The Werewolf Prince and I

by Marian Tee

  It made him want to punch something. Could he ever stop hurting her? It seemed like everything he had to say was going to cause her pain. “I was hedging my bets.” He swallowed. “I didn’t mate with you because I wanted to be sure of every step I make…that everything I did would help me hurt my father---the way he had hurt me before.”

  Domenico knew that revealing the truth would only cause him to look worse in Misty’s eyes but he wanted the truth to be out completely. “I…was blinded by revenge. I did marry you to spite Dio, but it was only at the start and…I fell in love with you.”

  Her smile was sad and void of hope. “But not enough to make me your mate in the truest sense.”

  “We can mate now---”

  She flinched.

  “Misty---”

  “No!”

  Domenico whitened.

  Misty swallowed back her sobs. “I don’t want to be mated with you…in any way. I can’t believe you’d think I’d want to.”

  He could feel her drifting away from him farther and farther with each word she uttered, and it frightened Domenico. She couldn’t leave him. She couldn’t. He wouldn’t be able to survive it.

  He reached for her again, but she took another step back. The movement hurt more than a sword to his heart, and the distrust in Misty’s eyes seared him like boiling acid.

  He had promised to love her. He had promised to protect her and cherish her and yet here she was, her body shaking at the effort she was exerting to keep her tears at bay.

  Domenico swallowed. “Misty, please. I was stupid back then. I’m not going to hurt you again. You’re my life.”

  “No.” She closed her eyes. “I’m not.” And then she whispered something inaudibly. A strong gust of wind blew into the night, and tension suddenly cracked in the air.

  Domenico stiffened, expecting an attack. And then he looked at Misty, about to ask her to go back inside so they could talk – just talk – but what he saw made him shout, “No!”

  “No!”

  She was disappearing bit by bit.

  “Misty, don’t---”

  She was gone.

  “Misty!”

  “Misty!”

  He fell to his knees. “MISTY!”

  ~~~

  Misty had been gone for three days now.

  Domenico hadn’t slept for all those days.

  He could not and would not forgive himself if something had happened to Misty.

  How stupid, how stubborn, how proud he had been. And right now, with Misty gone, he couldn’t even remember why it was so fucking important to always have a back-up plan.

  Those plans were supposed to help him in case things between Misty and him would not work out. In case he couldn’t make Dio regret his words with Misty’s success.

  But now he realized too late that all those plans meant nothing.

  Dio had regretted his words. He had done so long, long ago.

  And there was no back-up plan. There couldn’t ever be. If Misty was gone - Life. Did. Not. Work. Out.

  Misty’s siblings were still here with him, and Domenico drew comfort from the fact, knowing that it gave him a connection to Misty, tenuous it may be. He had also apologized to them with utter humility, had revealed to them the extent of his mistakes, and they had…forgiven him. But their eyes told him that if Misty chose to leave him, they would go with her without question. And if Misty chose to hate him, they would do so, too.

  Their loyalty pleased him, even though it did mean potentially losing not just Misty but her whole family in the process. He had truly lucked out with Misty. He had not only gotten a princess without compare but also family members that were a true credit to the pack.

  Someone knocked on his study door.

  “Come in,” Domenico said flatly.

  Kevin entered the room. “You have a visitor. The Castellano pack leader…”

  Domenico shook his head with a frown. “I don’t want to speak with anyone---”

  Misty’s brother cut him off grimly, saying, “He has a message from Misty.”

  Domenico stalked past Kevin immediately without a word. He saw Aurelius seated in his living room and demanded right away, “Have you seen her?”

  Aurelius shook his head and stood up. “My son---”

  “The ghost?”

  “---has relayed your wife’s message,” Aurelius finished. He handed Domenico a scroll that sparkled as if it was made of crystal.

  Domenico rolled it out.

  Seeing Misty’s brother frowning in confusion and fear, Aurelius explained somberly, “It is a sworn statement that in the event there is a need for a call to arms against the vampires and those who ally themselves with them, the Faeries would willingly end their self-exile from humanity and earth to battle with the Lyccans…in honor of their adopted sister, Misty Wall.”

  “Where is she?” Domenico asked, white-faced.

  Aurelius was suddenly unable to meet his gaze and Domenico felt fear enveloping him. He had faced death countless times but he had never been this terrified.

  “Aurelius, dammit,” he said hoarsely. “Where is my wife?”

  “With this pact,” Aurelius said slowly, still not meeting his gaze, “Misty said she has fulfilled her obligation as wife to the Moretti Heir. With this…she is asking for the cutting of ties.”

  “No!”

  Kevin strode forward. “What do you mean?”

  “It’s…something more permanent than divorce or annulment which humans use to terminate a marriage. With the cutting of ties, Misty has sworn never ever to see Domenico again.”

  SOON TO COME: Book 2 of the Werewolf Prince and I

  CHAPTER ONE

  “Misty, Misty, oh my God, Misty!” Daryl came running into the courtyard, his two-inch wooden sandals making clopping sounds on the brick ground. He skidded to a stop – just to kiss his partner, Milo, on the lips.

  The love shining in the gay couple’s eyes made Misty’s own eyes burn, and she hurriedly looked away, trying to distract herself with the shimmering beauty of her surroundings. Because that was how everything was her in the realm of Faeries – shimmering. Probably the only thing that wasn’t shimmering was her heart, which had been crushed to pieces by a no-good---

  No, no, no. She wasn’t going to get to that. She wasn’t going to be melodramatic about it. That part of her life was over.

  Daryl finally managed to pull himself away from Milo. “Misty, oh my God---”

  The alarm in his face finally got to her, and the sword she had been holding fell from her suddenly nerveless fingers. She had been spending most of her time in the realm of Faeries practicing her sword-fighting skills, finding some strange sense of peace with the clashing sound that swords made. She didn’t have to feel when she was fighting. It was…peaceful.

  “What is it? Is it my family?”

  “No. Well…not really…there had been an attack against the Lyccans and one of their kind had been tortured.” His eyes were bleak. “It’s your sister-in-law…Estrella.”

  After sixteen months of licking her wounds, Misty finally left the realm of the Faeries. As the emissary and liaison officer of the Faeries for the Lyccans, it was her job to make sure that the pact between the two races would be carried out.

  The whispers and the stares began the moment she walked inside the majestic main hall of the Lyccan Council. She climbed the grand staircase to the committee office in the second floor, where Daryl’s father, the Castellano pack leader, waited.

  “Misty,” Aurelius greeted her warmly. The white-haired old man gave her a slight bow.

  “Sir,” she said, returning the bow with one of her own. She didn’t want to do it, but courtesy made her go through the motions. That bow wasn’t because she was the Faeries’ chosen emissary. It was because she was still Misty Moretti in his eyes, wife to the heir of the Moretti pack leader.

  Just the thought of anything associated to Domenico Moretti hurt.

  “How are you?”

  “
I’m fine.” She gave the older man a reassuring smile. He was one of the few Lyccans she trusted. Everyone else…was suspect. She told herself she had to feel that way about them, that she couldn’t be naïve about them anymore. She still remembered every painful second of the last time she had been in Lyccan Hall, when Rafaella had shown her how foolish she had been. How gullible.

  The doors crashed behind them. Aurelius turned, but Misty didn’t because she knew who it was. She wished she didn’t but the way her skin prickled told her no matter what, she still wasn’t able to ignore his presence.

  “Misty?” His voice – even though it sounded ragged now – was tortuously familiar.

  She took a deep breath before turning around. Without looking straight at him, she murmured, “Domenico.”

  Domenico stared, heart hammering in his chest, unable to believe that after sixteen long months of estrangement he was finally seeing Misty again.

  Yet she was different.

  It…unnerved him, but at the same time, it attracted him. Everything about Misty made his heart constrict in complete desire.

  Damn it, he had missed her so much in the months she had been gone and yet now, she didn’t look as if she cared one whit about their estrangement. Had he truly lost her for good?

  She seemed taller, more beautiful, and more ethereal. Something about how Misty looked right now nagged at him. He studied her more carefully, or at least he tried to do so when every instinct he possessed urged Domenico to haul her into his arms and never let go. Misty wore a white voluminous one-shouldered dress that fell just a little past her knees in an asymmetrical hemline. The Misty he knew would never have worn something so elegant before, but this Misty carried it easily, as if she was born dressed like---

  A Faerie.

  She looked like a goddamn Faerie.

  His fists clenched. If the Faeries think Misty was theirs, they were in for a goddamn surprise. Domenico had given her time to heal from the scars he had stupidly inflicted, but he knew in his heart he would take her back. If she didn’t want to, that was too fucking bad. Because he would have her back in his life, and he would do whatever it took to make that come true.

  “Misty, may we talk privately?” He spared the older man a glance. “Aurelius?”

  When the old man left, he turned back to his wife.

  “Look at me, Misty.”

  The command in Domenico’s voice struck something inside her, making it impossible for Misty to resist his order. Reluctantly, she lifted her gaze to meet his and almost gasped at what she saw.

  Domenico was staring at her as if he wanted to eat her alive, his gaze roaming all over her body as if he was already undressing her, as if he was already thinking of all the ways he could sink his cock into her.

  One part of her was glad – that meant he desired her, didn’t he? But the larger part of her was cynical. In the end, he had never desired her enough, never loved her as much as he thirsted for revenge against his father.

  “How are you?” His voice was guttural, as if he was having a hard time holding his emotions back.

  Misty frowned. That was not like the Domenico Moretti she knew. The old Domenico had been cold and aloof, perfectly in control, manipulating everything to the very end. Swallowing, she answered only when she could be sure her voice would be steady. “I’m okay. I hope everything’s okay with you, too.”

  Her voice was cold and sweet, just like a Faerie, too. It made Domenico bristle. The Faeries were not going to have her. She was his, for better or for worse. She was the princess meant for him…for Lyccans.

  Misty remembered one of the reasons why she was here and her heart immediately softened in concern. “How is Estrella?”

  “She’s…coping.”

  “I hope I may see her later.”

  He frowned. “Of course you can. She’s your sister-in-law.”

  Her head jerked up. “Domenico---”

  He could feel himself going cold. “No,” he said flatly.

  She shook her head. The old Misty wouldn’t have argued. But she wasn’t that foolish and submissive anymore. “I mean it. I want the cutting of ties to take place now that I’m here.”

  “Well, you’re not going to get it,” he snapped.

  She acted like she didn’t hear him. “I’ve thought this through. You’re worried about what others would say, right? You can tell them that I begged to come back. I won’t argue. I just want things to be over in any way---”

  “No!”

  He had shouted.

  Misty was stunned. Domenico never shouted. He wasn’t the type.

  Domenico tried to keep his fury under control, but God, hearing Misty personally demand a separation made him want to kill someone. “It’s not over between us,” he gritted out.

  Saddened eyes met his. “Of course it is.”

  His usual impatience got to him, and Domenico strode toward her. Misty tried to back away, but she was too slow and he was too fast. In a second, he was gripping her hands, forcing her to look at him. “Misty, I want another chance.”

  “There’s no need,” she said tonelessly. “I gave you what you wanted---”

  “I don’t care about anything but you!” he shouted.

  “And you expect me to believe that?”

  This time, she had shocked him.

  Because she wasn’t the type to shout either and here she was, doing just that.

  Taking advantage of his apparent shock, Misty wrenched herself away from Domenico. “I want the cutting of ties,” she told him tightly. “This time, if you’re not going to present it to the Council then I will.”

  An hour later, Misty was still trembling as she entered the private hospital suite where Estrella Moretti had been confined for two nights already. Memories of her earlier confrontation with Domenico was messing her up internally, making her feel things she no longer wanted to feel. Domenico had stalked off after their argument and she couldn’t believe how painful it was to see him go. It just proved one horrible truth. She was still so, so stupidly in love with him it was embarrassing.

  But…she had to be strong. She had to.

  “Misty!” Her sister-in-law’s face brightened upon seeing her.

  Pushing her dark thoughts away, Misty summoned a smile as she rushed to Estrella’s bed and hugged the younger woman. “I’m so glad to see you’re okay.”

  “More or less,” Estrella said.

  When Misty pulled away, she was sad to see that although the girl was smiling, it didn’t reach her eyes. Misty stroked Estrella’s dark hair. “I swear, if I ever come face to face with the monster who hurt you, I’m going to cut him to pieces.”

  The whole room became silent.

  She colored.

  “War freak?” Alessandro, one of Domenico’s younger brothers, finally asked. “The Faeries, the gentlest race of all, turned you into a war freak?”

  Everyone burst into laughter.

  Misty made a face. “Hahaha.”

  “Seriously, what happened?” Alejandro, twin to Alessandro, asked.

  She beamed proudly. “I’m now a Level 2 swordswoman!”

  The twins whistled in appreciation.

  “Really?” Emilia, the baby of the Moretti family, gasped.

  Esmeralda interrupted, “But don’t you have to be, like, graceful to do that?”

  Misty’s eyes narrowed. “Are you implying something?”

  Everyone became silent again.

  “Well…” Esmeralda hedged, and the whole room erupted into laughter once more.

  The door opened and Domenico came walking in, and the room fell silent for the third time. Try as she might, Misty couldn’t stop staring at him. He had changed into a white cotton sweater, sleeves pushed up to his elbows to reveal his muscular arms. His tan-colored corduroy slacks had a semi-loose fit, like his sweater, but even so they failed to detract from Domenico’s sheer sexiness.

  Something inside her responded, making Misty squeeze her thighs uncomfortably.

 
; Domenico didn’t appear to notice the tense silence in the room, his stride relaxed as he nodded at Misty before bending down to kiss Estrella on the cheek. “Hello, little sister. Feeling better?”

  “Now that Misty’s here, I’m doing a lot better,” his sister replied innocently.

  Misty choked.

  Domenico grinned. “I swear I didn’t teach her that.”

  Everyone relaxed at the teasing tone of Domenico. She wanted to relax, too, but she was too busy trying not to show how dazzled she was at Domenico’s grin. The old Domenico Moretti she knew never grinned that easily. Back then, she had to crack a hundred jokes just to have Domenico Moretti flash teeth and not fangs.

  Misty knew she had changed, but it was beginning to be clear to her that she wasn’t the only one who had changed.

  Domenico remained carefree throughout their visit, which made Misty feel confused and wary. Hurt, too, because it made her wonder if Domenico had been faking all along. Perhaps he really hadn’t wanted her back?

  Either way, it didn’tmatter, she told herself furiously. Things were over between them.

  When Estrella’s nurse bid them to leave, the twins begged her to join them for dinner.

  Her smile tight because it pained her to think about all the dinners she had with the Morettis and the dinners she would no longer have a right to join, Misty shook her head, mumbling, “I’m sorry. I can’t right now. I have lots of stuff to do.”

  “Then next time,” Alessandro pressed. “We haven’t seen you for almost two years, Misty. Don’t blow us off like this.”

  She glanced at Domenico helplessly.

  “Of course,” he said gently. “Whatever happens, we’re still family.”

  Domenico insisted that he take her back to her hotel, where Daryl was waiting for her. She acquiesced, seeing no reason why she shouldn’t, when he was being oh-so-agreeable. Inside his also painfully familiar limousine, Domenico made no move to engage her in small talk and even took the seat across her.

  Misty told herself that it only meant he was seeing things the way she did, that he finally understood what he had done to her was unforgivable.

  Miserably, she wondered why she was bothering to convince herself of something so pathetically untrue.