LOGINDAMIENMarcus came into my study without knocking, which told me before he said anything that he’d been building toward this since last night.“I need to talk to you,” he said.“I assumed.”He wheeled himself further into the room and stopped across the desk from me. “You said you love her.”“Yes.”“In front of the entire council.”“Yes.”He looked at me for a long moment. “I almost married her,” he said. “That’s not a small thing to just sit beside what you said last night.”“I know.”“Do you? Because you stood in that entrance hall and announced it like it was the simplest fact in the world and I’m sitting here trying to understand how my father is in love with the woman I almost made my wife.”I leaned back in the chair. “It wasn’t simple. Nothing about it has been simple.” I held his gaze. “I fought it for four years, Marcus. I told myself it was wrong every single time it surfaced and I pushed it down and I tried to be a father figure to her instead, because that was the correct
SERAPHINAI left Damien’s room before the house fully woke, moving quietly down the corridor in his shirt and yesterday’s leggings, my hair a mess I hadn’t dealt with yet.I turned the corner and walked straight into Agnes.She had a tray in her hands, the breakfast tray she’d clearly been bringing up, and she looked at me, at the shirt that wasn’t mine, at where I was standing relative to which door, and her eyebrows rose slowly.“Well,” she said.“Agnes—”“I’ve known for a while,” she said, setting the tray down on the hall table. “I’m not as oblivious as everyone seems to think old women are.”I felt my face go warm. “How long?”“Long enough that I stopped being surprised by it.” She looked at me steadily. “I wasn’t going to say anything until one of you did. Wasn’t my place.”I stood in the corridor with my arms wrapped around myself, feeling exposed in a way that had nothing to do with the clothes.“Are you—” I started. “Do you think it’s wrong?Agnes considered the question prop
DAMIENHer body moved with a liquid grace, muscles still trembling from her last orgasm as she rolled onto her stomach. The moonlight caught the pale curve of her spine, each vertebra a delicate ridge I wanted to trace with my tongue. Her black hair fanned across my dark sheets like spilled ink. I positioned myself behind her, gripping her hips and pulling them up until her ass was presented to me, glistening with our combined fluids."Look at you," I growled, running my thumb through her wet folds. "So fucking perfect for me."She arched her back, pushing herself deeper into my touch. A soft whimper escaped her lips when I spread her cheeks, exposing her completely. My cock throbbed, already hard again despite having just emptied inside her. Something about her submission, the way she yielded so completely, made me insatiable.I entered her in one smooth thrust, burying myself to the hilt. Her pussy clenched around me, hot and tight and welcoming. I set a punishing rhythm, my hip
SERAPHINAIt was stupid. I know. But the only thing I wanted was for Damien to touch me.How do you ask to be fucked without asking for it? Especially at the midst of all these problems? My hand reached for the doorknob again. I needed air, needed space to process what had happened downstairs. The way he'd gripped my wrist, the possessive growl in his voice as he announced to the entire pack that I was his. The heat that had flooded my body at his words, at the predatory satisfaction in his blue eyes as he'd stared down anyone who might dare object."Going somewhere?"His voice came from behind me, low and rough. I hadn't even heard him approach. I froze, my fingers still wrapped around the cold brass of the doorknob."I just... I need a moment." The words barely left my throat."Stay." One word, but it carried the weight of command. Of an alpha who never had to ask twice.I turned slowly. “Why?”“Because I know what you want.” He tore off his shirt and stepped out of his pants. Da
DAMIENThe east wing room was the third door on the left.I knocked once and opened it without waiting, which I had the right to do given that the council had locked her in there without it.Seraphina was sitting on the edge of the bed with her hands in her lap. She looked up when the door opened and the expression on her face when she saw it was me that moved through several things quickly before it settled.“You’re standing,” she said, her shoulders slightly slumping with relief. “I am.”“You were in a hospital bed twelve hours ago.”“I was.” I came in and closed the door behind me. “Are you alright?”“I’ve been locked in a guest room,” she said. “By elders who have no authority to lock me anywhere.” She stood up. “And you were unconscious and Shane is in a coma and Cael escaped and someone put a bomb under your car.” She looked at me. “So no. I’m not particularly alright.”“Fair,” I said.She crossed the room and stopped in front of me. She looked at my face, at the state of it, t
DAMIENSeraphina’s voice came through the phone tight and controlled, which was how I knew immediately that whatever she was about to say was worse than her tone was letting on.“Cael escaped,” she said. “A guard is dead. We think he’s coming for you. It doesn’t seem reasonable but he isn’t reasonable either.”I was sitting up before she finished the sentence, the movement sending a wave of pain through my ribs that I registered and set aside.“How long ago?”“An hour. Maybe less.”“Who knows?@“Callum. Me. The elders may know by now.”“Don’t tell anyone else,” I said. “Not until I say so.”“Damien, you need to stay in that bed—”“I’ll call you back,” I said, and hung up.I sat on the edge of the hospital bed and took a full breath and waited for the pain to settle into something manageable. It took a moment. The blast had done significant work on my left side, three cracked ribs and a laceration along my shoulder that they’d stitched, and the combination of those things and twenty-f
DAMIENElder Brone was talking about the eastern perimeter.I knew this because I could see his mouth moving, and the map in front of him had the eastern perimeter circled in red; everyone else at the table was looking at it with the appropriate level of concern.I was thinking about Seraphina turn
SERAPHINA:I didn't wait for the answer to his question before I grabbed my clothes in my hands and ran. I didn't stop. I couldn't stop because if I stopped that means I would have to feel all of it at once. Nadia called after me. I heard her but I kept on running. I found Damien's car keys on t
SERAPHINA:The dress looked beautiful I'd have to admit. Damien was the one who had picked it for me, considering Marcus was well, too tired to give a fuck.I tried to smile as I stared at myself in the mirror. The bodice of the gown were ivory silk and there were small pearl buttons running up the
CHAPTER 3SERAPHINA:As his good little slut, I dropped to my knees in front of him. The carpet was rough against my skin but I didn’t care. All I could focus on was him… his cock dangling above my face, begging for me to take it in. His cock bobbed slightly as he stroked himself once more, slow a







