I was surrounded by a feeling of warmth and safety. I blinked open my eyes, and I found myself pressed into a hard, masculine chest. Beneath my ear, I heard the steady thumping of a strong heart. Lifting my head, I looked up at Nicholas. He was carrying me through my bedroom toward my bed. I could
Although perhaps Julian’s initial plan to hold a contest event at Terry’s mansion would bear fruit. At this point, I felt so directionless, I wasn’t sure what was even possible anymore. “Leave it to Julian and me for now,” Nicholas whispered. “We’ll give it more thought.” When I started to say som
“Julian?” I prompted. “You must have come for some reason?” “Right,” he said, then rubbed his forehead. “That’s true.” He cleared his throat again, then stood straighter. When he started forward once more, his usual smirk slipped back into place. Whatever weakness that had taken over him was lon
Elva gasped. “How did you do that?” Julian laughed. “Sleight of hand, my dear. Would you like to learn?” In a flash, the quarter was back in his hand. He held it out for Elva, who greedily accepted it. “Yes!” she said excitedly. “No,” I said a second later. Elva turned her doe eyes on me. “M
After thanking Tiffany, I excused myself from lunch and ushered Elva back to the safety of our room. I kept my eyes peeled for any sight of my twin in the hallways, but I saw no sight of her myself. Yet I had no reason to doubt Tiffany. When we were back in the room, I called Mark to the side. “I
The guard who had opened his mouth immediately did so again. “Many apologies, Your Royal Highness. We meant no offense. It was not meant to be a secret from you, though…” His gaze shifted to me. Beside me, Nicholas straightened, body tense as a bow string. “So you are following us?” “Following M
The evening of the fundraising gala, Elva and I changed into our glistening golden dresses and waited in the parlor with the other candidates for Nathan to come and bring us to the event. We stood near Susie for a while, but she was distracted. She had prepared notecards for her pitch, as well as
Elva immediately perked upon seeing him. “Jul-an! Teach me the trick again.” “She’s been practicing,” I said softly to Julian, like a secret. “Then maybe you should show me.” Julian withdrew a quarter from his pocket and handed it to Elva. I let go of her hand so she could move, though I place
Instead, the Queen pulled me into a hug. It was uncomfortable and brief, but a hug none the less. From the Queen, this was a tremendous breach of decorum, and I froze, unsure how to react. Even Nathan, standing dutifully as his King’s side seemed shocked.“I have misjudged you dearly,” the Queen sai
I wasn’t sure what to expect when our car delivered us from the train station to the palace, but even in my wildest dreams, I wouldn’t have guessed what actually awaited us.Cheering crowds lined the outer walls of the palace. Balloons and streamers of various colors were abundant. A stage had been
At once, my heart leapt up into my throat, while simultaneously crashing down into my stomach.I pulled away from Nicholas enough to push myself up onto my hands and stare down at him.The thought of breaking the engagement had never crossed my mind! Nicholas proposing had been one of the best momen
In a war between the wolves and the bears, only the lost bear princess will be able to stop this fighting. Else, the bears will continue to fight themselves to exhaustion or to death.“It’s up to you,” Nicholas said. “I believe in you. You can do this.”I closed my eyes. Miracle was still exhausted,
Slowly, my grief subsided for now, enough for me to look up at Nicholas and feel the relief of being reunited with my fiancé.My… mate.“I love you,” Nicholas said. “I’m sorry it took so long for me to reach you.”“How are you even here? It’s impossible for you to have found me this quickly?”Nichol
Joyce, despite his best efforts, was not a fighter. He was not bred for war and battle like Hawke was, so even calling on the power of his Alpha wolf, Hawk tossed Joyce aside like he was a sack of potatoes.However, Joyce did show amazing tenacity, and stood back up time and time again. Roaring, he
Nicholas was here. I didn’t know how. I didn’t know why. But he was here, and that gave me the strength I needed to act.I ripped my arm away from Joyce’s hold and rushed into the room where Hawk was choking my sister on the ground. Using all of my strength, I plowed into Hawk.My surprise more than
We slipped into the hallway easily enough. The lights were off, so we stuck to the shadows. We didn’t go far when we started to hear raised voices.“I want to know if Piper was telling the truth.” It was Jane.“You cannot mean to trust her more than me,” that was Hawk. His cold voice sent shivers ru
A mating bond…?Yes. Even though Nicholas and I had never talked about the love between us, I had still felt it grow over these months together. Nicholas had never made a bonding bite on my neck, yet inside of me, that bond had cultivated. Our hearts were bound together, mating bite or now.There wa