I stumbled into his chest, my hands splaying over the thick muscle there that I had never seen. Or even really felt. Our trysts were always one-sided. The king would take off his sports coat, but otherwise stayed completely clothed.
Our eyes locked as he looked down at me. The chill of his magic still felt blissful, even though I wasn’t going into heat.
And, standing in the doorway of the café I’d sold him my soul for, Callum kissed me.
I was so shocked, I froze.
He ended the kiss after a moment and casually stepped inside, pulling me with him and shutting the door behind us.
The windows were tinted enough to hide us completely from the photographers who must’ve been outside.
And they were the reason for the kiss, of course.
"What was that?" Jonah grumbled. I thought he was talking about the kiss until he rubbed the center of his chest. Guess he was talking about whatever Liv did to him. "I thought you were all about flowers."
"Spring magic is a lot more than flowers, asshat." Liv flashed him a glare."It’senergy, for starters."
"I assume you're here about the announcement all over the news," I said.
Jonah stepped in front of me, ignoring the glares of both fae in an attempt to use himself as a personal shield.Callum was stillholding both my arm and a big chunk of my soul, so it wasn’t like Jonah’s shielding would help much.
"Yeah. We're about to have a real problem, and she's the solution." Liv gestured to me.
"What happened?" I asked, going around Jonah rather than trying to move his hulking form.
"I killed Simon," Callum said calmly.
I blinked.
Jonah did too.
"Simon, as in, the Beta?" I finally asked."The one in the Cabinet?"
"The one who stole your sister and made most of the wolves in the city hate you five years ago," Callum said, the face of neutrality.
Neutrality… and sex. At least as far as I was concerned.
My sister Gwen was the main Alpha, which meant she was the woman who all of the werewolves in the city technically answered to. It was more of a title than an actual position of power, though it supposedly came with riches and a fancy villa on Crescent Orchard.
Gwen stayed in power because of the Beta, who fought her battles for her the way any decent beta would.Alpha females led, and beta males protected. There was no alternative in our society.
When either one died, the other was allowed to pick someone else to replace them, assuming the person they picked waswilling. Simon had been the Beta for more than a century, and he’d killed his way through half a dozen Alphas in that century.
No one liked him.
No one hadeverliked him, actually. But he was impossible to beat in a fight, which meant he held the position anyway.
Until last night, apparently.
"The rest of the Cabinet is going to use the murder to try to put Callum in prison so they have more power. There’s no way out of Shadowside Penitentiary, so we need to get ahead of that with a mate bond." Liv gestured between me and the king, who was still the face of neutrality (and sex).
My chest tightened.
I honestly had no idea what to think.
"He wants to fuck you again,"Sable declared.
I ignored her.
