“Of course,” Queen Yarrow said, “details like training successors aren't left to chance. The king and I already had arrangements made for a royal tutor, assuming that I would get pregnant one day. I'll connect you both with him. Hopefully, you can get started right away.”“So?” I asked the judge. How exactly does this work? What do you mean? She asked, looking quizzically at me. “I mean, what do I do with myself? Where do I go from here? When does all of this happen now?”She said, “The king will be escorted out of Orlune. They're probably already helping him pack. From there, he'll be on the next flight off the vampire kingdom. You get to move straight into the castle if you wish. It's essentially your house now.”“There's no, there's no legal paperwork or anything like that?” I babbled. “It just seems so abrupt.”The judge grinned. “I'll have all of that taken care of taken care of for you. So you don't have to worry about it, your majesty.”“Come, my dear,” Queen Yarrow said, putti
I signed and kept my head tipped back, inviting him to kiss my neck. Charles obliged, working himself inside me with the magic he always seemed to conjure up, driving my excitement higher. My heels fumbled for a place to rest, and finally, I settled for wrapping my legs around him, gripping his hips with my thighs and locking us together.Charles groaned and pulled us as tightly together as possible. And I wouldn't let him go. This left his movements small but the pleasure intense.His rubbing quickly brought me to orgasm, and I tried not to make too much noise and call attention to what we were doing. I really didn't want to be held in contempt for defiling the judge's bench or some such.A moment later, Charles got his release. He stepped back and tided himself, allowing me to do the same.“Now,” he asked with a grin, “Are you ready to go outside and face your adoring public, my princess?”“As long as you're by my side, I can face anything,” I agreed, hopping off the judge's bench.
For one moment after I arrived in the garden, the sun blinded me, and then my eyes cleared. Before me spread an amazing event: the wedding of our country's princess.It still hadn't fully sunken that I was that princess.The guests sat in orderly rows of brilliantly white chairs festooned in lovely shades of blue and lavender. I had chosen them because they most reminded me of the moon, and I wanted to honor the goddess at this event, as well. Without her, I would not only not have been at this wedding, but I wouldn't have been alive. She had done so much for me. The least I could do was throw a little recognition her way.I clutched the bouquet in my hand, and Theo hooked his arm through my elbow. “Are you ready?” he asked.“I'm ready.”We took a step toward the altar on the red carpet spread out in front of me, and the music swelled. The quartet played a beautiful melody full of promise and love.I didn't see the people looking at me, specifically, only that all eyes were on me. My
"There will be a twenty percent reduction in staff," my manager Craig announced to the group in our emergency staff meeting. My stomach immediately turned into nervous knots. Craig paused, waiting for the collective gasp to settle down, a small smile quivering at the corners of his mouth. Is that sympathy, or is he enjoying this? I wondered. As if to address my thoughts, Craig's face switched to a mask of regret as he looked around the room. "I'm not happy about it either. Each of you is important to this department in my opinion. But, since the new CEO believes differently, I'll be conducting performance reviews with everyone this week and reporting my findings." My heart sank. I knew my work was good. But if it was going to be a popularity contest, I had no chance. After all, I am “scentless”. In a world of werewolves, scent was just as vital a sense as sight. Werewolves had a built-in system to rate every scent they encountered. Alphas were born with B grade scent minimums
It was true what Cathy had said. Charles was my high school crush. But it was also true that it was so much more than that.Years had passed since high school, but the feelings I had during that period of my life were as strong as if they'd happened yesterday. Back then, no one in my high school didn’t like Charles Rafe. He was the only student, except Cathy, that would smile to me and say hi. He even said my name correctly every time. Gradually, he became the reason I got out of bed and went to class in the morning, just so I could sit silently behind him. His casual smile was the factor that made or broke my day. There was no way he would remember me even if he was my new boss. Still, the idea of it made me smile into the night sky and wait for the screen to loop the interview so I could see his face one more time. I gazed up at the screen, watching the commercials tick by. The programs usually looped at least a half-dozen times before they moved on to the next thing, giving peo
"You know, Elena," Craig began, letting the pointer finger of his hand drop to my shoulder. It began to draw small circles there. "This is really stressful for me." I fought the urge to shrug his finger away, and tried to lean back slowly, as if to see his face better. "I mean, I genuinely like all of my employees. You are all so good, so valuable." His finger became the back of his fingers and he brushed them up toward my neck. "I've had a headache for days straight. Can you believe that?" "Yes," I said, thankful for the opportunity to pull away and look into his face. "I have, too. It's hard for all of us." He smiled. "That's one thing I like about you, Elena. You're sympathetic." "What's the question you had for me?" I asked. To my dismay, he scooted closer, undoing the slow, few inches I'd managed to put between us. "You know, Sandra, my wife?" "I met her briefly at a party, yeah." "We've been having problems." "That can't be helpful at a time like this." "See? There y
I hardly slept and I looked it. Despite my efforts with the concealer, the bags under my eyes were evident and the stress was manifesting in overly frizzy hair. Still, I did my best. I wanted to look good for my execution, but had to settle for being on time and not looking like a puppy caught out in the rain. My hands shook on the lobby door handle. I needed to get some tension out and decided to take the stairs up the four flights to our division. It was a popular choice. My colleagues liked to stretch their bodies before and during a day sitting at desks, and I could hear a few people a few floors above me. Getting the blood flowing and my legs pumping helped my nerves. I began to breathe deeply and felt it relax my muscles. Then I heard my name echo down through the concrete stairwell. "I don't think Elena would do that," came the first voice. "She's kind of a sheep." "That's what she wants you to think. She plays all demure, but underneath all that mildness she's sharp. Sh
There was a simultaneous gasp around the room.I looked around at the stunned faces. Craig's was beginning to turn purple. Even Charles' assistants looked confused, giving each other quick glances, but then looking to their boss for instruction."Do you think you'll need help packing up your desk?" Charles asked."I ... I'll be fine."He nodded. "Great. Then I'll be by to get you in a few minutes."I went to my cubicle in a daze. People were giving me a wide berth, looking at me with open confusion as I passed.I looked around at my things.There was very little. A photo of me and Cathy. A small mint plant I used to clear my nose when things got overwhelming, (an old werewolf trick).I put an external drive into my computer and began to make sure I had back up files of any work I wanted to keep, then opened drawers and began to pull out office supplies and paperwork.There were a few awards for pieces I'd helped work on, and articles I'd written for other journalists with their names