“Mark,” Nicholas said in his cool, authoritative tone. Mark lowered his head, deferring at once, even as his jaw stayed clenched. “What exactly is your plan?”“I don’t have one,” Mark said. “Not beyond throwing myself at her parents’ feet. But I will spirit her away if I must. If…” For the first tim
That evening, after dinner, I met Nicholas and Mark near the front door of the palace. Then, we walked to the waiting car and a driver took us to Susie’s family estate.As pulled through the gate, I was amazed by the sheer size of the building. It wasn’t the size of the palace, but the palace was th
The butler showed me to Susie’s room, and then quickly excused himself outside of her door. When he was gone, I knocked.“Go away!” Susie called in a watery voice. She was crying.I knocked more insistently as I pushed open the door.“I said –” she started, cutting herself off she say me. “Piper?”“
Not long after, Nicholas and I excused ourselves. We left Mark there with Susie and her parents to celebrate and help solidify the engagement. Nicholas and my presence was no longer necessary.The driver was outside, leaning against the parked car. When he spotted us, he flicked away his cigarette a
The next morning, I headed down to breakfast with Elva per usual. Today, all of the girls were even more animated than usual, their voices quick and cheerful with the latest gossip, their expressions bright.“Susie and Mark are engaged!” Tiffany said, repeating what the others have said but louder a
“Have you ever heard anything like this?” I asked. “I can feel Miracle. I know she’s there. But she’s not speaking to me and she’s not coming forward to help me shift.”Nicholas’s brow crumpled as he considered my question.“I’ve never heard of anything like this specifically,” Nicholas said. “But i
Later, I left Elva to play with her Nanny and her dolls, and joined Tiffany, Veronica, and Julian for a meeting in our sitting room/investigatory office. No one seemed terribly excited today, as we didn’t have any good news to share.“There’s not much progress today, I’m afraid,” Julian said. “In fa
“Veronica’s right,” I chimed in. “We’ll still be able to see each other.”I hoped with all of my heart that would be true. Veronica could visit Tiffany and vice versa. Julian, as prince, would be able to visit whoever he wanted whenever he wanted.But me? If I returned to my life as a commoner, I do
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