He closed his eyes and the pain etched on his face hurt her too. Her instinct was to tell him that he didn’t have to talk about it, didn’t have to tell her. But he did. She needed to know.
He opened his eyes and pinned her with a hard stare. “I killed her.”
When he made no move to explain further, she prompted, “Look, you can’t just drop a bomb like that and leave it to detonate. How did you kill her? Did you intend to kill her and if so, what was her crime?”
“No crime. She sweet and kind, beautiful. Too soft and gentle for one such as myself. She was a beta. But I didn’t care. We thought it didn’t matter, but it does.”
“I still don’t understand.” Alphas mated betas all the time.
“It was the power in my bite. It was poison to her.”
Suddenly it was all clear. That was why he was impotent. His lust had murdered someone he loved.
“I held her while she died.” His face showed no expression, but Marchessa could tell that the words were like razor blades.
“I’m so sorry.” She didn’t feel like words were adequate so she reached across the table and took his hand. It was warm and strong and gripped her back so tightly, as if he found strength and solace there.
That wasn’t something her father or Stefan would’ve ever done.
“He has reason to hate me. He loved her.”
“But not Armand. Sometimes, bad things happen and it’s no one’s fault. It just is. And you have to live with that. That’s a lesson he should already know.”
“In truth, but it’s much easier to blame someone else. Otherwise, he’ll feel he has to blame himself. Regardless, this kind of behavior won’t be tolerated. I really don’t want to make an example of him, but I will if I have to.” He took a bite of pineapple. “You may stay here. Enjoy your time. Relax. Spend my money.”
“Not a chance. What does it say about my role, or even how I feel about it if I was to stay here? No, if you need to go back to Roluscany, I’ll go with you.” Marchessa was determined to make something of this life. “It’s not like Bora Bora is going anywhere. We can always come back. Together.”
“It might be dangerous,” he warned.
“I don’t think I’m invincible, but I’m badass enough you wanted to put a ring on it, so I think I’ll be okay.”
He gave her a smile. “I’m glad this is what you want.”
She was startled. “Really?”
“Yes, really.”
Here was this strong, Alpha male who could dominate any other pack he chose and he was telling her all the things she’d always believed to be true about herself. The good things, anyway. She’d never believed being female made her weak, made her less, and she’d always thought she had more to offer a mate than just a womb.
It would figure that the one she wanted to be with in that way had no use for it.
She finished her food and as she packed back at the cottage, she refused to think about Cassius.
That was a lie.
She wanted to refuse to think about him.
Marchessa wondered if he was going to fly back with them on the same jet. How awkward would that be?
Or maybe it would be up to him to find his own way back. Did he even know they were leaving? She didn’t even want to bring it up. So, she didn’t.
She packed her meager belongings and tried to focus on what lay ahead for them. It was a constant battle, even as they rode to the small airfield and boarded the jet.
But something prickled the back of her mind. Something her father had said not too long ago. She was supposed to have been minding her own business, but he’d convened some kind of war council.
“Antony, did you know that the Ardennes have recently gone into business with Peter Breslin? Luc is a silent partner in his new business.”
Antony snapped his head around to fix her with his hard predator’s gaze. If she were a lesser wolf, she might have cowered. “How do you know this? Do you have proof?”
“I heard Stefan talking with my father at his last war council. Woolven has some technology, some sort of… I can’t remember. I didn’t hear it that well. But my father was going to steal it and was talking about selling it to Breslin, via Ardennes.”
“Does Vittorio know that Breslin is a hunter?”
“Does Ardennes?” She didn’t actually know if her father knew that or not. She was tempted to call him, to warn him, but he would listen to her anyway.
“Sadly. His own pack is turning against him, asking for amnesty among the Rommulus, but for the safety of my own pack, I can’t allow it. I’ve had to turn them away. The Woolvens hold no such qualms, so I’ve been sending them there to Aphelion, their estate in the Ozarks.”
“The Woolvens need to rebuild their pack. Their numbers have dwindled since the last war.”
“Were you going to mate Blake Woolven?”
She looked away.
“No, don’t turn away. Just tell me.”
Marchessa shook her head. “No. I didn’t want to mate anyone.” She’d briefly entertained the idea in hopes it would end the war—and to escape this match her father had made for her. Damn if she was going to let him sell her, but sell her he had and she’d allowed it.
“I can tell you that the long years of our lives are infinitely longer and shorter than you’d expect. Spending them alone can be very uncomfortable when you’re used to a pack life.”
“The idea of being rogue doesn’t appeal to me either.”
“I’ve done that too.”
“What? But you’re the Rommulus Alpha.” She’d never heard of a rogue wolf Alphaing a pack.
“I founded the Rommulus when I was tired of running. I put down stakes and claimed territory and turned a whole village, marked them, made them my pack. It was on a little island where I washed up after a shipwreck and the people were kind to me. Then when raiders from the mainland came, well, I couldn’t let that stand, now could I? Roluscany has stood on its own ever since and my pack has spread to the mainland, throughout Europe, the new world… there are Rommulus everywhere. Woolven was once part of the Rommulus, but when an Alpha came of age, he had no desire to challenge me and I let him go with my blessing to begin his own pack.”
She wondered what it must have been like to see the ages pass as he had. To have seen the shades of the world turn. The advancements, the setbacks. The idea of eternity thrilled her. Always more to know, more to see, more to understand. “You’ve seen and done so much.”
“Does that appeal to you?”
Excitement burned through her veins. “Yes. Very much.”
“If I could offer it to you, would you take it?”
She didn’t hesitate. “Yes.”
“Are you very sure of that?”
“Most definitely. Although, I’d like it at thirty-five.”
“Why thirty-five?” He leaned back in his seat and took a drink from his bottle of Evian.
“Because I’m twenty-five. I’m kind of a fetus. I am young, yes. But I think thirty-five is when people grow into themselves. I don’t want to look in the mirror in a hundred years and see me at twenty-five.”
“You may not want to look in the mirror and see you at thirty-five,” he teased.
“I can always change my mind. If I start getting crow’s feet or a grey tail too soon.”
“Oh, you mean like me?”
There was no rancor in his voice, just amusement.
“Yeah, like you. For males, it’s different. You look worldly, powerful. If I were to let my hair go white and had the same lines around my eyes that you do, I’d be an old bag.”
“You think I look powerful?” He arched a brow.
She shook her head. “So male.” She sighed. “I’m talking about something completely different and you’re drawn only to the compliment about your maleness.”
“Why yes, I am rather vain.”
She laughed and realized that she did that a lot in his company. In Cassius’s too. “If I were a male and looke
d like you, I suppose I would be too.”
Pride shone in his eyes. Pride and…something else. Something that looked a lot like hunger—desire. The need slammed home.
She slipped out of her seat and slide into his lap, her arm around his shoulders. “See, since you haven’t been mated or married in some time, maybe you’ve forgotten how this works. Now, it’s your turn to extoll my virtues.”
He was frozen under her, his skin so hot through his clothes, muscles bulging and taut—as if he were ready for some kind of war.
“You know you’re beautiful, Marchessa.” His voice was low, dangerous.
Which thrilled her even more. “Not good enough. You know what you offer as a male, as an Alpha male. You know you’re body is well-made, pleasing to the eye, and yet you like to hear it from me. I’d have the same.”
“That’s what Cassius is for.”
She smacked his cheek lightly. “No.”
His eyes darkened and she saw the wolf just below the surface. He was ancient, powerful, and hungry. He’d devour her with one bite. And she wanted it. She wanted to know what it was like just once to be so consumed.
Not even Cassius could compare to what she knew it would be like to be owned and dominated by a wolf such as this.
Her own eyes flashed amber, her wolf daring his to come play.
“You play a dangerous game.”
“Because I want to know that you think I’m beautiful?”
“You put the stars to shame with your beauty. Helen of Troy was a hag next to your radiance. I’d kill for you, I’d die for you. Is that what you want to hear?”
His words, each one like a forbidden caress, delved deep and bloomed inside of her. Touching her in a place she thought no one could see. “Yes, Antony. That’s exactly what I want to hear.”
“And this, is this what you want as well?” His hand slid down over her hip.
“Oh yes.”
“To what end?”
“To building intimacy with the male I’m going to marry.” She kissed his cheek. “We don’t have to fuck.”
“You’re going to be the death of me, Marchessa.” He said this quietly, but then growled. “Or the death of yourself.”
“You won’t hurt me.” She supposed maybe it was naïve of her to think so, but it was something she just knew. Like seeing him and knowing he was hers—she felt this. Knew it in a way that was deeper than knowing.
“I didn’t think I’d hurt Carolina either.”
“I’m no beta, Antony. I’m an Alpha.”
“And yet, you are in my lap and feel I have no reaction. If you keep pushing the issue, I will rescind my offer and take back the mine. Marry me or not, but leave sleeping beasts lie,” he hissed.
“I can’t. The more you tell me no, the more I need—”
“What about what I need?” He interrupted her, stoic and calm.
“Yes, what about what you need?” She nodded, knowing her interpretation was not what he meant. “You need this as much as I do.”
“You’re not afraid? What if I told you that Carolina was no beta, but the strongest Alpha female seen in an age?”
“She still wasn’t as strong as me. I don’t fear your bite. I crave it.” She did, she dreamed about it. Imagined what it would be like to feel his teeth tearing into her skin, seeing his mark branded on her flesh.
“I don’t want another wolf’s leavings. I can see his mark.”
Marchessa snapped her head toward him. “If you ever say anything like that to me again, we’re finished. I am no one’s leavings. If I lay down for your whole pack, down to the last untried virgin, I am still not garbage. I’m not the throw away. How dare you say that to me after telling me that Cassius is part of the deal? How I decide to give my body, use my body, that’s my choice. That doesn’t make me any less worthy of you. How many have you fucked in your long years? Surely more than me. Leavings? How dare you,” she growled, leaning forward so that they were nose to nose and eye to eye.
He may have been the Alpha of Rommulus, he may have been some kind of prince, but she wasn’t going to let him make her feel like she was less than she was for any reason.
His control, if he’d even bothered to marshal it, snapped.
The shot forward onto the floor of the jet and Marchessa got an up close and personal introduction to his wolf.
There was so much power coursing through him that she almost had to look away.
Almost.
God, the power she felt from him. It was like molten gold in his veins…and hers. She shivered with it and adrenaline coursed through her. There was something so familiar about it, something she couldn’t place. But she wanted, no needed more. She needed it like the air she breathed, the water she drank, the moon on her bare skin.
Marchessa turned her head to the side slowly, baring her neck for his bite.
This was it.
There was no going back.
He’d bite her, claim her, and take her right here. They’d be no more Cassius for her then, no more doubt, no more freedom to change her mind.
She’d belong to him wholly, utterly.
She’d be de la Luna no more, but Rommulus.
A princess.
An Alpha’s mate.
The plane suddenly lurched and she smelled blood.
Antony leapt back from her and headed toward the cockpit.
The scent of blood and… something else. The tang of silver.
His arms were around her and his lips were right next to her ear. “The plane is going down. It’s been rigged with silver. This is going to hurt like a bastard, but you will heal. Do you understand?”
She did understand. She didn’t want to, but she did.
“We’re over Mexico. Near Tulum. When we’re close to the ground, we’re going to jump.”
“What about the parachutes?”
“Don’t you think whoever rigged the jet would’ve thought of that? The pilot’s dead, sweetheart. Silver poisoning.”
Oh god.
“They knew. They attacked Armand to bring you running and—”
“No time for that now.” He reached over and pulled the emergency handle on the door.
Chapter Six
The next thing Marchessa knew, she was wrapped in Antony’s arms and he carried her over rough terrain. It was dark, but his eyes glinted like polished onyx in the moonlight.
He looked down at her and though his eyes were fierce, his expression was gentle. “Are you in pain?”
“No.” She struggled to orient herself, to see more of her surroundings, but she was still dizzy. Almost as if she’d been drugged. “What happened?”
“We jumped.”
“I know that,” she managed a disapproving tone. “But why can’t I remember anything?”
“Because your legs were broken and I made you sleep and forget. You’ve shifted in my arms a few times. You should be almost healed.”
He had that kind of power? She knew he was strong, knew he had the kind of strength no one else did, but Marchessa didn’t know the full extent of what he could do. Neither did the rest of their world.
She clung to him, allowing him to carry, cosset and protect her.
And why shouldn’t she?
Marchessa was afraid of what had happened. Someone had tried to kill them both.
Someone had almost succeeded.
“Do you know who had access to the plane?” She spun through the possibilities of who wanted to hurt them and who could.
“Yes.”
“Do you think it could be any one of them?” Her mind raced. She thought about Cassius.
Had he tried to kill them?
That was silly. Of course he hadn’t.
Yet… he wasn’t on the jet with them. Why not? Was he bowing to his Alpha’s place, or was it something more sinister?
She thought about the last time he’d taken her, his claws digging into her, tearing her skin. His teeth…
Marchessa tried to re-evaluate. See these th
ings in another light, but she couldn’t. All she could think about was how hot it made her.
“Marchessa,” he admonished.
“You damn Alpha males and your sense of smell.” He could scent her arousal. God, how embarrassing.
“I only wish I could do something about it. It’s right to want your male after something like this. It solidifies the bond and instills feelings of safety and protection. It rewards the male for his pain and his sacrifice with pleasure and the trust of his female.”
“You’re holding me close. It’s enough,” she said, even though she desperately wanted more.
Needed more.
The skin to skin contact caused feelings of peace and tranquility to replace the stress and fear. She imagined if he touched her all over how blissful that would be.
“Let me get us somewhere safe.”
“Those lights, what are they?”
“Tulum. I promise, in a few short minutes we’ll be bathing in a Roman bath and eating room service and I’ll figure out just what the hell is going on.” He adjusted his grip. “Are you feeling strong enough to hold on to me?”
She tightened her arm around his neck.
“No, like this.” He shifted her so that her legs were around his waist and her arms had hooked under his shoulders.
She held tight.
“I’m going to run. Close your eyes, or you’ll be dizzy.”
“You’re not changing into your wolf?”
“I don’t need to.”
He started to move, the wind whipping at her face and she closed her eyes and buried her face is his shoulder. They were moving faster than anything she thought was possible, covering ground and some insane speed.
She could feel his muscles moving, his body accommodating his will. It was fluid and perfect, almost like a delicate machine. When he slowed, they were in the garden area of some lux hotel and he eased her to her feet.
She winced as pain shot through her legs, but it soon righted itself when she touched him, her body completing the healing process with his energy.
Marchessa knew then that she had to be done with Cassius. This kind of bond only happened with true mates. His power, his strength, he healed her. He shared his energy with her.
She’d just have to figure out how to live without sex.
Princess of the Pack Page 5
