And yes, I technically could've shifted and made a run for it. But, even if Liv couldn't stop me with her magic somehow, I would eventually run into the wards that prevented anyone from entering or leaving Rumor without spellcaster assistance.
I had no interest in living in the forest, and I hadn't sold my soul to open a cafe just so Sable could sleep on the dirt. She’d complain about it endlessly. So, even if I ran, I’d have to come back.
And I was pretty sure that when I came back, Callum would be even more difficult.
For the moment, the best call was just playing his game, being hispretty little werewolf. I had gotten the cafés out of our deal, so it was technically fair. And hey, maybe I’d find a way outinstead of being forced to mate with a guy who was just using me to avoid being punished for murder.
He was gorgeous, but the situation still wasn’t great.
I reached the front door, escaping the onslaught of the rain outside and looking back at Liv. Her car still waited on the curb, with her music literally shaking the vehicle.
She made a shooing motion for what felt like the tenth time.
I flipped her off.
She grinned wickedly as she flipped me off in return.
Turning back to the door, I reluctantly grabbed the handle.
Part of me expected the thing to electrocute me. Or freeze me, since it was the home of the winter fae king.
Nothing happened when I touched it.
I stepped through the door, and closed it behind me. As soon as it was shut, I heard Liv's car rev, and she peeled away.
I looked around the house as I walked through the foyer, past a massive office, and into a kitchen that stretched into a giant living room.
It was the absolute opposite of what I had assumed based on the unfriendly exterior. Yes, everything was clearly expensive, but it was all really… warm.
Beautiful stone tile met soft, cream walls with landscape photos of forests. Plush rugs stretched over the hard, cold floors, warming everything up and bringing in soft shades of sage, forest green, and emerald.
The cabinets were a neutral, natural wood color. The countertops glittered with creamy white marble, or something similar, and there was a large vase full of at least two dozen red roses on the island.
In the living room, the coziest-looking sectional I’d ever seen took up a huge portion of the space. It was forest green, about the same shade as the outfit I’d worn the night that Callum and I met.
If I’d had the time or energy to spend designing a home, I would’ve wanted it to look just like that.
I wasn’t sure exactly what it meant for my situation.
Had the fae king always lived in a house that looked like this, or had he somehow changed it when he decided to mate with me the day before?
Had he killed Simon out of the blue, or had it been premeditated?
And maybe most importantly, why had he continued showing up every time I went through heat?
Taking a mate just to keep him out of prison was insane.Immortals didn’t do things like that. If you picked the wrong mate, you were stuck with them. Forever. The bond created by making the mating vows was mental, and there was no way to remove it.
Yes, Shadowside Penitentiary was worse than a death sentence, but Callum wasn’t the kind of man who lost his temper and killed someone for no reason. Even someone as awful as Simon. He was too controlled and neutral for that.
Maybe if I looked through the rest of the mansion while he was gone, I could find some kind of clue as far as why he’d done it.
Snooping was definitely going to occur—as soon as I had coffee in my hand. My addiction was off the charts, and I had no desire to be free of it.
I considered my situation as I started looking for coffee.
Mated pairs could live separately, so bonding wasn’t the end of my freedom, even if it meant I would be mentally connected to the fae king. I could go back home after Callum used me as an excuse for the murder, assuming he let me, and didn’t have some ulterior motive.
If he used the bargain to force me to seal a mate bond with him, I was sure he couldn’talsouse it to force me to stay with him indefinitely. His other magic was a different story, though. Pain and ice weren’t exactly easy to get past for a werewolf.
