Rhiannon stroked Aidan's face and brushed his hair back from his forehead. It had been two days since he'd been out of the bed.“I know you're awake. I can perfectly feel you are awake. You can’t hide behind a pair of closed eyes forever,” she scolded him gently.Aidan opened his eyes but said nothing.“You have to eat something. You can't go on like this.”“I'm not hungry.”Rhiannon snorted impatiently. She'd gone from being a prisoner to being a babysitter. Nice change!“You're not just hurting yourself. You're hurting Akela, too!” she exclaimed to make him react. “If your body gets weak, he’ll feel miserable; so stop throwing a tantrum like a little kid and get o—”“Help me get him out,” those words interrupted her, and Rhiannon fell silent, dumbfounded.Maybe it was too selfish to think like that, but she was sure that wasn't a good idea.“Aidan, you're not ready to let Akela out,” she assured him gently, sitting down beside him. “If you let him out now, you're likely to lose him.
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