Chapter 18
“Ethan”
It’s not like I am worried for her or miss her when she is away, but I have found myself checking out the window to see when her car will return to the palace. I can’t shake the feeling that something has happened. But why do I
care?
I do not care for her.
I do not love her.
Yet, she is mine. Mine alone. Mine to claim and protect. That’s all.
There feels like something has shifted between her and I. I feel more drawn to her, as if there is a connection deeper than her or I realize. A secret growing from within but I don’t know what the secret is, and that is the thing that is bugging me the most.
I stare out the window that overlooks the drive and I feel lighter at the sight of her car. This is too far, Ethan, get a
f**g grip.
She gets out of the car and her cheeks look wet. Has she been crying?
Anger begins to boil within me as my feet carry me out of the room, down the hall, and to the drive. She is in the foyer as I get there and our eyes lock. Her eyes are puffy. She is gripping onto her cellphone so tightly that her knuckles are white. As soon as she spots me, she immediately looks away and darts in the opposite direction of
me.
Is she hiding something?
I stop in my tracks as she runs away. What the **k happened? It was a ladies’ lunch. I wanted to call Ca***ra but after the way she acted at that state dinner, I don’t think I can trust her to tell me what happened.
I want to follow her but it feels like overkill. I turn on my heel and return to my office. My head staff knocks on the door, I can tell by the light tap and rhythm.
“Sir,” Felix says with a slight bow. I nod my head in acknowledgment. He walks towards me with a small stack of paper. “This is the request from Lady C**dra to allow her sister, Lady Lilith and her, um, mate, to live at the palace. I am awaiting your signature, they are expected to arrive later this afternoon.”
I take the papers from him and barely look it over. Marcus Keenan. Why did that name sound familiar to me?
“Who is this Marcus?”
“Alpha Marcus Keenan of Midnight Moon Pack,” Felix responds. I detect a slight tone in his voice.
Chapter 15
23
“Alpha? Why isn’t he in his pack?” Felixi shook his head.
“Put him in our smallest rooms. No Alpha of mine is going to abandon his pack for some p**y.”
62%
Felix nods his acknowledgement and then quickly leaves the room. I can hear him whisper orders to his staff and
the shuffle of their feet to carry them out.
I have no respect for that kind of man.
I call for Kyle through our mind link. He appears before me within seconds. “Alpha, you need me?”
“I need to know everything about Marcus Keenan of Midnight Moon.”
Kyle looks a bit surprised. Alpha kings don’t usually interfere with pack affairs of their subsidiary packs-that’s what the pack Alphas are for. If a king needs to step in, it usually means there is a big problem, and in that case, Kyle as my Beta would have already known about it.
However, after a brief pause, he simply nods his head and leaves without another word.
I shuffle through the multiple reports sitting on my desk, begging for my attention but my mind keeps drifting back to Ariella and the fear in her eyes. It’s a compulsion, I need answers.
I make my way towards Ariella’s room as the rest of the ladies return from their lunch. She left early. Something happened.
Casandra sees me and stops me as I am trying to avoid her.
“Ethan! Where are you going?” She tries to slide her arms around my neck
Wgantly such her back.
Ever since she turned of age, she’s had this idea in her head that she will be my wife. It makes my stomach turn, I’ve only ever seen her as my little stepsister. It’s not love, lust or anything even remotely related to those that I feel
from her.
We kinda grew up together and I promised her mother that I’ll take care of her as long as I’m alive. If C***dra is even half as decent as her mother, my life would be so much easier.
Oh well, deep down, she’s not bad, it’s just that she needs to grow up.
I don’t want to ask her but she’s standing right here. I might as well, maybe she will tell me the truth.
“What happened to Princess Ariella at lunch?”
C**ra c**ks her head to the side. Her left eye twitches as she tries to fight the annoyance she clearly feels toward my question.
2/4
Tue, 23 Jul
“Who knows,” the shrugs, “She left early. I’m not sure why”
She pops her hip out and starts to play with her fingernails. With an eye roll, she concludes, “She’s so dramatic.
I know that she’s not going to be honest with me. I gave her a chance based on our history but she’s too committed to her insipid plot.
Guess I’ll just have to figure it out myself. Before I realize, I’m already on the way to her room. My wolf is so protective of her that I feel like he’s acting more so than myself to figure this out.
Thear her voice around the corner.
“Please send me the travel itinerary once you have confirmed it,” I am overhearing Ariella say.
“Of course, ma’am,” a woman replies. “I will arrange everything immediately.”
What the f**k is happening?
My wolf and myself are finally in agreement and we are p**e*
Ifly around the corner as the maid she was speaking to d*isappears. She jumps at the sight of me. Good, she should
be scared.
“King Ethan,” Ariella says meekly with a bow.
“What the f**k is going on?” I below. “Travel plans?”
She opens her mouth to speak but I cut her off. “It hasn’t even been half of one week, you can’t make it two?”
“It’s not-”
“I have upheld my bargain. Do not forget,” I grab her branded arm and pull her towards me. She looks down at my hand, she knows what I am implying. She is my breeder. She is mine.
“It’s not for me!” She finally cries out.
It takes me a second to her words. The hell?
“Not for you?”
“If you would let me finish what I was paying!” She pulls her arm from my grip and starts rubbing it, on which there’s a slight pink bruise. “It is for my brothers!”
I might have overreacted…
3/4
Charter 18
I immediately feel an emotion that I rarely feel, or never felt before, guilt. However, as much as I know that I need to, I can’t bring myself to apologize.
“They are coming for a visit in a few days. I just wanted to make sure everything is set
up
for them.”
I cross my arms against my chest but neither she or I move from our spots. She is still so close to me that all I can smell is her overwhelming feminine scent. It’s intoxicating.
1 clear my throat. “Why did you leave lunch early?”
She looks down at her feet and her entire body tenses up. “I didn’t have an appetite.”
“B**.” I know she is lying. Her icy blue eyes look up at mine. They look conflicted and troubled. “What happened?”
She drops her eyes once more. “I didn’t feel very good.”
I step closer to her and she’s making herself smaller. I don’t like it.
I don’t like that she’s stepping back from me. Before she can go further, I trap her against the wall. Her breathing is starting to get heavier. Is she afraid of me because I just hurt her arm?
I lift her head with my knuckle under her chin, as gentle as I can manage this time.
“Don’t lie to me,” my tone is gruff unlike my touch.
She swallows hard and then sighs. “I didn’t like the company.”
I want to laugh. I don’t blame her, the ladies of the court can be catty and cliquey. “Were the ladies rude to you?”
“Oh no! Of course not,” she says quickly. “They are all so nice.”
“Then who was it?”
She inhales slowly and she drops her eyes once more as if this is hard for her to say. “Alpha Keenan.”
What was that coward doing at lunch? And what the f**k did he do?