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
Beside me, Elva yawned. “I’m tired, Mommy.” I immediately crouched down beside her. I touched my hand to her forehead, but I didn’t feel a fever. Still, my nerves were frayed and I couldn’t help but worry. “Do you feel hot?” “No. Just sleepy.” She rubbed at one eye. I hated to leave early. We
Suddenly, Nicholas was beside me, a look of unabashed anger on his face. Terry met it with an easy, self-satisfied smirk. “Why, nephew. How good of you to join us.” “The feeling is not mutual,” Nicholas snapped. “Nick-lass?” With her free hand, Elva reached for Nicholas. He caught her hand in
As Terry pulled me out onto the dance floor, I at least felt the relief of knowing Elva wouldn’t overhear whatever terrible things Terry was sure to say to me. About me, or about my sister. This worked for me, because I wanted answers. Terry placed his hand on my waist. His other gripped my hand f
“You can’t,” I said. “He’s one of the benefactors.” “To hell with it. With all of it. If it keeps you safe, I’ll drag him from the grounds myself.” “And then what? The Luna brings him back. Or the King? And you are on the outs with them. There’s nothing you can do, Nicholas,” I said. “But, Pip
For too long, I watched Nicholas across the room, as he greeted a benefactor and then introduced Olivia. As it wasn’t Lilliana’s turn with the benefactor, she had been asked to stand back. She glared at Olivia behind Nicholas’s back. Nicholas turned on the charisma for the elderly benefactor. Oliv
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