by Haley Weir
“She is a servant of the castle, which means she is with me,” Theo snarled. “And as such, you will let her go. That is a direct command.”
The other man burst into a laugh, which further enraged Theo.
“We don’t take commands from pretty princes,” the man said. “We only take commands from the king.”
Theo began to lose control, and his form began to partially shift, starting with his eyes and growing with the teeth that were expanding within his jaw. But Aeron intervened before Theo was able to lose it completely. Fortunately for Theo, Aeron had come behind him because Theo had forgotten to bring two of the swords to the metalsmith. Aeron had brought them shortly after Theo and was then looking for his son in the city to walk back to the castle together. When he saw the scuffle between Theo and the two men, he immediately interrupted it. He put one hand on the front of his son’s shoulder to get him to calm down. Aeron glanced quickly at Marquette, and she could tell that he had immediately known the reason that his son had come to her rescue. But before any of the three of them could deal with their internal family issues, Aeron needed to deal with the two lowlife human men.
“What is this that I hear about you only taking orders from the king?” Aeron said to them.
“Yes, Your Majesty,” one of the men said with a deep bow as he tried to backtrack his rude behavior toward the king’s son. “Because you are the true and respected ruler.”
“Does that mean that you do not respect my son, your prince?” Aeron asked rhetorically as he glared at the men. “And that you do not respect the servants from my castle, such as Marquette, who has served the royal family for her entire life?”
“No, Your Highness,” the man said as his voice shook, revealing him as the cowardly bully that he was. “We meant no disrespect.”
“Good,” Aeron said. “Because if I were to think that you disrespected any of the people from my house, I would have no choice but to assume that you disrespect your king as well. And I’m afraid that would end very badly for the both of you.”
The two men nodded so furiously that it looked as if they were bobbleheads as they slowly took steps to back away from Aeron. Aeron could be quite scary looking when he was mad.
“Apologize to Marquette for being jackasses,” Aeron commanded.
Each of the two men immediately gave Marquette their apologies.
“And the next time my son gives you a command, I expect that you will follow it. He is your prince, and as such, he is representative of the crown. Any words that come out of his mouth are to be followed. Do you understand?” Aeron asked.
“Yes, Your Highness, of course,” the man that grabbed Marquette’s arm sputtered.
“Leave now,” Aeron told them. “Before I take your heads from your puny necks.”
Both men turned and ran from their king.
Marquette stood looking at Aeron as her face turned several flushed shades of red. Theo couldn’t tell if she was scared, or embarrassed, or angry; whatever it was, he knew that she just wanted to get back inside the castle and probably straight to her bedroom. He also knew that he would face quite a scolding from his father once they got back to the castle. The three of them walked back in silence. Aeron walked between Theo and Marquette, and Theo was fairly certain that his father positioned himself there for a reason. He knew.
As soon as they got back to the castle, Marquette expediently excused herself to go to her room. Before she left, she thanked both men for coming to her aid in the town square. After she was gone, Aeron yanked Theo by the arm and pulled him into his room to speak in private. Theo had been right; the scolding was of epic proportions.
“What could you possibly be thinking?” Aeron shouted at his son.
“I was thinking that I was helping Marquette,” Theo answered boldly. “Are you telling me that I shouldn’t have jumped in and protected her against those despicable goons? Marquette has been a part of our family for years. I would have done the same thing for Holly.”
“I’m not saying that you shouldn’t have helped her. You absolutely did the right thing by protecting her from those men,” Aeron said. “But that’s not what I’m talking about, and you know it.”
Theo was getting ready to pretend that he didn’t know why his father was so angry and upset, but then he decided that he was tired of how much energy it took to be elusive and deceptive when it came to his feelings. So instead, he just looked at his father, and no words were necessary because Aeron knew by the look alone how his son was feeling.
“You can’t possibly be this selfish and stupid as to risk exposing our whole family and putting everyone in danger,” Aeron said.
It was a rather harsh lecture, and it probably would have been better received if he had left out the part about calling Theo selfish and stupid. Theo knew that his father was just acting out of anger, and he tried not to take it too personally.
“Theo,” Aeron said as he tried to use a calmer voice. “If a human finds out about us, any human, then you risk our whole family.”
“Marquette would never betray our family,” Theo said.
“And that may be true,” Aeron acknowledged. “But are you willing to take that chance?”
After several long minutes of repeating the same warning over and over again, Aeron had finally run out of patience and things to say, so he left Theo to think about the implications of what almost would have happened if Aeron hadn’t been there to intervene.
When Theo left the room to walk down the hall toward his own bedroom, he noticed Marquette, who had been waiting for him, standing in the shadows of the corner. She locked eyes with him for a moment, and then turned to slowly walk toward her room, knowing that Theo would follow her. Once they got inside of her room, Marquette closed the door behind them, and the two of them stood just inside of the doorway together.
“Are you okay?” Theo asked her.
He wanted to wrap his arms around her, and if he had, Marquette would have buried her head against his chest. But for the moment, they just stood closely together and stared into each other’s eyes without touching.
“Yes,” she said with a grateful smile. “Thanks to you. I don’t know what those men would have done if you had not been there.”
“I do,” Theo growled low under his breath.
It made him furious just to think about it, and he had to be careful he didn’t lose control again and let one of his shifter features emerge. His father had literally just got done warning him to be more careful. But Theo found it difficult to be reserved and in control around Marquette.
“Theo,” she said cautiously. “I want you to take me into the woods with you.”
“Why?” he asked, completely perplexed about why she would ask him to do such a thing.
“Because I want to see you shift.”
“What?” he said as panic started to cross his face.
There was no way that Marquette could have known, he thought to himself. She shouldn’t have known.
“I know that you are a wolf shifter,” she said.
Her words filled his head with both dread and relief. On the one hand, he worried about what he did that had exposed his family’s secret and risked their safety. On the other hand, it was such a relief to not have to pretend with Marquette anymore. Still, he had to heed what his father had said for the good of everyone involved, including Marquette.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Theo lied.
“Yes, you do,” Marquette said firmly. “I have known about you and your family ever since we were children. I don’t want you to hide from me anymore. I want you to take me into the woods with you. I want to see who you really and truly are, in all your forms.”
“No,” Theo said adamantly.
“Why not?” she asked.
“Because it’s too dangerous.”
“I’m not afraid,” Marquette said as she reached for Theo’s face.
But Theo backed away and reached for the door handle to open.<
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“No, Marquette,” he said in a quiet voice as he opened the door to leave. “I need to protect both you and my family, and whatever it is that you think you know, you need to forget about it.”
Theo turned and walked out of the door and back into the corridor before Marquette had a chance to say anything else. She thought that she saw someone standing in the corner of the hallway, but it was only Holly, who was probably on her way to her room as Theo stormed past her. He didn’t even stop to acknowledge his sister, and Marquette closed her door right after Theo had left, leaving Holly by herself and wondering how to fix the situation that she had just overheard.
CHAPTER SIX
The next morning when Theo walked through the corridors of the castle, he was met by his sister, a guilty look on her face.
“Okay, don’t be mad at me,” she said.
Theo rolled his eyes at her.
“Ugh, that’s never a good start when you say that,” he said. “Honestly, I went through enough hell yesterday with dad and then with Marquette. I was hoping just for a peaceful day.”
“I know,” Holly said. “But I only told her to do it because you wouldn’t listen to her and you were being obstinate.”
“Told who? What did you tell someone?” he asked as he got ready to pinch Holly’s arm until she fessed-up about whatever she had done.
“Don’t get mad,” she said again. “But I overheard the conversation that you and Marquette had last night.”
“You what?” Theo’s voice was definitely starting to sound mad.
“I couldn’t help it. I was walking past her room on my way back, and I heard the two of you. You were an ass, by the way.”
“Then you heard what she said? About us?” Theo asked, ignoring his sister’s insult.
“Yes,” Holly answered. “And I believe her.”
“Good, then you can understand what a dangerous situation this is. And I was not being an ass. I am trying to protect everyone,” he said.
“From what?”
“From death, Holly. Jesus, how stupid can you be? If anyone finds out about us, we’ll be hunted. It puts everyone in danger, not just our family. It risks the packs in the forest and even Marquette. I know you aren’t old enough to remember what wolf hunters can do, but I am. And Marquette should be too. A wolf hunter killed her mother. I’m not about to let Marquette follow in her mother’s footsteps.”
“Okay, first of all,” Holly said indignantly, “don’t ever call me stupid again. Secondly, it’s you that’s being stupid. Marquette has been a friend of our family for years. She has grown up with us, and she has known and kept our secret this entire time. Do you really think that she would put our family at risk by telling anyone? You’re just afraid of your feelings for her. You’re trying to blame your own cowardice on some noble purpose when you’re just scared of the fact that you might be in love with a human.”
Theo grabbed his sister by the neck and pushed her up against the wall. He didn’t hurt her; he would never hurt her. But he was trying to exert a show of big-brotherly dominance. But even as he did it, he knew that his sister was right, and he did feel like an ass.
“What did you do?” he growled.
“I told Marquette to do the one thing that would finally get your attention and get you to pull your head out of your ass,” Holly said as she unclamped her brother’s hand from her throat. “Next time you do that, I’m going to bite a finger off.”
Holly and Theo both loved each other dearly, and neither would ever hurt the other. But that being said, they also didn’t hesitate to call each other out on their bullshit.
“I told her to make you jealous,” Holly said.
“You what? Why in the world would you tell her that?”
“Because I know you. You have feelings for her, Theo, whether you admit it or not. You won’t be able to stand seeing her with someone else.”
“Marquette isn’t going to listen to you,” he said as he took a step backward and started to calm down. “She’s too smart to do something as dumb as getting with another guy just to make me jealous.”
“Not if she feels as strongly about you as you do about her,” Holly said.
“That doesn’t even make any sense. If she had feelings for me, which I’m not even saying she does, the last thing she would do would be to make me jealous with someone else.”
“Not if she thought it was the only way to get your attention,” Holly smirked. “You can thank me for all of this later after it all works out. You may be mad now, but if I didn’t convince Marquette to do something that would trigger your impulsive emotions and get you to let down your guard with her, then you guys would never get together.”
Holly quickly started walking back down the hallway before her brother could get mad at her again, and Theo continued on toward the kitchen to get his morning coffee before heading out to the city to pick up his father’s weapons. He knew that his sister was only trying to help him and that she wanted to see him happy, but her methods were questionable in his mind. Still, he knew that Marquette had more common sense than to do something so foolish. Theo poured himself a flask of coffee and then left the castle to go out into the city of Grenvich.
When he got to the metalsmith, he was distracted before he even managed to speak to the metal worker. There, in the market, was Marquette. And this time, she wasn’t alone.
CHAPTER SEVEN
“What are you doing?” Theo asked as he pushed through the crowd toward Marquette and pulled her away from the man she was talking with.
The man had his arm around Marquette’s waist while they were talking, and she was giggling. At first, the man was getting ready to confront whoever had pulled Marquette from his grasp, but as soon as he saw that it was Prince Theo, he immediately backed away. Theo had a searing look of anger in his eyes, which even unsettled Marquette.
“I was just talking with some people,” she said.
“You weren’t talking with some people,” Theo said. “You were only talking with him.”
He pointed to the man who was now trying to steadily back away. The man didn’t want any trouble with the royal family. Marquette looked surprised that what Holly had told her to do had worked. It was very apparent that Theo was jealous and that his jealousy was continuing to ferment. But whether or not it had been a good idea was becoming questionable.
“I don’t understand what the problem is,” Marquette said.
She stared at Theo, and he stared back without anything to say that didn’t sound accusatory.
“The problem,” Theo tried to begin with. But no sooner had he started to talk than he felt his eyes start to burn and his wolfish nature start to rise to the surface. He looked at Marquette for one more desperate moment, and then he turned and ran from the market square.
“Theo, wait!” Marquette shouted as she started to run after him.
Theo was much faster than she was, and as soon as he got to the edge of the forest enough to be hidden within the trees, he shifted and became even faster. There was no feasible way that Marquette could catch up to him.
But that didn’t stop her from trying. She ran until she got to the forest, and then she kept running deeper in past the trees until she was so deep inside the forest that she was disoriented. Her lungs burned, and her legs ached, and there was a pang of pain in her side from doing more running than she had ever done at one time.
She stopped and looked around her. Even though it was still early in the day, the canopy of trees made the forest seem dark and foreboding. Unlike Holly and Theo, who longed for the dimly lit peace of the forest, Marquette became uneasy. She anxiously looked in every direction around her as she tried to figure out which way she had come from and which was the way out. But all the directions looked the same. She also felt as if she heard the low thrum of purring or growling, or some sort of noise that didn’t sound human.
Something at the corner of her eye seemed to move between the trees, and she became frightened. She gat
hered up the skirt of her dress and started to run in the first direction that her feet carried her, but she didn’t make it too far before she was met with several pairs of glowing yellow eyes. As Marquette started to step slowly backward, the pack of wolves crept closer on stealthily padded paws in crouched, prowling postures. The largest one in the front of the pack looked as though it was ready to pounce at any moment. Without being able to look both in front and behind her at the same time, Marquette tripped over some of the roots that were protruding from the ground and she fell down against her hands and backside onto the mossy ground. As soon as she had lost her footing, the wolves began to descend upon her, and she raised her arm to cover her face and keep from seeing what would likely be her last violent moments.
Just as Marquette let out a scream and prepared to feel the gnashing of teeth against her flesh, the low growling turned into a very audible sound of aggression. She opened her eyes and saw a giant black wolf right next to her. But this wolf wasn’t trying to attack her; it was trying to protect her.
Theo’s wolf form was every bit as large and muscular as his human form was, in fact, much more so. He stood between Marquette and the pack of wolves, and the ferocious growl that she now heard was coming from him. The other wolves made a low sound that seemed to vibrate within their chests as if they wanted to go against Theo but couldn’t. Not only was Theo a formidable foe, but he was also the son of the alpha of the most powerful wolf pack in the forests. None of them wanted to cross Aeron, and because of that reason alone, none of them would cross Theo.
Slowly, the other wolves backed away until, finally, they turned and went back into the forest altogether. Theo stayed looking away from Marquette at the forest until he was sure that they had all left. Even after that, he didn’t turn around for a few long moments to face her. When he did, he saw Marquette’s wide brown eyes staring at him in awe.
He shifted back into his human form and stood before her nakedly. He saw Marquette’s mouth drop open, and the rise and fall of her chest became labored and exaggerated. He wasn’t sure whether she was reacting in fear to what had just happened or reacting to his nude body standing before her. Being unclothed was the least of the reasons that Theo felt exposed, though. It was now completely undeniable that Marquette knew exactly what he was. She had seen with her own eyes that Theo was a shifter. She had watched him transform from wolf to man. There was no way that he could deny to her that he and all of his family were shifters, even though he knew that his sister had been correct in saying that Marquette had already known anyway.
