“Are you sure it was him? That doesn’t sound like something he’d do.”
“He met me with two dozen guards. If it wasn’t for Kiera, I’d be in the palace dungeon right now.”
“Is that why you turned her?” Julian asked.
Abby looked back and forth between us. “Turned her into what?”
“She’s a werewolf now,” Julian explained, not even letting me have a chance to inform my best friend about major changes in my life. Ugh.
“Wow that’s great,” then Abby considered her words and asked me, “is that great?”
“It’s better than dead.” I still had so much to learn, so I wasn’t even sure that was true.
Julian put his sauce back on the burner. “At least that’s some good news. With her being immortal now we’re no longer responsible for her. Now we just need to figure out how to deal with my uncle.”
Max interjected. “Kiera is part of my pack now. We’re responsible for each other.”
Julian moved on to chopping. “Yes, of course. But you know what I mean. There is no reason to babysit her anymore.”
I understood exactly what he meant. I was starting to understand how this world worked. “Since I’m immortal now, I’ll be taking custody of Abby.”
“Custody? Like I’m a child?” Julian was keeping her as a half naked sex slave and yet she was offended by my terminology, really?
“If you tried to challenge me, for Abby, I would end you.”
“You wouldn’t even reach her.” All three of us stared at Max because he’d just declared he’d protect me from Julian in a matter-of-fact way, like he’d just said the sky was blue or water was wet. There wasn’t any menace or threat in his voice. Just the simple fact that he wouldn’t allow Julian to lay a had on me. Even I felt like I was dreaming.
“Enough of this,” argued Abby. “I’m not a baseball card that you can just trade around to your friends. You’re obviously with Max now. I don’t see what the difference is.”
The difference is Max respects me.
“I respect Abby,” Julian said not looking up from his chopped vegetables.
“See, he can’t lie.” She pointed at him like that was all the evidence she needed.
I took a little more convincing. “What is it about her that you respect?”
“She’s brilliant. Even though I can read her mind, she doesn’t cease to surprise me. You still see that broken girl who just lost her parents, but she’s much stronger than you think. And when she’s lonely, or afraid, she has me now. You’ve done more than enough. Leave her to me now.”
“Fine. I’ll butt out if you can tell me one thing.”
“What’s that?”
“Tell me that you didn’t beat her after you realized you were in love with her.”
Julian’s silence told me all I needed to know. Love or not, he’d continue to abuse her.
“Kiera, why can’t you respect my decision?”
“I’ll respect your decisions when you stop making such incredibly stupid ones.”
Abby slapped me with all the force she could muster.
I raised my hand to my cheek in shock.
“Get out!” she screamed. “Get the fuck out!”
CHAPTER 18
I stormed back to what I was starting to view as my cave. The spot where Abby slapped me still stung. Not just my face, but mostly my pride. Even after she betrayed me, I did everything in my power to help her and all she did was tell me to go fuck off.
I should listen and leave her playing slave girl to some narcissistic vampire. Even as I said it, I knew I couldn’t abandon her. As I entered the cave, that familiar warmth engulfed me.
I stripped off my tattered clothes, sat aside my weapon and lowered myself into the hot spring. Max was right behind me. The size of the space required me to sit in his lap, which I had no complaints about.
I laid my head against his chest and closed my eyes. “Go ahead.”
“Go ahead and what?” he asked while lathering my back.
“Go ahead and tell me how wrong I am and how I need to apologize to Abby for the way I treated her.”
“Do you need me to tell you that?”
I sighed. “No, but I was starting to get used to it.”
His hands traveled to my front side. “When it comes to defending Julian, it looks like Abby has that handled. So I’ll just stay here with you.”
I couldn’t argue with that one bit, but something nagged at me. “You think I’m in the wrong, for trying to take Abby, don’t you?
“I know you’re in the wrong.” He said running the sponge across my shoulder.
“Then why did you defend me against Julian?”
“Because, he threatened you.”
“He always threatens me. It’s one of his top ten hobbies.”
Max kissed my neck. “Things are different now.”
Not that I was complaining, but I did have some questions. “When you turned me into a werewolf, did the universe put some sort of cosmic whammy on you to make me your mate.”
“No, it happened before you were turned and it’s not something that happens to us, it’s something we choose.”
His hands ran across my slick, wet skin, exploring every inch of me.
“Don’t you think that’s something we should have discussed first?” I turned around and straddled him, taking his earlobe between my teeth.
He nipped my shoulder. “That’s not how it works. When you cried in my arms because you realized you loved me, something in me changed. I knew that I’d never want anyone but you ever and I became yours for the rest of my life. So, of course, you nearly die the next day, because that’s totally a Kiera thing to do.”
“Guilty as charged,” I barely managed to say, my hips rolling against his growing hardness. “What would have happened if we hadn’t gotten attacked and I never asked you to bite me.”
“Then I would have loved you all the days of you life and never looked at another woman after that. A werewolf can only choose one mate.”
I was his first choice. My vision went blurry.
He wiped my cheek. “Are you okay?”
I smiled. “Sometimes when the happiness is too much, it just spills out.” I kissed him deeply, trying to convey a whirlwind of emotion with my touch.
He grabbed my hips and thrust inside me, making me moan against his lips. On my knees, I rode him, the hot water sloshing onto the floor with each thrust.
In our little cave, we were all that existed. Nothing but our bodies, the heat and so much desire it was hard to contain. I rode him until the pressures built and sweet release had me coming in his lap.
But we didn’t stop there. He carried me over to the furs and took me again, fucking me hard and fast until my toes curled and I left claw marks down his back. Then he flipped me over and did it again. My body was sore and he’d surely wrung every orgasm out of my body possible, but he wouldn’t stop. With my eyes squeezed tight another explosion wracked me, but this time he came with me, his seed dripping down my thighs as he continued for several more thrusts.
Using his arm as a pillow, with my face against his chest I mumbled, “I should apologize to her, shouldn’t I?”
He kissed the top of my head. “I think we both know the answer to that.”
I groaned. “Fine. I’ll go back once I’m capable of standing.”
He laughed, tucking me against him.
CHAPTER 19
I didn’t get out of bed to apologize until nightfall. I headed over to the main house and found Julian in his library. “Hey, where’s Abby?”
“She went to apologize to you.” Julian stood up, closing his book.
We both headed out the front door in search of her. It was possible we’d just passed each other in the darkness.
I cupped my hands and yelled her name.
Four vampires stepped from the shadows. One of which was Lucius. He held a sword to Abby’s neck. “After chatting with Kiera, something occurred to m
e. Why go for a vampire trained to defend himself against assassination, when you can just take his human? After all, if I kill her you’ll become useless again, right?”
Julian took small steps towards them with his hands in the air. “Don’t hurt her. It’s me you want, not her.”
“Julian, please, no,” Abby begged.
But he wasn’t hearing her. He was already falling to his knees in front of the vampire waiting to behead him.
Max came crashing through the woods ready to tear people apart.
Lucius tightened his grip on Abby, the sharp blade nicking her throat.
“Stop!” Julian yelled, which froze Max in his tracks. “As your king, I order you not to interfere.”
Much like Julian was ignoring Abby’s pleas he not surrender, it seemed as though Max was about to ignore his king and rescue Julian even at the cost of Abby’s life.
But before Max could act, Julian made an argument that Max couldn’t refute. “What if he had Kiera?”
Max stayed put, his fists white knuckled as it took all the restraint he was capable of to do nothing as his king was about to be killed.
I realized the universe had just handed me the perfect opportunity. All I had to do was—nothing. Julian would be gone and the fault wouldn’t be mine. They would mourn for a time, but in the end, Abby would be safe and Max wouldn’t be able to blame me. If he himself allowed this to happen, he couldn’t expect me to stop it somehow.
But deep down I’d know there was something I could do. I could risk Abby’s life. The very idea made me queasy.
I stood there watching her wail, even though her cries and struggles could get her killed. I knew the look in her eyes. It wasn’t the look of a woman brainwashed. It was the look of a person who was about to lose everything that mattered to them.
Which forced me to ask myself the same question Julian asked. What if it was Max? What if I were the one being used to ensure Max’s death and Abby had the power to do something.
“Well, I guess it’s a good thing Julian’s not my king and I don’t have to do a damn thing he says.” I drew my weapon and put a bullet in the head of Julian’s would-be executioner, leaving no choice but for them to fight. To fight for their lives. To fight to save Abby.
After I shot the first vampire, Max tore the head off the one closest to him. Lucius dropped the sword and tried to flee. Julian took care of the third vampire and Max chased down Lucius. He was just about to kill him when Julian yelled, “Stop!”
Max pinned him down while looking at Julian. “After what he’s done, he needs to die.”
After checking Abby, I walked over to them. “Max is right. I like Lucius a good fifteen percent more than you, but if you want to live, your uncle needs to go.”
Julian’s shoulders slumped. “Maybe he’s right. Maybe I’m too weak to be king if killing my own family is what it takes. Let him up.”
“What?!” Both Max and I said in unison.
“You heard me. Release him.”
Max pulled Lucius off the ground and stepped away, still itching to kill him. He headed back and finished off the one I shot as a release.
“As your king, I banish you from my lands. If you ever return to the realm, you will be hunted and destroyed, do you understand?”
“I understand. But your friends are right. If you have any hope of saving our House, you have to be ruthless.”
“Why would our House be in danger?” Julian wrapped an arm around Abby, holding her trembling frame close.
“The council no longer believes we are fit to rule. Your death was a concession. When Baldric discovers I’ve failed, there will be civil war.”
“Then I will reclaim my throne and destroy all those who stand in my way. But you won’t be there, because you thought I’d be more of an asset to our family without my head.”
“I’m sorry. It was one of the most difficult choices I’ve ever had to make. Now those choices will be yours. For the sake of our legacy, I hope you choose better than I did.”
Julian turned to Max. “Have a plane pick up my uncle and take him anywhere he wants to go.”
Max pulled out his cell and made a call.
Then Julian walked up to me. “I owe you my life.”
Did he really have to rub it in? “I regret it already.”
“How can I repay my debt? Anything other than giving Abby to you.”
“Free her from slavery and make her your queen.”
“Kiera—” Abby began to object.
“Done,” said Julian. We shook on it.
“Julian—” Abby turned her objections towards him.
He pulled her into his arms and whispered in her ear. “Don’t worry, even as my queen I’ll tie you to the bed and make you come until you can’t walk.”
Abby gave a nod, accepting the agreement.
I closed my eyes and pinched my nose very much regretting my heightened senses. I might have been spared that description with normal hearing.
Max finished his call and wrapped his arms around my waist.
I laid my head on his shoulder. “What now?”
He tilted my head up to meet his gaze. “Tonight we make love several more times, and tomorrow we get started winning back a kingdom.”
I grinned. “Sounds like a plan.”
OPPOSING FORCES
BONUS STORY
CHAPTER 20
I sat on the edge of my bed with a stiff posture, my hands folded neatly against the dark blue silk of my gown. If I stood, I would pace and Sanguinese dresses were made for elegance, not walking. I was going to die. In less than a week, there would be no more me and I accepted this fate with all the grace and dignity fitting my station. But telling Maxwell? I dreaded the conversation to come. He would likely become—emotional. Part of me couldn’t blame him, as a protector with one charge missing and the other to soon be executed, he had a dismal record, but it wasn’t his fault. It wasn’t anyone’s fault.
A knock on the door made me jolt and I quickly fought to gain my composure. “Come in.”
My Maxwell, handsome and rugged as ever, came in glistening in sweat. His leathers covered in dust from a day and night of riding. He hadn’t even washed before coming directly to me. I would miss his scent. “Claudia, I’ve searched from one end of the kingdom to the other, every corner. Julian is nowhere to be found.”
He thought this was about Julian. Of course he did, how many disasters could he possibly foresee? I walked over to him and caressed his cheek, the start of a beard prickling my palm. “My brother is in mourning. When he is ready to return, he will. Don’t worry. He’s smart. He’ll be fine on his own.”
I pressed against him hoping my closeness would ease his pain. “There is something I need to discuss with you, however. But first you must promise me you will try to remain calm.”
He nodded, his dark eyes narrowing with worry. He had zero chance of keeping his promise, but I could remind him of it after he flew into a rage.
I sighed, the words refusing to pass my lips. “The Deabru king has sent word in regards to his sister.”
Max’s shoulders slumped. “So the truce is over? If ever people needed their king, it’s now. What was Julian thinking?!”
I shook my head. Tears welled in my eyes. I hadn’t even said it yet and I was already starting to crumble. I dug my nails into my palms in attempt to distract myself. I needed to remain strong, for Maxwell, for my people. I couldn’t be remembered as weak and simpering in the face of my fate.
“No...” I said, my words soft against the stale air of the room. “The truce will remain intact as long as I hand myself over to the Deabru.”
He took a step back, his eyes wild with shock and fear. “No. Lucius agreed to this? I need to go talk with him—”
“It’s already been decided.” I said sternly, my voice echoing off the walls to ensure he had heard me. He turned back to me, seemingly hurt and confused. “We can’t survive another war. If we have any chance at peace then this has
to happen. My uncle knows and accepts the reality of the situation. Try to understand. Please don’t make this harder than it has to be.”
My fist was so tight that my nails finally broke the skin. Max’s gaze fell to the spot where my blood began to pool on the marble flooring. There went my dignified exit.
“No. No!” All of the nervous energy I felt was reflected in his stance. The outline of every muscle was visible through his leathers. Rage would lead him to shift at any moment, but he had nothing to battle. There was no beast he could slay to save me. “I won’t let you. Even if I have to kill every damn Deabru with my bare hands, I won’t let you!”
I never thought Max and I would last. We were so young when we became lovers. Yet, for almost a hundred years, he’d never even looked at another woman the way he looked at me. I had always expected him to reach a phase where he decided he needed to try new things, to venture beyond me, and I had prepared myself to let him go when it came to that. But that moment never came. Maxwell would be faithful and loving until the day I died, which was why what I had to do was so hard. “As your liege, I command you not to follow me to Deabru territory. You will not try to stop me, save me or avenge my death. Do you understand me?”
His hand shifted, hairs sprouting out around long black claws as he tossed my nightstand into the bed, shattering the crystal candlestick that had been sitting atop of it. “No! I do not understand! I don’t understand any of this!”
As he tore apart my room, I waited patiently at the center of the tempest. There was a peace to be had as I watched him tear apart things I’d never need again. He was a surrogate for the rage I couldn’t express. Once he exhausted himself he fell to his knees and wept. In all the years I had known him, I’d never seen him cry before. Those tears were for me and the life we could never have.
I knelt down next to him and placed my hand on his trembling shoulder.
“I have to die. I can’t let my kingdom fall just to save myself. My life isn’t worth my kingdom.”
Moonstruck (Warring Hearts Book 2) Page 9