That didn’t sound that special. “But wouldn’t that kill all werewolves?”
“Any silver will kill a werewolf. A knife to the heart or silver injected into the bloodstream. But to kill my brother and I, the silver has to be left in there. If someone stabs one of my pack members in the heart with a silver knife, they are dead. But if someone stabs me with a knife, it has to be left penetrating the heart because if I remove it, I’m back in business.”
“So, how many of your enemies know how to kill you?”
“Only Jamison, Ariana, and I know.”
I sat back in my seat. He could have left out that last part. Why was he telling me?
“Because of that and our added powers Ariana bestowed upon us, we are the most powerful werewolves ever to exist.”
“That is why you are King of the Werewolves, because everyone knows they can’t challenge you?”
“Oh, they did at first, but not here lately.”
“Does Ariana live here?”
“Sometimes. She likes to watch over my brother and me.”
I nodded. “Ahh, I see. She wanted to keep tabs on you both to make sure your powers were used for good. Kind of like the whole Spider-Man thing.”
“The what?”
“You know, the whole ‘with great powers comes great responsibility’ and yadda, yadda, yadda.”
He smiled. “Yes, like that. And to be honest, Ariana has become like our grandmother. I don’t know what I would do without her. She keeps us in line.”
I had finished my plate and was leaning back in my chair, trying to imagine how stinking cute he must have been as a kid when I had a thought.
“You said she gave you the ability to heal quickly. Is that how you were able to heal me?”
Camden had finished his plate as well. He stood up and extended a hand. “Do you want to go for a walk?” I took his hand and nodded. He never released me as I walked beside him, until he led us to a bench underneath the stars. “Technically, you could have siphoned off me and healed yourself. And no, I don’t have the power to heal others without consequences. What I did was take your pain.”
I was shocked. “You mean that you took my pain and what? Then you had to deal with it?”
“It’s not like that, Sadie.”
“So, you didn’t just take my pain for me?”
“Well, maybe it is like that.” I glared at him. “Fine, I did take your pain, but first of all, it was from a hangover, not a gunshot wound, and I heal incredibly quick. Remember? In the scheme of things, it’s not that big of a deal.”
Understatement of the year. Everything with him seemed to be a big deal. “Camden, I appreciate you telling me about your powers. I promise I will never tell a soul about what you confided in me.”
He gave a little laugh. “Well, that’s good because if my enemies knew, I’m sure they would try to bury me somewhere deep with the bullet still in me.”
“With not even an X marks the spot, huh?”
“That’s exactly right.”
“Why are you telling me instead of your fiancé?” The million-dollar question. “I would like the truth, please.”
“I’ll be blunt, then. All supernaturals have a mate, and it’s said that once they cement the bond between them, one cannot live without the other. Sometimes, it takes thousands of years to find your mate, but it only took my dad fifty years. He loved my mom with everything he had, and when a rogue werewolf killed her, my dad followed her to the grave. I lost both parents within days of each other. Life became very hard for my brother and me. If it wouldn’t have been for Ariana, I don’t know what we would have done. I will never put my children through that kind of misery and because of that, I haven’t looked for my mate.”
I was sure confusion was all over my face. “Okay?” I didn’t mean for that to come out as a question.
“Even though I wasn’t looking for her, I still found her. Or better yet, Ariana made me find her. Sadie, you’re my mate, but I can’t accept you because I won’t be like my parents.”
Anger replaced my confusion. Who the hell did he think he was? “Whoa! Hold on a second. I never wanted you to accept me as anything. I’m sure there has been some kind of big misunderstanding. But thanks for explaining your bipolar emotions when you’re around me. It sounds like you’re the one struggling, buddy, not me. You have all kinds of issues, but I can promise you, I am not one of them.”
I started to get up, but he placed a hand on my thigh, cementing me in place. “Sadie, please let me explain. My father knew other wolves in different packs had heard about the power my brother and I would grow into. He also knew they would try to eliminate us, so they could be king. Yet, he chose not to stay around and protect us. In the end, his love for my mother made him choose death instead of us. Do you know how old I was when I had to make my first kill?” My stomach knotted with dread. “Twelve. A werewolf from a nearby clan snuck into my room and tried to behead me. He tried to kill a child, so his child could grow up to be king. I had no one to protect me.”
Some of my anger died. “I’m sorry, Camden. I’m sorry that you didn’t have an easy childhood, and there was no one there to protect you. I’m sorry that their love for one another left no room for their children, but Camden, you’re not your father.”
“I can’t fall in love with you.”
“That’s understandable. But do you know what would help? You not flirting with me or inviting me to romantic dinners. We are both here for a reason. To find a key. We have to work together but…” I made a motion with my hand, as I looked around the rooftop. “This isn’t necessary. From here on out, no mixed signals. We need to install boundaries, and there is no reason for us to cross those invisible lines.” I was confused, pissed, and underneath it all, my feelings were hurt.
His elbows were on his knees, as he rested his head in his hands. “I’m trying. I’m trying, but every part of my soul recognizes you as mine.”
“And what does your soul think of Celia?”
“Celia is a means to an end. Nothing more, nothing less. I have no feelings for her, but her family has something I need, and I aim to play the game the way it should be played in order to get it. I just didn’t factor you in. You make everything so—hard.”
“Then I’ll make this easy for you. I don’t belong to you.” I stood up from the bench. “Thank you for explaining some things and for dinner. Please give my compliments to the chef.”
“Sadie, wait—”
“For what?” I snapped. I was angry, and I wasn’t entirely sure why. Well, maybe I had an idea. An attractive man who I felt a magnetic pull toward wanted me but couldn’t have me because of his past, and I had no say in any of it.
He held both hands up. “I just need a minute to get some more clothes for the room I’m sleeping in downstairs, and then I’ll escort you back down.”
“You have this huge living area; why don’t you just stay up here? If our enemy comes, I’m sure you will know in advance; besides, I’m only a few levels below you. I’ll be safe. There is no reason you have to stay in a room right next to mine.”
“I’m sleeping downstairs.” His voice left no room for argument, so I just rolled my eyes. Neither one of us spoke as he gathered his things or while he escorted me back to my room. The silence was awkward, but I didn’t know what to say. “Hey, but we can still be friends,” or “Does your fiancée know that she’s not your mate” all sounded like I cared way too much, and at this point, I couldn’t afford to care.
At my door, he wished me a polite goodbye, and I mumbled something about seeing him tomorrow. I wished I could talk to Jo right now or maybe slap her. She must have foreseen this. I held up my middle finger and spun around slowly in my bedroom. Maybe I would get lucky, and she would see this, too.
I shed my dress and slipped on one of the T-shirts he gave me—only because it was handy, not because I loved his scent. The smell of the ocean wrapped around me, comforting me in ways I couldn’t explain. I repeated
the word boundaries over and over again until I fell asleep.
Chapter Eighteen
A tiresome week went by of more training. Camden was extremely polite if distant, which was fine, considering what he had shared with me. I had come to terms with me possibly being his mate, but if that were true, did it mean the one person I was supposed to be with didn’t want me? Also, if he were my mate, wouldn’t I know it? I mean, I did feel a spark of energy every time he touched me, but that could’ve been because he was freakishly hot. No matter how hard I tried not to notice, my eyes always seemed to track him. Considering that the vampire was freakishly hot, too, and I didn’t even to notice him when Camden was in the room spoke volumes.
Speaking of the vamp, he was restless. One day at training, he was watching—or maybe studying was a better word—Camden and I spar, mostly out of pure boredom. He noticed how Camden always made sure not to touch me if it wasn’t absolutely necessary, yet he wouldn’t allow any of the other wolves to spar with me. Stephan made a comment under his breath and Ariana, who came out of hiding to just torture him I thought, said, “Oh, your mate will give you twice as much trouble when you find her… and that will be soon.” The word “soon” made him look like he was about to go into epileptic shock. Since then, he had been acting weird. Maybe all of the hot guys had commitment issues.
I was getting ready for our morning training session when Camden strolled into my room.
“Um, have you heard of this thing called knocking?”
He apologized, even though he didn’t look the least bit sorry. “I wanted to alert you to some news. A portal has just been opened.”
“What?”
“Since the keys have gone missing, I’ve had scouts around the closest portal to us. I just learned that the man who has one of the keys, Merek, has recently opened the portal. My scouts reported at least twenty coming over before the portal was closed. Out of the twenty were three powerful supernaturals. One being a mind controller. The good news is that his power is extremely limited. From what I’ve heard, his power is good for about fifteen minutes, and then he is drained for at least a day. I’m not sure why Merek opened the portal, but we need to be prepared for anything.”
“What exactly does this mean?”
“It means we train harder today than we did yesterday. You’ll need to be able to use your powers with precision and intent. Intent to harm whoever tries to hurt you. Being able to siphon powers is a big deal. It’ll be an even bigger deal when you learn to harvest powers from someone and use it when they are not around. In a battle, you will have to assess which powers can help you the most. Remember, it’s also important we tell no one about your ability, so only show what you can do if your life is at stake.”
I nodded as he ticked off the list of things he had for me to do today, as I simultaneously gave myself a familiar pep talk. I would slay today. Totally crush it while not thinking of the hunky werewolf. Because I could do both. Maybe. Ugh. If I was being honest with myself, today was going to be hard to concentrate. This was the first time since our rooftop dinner that we’d had a lengthy conversation. Even if it was work related. He claimed I was his unwanted mate, and I had a hard time not staring at him. Why did he have to smell so good? That should be a sin in itself. I hated to admit it, but I’d missed him. Really missed him. How could I possibly be so attracted to someone after such a short amount of time? Boundaries! Must maintain boundaries.
Chapter Nineteen
After a long day, I had come back to my room and crashed. One minute I was asleep, dreaming about a hot werewolf that I had no business dreaming about, and the next minute, I couldn’t breathe. It took me a second to realize I wasn’t dreaming. There was a heavy weight on my chest. I tried to push it off me, but it wouldn’t budge. I started to panic, realizing I was going to die. Hell, no! I wasn’t going to die. I was a powerful manipulator. I stopped struggling and placed my hands on whatever was on top of me. I was pretty sure it was a boob. Well, that went from scary to awkward as hell real quick. I drew power from her, and whoever she was went flying across the room.
I jumped up, crouching on top of my bed at the same time Camden came rushing in. He flipped on the light switch, and there was Celia, standing with a bloody nose. Faster than I could track, she pulled a gun from her waistband.
She took aim, the barrel pointing at my heart. “Can you dodge bullets, bitch?”
Before she could pull the trigger, Camden attacked her with such force I heard one of her bones break. He wrangled the gun from her, pressing her face down into the carpet of my floor within seconds.
I knew she was crazy when she started laughing. “I want her dead. Or I will tell my father. I wonder what he will have to say about this? The deal was you make his little girl a queen by marrying her, and in return, he would tell you where the key to the portal is hidden.”
Camden growled. “Screw the key.”
“And have a part in ruining the world? I don’t think so. You couldn’t stomach it. Let me up, and I’ll make quick work of killing her. Then I’ll take you to my father’s estate where we can get married tonight, and you can have the key in your hand the minute after we wed. Think about it, CG; don’t you need that key to protect all of your pack and loved ones? If you don’t have it, you might as well sign their death certificate yourself.”
This time it was Camden’s turn to laugh. “Celia, I thought I could go through with marrying you. Entering into a loveless act in order to protect the ones I love? I didn’t think twice about it. But it is you that has ruined your chances of becoming queen.”
“No, that’s a lie! It was her.” Her face was buried in the carpet, but I didn’t have to see her eyes to know she was talking about me. “You have always been indifferent to me, but with time, I could have won you over. Until she came, that is. You’ve done nothing but watch her every move. With her out of the way, you can concentrate on me and your true desire—obtaining the key.”
“Yeah, maybe your plan of marrying me and becoming queen could have worked out. You’ve ruined that plan. My plan is still the same, however. Get the key. But now, I’ll have to do it the hard way because you made me choose, and just so we’re clear, I would never choose you over her.”
There was so much venom in his voice. “Are you going to kill her?” I asked, voice shaky.
“Would it overly upset you?”
Yes! No. Maybe? Oh, hell, I didn’t know. “Maybe you shouldn’t.”
He had a knee in her back, pinning her to the ground, and a hand over her mouth. She was shouting into his hand but I ignored her. “I can’t just let her go since she wishes you dead.” He grabbed her by her arms, yanking her up. “I’ll have to put her in the dungeon. No one’s been in there in a couple of years. It’s a little dusty. Hopefully, she won’t mind.”
On his way out the door, he looked over his shoulder at me. “Sadie, you know you can come down now, right? Or you can stay up there until I get back.” Then he winked at me.
What? I was currently floating above the bed. Well, that was relatively embarrassing. How did I not know I was floating? I slowly let myself fall, so I landed on the bed, where I immediately got up to pace until Camden returned. What just happened? Celia tried to kill me… again. Camden admitted to us both that she was nothing more than a business transaction, telling her he would always choose me. That crazy wolf wanted me just as much as I wanted him, and neither one of us knew what to do with this… thing between us. I wanted to succumb to it, and he wanted to fight it. But I couldn’t focus on that right now because I had a plan. He was going to be so excited when I told him he didn’t need to have Celia’s father tell him where the key was hidden because he had his own key: me.
Forty-five minutes later, I was still pacing when Camden walked back into my room. “Are you all right?”
I went over and sat on the edge of my bed. “Yes. I’m great. Did you see me floating?”
He came to me and placed one hand on my forehead.
; I swatted it away.
“I’m not in shock. I’m fine. Really. Do you see Lil here? No, she’s not here, but I was floating. Do you know what this means? It means that I found that storage bank of power you were talking about. We now know I can call back up someone’s power for a certain time frame.” Maybe forever. Who knew? This was uncharted territory.
“I knew you would be able to do it. I just didn’t think it would take a jealous, gun-wielding witch to get you to tap into your stored energy. Now, tell me why you think your powers are on a time frame?”
“Okay, so my friend Jo is psychic, right? And when I was coming into my powers, I touched her briefly and had some glimpses of the future. I can’t see anything now.” I laid a hand on his arm to show him what I was talking about. “I’m picking up nothing from you. No visions of the future. Even when I first came here, I had no more visions. I think it’s because I touched her and didn’t channel her aura, so her power only lasted with me for so long. But don’t quote me on that. The point is, Lil is nowhere close, and the last time I pulled from her was days ago, and yet I can still fly.”
“Your powers are extraordinary.”
I turned my face, gazing into his eyes. “Oh, you don’t know the half of it. Mind readers are almost completely extinct, aren’t they?”
Camden nodded. “Yes, because that is one power everyone is terrified of. No one wants someone to be able to know their plans and course of action, especially in war times. And because that is usually the supernatural’s only power, they are easy to dispose of.”
The Werewolf Queen Page 10