The Fierce Consort, The Alpha Prince Surrenders

oe

tarted in

with the champagne I'd been sipping for the

mega wolf into heat. The kind that would leave me a drooli

les white. In the ornate mirror, my reflection stared back-

n a world that ran on fangs and pack politics instead of bullets and

ath hi

ine g

my hand with a smile that never quite reached her eyes. A flicker of somet

. The signs were textbook: the too-sweet smile, the way she'd watched me drink, the convenient absence of witnesses. Bu

red from the doorway. "Fee

te's worthless sons, leaned against the doorframe

icked into place wit

strange smile. T

ut I forced a weak smile.

t against the sink. He took a s

e help

ot out, grabbing the heavy glass

sw

d, stumbling back, hands flying to his shattered nose. I didn't wait

llway, I threw my weight against a side door I knew led to the back gardens-a detail I

g skin. I kicked off the heels, the sharp,

ra

he drug was a fire in my veins now, a roaring inferno that blurred the edges of t

ut throug

d something else-something that smelled like snow and cedar and

r into the woods b

nstincts, warped by the drug, screamed danger and safety all at once. I ignored bot

s. My skin bled in a dozen places-I felt each sting distantly, like it was happening to someo

pe loomed in

ma

hing was a harsh, ragged sound that echoed in the small space. As my eyes

was weak, but it vibrated with

. Black Mamba venom. Fast-acting, neurotoxic. If the venom reached his heart, he would be dead in m

I would have a man. A

ed out alone in these woods. The numbers were ugly. The heat drug was cooking me from the inside. If I pas

his body going slack. He

't hes

d lowered my head, my lips finding

uck

t burned my tongue. I spat the first mouthful onto the ground-black and thick-and

power, raw and untamed, shot thr

in my hair, yan

wet and smeared with his blood. And then his gaze sharpened-snapping onto my flu

red in those predato

d, his voice a broken bl

and-a crude, quick motion that smeared

of my sanity beginning to fray. "I

ge, strangled sound escap

ht now." I didn'

ung

-his blood, not mine. I had wiped most of it away, but enough remained to make the kiss c

my body moving on instinct, fumblin

e bit out, his voice fr

l regret

me closer-to push me off. But the poison had turned his muscles t

..

s being ripped in two. When it was over, a climax that felt like a lightning strike, I cou

en unconscious, his brow was furrowed, his jaw tight.

e stranger beside me, the tattered remains of my dress, the sticky dampness on

sed out in the woods, or let Kevin have his way, or died trying to preserve her "honor." But I wasn't

arp, pierced throu

Get back, get clean, get ahead of the narra

protest. I gathered the shredded pieces of

ect, ruinous conclusion. I stumbled out of the cave an