Claire and her parents left the room and Candido directed them to meet with the staff to arrange dinner for them that night and Francium.“We’ll talk more about you returning to school when this is all over, later.”Claire’s lips twitched and she nodded. “Thank you, Your Majesty.”“Enjoy dinner,” I said, waving them goodbye.“Hedy,” I turned to look at Candido. “Will you join me for dinner? There’s… a new restaurant I think you will enjoy.”My heart fluttered and I pressed closer to him. “Like a date?”His eyes softened and he nodded. “Like a date.”I nodded, “I’ll go up and get ready. What should I wear?”“There’s… a red dress in your closet. It’s new.” He pressed a kiss to my forehead. “Enjoy the tub, get some rest, and indulge me? We have hours before dinner.”The problem was that I didn’t want him to wait. “Can’t we have lunch?”“We will, but it will be here.” He smiled. “Besides, I have work to catch up on, and you need more rest.”“You need more rest too. We could just go to lun
I turned back to my room closing the door behind me. My heart was so full. I was almost dizzy with the feeling of Candido’s lips against mine and his voice in my ear. I shivered and walked away from the door.Then, a knock sounded on the door.“Yes?” I asked.The door opened and Candido stepped in. His eyes were full of light and hungry. My heart lurched. Then he was across the room, cupping my face and kissing me. He turned me towards my bed and shove me down. I wrapped my arms around his neck and held him against me.He groaned into my mouth and lifted me up. I didn’t know what he was thinking, but it didn’t matter. I just hoped this wasn’t another dream.He kissed me and ran his hands over my body. I shivered and gasped. Then, I felt something giving way, like there was a resistance in me that was falling. I pushed back against the feeling and he grunted, rolling his hips against mine and pinning my hands over my head as he kissed me deeply and possessively. I moaned and wrapped my
“Of course.” He shifted me a little until I was curled up in between him and the back of the lounger, blocking me from the wind and keeping me warm.“How is this, princess?”I closed my eyes and took a deep breath of his warm, musky scent.“It’s perfect.”I looked up at Candido as the sun began to rise and warm the air. The winter was more mild than usual. I looked up and saw the space heaters around us.“Good morning,” Candido said and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Care to come into town with me today?”I nodded. “That sounds great… Like another date?”His lips twitched. “A date unlike last night… Hedy—”I pressed a finger to his lips and met his gaze. “It wasn’t you.”His eyes narrowed.“Those… Those guys… I was drugged and I had no control over my powers. I…” I shook my head. “I felt my wolf giving in to you.”He flushed. His eyes flickered with light and he sat up stiffly.“I didn’t know what that meant,” I said. “I panicked. I thought I was… somehow still affected by everythin
He twitched and the SUV took off. I looked at him.“Why didn’t you say anything?”His lips twitched. “First thing you will learn about being queen, Hedy, is that the press has only one job: get a rise out of you. They make money when you respond.”He sat back. “I make it a habit of not playing their game.”I looked out the window and nodded slowly. “That’s why no one knows anything about you… Good or bad.”“They know what they need to.”We reached city hall and there were reporters there too, but we pushed past them easily and walked into the building. Once inside, he opened a bunch of documents for me on a tablet and sat across the table from me.I was about to tell him that I didn’t understand anything, but I stopped.He knew I was Pandora now. I didn’t have to hide anything from him.“We’ll need to deal with Red Moon,” I said.He nodded. “I agree… Let’s start with what we know so far and go from there.”We worked quietly for a moment before we ended up leaning over the tablet toget
I looked back at Candido and worried my lip. I didn’t want to wake him. He had just gone to sleep, but this felt important. I opened the message and messaged Vanessa. Soon, she called my cellphone. I stepped out of the room as quietly as I could.“Let me guess, he’s sleeping?”“His nose was bleeding,” I told her. She let out a low hiss.“That boy…” she sighed. “Fine. We’ll commence with Bella’s interrogation above the table.”“Above the table?”“Officially the Full Moon’s investigation,” she said. “That way, her parents can be brought in. We’ll have her transferred to Full Moon’s Official prison.”My stomach jolted. “How long will that take?”“A few hours.”I leaned back against the door. “I guess… he’ll at least get a few hours of sleep that way.”“Just a few assuming he’s not awake in that office fiddling around.”I narrowed my eyes and opened the door, finding him at the desk, typing. He didn’t even glance up.“I’ve made arrangements to be put into maximum security. I’ll handle the
Steven looked up at Candido then down to me.“Should I think have you put back in a jail cell for consorting with someone with known vampire ties?" Candido asked. “I don’t punish people for being born to criminals.”He flinched. “It’s not like that. I mean I can’t be sure if—”“So, now you’re going to lie to me?” Candido asked. “Which part is a lie?”He flushed. “No, you’re accusing me—”“You attempted to play a card you don’t have the right to play,” Candido growled.“I’d like to talk to Hedy in private.”“You have no reason to speak to my pack member in private,” Candido said.“She’s my—”“It’s fine,” I said and looked up at Candido. He didn’t look like he wanted to agree before I looked back at Steven. “But I’m not speaking to another pack’s leader without my alpha present.”He growled. “This has gone on far enough! You’ve already caused so much trouble for my pack and now you’re standing there like this? What about Bella? You should be apologizing and pleading for leniency on her
I turned the name over in my mind over and over again as we rode back to the estate.“Should we go out tonight?”I pouted at him. “You need rest! Stop trying to get out of going to be!”He chuckled. “I’m not. I’ll take a nap before we go. I promise.”I narrowed my eyes at him. “Promise?”He held up a hand. “As someone who is also named after their mother. I promise.”I nodded hesitantly. “Fine. But… where are we going?”He smirked and kissed my temple. “You’re going to have to wait to find that out, princess.”“But Candido!”He faked a yawn and turned. “Sorry, Hedwig Jr. My mate has ganged up on me with my aunt, so I have to rest or I’ll never get anything done.”I pouted at him as he laughed and walked away.“You’re so mean to me!”He leaned on the banister and grinned. “You have no idea how mean I can be… but I think you like it that way.”My face heated. He wiggled his eyebrows before heading up stairs and disappearing down the hallway. I headed up to my room and huffed as I realiz
I jumped out of bed, Candido was just behind me.“Give me a status update. Injured. Damage.”“It just started, but they’ve already leveled half of downtown.”My stomach turned as I raced back to my room to get dressed. My Blue Moon phone was ringing. I answered it.“Pandora, we’re mobilizing ever agent in the Full Moon capital area for search, rescue, and evacuation.”“I’m on it.”I put on my tennis shoes and athletic gear before grabbing a hoodie. The door opened to reveal Claire. Her eyes were filled with red light.“What is it?”“It’s vampires,” Claire said. “Francium said I should warn you about what they’re using.”I frowned, “What does that mean? I thought he gave us all the information—”“He did, about their plans. This is news from Francia.”My eyes widened. “And where… is she?”“I don’t know,” Claire said, falling into step with me as we headed back downstairs. There was a jeep parked at the back of the estate, marked with the Blue Moon symbol. Francium was there, looking a b