by May Sage
Oh hell.
“There, there, darling,” her husband breathed, gently stroking her back.
“This is the nicest place in the world. I want one in Skadia, Kai.”
“Of course you can have one.”
The man was very wise.
While Tarina’s was a chocolatier, by trade, they also made cakes, cookies, and pretty much anything as long as it could be stuffed with chocolate. Half of the shop had been cleared to leave room for tables around which people drank the most deliciously thick and decadent hot choc’ in the world.
Customers could look at the displays of goodies and point out which chocolate they wanted to melt and blend in their drinks; the products were ridiculously expensive, and well and truly worth it.
Skadia should have one of those shops, especially if the discussion went well and Lana was allowed to move there with her pack.
They’d just sat down, after ordering the biggest bowls of deliciousness available, with a side of buttery pasties, when Lana stiffened; her smell hadn’t betrayed her, this time: she identified Chase just before he entered the shop.
Oh, great. She dropped her head, and pulled her hood up, hoping he wouldn’t notice her, but well, the damn thing was kinda bold red, and she was right in his line of sight, so he saw her about three seconds after walking in.
Brilliant. Just what she needed.
She forced a smile she hoped could pass for amicable, praying that he’d do the same and move on.
No such luck. He walked right to her.
“Lana. I was hoping to catch you last week, before…”
He took in her company, seeming confused at first. Then, his eyes darkened.
“Kai and Eira of Skadia,” he said, sounding rather cold.
The goddess was undeterred, fully immersed in her drink, but the elf answered the glare directed to him with one of his own.
“And you would be?”
“Chase Hunter. Prince of this kingdom. I haven’t been informed of your arrival.”
“That would be because our visit was unplanned, and will be quite short, by all estimation,” he replied just as frostily. “Besides, I didn’t realize we might need to inform your authorities of our presence. The contract your Queen has signed stated no such thing.”
Chase must have realized he was being quite rude; he moved the corners of his mouth upwards, shaping it into something that could have passed for a smile, a grimace or the imitation of a chimpanzee. In any case, it was scary.
“Of course, pardon my surprise. There’s no need to announce yourself. You’re welcome in Enom. Brief as your visit might be, I hope you would consider stopping by the palace; I do know my grandmother has been fascinated by your history since we heard of it.”
This was politically correct Chase; he said just the right things. If they’d been on speaking terms, Lana would have suggested acting lessons: diplomacy might be easier if he managed to conceal his desire to rip a foreign dignitary’s head off.
“I’d like to talk, Lana, if you would.”
Oh hell. She couldn’t very well say never in a million years and seem like a reasonable person in front of those who might soon become her sovereigns.
“Of course. I’ll get my secretary to schedule an appointment.”
She smirked as his lips pressed in a thin line.
“It won’t take long. If your highnesses would excuse us.”
On this note, like an absolute heathen, he just grabbed her arm and pulled her up on her feet, before dragging her out of the building.
Don’t act like a lunatic around the Eldorian being her motto right now, she didn’t say anything until the door of the chocolatier had been closed. Then, she drew her hand back and yelled: “Have you lost your damn mind!”
She was shout at the Prince of Enom in the middle of the street of Crystalia, which meant that there were already twenty people filming the whole interaction with their phones, but some things were worthy of a little bit of drama.
“You’ve asked to leave for the north,” he stated, with something like an accusation in his voice.
For a little while, she stared, completely dumbstruck – then she had to nod and reply a slow “Yeeees?” that did imply duh, idiot, of course I have as much as yes, and what’s your point?
He didn’t get the two underlying connotations, because he was asking: “Why?”
Back when she’d drooled over his yummy, broad shoulders, she’d been too taken by his appearance to consider that he might possibly not have been as blessed in the brains department. A shame, really but oh well, no one’s perfect.
“Because we need a home – Skadia is ideal.”
“You should stay here,” he replied firmly. “This is your country.”
Or maybe he’d hurt his head – he could very well be suffering from a concussion right this minute.
“As I mentioned before, we don’t have a country. This kinda is our problem here.”
“Stay here.”
She couldn’t place the tone, but it was firm, yet too low and soft to sound quite like an order.
“I’ll get the admin to work on creating the necessary documents. No condition, no string attached. We’ll make you citizens of Enom and if you need any help setting up…”
“We have plenty of money,” she replied, none too fond of the suggestion that they might want to take charity.
He shrugged indifferently, before carrying on: “You’re from around here; our woods are familiar to you. The climate is kinder, too. Stay, please.”
This time, he was actually asking, which puzzled her. Why did he care?
She chewed up her lip like crazy, and finally came up with the only thing she could say: “I don’t know.”
She wasn’t certain she could trust his intentions – while there was no doubt – none whatsoever – that she could take anything the gods of Skadia said for face value.
Chase sighed.
“I guess I’ll take that, for now. Just think about it.”
“I will. I’ll listen to what the Skadian have to say, and I’ll mention it to my pack, along with your offer.”
That sounded reasonable, right? She wanted to pat her back for her show of maturity.
“Ok. You have a phone?”
She nodded, and he wrote down the number she recited.
“Send me any question, and let me know your decision. You can pop by to discuss it anytime, if you’d like. I live three doors down, in that big white eyesore with a dozen flags,” he said self-depreciatively.
“I would never have guessed.”
She had to laugh, mollified now the complete asshole who’d insulted her and her people a few days ago seemed to have disappeared. But she wasn’t likely to push his previous behavior under the rug, however cute he was when he smiled down at her like that.
Her decisions weren’t just affecting her, now: she had two hundred and seven wolves to think of. She’d do right by them.
Regardless of the fact that her slutty little wolf wanted to rub against him and lick him clean.
Chapter Nine
Decisions
Lana was planning to leave his kingdom, forever, dismissing it like a bad memory. Dismissing him.
The fact that it was his fault didn’t make the pill easier to swallow.
Truth was, with good reasons, Lana believed he despised her, and who would wish to stay in a country governed by someone who didn’t wish them well?
“What was that?” his grandma asked.
They were alone in the room. It was the second time he visited this week and there had been no parade of loose women. She’d probably figured he couldn’t take more pressure right now.
“Aiden swears her family…”
“I got that part. I mean, what’s her name again?”
“Vermeille.”
Mimi frowned, before opening her mouth and trying it on her tongue. “Verm... Vermie… No, that just wouldn’t do. She’ll have to go by a nickname.”
�
�It means blood red,” Chase injected helpfully.
“There we have it. Little Red. Anyway, dear Aiden wants to give her land, does he?”
Chase weighed his words carefully.
“I’m against it, Grandma. Their ancestors might have come from Jereena, but they are Enomian. Lana studied at a private school in town, and those who know her adore her.” He was delighted Mimi didn’t ask how he knew; investigating a girl he wished to date hadn’t been his finest hour.
“Well, that goes without saying,” Mimi replied without hesitation. “But it was nice of him to offer. I’ll make a new knitted cover for baby Chris.”
Chase cringed, knowing that Aiden and Belle’s newborn had probably just been given that denomination for the rest of his life. He was going to love it at twenty-five.
“That’s not all, is it?”
He sighed and confessed that Lana had reached out to the Eldorians. Mimi listened in silence and glared at him all the way. Then, she said only two words, but they were a clear, simple command from his Queen.
“Fix it.”
The next day, Chase was pacing. There were seventy-nine emails waiting on his inbox – even after his PA had cleared up things that didn’t need his attention – and as well as an arm long to-do-list, he had to attend three appointments, so it wasn’t like he wasn’t busy, but the time dragged. Every few minutes, he stared at his personal phone and glared at it as though the power of his concentration could magically change the content of his inbox.
Lana hadn’t gotten in touch. He spent most of the day wondering whether it meant she’d decided to reject his offer off hand, and couldn’t bother to inform him, or because it was still up for discussion. He asked himself what the Eldorian might have offered. Whatever it was, he was pretty sure he could outbid them – all he needed was for her to freaking call.
It was about five or six o’clock in the evening when he recalled that actually, while he had her number, she didn’t have his.
Feeling like the absolute fool he was, he hastily sent a text.
Ten very long minutes later, the small, ominous object consented to bip.
Reading her quick greeting, he started typing, before giving up and just pressing on her name. She answered on the fifth ring.
“Lana,” was her only greeting.
“Hey. You’ve been nicknamed Little Red.”
His random announcement was only met by silence.
“It’s a Mimi thing. She has a way of calling people exactly how she likes – thankfully, I’m just dear. Well, you’re Little Red. It’s as official as it gets, as she happens to be the Queen.”
To his surprise and delight, his verbal diarrhea made her chuckle a little.
“I apologize for not getting in touch sooner. I’ve been…” waiting for you to call like an idiot. He settled on, “busy.”
“Well, I’m sure there’s a lot of princey things to do.”
She didn’t sound judgmental, so he found himself explaining just what he did with his day.
Lana was a good listener. She asked the right questions at the right time and laughed at his lame jokes, too – which might have seemed a bit superficial if she didn’t also interject with plenty of her own.
His phone was warm against his cheek, betraying just how long they’d been talking when he heard her yawning on the other end of the phone.
“Am I boring you?”
“Nah. Not much.”
He could imagine her smile and that made him hard, as though they’d just had a naughty conversation rather than a banal, mundane on about his occupation.
Chase shook his head at the obnoxious bulge in his pants. It wasn’t like she’d described her lingerie: she’d just chuckled, and the dick was ready to party.
Great. Now he was thinking about Lana in lingerie. Why, oh why had he let that image enter his mind?
Needing a distraction, he decided to finally broach the subject at hand there: “So. I called to ask whether you’d considered my offer.”
They were having an official, non-personal, non-sensual conversation. You can go to sleep now, dick. The appendage was twitching in protest, as if to say “but five more minutes.”
Chase sighed and did his best to ignore it.
“I’ve talked to my admin – we should be ready to process the particulars as early as next week if you need us to.”
There: he sounded confident and casual – none of his desperation was evident in his tone.
“I talked to everyone,” she admitted, before marking a pause. “We like it here. The kids do, too.”
He released the breath he’d been holding, a little prematurely.
“But there are things to consider. Two packs quite so near will most probably mean a conflict, eventually. No regular human caught in the middle would survive that. At Skadia…”
“There is a conflict coming,” he interrupted her. “I am going to get that monster and stop him.” That word again. This time, he didn’t make the mistake of leaving it hanging between them. “I’m not calling him a monster because he changes into a wolf. Your animals are beautiful.” Particularly hers. “But his behavior warrants it. If any human had taken a liking to murdering those who passed through his lands, I’d say the exact same thing. I have to stop him, Lana. It’s my responsibility, for the safety of my people and any visitor of our Kingdom.”
“I see.”
As she didn’t add anything else, he prompted: “So you’ll stay?”
Fuck casual. He was desperate and owning it like a pro.
“Yes, I think we will.”
As the Chase Hunter she’d gotten to know over the course of the last two hours had seemed rather prideful, she didn’t state the obvious.
She was staying because she wouldn’t want to hear that a feral beast had attacked and torn the Prince of Enom, and all those he cared about, apart. For all the strength she read in him, he was no match for an Alpha wolf, even behind dozens of men.
Lana was delighted to have been given a valid reason to do exactly what she wished to do.
Chapter Ten
Marked
This was not a date. His definition of a date involved chocolate, flowers and candlelight, not tracking animals in the woods, along with a dozen of Wilderlings and soldiers.
Telling himself that it wasn’t a date didn’t stop him from smiling every time the girl looked at him. She smiled back. They had a thing. It might not have been the whole ripping clothes off kinda thing, but in time, it would be. He was pretty sure he could kiss her – just as soon as he managed to ditch the audience.
It felt like he’d somehow halved his age, emotionally – although even at fifteen, he’d never been quite so jubilant about anything, even the prospect of playing with boobs.
But that may be because no one he knew then had been blessed like her in that department.
Chase had chosen a few soldiers he knew personally, those he could vouch for, and with Lana’s blessing, had made them aware of the situation. One of them had pointed out that they needed to know where they could walk wthout running into wolves, so here they were, on a non-date.
Just because he felt like talking, was a bit tongue tied, he asked her, “You’re quite certain it’s safe around here?”
She shrugged. When she did so, her boobs lifted, fell and bounced under her plain tee-shirt. Twice. They were on the heavy side.
Look down, Chase. Or up. Anywhere but at there…
Yeah, the mental admonition wasn't working.
“It’s not pack territory. Norman might interact with you, here, but he’s careful about following the law – so no one can openly accusing him of wrongdoing. You’re fine this side of the river.”
That made him frown.
“I’ve been on the other side so many times. I often walk or ride a horse from town to the palace. Just last month, as grandma was pretty ill, I’m sure I must have been there…”
“Fourteen times,” Lana said. “Yes. And each time, an enforcer came close en
ough to smell that it was you, and that you were unescorted by any stranger. So, you were let through.”
“You can smell me from a distance?”
The ability to scent something further than a few meters away was probably overwhelming. Chase wrinkled his nose, imagining that what a little bit of sweat would be like, for her.
Then, he visualized ways to get sweaty with her. Down, boy. But as per usual, little head was ready to party at the slightest provocation, where she was concerned.
“You and all those honey and chocolate cookies. That was pretty unfair, by the way.”
She was being cute. He couldn’t resist cute.
Suddenly, he didn’t care that they had company. He grabbed her hand and pulled her to close the distance between them, holding her flush against him before capturing her lips.
Oh, hell, he hadn’t been prepared for this.
He’d planned a brief peck – an innocent kiss that was supposed to say I like you. Then, he would have stopped it and told her they were dating. They were. She just didn’t know it yet.
But instead, he had to deal with this.
She melted under his lips, at first, before responding eagerly, hungrily. Her arms went around his neck, pressing her frame harder against his and somewhere between the boobs on his stomach on the tantalizing mouth he couldn’t get enough of, he lost it. Next thing he knew he was taking her by the waist, lifting her and wrapping her legs around his torso, before pushing her up against the first flat surface – a tree.
Chase grinded against her while devouring her lips, unable to stop – he wanted, needed more.
He needed her neck. He had no idea why, but once his eyes had zeroed in on it, he couldn’t concentrate – the tormenting kiss somewhat lost its hold, whatever h did, his gaze flickered back to her exposed skin. Finally, he couldn’t do anything about it: leaving her lips, he dropped his face on her neck and kissed her there.
Lana completely froze, and feeling her apprehension, he dropped feather light kisses down from the nap of her neck to her jaw, slowly, languidly.
She moaned and her head fell back a little, giving him a better access.
