Julian was angry, that much was clear, though I couldn’t exactly fathom why. Yes, it would be irritating to be excluded from Nicholas’s confrontation of the King and Queen, but Julian usually handled irritation with cutting humor and sarcasm, not outright anger. “Your presence wouldn’t have made a
“It’s simply difficult to talk about,” I said as an excuse. It wasn’t a lie. Answering the King’s demand about Terry was difficult, though not entirely for the reasons he might have thought. His mouth pressed into a hard line. I couldn’t tell if he believed me or not. “Do the best you can.” I to
“Thank you, father,” Julian said with a flourishing bow. He smirked at Nathan as he entered the room. Nathan glared at him, but said nothing. He stepped outside the room and closed the door behind him. Julian sauntered over to my side, stepping between the King and me. “May I present, an item
I couldn’t believe that. Nothing from the time I had been with Nicholas to what I had experienced knowing him now indicated to me that he only cared about himself. He helped out regularly at an orphanage. He turned the other way to Mark and Susie’s romance. He spent time with Elva. He was so prote
Even imagining Julian in love felt like a stretch, though I felt like a jerk for thinking so. Why shouldn’t he fall in love? She would have had to be a special woman to keep his attention. I wondered what kind of woman Bridget really was. It was possible Julian had rose colored glasses, rememb
“Don’t worry,” Mark told me. “I will not leave this room. Elva will not leave my sight.” I nodded. That did make me feel marginally better. We’d received word earlier in the day that Terry himself was coming to the palace to personally deliver the results of his event. Since then, we’d mostly ba
Terry continued, listing each girl as well as the points they earned. Toward the end, he said, “Susie. Two points.” He offered no explanation. Susie looked relieved. “As for our final candidate,” Terry began. I held my breath because by now, I was the only one who had yet to be mentioned. “I rec
“Stop this at once,” the King said. It was then that I noticed, Julian had swiftly moved around the stage without catching his mother’s attention. I hadn’t seen him move either. Yet there he was, standing behind the King like he had been there all along. Like he had just been whispering in the K
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