Akari drank another shot of the anise-flavored liqueur that she liked with her dinner as Nikolai poured himself a glass of water and watched her silently. Nice of him to order some of her favorite food and drink to take along with her to her new home. She wondered if Nikolai was trying to butter her up for something and glanced over at him suspiciously. He’d been so nice to hèr since the wedding that it was hard to fathom. Akari had an idea about what the Bloody Prince would be like—the man was supposed to be cold and ruthless, totally without mercy toward his enemies. But Nikolai was gradually tearing that image to pieces. Was that deliberate on his part? Was Akari seeing the real prince or some faked imitation? Was he only biding his time and would he show his true nature later on? It was Akari's fourth shot, and she was beginning to get a little tipsy. Nikolai kept staring at her eyes like he was fascinated by them. Indeed, he’d told her earlier that

Their arrival on the Werewolf Kingdom was full of fanfare. King Davos himself came to the docks to meet the ship and Akari thought the king very handsome. He was tall and large, of course, like all the others, and his hair had much more gold in it than red, but he looked a lot like Nikolai. He had a strong jaw and a stern-looking face. That is, until he spotted Beatrice and held out his arms to her. Beatrice ran to him and he swept the consort off her feet, swinging her around in his arms. He leaned in close and whispered something in her ear that made Beatrice laugh and blush. Akari watched him with fascination as he kissed his consort tenderly. Then, keepingan arm around Beatrice, he came forward and gave Nikolai a greeting that Akari had never seen before, a kind of fist bumping with both his hands held up high in the air, almost like a high five, but with closed fists. Then he released Beatrice and grabbed his son for what looked like a bone-crushing hug. “Wh

Nikolai kissed her and went to the door to motion someone in. A large werewolf doctor came in and nodded at Akari. The doctor had an injection appliance and motioned to Akari to lean over the end of the bed. “What the hell is that? Who is this, Nikolai?” “This is a doctor, of course. He has the first of your injections. They’re nothing to worry about.” “The hell you say. Look at that needle. Fuck, no.” “Akari, you know I would never let anyone do anything to hurt you. Humans that werewolves wanted to impregnate all take these injections and they won’t harm you. They just get your body ready to bear werewolf children.” Akari knew all about the damn things by this time, having done her research. The alterations were, after all, not as extensive as might be thought. Doctors would inject a potent combination of hormones, stem cells and other substances into her, and this enabled her uterus to become more stronger and durable so she can grow werewolf children inside of her. For at l

Akari always hated court dinner parties. Well, hate was a strong word, but she really didn’t like them much. And tonight’s dinner with the ministers of the court was certainly no exception. For one thing, Nikolai was at the table with his father, King Davos, along with all the other princes, even the youngest one. The ministers and the council members were there too, while she and Queen Beatrice, and all the other wives and husbands of the court were relegated to a separate table next to the king’s. When Nikolai first explained to her that they wouldn’t be able to sit together, she raised an eyebrow at him, but when he had given him the “It’s traditional,” line it effectively shut him down. The only saving grace to this boring dinner was Beatrice, who rolled would occasionally roll her eyes and made little faces and generally made fun of the men at the other table, whose loud voices drowned out all conversation at their smaller one. On this particular night, Akari had just about ha

Akari was sitting by the window in her room, gazing out at the stars. She was cold, like she had been since she woke up in this room several days before, and she couldn’t seem to get warm, no matter how many blankets she piled on. She had a woolen one wrapped around her shoulders now, but felt no warmth from it. She didn’t feel much of anything really, other than a dull ache in her head that didn’t seem to go away, which according to her doctors was a result of the concussion. She hadn’t allowed herself to feel anything emotionally. Not if she could help it. If Nikolai was dead, then… But she wouldn’t allow herself to go there, even in her own mind. If she didn’t think about it, it wasn’t real and that was all that mattered, at least for now. The one thing that kept running through her mind over and over on constant replay was that she’d never told Nikolai that she loved him. She’d never told him how her feelings had changed toward him since that first time she saw him in her father’