Lychos
Page 17
“You love that werewolf.” She doesn’t say revenant, not like everyone else does. “The boy, Sage.”
I don’t answer. I don’t have to. “I have to take the throne,” I say.
“No,” Danilo says as I turn again to my window and find my handsome, smiling brother standing where my mother had only moments ago. “You don’t.”
I look back and forth between them, confusion warring with hope and the need to shield my heart from such emotion. “What are you talking about?”
“I would never speak against you,” he says, crossing to Mother. He’s taller than Father was, almost as tall as Oleksander, but with the soft features of my mother’s family, though his hair is as black as our father’s. “I will spend my entire life a prince, and happy to do it. You have earned the throne, my amazing sister.”
But. He is the elder… how had I forgotten? “Danilo.” I choke out his name and he laughs and comes to me, kissing both of my cheeks before cupping my face in his hands.
“If you want your freedom,” he says, “as you have so clearly told me you do, I will stake my claim as heir and let you go.”
I gape at my brother, the brother I idolized as a girl, saw so little of, never thought to see again.
“There are no promises,” Mother says. “Though the pack has accepted us back, they might balk at the idea of your brother taking the throne.”
I think back over the last two weeks and suddenly doubt that is true. How did I miss how much the gathering of werewolves deferred to my brother? Worshipped him as he showed them the path to their evolution? This could really work.
“Sharlotta,” Danilo says, stepping back to take Mother’s hand, the pair of them smiling at me, “I’m willing to try. For you.”
Mother jabs him in the ribs, making him flinch away with a grin. “And for you, Danilo.”
He nods.
“What does Grandfather think of this?” I half expect Oleksander to appear at my balcony, but Mother just shrugs.
“We did not think to consult him,” she says, eyebrow arching. “That we leave up to you.”
The pair exit, through the door this time, but I barely notice. I stare at myself in the mirror, chest heaving, hands clenching the back of the chair so hard I hear the wood crack.
I’m moving before I can ask my body to turn, hurrying out my door and down the hallway. My grandfather’s door is at the end of the wide hall, closed but guarded so I know he’s in. I pause, nodding to the wereguards before knocking firmly and pushing my way inside without waiting for a response.
Oleksander looks up from his desk, smiling at me as I hurry to his side, rising to embrace me. I hug him quickly, look up into his eyes. He must see my hope because he sags down to sit on the edge of his desk, hands gripping my arms.
“Tell me your next mad plan,” he says with a smile. “We’ve been far too long held captive by our old sins. So, share your escape route, and be free, child.”
***
His fists make hearty sounds against the heavy bag as he strikes it in rhythmic blows. I stand out of the sunlight, not wanting my shadow to disturb the perfection of his silhouette. My eyes travel over his sweating body, naked torso rippling with muscle, a slight tan telling me he spent little time in California after all.
My gaze falls to the crescent scar on his shoulder as the sound of his endless pounding finally ceases. When I look up and meet sea-green eyes full of confusion and pain, I know I’ve made the right choice.
Was there any doubt?
I casually cross the room, hands in the pockets of my cropped leather coat, looking around with some disdain. “This place could use a thorough cleaning,” I say. “Dusty.”
“I’ve been out of town.” Sage’s deep voice is steady, to his credit.
“So I heard.” I stop next to the heavy bag, freeing my hands to give it a soft punch. We’re alone in the dojo, though it wouldn’t matter to me. The moment I saw him again, he became the only thing in my world I care to think about.
“Charlotte.” Sage’s voice drops, vibrates as he lowers his hands from fighting stance. “What are you doing here?”
I shrug. “Not allowed, is that it?” I grin. “You do know my best friend practically owns this town.” Not really, but Sage knows what I mean.
His shoulders tighten, jaw jumping before he responds. “If you think we can just be friends or something,” he says, “I’m sorry. That’s not going to happen.” He pauses. “Your Majesty.”
I’m being cruel, and he doesn’t deserve to be treated this way. My hands grab for him as I move forward, pulling him by his wrists when he won’t grasp me back.
“Sage,” I say. “I have no desire to just be friends. To be 'just' anything.”
Clouds pass over his beautiful face. “Then go, please.” His tone pleads with me as much as his words. I lean in and try to kiss him, but he pulls away, to the side, though he doesn’t fight me. I scent his wolf, his need, and tug harder until my mouth touches his.
He engulfs me in his arms, a moan of desire escaping him, and I can’t resist either. We land hard on the mat, my legs wound around him, his body pressing me down into the foam. Sage pulls away from our kiss, my teeth sliding over his lower lip. He pants over me, angry now.
How sexy.
“Sage America,” I say. “I would like to petition to join your pack.” I release him, lying back. “I am a pureborn werewoman of mateable age and, as far as I know, able to bear more of our kind. Am I acceptable?”
He starts, passion gone a moment as he stares at me with his mouth opening and closing a few times. “I don’t have a pack,” he finally says.
“Well,” I say. “Not yet. The weres you left in California weren’t your kind, not really.” I stroke my fingers down his naked chest, to the rim of his waistband. His human mind might be shaken, but his wolf understands my suggestion clearly. “I wasted a trip to California to find that out, though it was nice to check in with Tallah.” I snap the elastic at his pelvic bone. “What happened to making sure they don't hurt anyone again?”
He clears his throat, uncomfortable. “Nina challenged me for leadership of the pack.”
“Challenged you?” I shift under him, hips against his. “By request?”
Sage’s eyes darken. “She’ll make a better leader than me.”
“Says who?” I shake my head. “They were lucky to have you.”
He clears his throat, voice husky when he speaks. “She and Tallah agreed to a partnership, so they are part of the coven now.”
I know this already. Tallah told me everything, including Sage’s sadness when he arrived, his unwillingness to talk to her. How eager he seemed to escape after only just appearing. I know now standing up for the California pack was a ruse, a way for him to run from me.
Sage doesn’t understand yet there is no escape.
My eyebrow arches in playful taunting. “I see. So you shirked your responsibility to flee back here and hide from the world.” My fingers slide over his skin again. It’s hard not to flip him, pounce on him, devour him while I toy with him further. “I take it Syd was okay with you setting up in her territory?”
His eyes darken past his irritation at my teasing to worry. “I didn’t think to ask,” he says, voice stuttering. “I have a lot to learn.”
I finally can’t stand it any longer, flipping him over, my turn to pin him down. “That’s why you need me.”
He shakes his head as I trace my lips over his cheek, nibbling his ear. He pushes me back, angry all over again. “What are you doing here, really? You’re werequeen. You can’t just leave and join me.”
“Actually,” I say, nose pressed to his, “turns out my brother was a much better choice for the throne.” Sage freezes, eyes wide. “Even hooked up with his old sweetheart, absolutely adorable, those two.” I tweak his nose. “They’ll make lovely babies.” I close his now-open mouth with a kiss. When I pull away, I’ve lost my humor, if not my joy, letting my love for him show in my face and throu
gh my magic as I wind my power around his. “I was never meant to be a queen,” I say. “But I was born to be your mate.”
Sage crushes me against him, and I’m weeping on his shoulder as the sun sets through the dojo windows, wrapping us in warmth as our power ties together, forever.
I’m not free. But I never want to be.
###
This might be the end of Charlotte’s Lychos Cycle,
but there is still more to come from the Hayle Coven Universe!
Available in February
Book One of the Helios Oracles
Foresight
And coming March 1st, 2014
So much for happily ever after! Syd is back in an all new series
The Hayle Coven Destinies
Look for Book One
The Outcast
The Hayle Coven Novels might be over, but the darkness doesn’t just go away…
***
About the Author
Everything you need to know about me is in this one statement: I’ve wanted to be a writer since I was a little girl, and now I’m doing it. How cool is that, being able to follow your dream and make it reality? I’ve tried everything from university to college, graduating the second with a journalism diploma (I sucked at telling real stories), was in an all-girl improv troupe for five glorious years (if you’ve never tried it, I highly recommend making things up as you go along as often as possible). I’ve even been in a Celtic girl band (some of our stuff is on YouTube!) and was an independent film maker. My life has been one creative thing after another—all leading me here, to writing books for a living.
Now with multiple series in happy publication, I live on beautiful and magical Prince Edward Island (I know you’ve heard of Anne of Green Gables) with my very patient husband and six massive cats.
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