Helen POV “No,” I begged, clinging to the cell bars, my hands fighting the extra chains. This cell only seemed worse now, not because Justin was trying to break me out, but because he would break Scott’s neck. “Justin! Justin, no!” The Lycan was taller than the hallway ceiling, standing over Scott’s wolf as he had shifted in self-defense. It wouldn’t be a fair fight, it never will be, so seeing Scott even attempt to face the Lycan in his wolfen form only accelerated Justin’s recklessness. They collided but even on his hind legs, Scott didn’t hold a candle to Justin. “Guards!” I screamed, trying to find any buffer to put between these guys. “Justin, please!” Scott deserved his wounds, but seeing so many of them, so quickly, I couldn’t fathom how long it would take before my first mate would have his neck broken by my second. But conflict of any kind made me uneasy. This fight up close, so cruel and bloody, it made me sick. I would have nightmares for sure. Guards finally f

Helen POV “The Last Lycan and his Snow White mate are banished from societal privileges.” The words stung like a million pinpricks into my spine. I flinched, the guards wasting little time to drag me from the pit of the court. Justin had stood but stayed planted, his glare smothering the Alpha King as his father sat down in his thrown above. He was considering his Lycan, wondering how much effort it would take to end this ordeal in more bloodshed, but I couldn’t allow Justin to take any more hate for his actions since we became mates. “Please, Justin,” I called. His body jerked sideways as he looked after me, fighting the guard’s as they tried to stroll me away. Justin was practically begging to shift, but considering this punishment, I was more relieved than I was angry. There was no changing their minds on what happened to Donna. They made their case far before I was even allowed into the court. They would have never listened to our claims, to any proof we could have scou

Helen POV We ran through the village in the dead of night. The moon was a fingernail of a sliver, thrown into the stars above without a care of our actions. I had to cover my lingering heat in the heavy perfumes littered in the bathroom closet, my scent terrible now and even more of a headache for Justin, his powers more acutely tuned than most and overwhelmed by the smells stuck to his mate’s body. He held my hand and pressed me close to his body all the same, dodging through the estate until we could rush back to the court. “In here,” he rattled, opening a back room full of file boxes and mounds of manila envelopes sealed as evidence to crimes that happened ages ago. He shut the door behind me, pointing to a desk on the far wall. “That box there.” It read in clear, bold font, Lycan Mate Case. I turned my nose up at the causal way they seemed to label my status. I was his mate, sure, but I had a name and my fur was finally acceptable in their minds. Yet still, the only way

Helen POV “Helen,” he panted, pulling to center my hips onto his lap. I could only be manipulated, too weak to move and far too chained up to associate my body against his. He had it handled, though. He yanked me forward onto his hips and grinded our bodies against each other. Panting, kissing, moaning—he wanted all of it. He wanted it now. I tipped my head back as he tore my clothes off, uncaring of them anymore. I have so little outfit choices that the maids have brough into this room and I’m running out quicker when Justin does this. He doesn’t care. He needs me now and I’m not going to stop him from that smoldering necessity. I felt the wetness swell, his fingers taunting my sex and pressing into it, against it, watching my face as I reacted to each movement. He was taunting me, building my pleasure up to the maximum cliff but back down slowly before I could fully jump in. Justin was pleasing me. That, in turn, gave him a pleasure I couldn’t reciprocate. But I wante

Helen POV Justin checked over his shoulder more times than I could count, waiting for my parents to follow and start more trouble. I knew how they felt by now; they didn’t care to fight me after Justin’s outburst. I wasn’t worth the trouble of war. We aimed for the hallway where he said his mother used to reside. Justin pulled my back into a spare closet, throwing us inside and shutting the door before a set of footsteps crossed past us. I held onto my mate, still overwhelmed by my parent’s words earlier. “Stop it,” Justin groaned, brushing my face with his fingertips. “Stop letting it consume you. They don’t deserve the right to break you, Helen.” I stared up at my second mate, feeling the warm cries on my cheeks trickle downward. “It’s not fair.” “What’s not fair, my mate?” “If Diana had beaten me in the games, if she had ripped my throat out, they would be proud of her. They would congratulate her and be glad that we had our victory.” I dropped my head, feeling the wor