by Haley Weir
But Theo felt more exposed and rawer in front of her than just having his secret revealed. He felt as if she had seen all sides of him: the scary, the uncontrollable, and the wild nature of who he really was. He breathed heavily and his heart pounded against his ribcage as he waited for her to get up and run away from him. How could she have feelings for him now? How could such a gentle and fragile human girl have tenderness for such a brutal and primal beast?
Marquette got slowly to her feet and stepped toward him. Her eyes were wide with a feverish look that Theo was certain was terror, or disbelief, or perhaps a mix of both. She stood just a few inches apart from him and lifted her hand toward his bare chest.
“Don’t,” Theo warned.
Marquette stilled her hand at the harsh utterance of his word.
“You should stay away from me,” he said as he diverted his eyes away from hers. For the first time in his life, he felt a tinge of shame at what he was. He felt different from the one person that he wanted to feel the same as. “I am dangerous, and so are all of the people that would kill me—and you—if they found out that I…”
Theo’s voice trailed off as he continued to look away from her.
“That you what?” Marquette asked him.
He didn’t answer.
“Theo, say it. Tell me. If they found out that you what?” she asked again.
He lifted his face to hers and spoke the words he had been holding in for as long as he could remember. His jaw shook, and his voice cracked, but he spoke anyway as if it was a cathartic release that washed over him.
“That I’m in love with you. Marquette, I’ve always been in love with you. But you need to stay away from me. I’m not safe for you to be around, and neither is my world.”
But instead of being afraid of him, and instead of running away from a world that she knew nothing about aside from the fact that it nearly tried to kill her tonight, Marquette reached to hold Theo’s face in her hand. She put her palm on the side of his cheek and held his eyes with hers.
“I am not afraid of you, Theo,” she said as she softened his heart. “I am only afraid of not being with you.”
At that moment, there in the forest, breathlessly overwhelmed with more emotions than he had ever felt before, Theo finally shed his last thread of restraint.
CHAPTER EIGHT
When Theo wrapped his arms around Marquette and pulled her body to his, he put his mouth on hers and was finally able to taste her soft lips. If there was ever a moment of utopia, this was it. He slid his tongue into her open mouth, and as their tongues encircled around each other, Theo felt a swelling of happiness rise within him that he had only dreamt was possible, and that wasn’t the only swelling that he felt.
He held tightly onto Marquette as he knelt down toward the ground, bringing her down with him and laying her on her back against the soft moss that covered the forest floor. For untold moments that seemed to last both forever, and not nearly long enough, they were a mass of exploring hands and tangled limbs while they kissed and grasped on to each other, trying to pull each other closer than seemed physically possible. Marquette’s dress became an unbearable barrier that drove Theo crazy with yearning as he longed to take it off. He gently pulled the laces of her bodice and lifted her dress over her head, until both of their naked bodies laid pressed against each other under the muted light of the forest.
Theo wanted her with such insatiable intensity that he could hardly stand it, and for a moment, he paused to look at her with an adoration that made him realize how much they had always been drawn to each other despite whatever rules threatened to keep them apart. But still, even though he felt as if he would die if he couldn’t put himself inside of her right that moment, he called onto his last bit of self-control to make sure that she was ready for this.
“I will stop if you want me to,” he said as his body shook above her. “I am not human, Marquette, and I don’t want you to be afraid.”
“I’m not afraid,” Marquette whispered to him as she leaned up to kiss him again. “I am too much in love with you to be afraid.”
At her words, Theo leaned down against her and looked deep into her eyes as he pushed his massively swollen and throbbing cock into her body. Theo let out a carnal moan as he threw his head back and pressed deeper into her until he had filled every available space within her. As he moved steadily inside of her, Marquette gasped in fits of pleasure and wrapped her legs around his waist. All of the moments that they had longed for in secrecy led to this one perfect moment wrapped in ecstasy together. Theo held onto the sensual climb until his body began to tremble in tantalizing anticipation. When finally, both of their bodies succumbed to the climactic unraveling around each other, and they collapsed into a breathless heap; the joining of their bodies left no further doubt. Theo knew that he could never again be without Marquette. He could never again push her away, even if it was for her own good, not without killing himself in the process. They were bound together now, and that was the end of it. He would be with her, and protect her, and she would be his forever.
He rolled over onto his back and flinched with residual shockwaves as his cock slid from her body, still wanting more. Theo gently pulled Marquette up onto his shoulder, where she rested her head against his chest.
“What will happen now?” Marquette asked after they had both taken a moment to catch their breath.
“Now,” Theo said with absolute resolution. “I will love you forever, and you will have me for as long as you want me by your side.”
“Then it will be forever, indeed,” Marquette said. “Because I never want you to leave my side.”
Theo softly kissed her forehead.
“But,” she continued with a bit more hesitation than before, “what are we to do about our relationship? I can’t be responsible for anything bad befalling your family. If the kingdom finds out that you are in love with a servant girl, it won’t bode well.”
As much as Theo wanted to ignore all of the ridiculous constructs and restrictions of both of their worlds, he knew that Marquette was right. It was the same with the shifters. If the other wolf packs discovered that he had fallen in love with a human, it would put everyone in danger.
“As much as I don’t want to suggest this,” he said. “I think that we should keep our relationship a secret, at least until I become king. It is not so much the humans that I worry about, but the shifters.”
“Do the shifters dislike humans?” she asked innocently.
“Some,” Theo answered honestly. “Not my family nor my pack, of course. But some of the shifters distrust humans, and some of the packs don’t look kindly on mating between species. It wouldn’t be safe for you if they found out about us.”
That notion made Theo realize that it was still midday and that the two of them were lying completely out in the open in the middle of the woods. Fortunately, many of the shifters were nocturnal and he could tell if anyone was around. But still, it was smart of them to get going before anyone came looking for either of them. He handed Marquette her dress and helped her to lace her bodice.
“I want to stay in the forest and make love to you a million more times until we are both so exhausted that all we can manage to do is breath and lay in each other’s arms,” he said as he tenderly kissed the back of her neck.
“I want that too,” she smiled.
“Someday,” he said. His voice sounded wistful and far-away, and he hoped that someday that would really be a reality for them.
He would do whatever he needed to do now to be with Marquette and keep her safe, even if that meant it had to be in secret. But he would no longer let anything keep them apart.
“You don’t have any clothes,” she said with a grin.
“Oh, just a minute,” Theo said as he got up and stepped into the trees.
He emerged back into sight after a minute or two with a pair of pants and a shirt.
“I always tuck a few spare sets of clothing in the forest.”
&nbs
p; “Clever,” Marquette laughed as she looked down at his feet. “But you still don’t have any shoes.”
As they walked out of the forest and back toward the castle, neither of them had any idea that they had been seen by someone else. Theo had been right in saying that he would have been able to tell if someone had been around to see them. His wolf senses were astute and reliable; unless the someone who had seen them was even more astute than he was.
***
“What in the world could you possibly be thinking?” Rubius hollered as soon as he had been able to sequester Theo. “Do you have any idea what kind of danger you have put yourself in? Or what kind of danger you have put your family and Marquette in?”
“You saw us?” Theo asked in astonishment.
“Of course I saw you. You were out in the open woods near my pack’s territory,” Rubius answered harshly.
“Was it your pack that came after Marquette?” Theo asked.
“No,” Rubius said. “That pack is a pure-blooded pack that keeps to themselves unless they find a reason to get involved in outside affairs, which you have probably just given them.”
“I don’t see what the big deal is,” Theo said. “No one else saw us except for you. No one else will find out. Marquette and I will keep it a secret until I am king.”
Rubius laughed, and it felt like an insult to Theo.
“You won’t live long enough to be king if word of this gets out, and neither will she,” Rubius said. “Look, I understand. Trust me when I tell you that I know what it is like to want to be with a woman that you know you aren’t supposed to be with, so badly that you’d rather chew off your own leg than be without her. But Theo, you at least have to understand how dangerous this is. Marquette is a human. You’re playing with fire by being with a human girl. I would never tell you not to be with someone that you love, but you have to be more than careful if you choose to stay on this path with her. Otherwise, you will risk everything—including her.”
Theo listened to Rubius’ warning. He respected Rubius and valued his opinion as if he was a wise uncle that always looked out for him. But Theo also knew that he just had to be with Marquette. He’d be careful, they both would, and he would make sure that he never left her side.
“How was it that I couldn’t tell you were in the woods and saw us?” Theo asked him. “My senses normally pick up on everything.”
“Alphas have an extra skillset that most shifters do not,” Rubius answered. “It kind of comes with the job of being pack leader. Our senses are even sharper; so is our ability to be stealthy. You’re lucky I was the only alpha nearby.”
“What were the other wolves doing in the woods?” Theo asked. “The ones that I had to chase away from Marquette. That wasn’t really the time of day that most shifters are just out wandering in that part of the forest.”
“I’m not sure,” Rubius answered. “My guess is they sensed that a human had entered their territory and came to search her out. What was she even doing in this part of the forest?”
“She was looking for me,” Theo said. “I ran off when I got angry after seeing her with someone else. But when I ran off into the woods, Marquette chased me and ended up in their territory. I made it to her just in time.”
Rubius shook his head.
“The both of you are reckless, and you’re going to get each other killed if you’re not careful.”
“I’ll be careful,” Theo promised.
“You’d better be.”
CHAPTER NINE
Theo listened to Rubius’ warning, but he didn’t think too much of it in the following days. He and Marquette were so ecstatic to be together at last that they couldn’t think clearly about anything else or let any dismal worrying cloud their joy. They were careful about keeping their love a secret, still acting as though they were merely a prince and his servant girl and making extra effort not to let their glances and casual brushes up against each other draw any attention from the royal family. It was difficult. Every time they were around each other, they wanted to fall into a heap of kisses and lovemaking. The angst between them wasn’t easier to deal with now that they had made love; it was even more difficult to ignore. Theo literally ached for Marquette every time he saw her, and on more than one occasion, he had to casually let his hands fall over his pants to keep his swelling desire from being visible.
They managed to sneak in moments of intimacy together late at night, after everyone in the castle had gone to sleep. And anytime that Marquette needed to leave the castle on errands, Theo found an excuse to go too. He would follow her at a distance, enough to make sure that no harm came to her. Marquette teased him about being overly protective and hovering, but he insisted that he would always make sure that she was protected, and since she liked having him with her, she never protested.
But despite their false sense of security together, Rubius hadn’t been the only one to see the two of them in the forest together. The man that had been holding onto Marquette’s waist had seen Marquette run after Theo as he headed into the woods. And although the man didn’t know that Theo was a shifter, he did know that the prince was having an affair with one of his servants. Why else would the prince have gotten so upset about who a servant girl had been talking to in the market square? And why else would she have chased the prince all the way into the woods?
The man was not a hunter, nor did he have any interest in Marquette for himself. He was simply a greedy man who saw the opportunity to line his pockets by blackmailing the prince.
When the man showed up at the castle gates asking to speak with Prince Theo, and Theo saw who it was, he knew that it couldn’t amount to much good.
“What do you want?” Theo asked him once they were alone in the throne room.
“I want to be paid with riches and enough wealth to last my lifetime,” the man sneered.
Theo laughed in disgust at the man’s bullishness.
“What makes you think that I would ever give you one coin?” Theo asked, waiting to be amused by the man’s explanation of merit to back his ridiculous request.
“Because if you do not, then I will tell everyone in the kingdom about how you put your cock in the wet hole of your servant girl,” the man grinned.
Theo was so outraged that it took only a moment before his anger began to surface. He got up from his chair and walked over to where the man was sitting.
“You need to be very glad that you are within the walls of this castle right now,” Theo said to the man in a slow whisper as he leaned close to his ear. “Because if you were not inside this place of honor as a guest, I would rip the head from your shoulders right now.”
The man pushed his chair back and got ready to race out of the room, but Theo met him at the door and put his arm across the exit.
“Let me make one thing clear before you run out of here with your tail between your legs like the cowardly piece of shit that you are,” Theo said. “I will not be intimidated by the likes of you, a lowly townsperson with nothing to offer anyone except for your obviously delightful personality. You will stay away from Marquette, and you will never let me see your face again. Because if I do, I will tear it from your skull. Do you understand me?”
The man nodded and Theo stepped aside to let him leave. Just as the man was running down the corridor to the front exit, he saw Marquette in search of Theo. For a brief moment, she spotted the man and wondered what he was doing in the castle. And at that same moment, the man came up with an awful idea to further his ends.
“What was he doing here?” Marquette asked as Theo came out of the room and reached for her hand.
“Nothing,” he said, not wanting to worry her. “Asking about a loan for his merchant.”
“Did you give it to him?” she asked.
“No.”
Marquette smiled. “Still holding a grudge against him, are you?”
“Something like that,” Theo said. “Come, let’s take a walk to the courtyard. I need to train, and you can watch i
f you’d like.”
Marquette would never turn down an opportunity to watch Theo train, and he knew it.
“You know that if I watch you train, then I will want you to immediately take me to the bedroom and make love to me,” she said.
“I know,” Theo grinned. “Why do you think I asked?”
***
Later that evening, Theo went to Marquette’s bedroom after everyone else in the castle had gone to bed. It was something that he usually did, and Marquette was always anxiously awaiting his arrival. But this time, her door was already ajar, and she wasn’t in her room when he got there. At first, he had a fleeting uneasy feeling about it. She had never not been there waiting for him. But he brushed it off and thought that she had probably gone to get a glass of water and would be right back. When she didn’t return, the feeling of unease came over him again. Theo went to search for her, looking everywhere, from the kitchen to the courtyard. When he had searched everywhere and could not find her, he began to panic. Then he remembered the man and the way he had caught sight of Marquette in the hallway, and he went to go track down the human.
CHAPTER TEN
Theo was blinded with fury as he raced into the city streets. He fought against the urge to shift and instead just called on his wolfish senses to track Marquette. He picked up her scent and followed it until he arrived at a small cottage near the edge of the square. He burst through the door and was immediately outraged by what he saw inside.
