enne

aid was al

arters, my fingertips brushing over the white si

ation. She had only lowered her voice and said one thing: "Someone wants to see

make her grandson break his rule. The head maid was testing me, and

the hem falling to my ankles. I let my pale blonde hair down, and in front of the cracked mirror

central courtyard

rced to drink large amounts of silver-treated wolf-bane liquor to hold down his sensory overload in a political

and our scent is so faint it barely exists. In this den full of shar

and slipped into that narrow spiral staircase. The higher I went, the thicker the air became. Pine needles, bitter w

f the master suite wer

e trembling in my fingers,

oor o

ming in through the floor-to-ceiling bulletproof window. O

g his collarbone-left by pure silver. His right hand gripped a half-empty glass of amber liquor, his knuckles white,

e rug. My bare fe

ad snapped toward me. His cobalt-blue eyes were bloods

t o

vision blurred. But I had no inner wolf to force me into submissio

Instead, I took

in front of me. His tall body blocked out the moonlight, and the scalding heat coming off him was l

through clenched teeth, a dang

lt back and let the tears float in my honey-amber eyes. The moonlight

, my voice breaking into

complete

avering, terror and disbelief colliding. The hand on my

ren

fusion. The alcohol, the silver fever, the five

k gently into his burning palm, like a

ead of his r

gh force to almost crush my ribs. His face buried into the crook of my neck, and he inhaled deeply. His hot, ragged breath seared my ski

growled against my ear,

could catch my breath, his heavy body pressed down, pinn

on mine with bruta