He follows that bombshell with, “I hope you like venison.”I stumble into the dining room, where a large table is set for two at one end.“It’s very fresh,” he goes on. “I hunted it myself during the full moon.”I can’t get past his earlier announcement. “You did it?”“Well, you know. The only things to do during the full moon are fuck, fight, or hunt.” He pulls a chair out for me and I sit obediently, out of habit.“I’m not talking about the deer!” I lean toward him as he sits and for some reason, I lower my voice like we’re in danger of being overheard. “You conjured the Right of Accord? Your pack has a Right of Accord?”He nods and lifts his hand to signal the staff for the first course. As the thralls place bowls of pale cream soup in front of us, Owen elaborates. “All packs operate under the same law, given to us by Lycaon the Younger. Didn’t they teach that in school?”I shake my head. “I assumed pack law was just the law of our pack.”“Hmiders for a moment. “Don toon teach chil
The Dixon family motto could easily be, “If it’s uncomfortable, ignore it.”My dinner with OIfn last week is currently causing my family maximum discomfort, and their unwcausingess to speak to me about it is such a blessing, I practically beam on the ride to brunch and my fitting for my ceremonial dress.Still, my heart and head are divided. While I desperately want to believe Owen can get me out of this mating pact, it’s not as simple as “I’m king, I can do what I want.” He’ll face the wrath of a packaging nightmare. There’s no way Ashton and his family tape nightmaNightmareonelwalkinger them so blatantly.And I don’t know Owen at all. There’s no guarantee he means what he says. Maybe he’s that magnetic and disarming with every woman he meets. There could be any number of potential mates in the pack that he’s considering; there’s no reason for me to believe otherwise, especially when rumors are swirling that he’s in love with the former queen.Still, if he’s serious, dissolution of
I’m in my room when Tara arrives, and she chirps into the intercom that she’s coming up. Even as kids, we never had to share our space, but we’re all in that my that's that girl's hate Even though Tara and Clare have moved out, their bedrooms are still there, though they’ve been redecorated a bit removed fairy lights and school trophies.My door creaks open and I sit up on my bed, tossing aside my book. “Hey.”“Hey,” she says, and sighs deeply, sliding her hands into the back pockets of her jeans and rocking on her heels.“That bad, huh?” I try to laugh as I swing my legs over the side of the bed, but the mood in the room is somewhere between “right before you find out grandma died” and “the sex talk with your parents.”Not that I’ve experienced either; our grandparents are all still alive and probably have a good hundred years left, and Mother has probably never even said the word “sex” out loud.“You can sit down,” I say, rolling my eyes. “Stop acting like you’re here to break bad n
I have no idea what I’m doing as I race to Aconitum Hall. I don’t know if Owen will be there or if I can even see him. But he’s the king; it’s not like I have his private cell phone number or anything.Then maybe you shouldn’t be driving over to his house unannounced. My rational mind has a point, but my alarm brain overrides it. I’m not rushing over to his house to declare my love or beg him to be my boyfriend. He’s the pack leader, I’m his subject, and I need help.There’s a gatehouse at the main entrance, staffed by a thrall who looks up from her book with a suspicious expression as I pull up. She reaches to her hip to flick the safety of the gun in her holster before she opens the window.Outside of hunting, I’ve never seen an actual gun in an individual before. That makes me wish I had thought my actions through a little more before tearing over here.“Name and purpose of visit.” Her voice doesn’t go up at the end at all. It’s not a question, but a warning that I shouldn’t be he
It’s one dinner. Just one, I tell myself as I approach the restaurant doors.But I don’t know if it’s the last time I’m going to have to sit across from Ashton and pretend that I’m going to be his willing little wife. I do not doubt Owen is Owenis going to make good on his promise to nullify Ashton’s lawsuit against me. I just don’t know when. Lupercalia is still two weeks away. Plus, I haven’t heard from the king since the night we almost…I try not to think about that as the maître d’ leads me through the dimly lit main floor, to a round banquette of soft ivory leather. Ashton hesitates there, his coppery hair combed back and brushing the collar of his expensive suit jacket. He rises with a broad smile, takes my hands, and kisses my cheek. “I almost gave up on you.”I wish you would. I physically bite my tongue to keep from saying it. “I’m sorry. I got turned around on the way here.”He frowns as we slide into our seats. “You drove yourself?”“Mmhm,” I affirm through my closed-lip
Owendoesn’t contact me for a full week.The preparations for my mating ceremony have hit crisis mode. Mother, Clare, and Tara fret over the morning-after celebration. Everything from the guest list to the centerpieces has to be perfectly correct to hopefully erase the stain of What I Did.I try my best to participate if only to keep up the pretense that I’ll be marrying Ashton.His threats haunt me. Nightmares of desperately trying to run from him, only to be dragged back to the pack kicking and screaming have me waking up in a cold sweat nightly. I’m constantly exhausted and on edge, and people are noticing.“The bags under your eyes,” Mother says at dinner one night, making a quiet tutting noise instead of finishing the thought.“I haven’t been dozing well.” Because of you, because of what Father agreed to. Because of the pack and the fact that I’m a prisoner.“Ma’am?” Hudson steps into the dining room, followed by two thrall soldiers with the royal seal sewn onto their Kevlar vests
I don’t want to feel grateful or relieved that Owenhas freed me from my obligation to Ashton. I don’t want to feel anything other than angry at the man who’s mailing my sisters away, ruining their lives, probably ruining my life, when he finally gets around to sentencing my father.“Thomas Dixon.” Owen’s tone takes on a strangely friendly note that I can’t trust. “You have been found guilty of treason. But you came to my aid and proved a loyal ally during the earliest days of my reign. I wonder what I have done to lose your confidence.”“Your Majesty—” Father begins, but he doesn’t seem to have anything else to say. He just shrugs his shoulders. “I’ve made an error in judgment. Please, don’t punish my daughters for it.”“I’m not punishing your daughters for your wrongdoing,” Owen says, maddeningly reasonable. “They’re being held accountable for their mates’ crimes under pack law.”The other families have been taken away by the guards. Only Ashton, Mother, Father, and I remain. Owen ri
Owendoesn’t come to see me until two a.m. It’s okay, though, because I’m still up, still furious, and I have the empty plate my burger was served on.“Hey!” he shouts when the plate hits the wall beside the door as he opens it. He’s forced to briefly retreat to avoid shards of airborne china, but he doesn’t give up, even when I hurl my glass at him. Then, he merely swerves while closing the door behind him. “Ella,” he says, annoyingly reasonable. “Calm down.”The two words guaranteed to make me fly even further off the handle. I grab the bundled silverware I never used and hurl it at him. “Fuck you!”This time, I manage to hit him, but napkin-wrapped cutlery doesn’t inflict the devastating kind of damage I want to. It doesn’t inflict any damage at all, other than making him look momentarily silly as he tries to swat it away.“I’m sorry, I chose my words poorly.” The way he says it makes it appear like he’s the one who’s been put in a shitty situation and I’m somehow making things wor