All Chapters of Caught In Between Lust And Desires Book 2: Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

🖱️ Sammy 🖱️"Three hundred and twelve."I stared at the number on the report General Marcus had just handed me, then looked back up at him like the paper might rearrange itself into something less insane the second time."Three hundred and twelve what, exactly?""Confirmed Victors, Your Majesty. Arriving across the next few hours .""Three hundred and twelve men.""And counting. Border patrol flagged another transport an hour ago. Apparently the eastern rail line added a second car."I dropped into my chair and rubbed both hands over my face. "Whose idea was the special train.""Jane's, Your Majesty.""Of course it was."Marcus, to his credit, didn't so much as twitch at the implied criticism of my sister-in-law's planning. Six years commanding palace security had taught the man an impressive amount of restraint."How do you intend to screen all of them?" I asked."That's what I'm here to discuss." He set a second folder on my desk, considerably thicker than the first. "We've establ

🖱️ Victor 🖱️ The hotel was nicer than anything I'd slept in for ten years, which said more about my apartment than it did about the hotel. Marble floors. Gold trim on everything that could conceivably hold gold trim. A view of the border mountains from my window that made my chest ache in a way I didn't fully understand, some old recognition stirring beneath ten years of fairy memories that had never belonged to me in the first place. "No sightseeing," the man at check-in had said, not unkindly, sliding my room key across the counter. "Festival security's asked all VIP guests to remain on hotel grounds until the ceremony. Apologies for the inconvenience. There's a lovely garden courtyard if you'd like some air." "Security reasons," I'd repeated. "Standard procedure for an event this size, sir." I hadn't believed him for a second. Standard procedure didn't require three hundred men sharing one name to be quietly contained inside a hotel like well-dressed prisoners. But I'd taken

🖱️Jayden🖱️"I know, Sammy.""And if Victor really is out there somewhere in that hotel right now," he said, his smile widening, "then maybe, finally, he'll stop making the two of us chase him halfway across the supernatural world."I laughed against his mouth. "I'd like that.""So would I."He leaned in for another kiss. Then another. Slow, unhurried, like we had all the time in the world instead of two days and three hundred strangers standing between us and an answer."I love you," I murmured."Hmm." He pulled back just slightly, mock-scandalized. "No.""No?""You didn't say that properly.""Oh, is that so.""I deserve enthusiasm, Jay. Genuine, heartfelt enthusiasm."I rolled my eyes, though I couldn't stop the smile pulling at my mouth. "You are utterly impossible.""I've been told.""I love you, Sammy," I said again, softer this time, meaning it with everything I had. "I love you more than you probably deserve.""There it is." He looked entirely too pleased with himself, chest p

🖱️ Sammy 🖱️‘That blood sucker is here.‘ My wolf's voice cut through the dark of our hotel room with a certainty that made me sit straight up in bed, careful not to disturb Jayden where he'd finally, mercifully fallen asleep beside me after nearly an hour of restless tossing."You're certain?"‘I'm certain.’ His voice carried none of the usual playfulness he brought to most things no teasing, no bared teeth, just flat, absolute conviction. ‘I felt him when we were kissing our mate earlier but just acted oblivious. I've felt traces of him twice more since then. Someone who knows exactly how not to be noticed.’I glanced down at Jayden, at the slow, even rise and fall of his chest, at the mark on his neck finally quiet after hours of restless burning. He'd moaned himself into exhaustion an hour ago, whispering Victor's name into the dark like a question he was too afraid to ask out loud afterwards, and I'd held him until his breathing evened out and his grip on my shirt finally loosen

🖱️ Jayden 🖱️I woke slowly, the way I only ever seemed to wake when Sammy's arms were wrapped around me, warm and solid and utterly unhurried by the rest of the world.Morning light filtered through the heavy curtains of the hotel room, soft and gold, catching dust motes drifting lazily in the air above the bed. I didn't move right away. I just lay there, my cheek pressed against his bare chest, listening to the steady rhythm of his heartbeat beneath my ear, feeling the slow rise and fall of his breathing against my own.For a few blissful seconds, I didn't remember what today was.Then it came rushing back all at once the festival, the lanterns, three hundred men sharing a name that used to belong to only one person in the entire world, and somewhere in the middle of all that, the terrifying, impossible hope that today might finally be the day I saw his face again.My chest tightened."You're thinking too loudly," Sammy murmured against my hair, his voice thick with sleep. "I can f