“Giving up?” Ansel asks me. His attention remains focused forward as if the notes from the song as forming in the air in front of him.
The color drains from my face. “I’m sorry. I know I’m not supposed to be in here.” The corners of his mouth turn upward for a moment, leaving me wondering if I imagined it.
“You always were dramatic,” he says. “I told you not to touch the piano, not that you couldn’t come into the room.” He pauses. “This was my mother’s piano.”
“I know,” I whisper. “You used to play it for me whenever I danced.” He looks up and stares at me without breaking his focus. The storm brewing in his eyes almost stopped my heart.
“And I’m playing now. So, are you going to do your part, or have you really given up?” His eyes bore into me, and I know it’s not a real question, but a challenge.
I lace my pointer ba
“Joy?!” I shout almost as loud as her. I can’t believe she’s standing at my door. She beams and rushes to hug me.“You two know one another?” Maggie asked with her eyebrow raised.“Yes! Joy was locked up with me when I was with the dealers.”Joy and I embrace tighter. “I never thought I would see you again,” she whispered.“Me either. Not that I’m not happy to see you, but what are you doing here?”Releasing me, she poses. “I’m here to help you seduce Sir Ansel.”“What?”“You heard me. Now are you going to let me in or am I going to continue to freeze my butt off?”“Yes, of course, sorry.” I moved to the side, and allowed her and Maggie in. “Now spill.”“I’m a b-girl,” she says. My eyes widened and she shook her head. “No, it’s not the same as it was
“You and the other maids may leave,” he says to Maggie.“Yes, sir,” Maggie bustles through the door, and I can hear the shuffle of everyone leaving the villa.“How is your bath?” Ansel asks roughly.I part my lips but close them again. Joy’s words and teaching cross my mind. This is the perfect time to put them to use. Returning his gaze, I bit my lip. “Why don’t you join me and find out?” Ansel furrows his brow, and I extend one of my legs from the basin for him to see. I lower my voice to a sultry whisper, “Come.”He stands in silence, and his jaw flexes slightly.Shit!I think to myself. I may not be as experienced as others, but even I know that his reaction wasn’t the one that I was hoping for.“No. You come to me,” he says with an even tone.“What?”“You heard me. Be the brazen little wolf I know you
“I’m sorry. I-I was ju—”“Not following doctor’s orders? Are you really attempting to seduce an injured man?”“No! I thought you were sleeping!”He raises his eyebrow. “And that makes it better?”“No!” The longer he stares at me, the more tongue-tied I become. “I wasn’t trying to seduce you!”“Then what were you doing?” He looks at me with genuine curiosity, and once again I feel foolish. I can’t tell him the real reason is that I can’t stop thinking about how much tonight reminded me of how bad things could get. I want to lie, but the truth beats me to it.“You used to be so sick,” I whisper. His eyes widen, and I look away. “When I saw you tonight, it reminded me of then.”“I’m fine,” he says, but the lines of his face tighten. “If you haven’t noticed, I’m
One Month LaterKARIN’S POV“Your levels are good, and you’re ovulating…I honestly can’t make heads or tails of this,” the doctor said. “By all accounts, you should be pregnant by now.”“It’s hard to get pregnant when the other person won’t touch you,” I reply, frowning.“That is an important piece of information that would have been beneficial to know.”The butler’s face crumbles at the news. “Doctor, is there anything that you can do?”The doctor shook his head. “The Second Prince is one of the healthiest people I know. Unless you’re proposing that I sit in the room with them and assist—which I’m certain will be uncomfortable for all of us—then there is nothing else that I can offer.” He paused. “Actually, if you two are having problems performing the act, there is the option of artificia
My entire body shook in front of him as I processed his request. His eyes shifted in color, and he watched silently, waiting for my next move. Hot tears burn my eyes, but I hold them off and close them. “Fine. If that’s what you want,” I say.I grabbed the hem of his pants and his breathing pattern harshen. Fumbling with his buckle, my bottom lip trembles, but I refuse to let him see me fall apart. Ansel grips my hand, stopping me, and I open my eyes. His eyes softened back to their blue, carrying a calm but brewing storm.“Wow…” he whispered as he distanced himself from me. He sat back on the bed. “Is that what you really think of me?” he asked.I sit on the floor, still shaken. “Honestly, I don’t know what to think of you anymore. I don’t understand you at all.”“Then you aren’t paying attention.” He places his head in his hands. “Why do you insist on making me out to be a villain? How could you think of me as such an ugly thing?”Standing, I walk over to him and rub his hair. He sh
“I wish I could tell you, but I didn’t see anything last night or this morning,” Maggie replies.“It’s okay, Thank you.”“Of course.”I stare pensively at the bouquet flowers.But if they were from him, how could he have come in here without me sensing his pheromones?Something Maggie said crosses my mind.‘He apparently had a strange look on his face and made an even stranger request of a vial of musk to mask his natural scent.’A smile pours on my face. There is no doubt in my mind that the flowers are from Ansel. No one else knows that they are my favorite flower because he always mentioned when we were younger how much I smelled like them. He always had a way of finding them even when they were out of season just to surprise me.The gesture left me both happy and confused. After what happened between us last night, I was certain that I would receive notice this morning that I was to pack my bags and leave immediately. I gently pluck a flower and take it into the bathroom to put in
I could hear the door of my villa open. “Get off of her!” Maggie shouted.“Or what? What you going to do?” Cherry said, loosening her grip.Past her, I can see the figures of Maggie and the doctor. Standing side by side, their eyes turned yellow, and they growled at her and her gammas. They’re going to attack with no regard for their own safety.Ada paced inside me, and the longer I watched them prepare to put themselves in danger, the angrier she grew towards Cherry and her gammas.“Not our friends,” she raged inside of me as she took over.From my mouth came a voice that didn’t sound like my own. “Stand down,” I strain out through the clutch of Cherry’s hand around my neck. “I will not let you be harm.” They stop as if almost in a trance-like state. They lower their heads slightly, though their bodies remain hunched as if waiting for my command. Fear flashes across Cherry’s face and she releases me. My eyes tinge in color at her, and I can feel the twist of my bones.“No, Ada!” I be
ANSEL POV Cherry opened her mouth to speak, but the fury on Ansel’s face kept her quiet. “Back away from her and call off your men or I swear to you, none of them will make it out of here alive.” Entering in droves, Ansel’s gammas square off with the others. They are bigger, stronger, and like their leader would attack without restraint. Maggie and the doctor are released. “S-stand down,” Cherry says to her gammas as she backs away. “Ansel I—” “Enough.”He didn’t want to see the full extent of Karin’s injuries. The blood that stained the gamma’s fists and boots left him with a sinking feeling. Reaching her, Ansel bent down and exhaled sharply at the sight. It was worse than he imagined; there was so much blood that covered her body, he could hardly make out her clothes. Her face was beginning to swell, and her fingers were bent back in an awkward position. He covered his mouth, and his bottom lip trembled in both anger and fear. “Why wouldn’t she fig