Feydre’s POV
I remained at the doorway, unwilling to go near the lewd scene on the bed. His eyes, one bright amber and the other a golden-yellow scar tissue from a wound that extended above his brow and down to his cheekbones, roved over me. Heart beating faster and faster, I watched them go from mild curiosity to puzzlement and then such anger that I flinched. “It can’t possibly be.” He said in a tight voice that promised unpleasantness if whatever the ‘it was’.“Step closer Girl.” He growled at me. Shaking from head to toe, the look on his face not inviting atall, I took a few careful steps closer. He sniffed the air and then his anger morphed into rage. In a flash, he rose, the naked girl on his lap thrown off in the process. I flinched at the sight of him before me, for he was naked too. “Leave.” He thundered at her and she scrambled to her feet, grabbing her clothes and fleeing to the sitting room, one last lingering glance at me. Once she was gone, his full, angry gaze honed in on me. One minute, he glared down as if still stunned by the audacity of my presence here. The next he was in front of me. I opened my mouth to say something but I never got the chance. A large hand wrapped around my throat, cutting off my air supply and lifting me off my feet. My eyes widened, watered. My arms flew to his hand as I choked and uselessly tried to pry him off to no avail, Garrick’s warnings drove out my head by my rising fear and panic. I was suspended in the air for a millisecond and then I was slammed into the wall behind me, the remaining air I had rushing from my lungs as my back hit the wall, legs still dangling inches off. “Who are you?” He fumed. He didn’t yell. Not really. His voice was just so malevolent, so menacing that it carried the full weight of his power without raising a decibel. Terror clawed at my insides and squirming did nothing but make the pressure on my neck worse. “G─Garrick… I–I I…” I choked out, clawing at the thick, strong arm that pinned me around the throat and kicking my feet limply in his direction. I didn’t know what I intended it to do but the action seemed to anger him even more and his fingers tightened so firmly he nearly crushed my windpipe. “P─Please…” I choked, feeling my vision blur at the edges. I was desperate for air but he would not yield enough to let me have it. “Garrick!” He growled at my face, a lethal rumble like the eruption of a volcano, accompanied by intense heat— “Sire? Alpha? Alpha!” I heard Garrick’s voice but I couldn’t see him. All I could see was that furious amber eye, glaring at me with such disgust as my vision slowly faded. “Garrick! Why have you brought a human into my palace?” “Please Alpha! She’s not a human! She’s the war prize from the Nostre pack! Alpha Pete’s daughter!” Garrick said in a rush, nearly tripping over his words.Xaden’s nostrils flared, taking in my scent. I continued to choke and squirm, the only change in status being that my legs no longer dangled off the floor. “She is no wolf.” He spat and my vision glazed over with black, be it from the lack of oxygen or the rush of tears to my eyes from the pain. Just when I was sure I would die by his strangulation, the pressure on my throat reduced slightly and I drew in a rush of desperately needed air. “I know. It was a bit of a surprise to me when I saw her but I had no idea─” The King’s head snapped towards him and Garrick felt silent. I no longer bore the brunt of that gaze but I winced all the same. The hand released from my throat, injurious pressure finally easing and I dropped in a heap to the floor, coughing and gasping. He turned and stalked to Garrick who kept his head bowed and his eyes averted. “You, whom I appointed to liaise and organize with the Alpha of Nostre on the matter of my highly anticipated gift, did not know that the goods you procured for me was defective?” He hissed. Garrick dropped to his knees. “Forgive me Alpha. I did not think to ask─” “So what in the world did you do?” The King loomed over Garrick who this time, gave no reply. “And you!” He bellowed, that blinding rage suddenly whipping back to me. Still on the floor, I flinched. In two long strides, he was before me again, looming dangerously, his nakedness somewhat distracting even in the light of his fury. In a flash, he reached out, grabbing a fist full of my hair and pulling me to my feet. I arched into the action with a cry, desperate to relieve the rapidly building pressure on my scalp. Tears watered my eyes when he flexed his wrist again and turned me slightly so he could glare directly into my face. “Your father dared to fool me like this? Send me a wolfless creature and call it a prize? You are no prize? You are an insult!” His thundered words chinked at my carefully constructed armor, the one I’d had for years to protectme from the comments and sneers. From the derisive laughter as I passed. The overt and hidden insults. I thought this place, this man would be tolerable like my father with the added displeasure of some sort of sexual servitude. I could not have imagined how much worse he could be. Even though I’ve never felt safe where I grew up, I longed for it now. I longed for somewhere else. Surely anywhere was better than this hell.“Did you both think I would not care? You must surely have thought that I wouldn’t mind since you did not come to be a wife. You think the Lycan King has no standards for his whores?” He growled in my face and when I remained silent, shook me by the hair. “Answer me!” He demanded and even though I didn’t know the question, I spoke, if only to reduce the pain in my scalp and stop my hair from tearing at the roots. “No, my lord! Please… I’m sorry! I didn’t know! I didn’t know!” I cried frantically. His displeasure was all blinding, or perhaps that was just the tears in my eyes. My explanation came out in a rush, my fingers clawing at the punishing grip of the hand in my hair, desperate for reprieve. “I didn’t know you weren’t aware. My father didn’t inform me of this arrangement. All he did was tell me to follow your men and I did. Mercy my Lord.” His eyes narrowed at me. “You did not plan this with your father?” His hands tightened again and I gasped, drops of colorless fluid that pronounced my misery trailing down my cheeks. “I swear! I swear it my King I didn’t! I didn’t!” My breath hitched, my voice rising with panic. He glared at me for a moment longer and made a sound of disgust before turning around with me in tow, an action that pulled more screams from my lips, and then he flung me to the floor in front of Garrick’s kneeling form. “What do you think would be the best way to handle this disrespect? Hm, Garrick? Pete Manning has notfulfilled the terms of our treaty. I asked for a war prize from his pack. I did not think I needed to clarify that I wanted a wolf. If I wanted some humanoid creature I’d go into the human cities and pick one. You are fully aware of my… predilection for wolves so I cannotunderstand how you allowed this to happen. I’m very disappointed in you.” “My sincerest apologies your Majesty, I didn’t think he wou─” “Silence!” He thundered and Garrick snapped his mouth shut, bowing his head in apology. “Call that lily-livered bastard Pete and tell him that if he doesn’t have a better replacement here by tomorrow morning, one who is an actual wolf, I will raze his pathetic little pack to the ground, behead his puny little males and share his females amongst my soldiers.” I shuddered at the threat knowing from the stories I’d heard, and my own experience just now that he meant it. Every single word. “Either way I will get what I want and what I want is not some wolfless wench who might as well be human for all the wolf blood she’s got.” He strode towards another corner of the room where the bar lay and turned himself a glass of dark brown liquor, cursing under his breath the whole time. Garrick hesitated, glancing at me still sprawled on the floor, gasping and clutching my throat before bracing himself and tentatively throwing forward his question. “And the girl, Sire?” A new explosion occurred. The Lycan King whirled on him, the glass in his hand shattering to several many pieces as he clenched his fist. He hardly seemed to notice, stalking towards us, full of angry intent. “I don’t fucking care, Garrick. Throw her off a cliff! Give her to the men! Drown the bitch if you want! I don’t fucking care! Just get her out of my sight! Now!”I tried to rise to my feet, but my shaky legs would not allow it. I stumbled once and would have stumbled again if not for Garrick’s strong hand that held my arms and pulled me up, wrapping my hand around his back and leaning my weight on himself. “Alpha.” He said with a nod of his head and turned towards the door. With his help, I limped out of the Lycan King’s bedroom with none of the little pride, dignity, or sense of self-worth I’d had coming in. Now there was only pain and humiliation and wondering what the hell was going to happen to me now.Feyre’s POVMy eyes closed, pain and shock emanating from my heart. Something was digging into my chest and closing around my already constricted heart. It was going to kill me—“Dymon stop! He’s tied himself with her! She’ll die if you kill him!” I heard someone— Possibly Garrick— scream.There was a moment of hesitation before the pain regressed as suddenly as it came and I started to heal, a dull ache left in its place.I heard a gleeful, maniacal laugh that could only be Xaden’s but it was far away. Dymon was near instead, cradling me into his arms with all the gentleness in the world, a look of worry on his face.“Are you okay?” He said anxiously. Xaden’s growled, cutting off any answer I might have had.“Keep your hands off my mate you filthy blood-sucker!”Dymon gaze flicked to him for a moment, dismissive as ever. One moment we were on the floor of Xaden’s odd shrine, the next he rose with me in his arms, moving with insane speed to another part of the castle.I didn't recogni
Feyre’s POVRetribution came hard and fast, a slap cracking across my cheek. I stumbled backward, clutching one side of my face, saved from tumbling to the floor by the wall that backed me. Xaden looked enraged as he glared down at me.“What right have you to refuse me whore?” He growled, his entire demeanor changing within the twinkle of an eye.“I don't—” A loud, rapid knock interrupted whatever it was I’d been going to say. A good thing too because I certainly would have gotten myself killed if I leaned into this anger. All the spite I felt kept bubbling up to my lips and spilling forth from them. A dangerous thing considering who I was talking to. For the first time since I’d felt it, I tried to control some of that boldness and anger that surged through me. It immediately quietened.Xaden noticed my sudden quiescence enough that his golden eye flicked over to me, a curious glint in them, before turning back to the person who had burst in on us without his permission.It was Garri
Feyre’s POVMy father barely had me for a full hour before I was bundled into a black bulletproof van and whipped away from my childhood home. I hadn’t seen any of my step-siblings and I hadn’t wanted to. Hell, I hadn’t even wanted to see my father. I’d spent the entire time in his custody with my eyes firmly shut, praying to wake up from the horrible dream I was in. He hadn’t said much to me, my father. He’d gruffly asked me if I’d had my first shift now that the curse was lifted. I’d given him a look but hadn’t deigned to respond and after several uneventful tries, he’d left it, and me, well alone.I hadn’t been told but I knew where I was being taken and I dreaded it. I didn’t need to overhear my captors or try to map the direction we were going in. I knew who had made my father kidnap me and give me away immediately without even trying to exploit my newfound powers himself first. I knew whose power and wealth extended through all wolven territories, enough that even the remote isl
Dymon's POVI should never have listened to Golran. In the weeks that followed my return to Drusden, that one regret was at the forefront of my mind.I had previously thought myself above such petty inclinations, but as day after without Feyre’s presence passed, I couldn't help but think how much I missed her. I fell into a petulant gloom, spending most of my days brooding in my office, thinking about her all the time in between a few productive hours when I got things done.Centuries of a life lived made it easy to put things out of mind especially once they were out of sight. Yet, I found myself indulging in memories, not to mention fantasies, all revolving around this one person.She was a slip of a girl. Barely twenty-one and yet had a wariness to her that belied pain lasting a century. Of course, she hadn’t been so wary the last night we’d spent together. No— then she had been confident and bold, brimming with passion and oozing a desire she’d eventually drowned me with.By the g
Feyre’s POVIt had been two weeks since Dymon left the island and it wasn't any easier to accept. I tried, for the most part, to act as normally as possible. I went to meals with my family and got to know them. I went for walks through the garden with my grandfather and heard more tales— not just of my mother— but of the island and dire wolves even.I spoke to Dymon, but only sometimes, on the phone he got me. He sent text messages and I would stare at them for hours, days even, before I replied.I was angry, I think, although I did not dare say it. I didn’t think it my place or right to ask why, to tell him not to go. So I remained silent and occasionally told him I was fine whenever he checked in.That he would run so suddenly, without any explanation after the night we shared threw me off entirely. For a moment, I’d thought there was something between us.Something past the desire that was keeping us going.He hadn't even let us entertain the thought, or really talk about it all be
Dymon’s POVI wasn’t surprised when barely an hour after breakfast, a maid came to request my presence at Golran’s office. The exchange between Feyre and I couldn’t have lasted more than seconds, but it was enough for his sharp eyes to notice and now I suspected I was going to be cross-examined on my intentions or any actions I’d taken on his granddaughter so far. I wasn’t at all ready for it, I had yet to examine my feelings on the drastic way my relationship with Feyre had suddenly… evolved. Still, while I was here, I preferred to sow seeds of goodwill and keep the peace by doing as requested. It would make things easier, not just for me, but for Feyre.With that in mind, I swallowed my longsuffering sigh and followed the maid, allowing her to lead me once again to Golran’s office.He was waiting for me to arrive, his eyes snapping to the door the moment I knocked and opened it. The maid didn’t enter with me and I closed the door behind me before taking one of the seats he silently