King Caerbhall had been building up his patience for years. After more than eight centuries he could still not say that he loved his wife, not even because she was his mate, but he had no choice but to tolerate her, for there were too many and too dangerous secrets they shared.However, up to this point, the queen mother had always tried to keep out of his affairs, and the king had taken good care in keeping an eye on her. But this time Erea's intrigues had exceeded his expectations.“Did you send for the court in Nunavut?!” he shouted, entering her chamber and gesturing for her guard to get out.The queen gave him an innocent look that even she couldn’t believe.“Of course.”“With whose permission? You didn't consult me on it at all!” said the king.“I didn't know the lycan queen needed permission to gather her court,” Erea hissed.“Why did you send for them?”“For no particular reason. I just wanted to move up the fall meeting of the packs,” the queen declared. “That reserve is big

Aidan turned around lazily and felt a push on his back that caused him to hit his face on the ground and spring back up instantly.“Enough! There’s no room for both of us in this bed!” he declared, raising his index finger.“So?” growled Akela with a wicked gleam in his eye.“So... I'm going to sleep on the couch!” the lycan grunted heading for the door as he heard his wolf make a sound almost resembling a chuckle.“That's a wise decision,” he heard Raksha say. He stroke her lightly as the she-wolf walked past him and in one leap climbed onto the bed, bringing her massive head to rest on Akela.Aidan plopped down on the couch, looking up at the ceiling with a smile. It had been two days since Akela had returned to him, and for the time being, they were just hanging close, not bothering each other too much.Rhiannon sat on the other end of the couch with a huge cup of coffee in her hands. “Did you know it was Raksha's idea throwing you out of bed?” She laughed. “Raksha wanted to watch

Akela and Raksha looked at each other while Aidan made a sour face.“Come on, you can’t shut up about this, I need to know why this is happening to us!” Aidan protested. "Why does Rhiannon get hurt if I get hurt?”“There are explanations that aren't simple, brat,” Akela retorted.“But you can at least tell me if it's normal. I know that among lycans who subdue their wolves it isn't. But is it among free wolves? Help me understand this because my head is going to explode!” he demanded“No, it’s not normal,” Raksha muttered, getting up and walking slowly towards him. “In the old laws wolves didn’t bond that way either. But you and Rhiannon are special.” “Special how?”“Let’s just say the Goddess has a special soft spot for you... and tried to save you both,” the she-wolf said.Aidan’s expression changed with surprise. It was one thing to talk about the Goddess, as one talked about the Sun or the Moon and quite another to have her mentioned as if...as if…“Wait, what do you mean ‘save u

Raksha was pacing back and forth impatiently, and Rhiannon could have sworn she was about to smack her even with her tail.“What if something’s wrong with him?” Rhiannon asked anxiously, wringing her fingers, and they both knew she meant Aidan.“But how did you even think of doing that!” the she-wolf reprimanded her uneasily. “No less than drinking silver!”“I needed to check if I actually acquired some immunity,” Rhiannon said, defensively.“What if you had died? Didn't you think of that?!”“I knew it wasn’t going to kill me!”“Then if you knew you didn’t need to take it!” her she-wolf shouted back, and Rhiannon was silent because her damned logic was unquestionable.“I’m sorry,” Rhiannon covered her face with her hands. “I just have this feeling... Raksha, that door is open, but I keep feeling like a prisoner and I don’t know why!”“Rhiannon...”“No, Raksha, all of this...! It’s like a dream, a nice dream... but unreal! I live as if I were free, as if my family hadn't been murdered,

“This has got to be a joke!” Aidan put his hands to his head as Rhiannon poured another bucket of ice into the tub where Aidan sat, shivering. “I’ve been in heat many times before, and none of them felt like this. Are you sure?”“Akela says it is,” Rhiannon replied, “and the truth is that that makes perfect sense. All these days we were full of hormones, the wolves felt it, but your bonding ritual with Akela triggered it all.”Aidan splashed ice water on his face and hair and let out an embarrassing sigh, his whole body felt like a bomb about to explode.Rhiannon looked him up and down. He was only wearing his underwear and that didn’t do much to help her decision of not being with him. Every part of him looked perfectly designed, as if the Goddess had sculpted him just the way she liked him.“Your face isn’t helping me,” Aidan scolded, snapping her out of her thoughts. “Do you like what you see?”Rhiannon wrinkled her nose and bared her teeth at him in a childish, defiant gesture, an

“Rhia... you need to get out," Aidan said, dialing the series of numbers on the control panel and pushing the door from above her head, but Rhiannon pushed past him and went to the other side of the room.“I’m going to stay here with you,” she declared, bouncing on her heels childishly. “This little room looks nice.“Hey, you’ve got to go!” Aidan exclaimed, trying to reach her, but she dodged him again. She probably was a good dancer, because she was quite agile and light.“Well... if you can get me out...”Aidan smiled as he tried to corner her in that tiny space, but it seemed impossible. Finally, she got a little too careless, and he ended up throwing her over his shoulder to get her out.“I’ve caught you!” he said triumphantly as he held her with his forearms crossed under her buttocks and the girl rested her elbows on his shoulders. “Now I'm going to get you out!”“Yes,” Rhiannon murmured with a sigh, very close to his mouth. “The problem is that in order to get me out... you had

Aidan rolled over on his side and stroked Rhiannon’s back, who was sleeping curled up, her hair, once again white, strewn across the pillow.The padded room had been perfect for initiating the mating with her, but it was not enough. After that, they had gotten to the sea, the sand, the forest, the living room...It was hard to count the number of times they had bonded, but it was getting harder to get his Alpha out every time, it seemed that just with the girl’s touch his whole body seemed to awaken.Finally, Akela and Raksha had also needed to regain their strength and the lycans had taken them back so they could rest.Aidan sighed uneasily, there was so much, so much he didn’t know. He examined Rhiannon’s body, seeing the countless scars she bore; he could recognize each one he had given her over the years, between fights with the resistance, hunts or stupid things. If he had known he could hurt her every time he did that, he would never have put his skin on the line just to protect

It was strange and even a little annoying, that fluttering tingle in the middle of her chest that made her open her eyes and meet Aidan’s dark gaze. He was lying on his side, his head on one arm, his hair disheveled. “What’s wrong?” she asked worriedly. “You don’t seem to have been marked. Neither of us does,” he replied. He was obviously disappointed about that. Rhiannon put a hand on the curve of her neck, where the tattoo should have been. “Do you feel bad about that?” she wanted to know. No matter how much he tried to hide it or resist it, the bonds of subjection were deeply ingrained in Aidan’s behavior, and to him the mark was just one that he was allowed to by all the laws. “I don’t know what it means. Did I really mark you? Didn’t you accept the mark? Don't you want to be—” “With you?” Rhiannon finished for him. “Aidan, that insecurity is beside the point. Everything that has happened between us up to this point has been my decision, and by now, you should believe that n

“I told you she was going to be fine here. Look, she’s opening her eyes,” Raksha’s voice was softer than usual in her head.“Rhiannon, baby!” Aidan patted her face gently, and the girl opened her eyes to find a dark sky, with no stars, but at least she could see the treetops.“What happened?” she asked trying to sit up and realized that she and Aidan were sitting on a blanket on the grass, in a green and rather quiet place.“You fainted,” Aidan answered with concern. “Raksha says that your brain got saturated with so much noise and so many people.”Rhiannon nodded, holding a hand to her forehead.“Yes, I guess I got a little dizzy. I’m sorry, I just come from a more... quiet time. I just need to adjust.”Aidan pulled her to him, hugging her with a sigh of relief, and the girl could almost smell the fear leaving every pore of his body.“Don’t worry, we're going home now.”“Where are we?” she asked, looking around. The last time she had closed her eyes they were in the middle of the cit

First he dragged her, then he pushed her, and then he tied the seatbelt around her with a grunt.“Stop fighting right now!” Aidan exclaimed in frustration as he drove like a madman towards the apartment in the 180 Street building. He didn't particularly like the idea, but it was true, he’d rather be somewhere his parents didn’t know. “Don’t you realize I’m trying to help you?”“Are the monarchs here? In this city?” she asked, baring her incisors at him.“That’s right, but what are you going to do about it? Go and kill them in cold blood?” Aidan questioned her.“Oooh, believe me, I'm pretty hot-blooded right now!”“And do you think you can get to them?” Aidan raised his eyebrows. “You’re right, you don’t know this new world. You don’t know anything about what’s going on. You’d only go back to a cell at best, and at worst, we’d get killed. Is that what you want?! Getting yourself killed?! Because if so, we can throw ourselves off a building right now and save ourselves all the pointless