature in your dreams, then?”“Yes, Everleigh,” he says, a little growl tracing his words as he flicks his
I groan, turning over to bury my face in my pillow when I wake up for the second time, the sun just starting to peek through my windows. Because even when I fell back asleep, all my mind did was go over that dream again and again – the feel of Auden’s mouth on mine, his hand slipping down my back, the way he pulled me tight against his chest –I shake my head, my face slipping against the soft fabric of my pillowcase, not knowing…how the hell I’m supposed to deal with this insane crush that I have on my baby daddy. The son of my forced fiancé. The man who sleeps two doors away from me and who is…so utterly off limits.I sigh, pushing myself up, pushing my hair back from my face, scowling. “Don’t be so weak, Everleigh,” I murmur, getting out of bed and storming off to the bathroom. There is just…way too much at stake to even dream about such things.
Margot settles in on the lounge as I move to the bell pull by the side of my bed, giving it two tugs that I know will send Tara up with some coffee. Then I move to her side. “So,” I say, leaning close, glancing just once at the door to the children’s room. “How did it…go?”“Oh, it went fine!” Margot says, laughing lightly and stretching her arms up above her head. “It always does. Honestly, Everleigh, there’s no need for concern. You weren’t awake and upset all night, were you?”I pause for a moment, kind of shocked now that she suggests it. But I shake my head. “No,” I whisper. “I kind of…slept beautifully.”Margot grins at me and glances over at my bedside. “Two cakes, Everleigh!” she says, laughing a little and reaching out to lightly smack my knee. “Be careful not to overdose.”My eyes go wide.She grins. “Just kidding, that’s not possible. Don’t worry so much. Did you have sweet dreams too?”I blush and she laughs, but I shake it off, knowing she doesn’t have the true details unle
“You dare,” Mahl growls, his eyes fastened on the chubby little ambassador, who looks like he’s quite literally shaking in his boots. “To again raise the subject of my granddaughter’s pet?”From the corner of my eye, I see Vivianna sit up straighter in her seat, sensing that Mahl is talking about her, quite pleased – as she always is - to be the center of attention. Niall keeps reading. Auden sits very still.My back molars press together in frustration as I consider, not for the first time, that this is less about paternal affection for granddaughter and more about Mahl disliking the fact that this man has the gall to question his previous decree.The ambassador lifts his chin, determined. “The Firebird is a national honor, your Highness – I don’t know how it appeared in your lands after hundreds of years of absence but it belongs in Venda. It is our heritage embodied, our most important –““Vivianna!” Ma
To my surprise, no summons to dinner and festivities comes from Mahl that evening. Instead, I’m brought a sensible little supper in my rooms alongside a note from the King saying that his war council is running late. I gleefully pack up the little dinner, taking it with me across the rooftop to the children’s suite where I cuddle Niall and Vivi in my lap and hear all about their trials and victories on their first day at school.The same happens the next night, and the night after – to the point where I’m starting to wonder if Mahl has gotten sick of me. I mean, a pleasant turn but…One which I’m not sure I fully believe. Margot has been coming to breakfast, after all, filling me in on her activities. Apparently, Mahl has been calling for her at midnight and beyond after long days in meetings – wanting someone willing in his bed, I suppose, instead of a reluctant bride whom he has to coax and seduce.She told me that their meetings have been consis
I stare up at Auden, because he can’t possibly mean that he wants me to come to him tonight -But he frowns a me, confused, and my wolf slumps to the ground of my soul with a wolfish little moan of mortification. Because yeah! He can’t possibly mean that! It’s just me, with my filthy dream-addled little mind that was thinking that he could have wanted that.I clench my teeth against a groan.“Are you all right?” Auden asks, stepping forward, reaching out a hand to support me.“I’m fine,” I sigh, stepping away and turning towards the center of the children’s room, walking unsteadily over to Vivianna’s little bookshelf and placing the tiara on top. I take the opportunity of my turned back to pull myself together, my wolf regaining her feet and shaking out her fur, newly determined not to be such a mess.“So…” Auden says. I turn to see him watching me, still leaning against the wall, expression bemused. “Are you com
“Mom won’t let me wear my tiara!” Viv shouts, stepping towards her papa, knowing he’s the easier mark. She lifts a hand to her head as she goes, holding the too-large diamond-encrusted headpiece on her blonde hair. I sigh as I watch, thinking that such an incredible piece of jewelry is far too fine for a little girl who is definitely going to drop it on the floor at any moment.Honestly, she should just give it to me. You know. For safekeeping.“Why on earth do you want to wear a tiara, Viv,” Auden murmurs, looking behind him and tossing the hand towel onto the table by his own room. “You’ll be playing and learning –““Because it is pretty!” she snaps. “And mine!”Auden grimaces, looking first at the clock and then at me, opening his mouth. I step forward, my jaw dropping, because I can see the concession on his lips.“Don’t you dare, Auden!” I snap, pointing a finger at him and glaring hard. “She ca
I blink awake, staring at the ceiling of my castle room in the dark, grief rushing through me alongside awe.Because that dream…it was so vivid. Like I was…there, feeling everything in the moment like it had been real. The feel of his skin against mine, god damn it, I felt it. It was like…a memory relived, more than a dream.I sigh, turning my face to the side, looking over at Margot’s good-dream cakes, wondering if the name is a lie. Because while the events of that dream were fairly fantastic and I have woken all limp and languid as if I really did just have the best sex of my life…God, but that’s cruel. To give me an experience that was so real, to which my actual life will never, ever live up. My wolf howls, wanting me to close my eyes so I can go back to that dream – but I shake my head, knowing that I can’t.How had the little cake
He snarls, pleased, a predator now as he thrusts himself hard into me, claiming me with every stroke. My entire body shakes as I gasp again and again, what’s left of my mind ringing with the truth of it – with how fucking good and right it feels to make myself his, to give myself completely to him, to his pleasure –I feel it, somehow, building in him as it builds in me. My breath is nothing but fervid little gasps as he pounds me harder, his hand wrapped in my hair, pain mingling with pleasure as I dig my nails into the flesh of his back, begging him for more. I curl against him, my entire body tensing with every stroke, and I feel him watching me – taking pleasure in my helpless gasps as he strokes again and again –He growls, a command as I come to the end of it and I moan – heavy and true, my eyes pressed shut, my teeth finding his shoulder as that tension winds so tight –His fingers press
**Midwinter, Five and a Half Years Ago**I move my hand slowly up and down Auden’s cock, reveling a little at the feel of it thick and heavy against my palm even has half of my attention is on his mouth, moving fervidly over mine. I moan – just a soft, throaty noise - completely overwhelmed by him. The size and sheer power of this Alpha –God damn it but I want him. Heat builds low in my body, a fluttering tension growing in my core.Auden’s hips flex, pressing himself tighter against my palm, stroking the length of that fantastic cock against my hand as he leverages himself above me, his weight held up on his forearms as he finishes kicking his pants off, leaving them in a heap at the other end of the couch.He pulls his mouth away from me for a moment, panting, looking down into my face. And I see him hesitate, even as I continue to stroke him. His eyes flutter shut for a moment as I move
Auden kiss Everleigh fiercely, intent as his hand moves over the bodice of her dress, feeling the shape of her beneath the fabric. His hand slips around to her back, fumbling with the laces there as Evie kisses him back, their tongues pressing against each other in a way that makes him…absolutely insane.All the thoughts slip from Auden mind as Everleigh shifts in his lap, sliding her thigh over his so that she’s again straddling his hips, her face leveled slightly above Auden’s so that his head tilts back just as she kisses him. Somehow his fingers fumble with the strings, pulling at them, feeling them loosen –But he’s not sure how his hands manage that – because all of his thoughts are entirely overwhelmed by the scent of her filling his nostrils, the need he has to touch her skin, to get these stupid clothes off her, to see her – his mate – bare for him –Naked, entire
**Midwinter, Five-and-a-Half Years Ago**Auden just stares at her for a long, long moment. The most beautiful girl he’s ever seen, without a doubt. Here, in his arms, looking up at him with her clear blue eyes.Then, to his shock, her hands keep moving. He looks around for the mask – where did she toss it? But it’s nowhere. He’s distracted by the thought as her hands move over her hair, his eyes going wide as –As the color leeches out of it –Auden’s jaw is hanging open by the time she lowers her hands to her lap, grimacing a little. “Blonde,” she says, glancing upwards like she can see it – all the lovely sunshine hair tumbling from her head, landing halfway down her back.“What…the hell…” Auden whispers, completely rigid with shock.She grimaces. “You don’t like blondes?&
He shakes his head. “I don’t even know Angeline. She seems very nice – and fun. I think I will like her, I just…I can’t believe they’re having a kid.” He exhales, running a hand through his hair, staring off into the distance as he processes it.“Your first sibling,” I murmur, my brows rising as I sip the last of my whiskey and put the cup on the floor. “Do you want a brother or a sister?”He smirks and turns his eyes back to me. “I want you to stop distracting me.”I grin, caught. “But it’s such a fun distraction.”He laughs, leaning towards me and reaching out, wrapping his wide hand around one of my ankles. “Fun for you. I’m still tortured.”“Oh, come on,” I say, shaking my head and letting my red hair fall around my face. “We can discuss baby names. They could name your new sibling after