Maisie

"Do you like it?"

The last time I’d seen Juliette, my tongue had been in her mouth and her fingers in my hair. It was odd, looking at my sister-in-law, completely unsure how to communicate with her.

I glanced around my new bedroom.

They’d gotten the south wing of the house ready by the time I returned. My bedroom now ran along the entire length of the wing. There was more space than I knew what to do with, and I didn’t miss the fact that the bed was orgy-sized huge. I kept trying not to look at the bed. I was currently in a love-hate relationship with beds.

I nodded. "It’s very... large."

"I hear rooms in the castle are three times bigger," Juliette said, making herself comfortable on my bed. I still couldn’t look her in the eye, but she didn’t seem to notice. She spoke like it never happened, and her English was almost impeccable now. "I wish Quinn would take me when he went to court next."

"You’re not exactly missing out on anything," I muttered, walking over to my closet and I tried not to gasp when I pulled it open.

Juliette was behind me, peering over my shoulder. "They were not sure what you liked. So, Soren had your friends picked up from school and—the redhead—Ginny?—she told him to buy the whole store."

I was going to kill Regina. No wonder she had pushed me all the way here and told me I wouldn’t be needing to go shopping.

The closet was the size of my old bedroom. There were different compartments dedicated to different style of clothing. The first had elegant, tasteful dresses that one might wear to official events. There were expensive jewelry sets. Bags. Heels. Totally unlike anything I would have gotten myself. It looked so... grown up, it scared me.

The next was a little more casual. Jeans. Designer blouses. Leather skirts. Pleated skirts. Cashmere sweaters. Boots of every color and length. I tried not to salivate over them. I knew this was a bribe. I couldn’t let them know I was getting wet over a simple wardrobe. There were sweatpants too. And plain shirts.

The third partition was a little strange. It only had... well... laces and robes. Flimsy robes. See-through robes. Robes with blacked out parts on the nipples and down there. "What... what on earth is that?" I asked Juliette.

Her smile was a little less innocent. "Home wear."

"Hell no."

She gripped my shoulders and pushed me into the closet like we were best of friends. "I suspect they buy this one specially to annoy you. You know what my mama used to say to my papa all the time?"

I shook my head.

She smiled fondly. "Je suis trop intelligente, trop exigeante et trop libre pour que quiconque puisse s’emparer de moi tout entière."

"Uh... what?"

Juliette sat on a standing stool. "It means... I am too intelligent, too demanding, and too free for anyone to be able to take possession of me entirely. My mama had already been married once before when my papa found her. She swore she would never marry again. Lycan males are very entitled, you know? My papa thought he could woo her, but when she refused because she was human and much more liberal than he liked, he thought the solution was quite simple. He could just... kidnap her."

My brows rose. "You’re saying the ’kidnapping’ gene runs through the entire race?"

She giggled. "You could say so." She shook her head. "Either way, he marked her by force. And if you asked her, she still hasn’t forgiven him for it. Though, they can never quite keep their hands off each other. In the first few years when he hold her captive, it wasn’t like that at all. She didn’t let him anywhere near her, no matter how much he pleaded. And her own way of torturing him was walking around the house completely naked. It didn’t matter if there were other males in the house or around her. It was her own way of telling him va te faire foutre."

I frowned. "What’s that?"

She lifted one of the lacy and obscene thongs that had an opening where my vagina would be. "It’s French for fuck you."

I blinked. "You’re saying I should wear them as accessories to my rebellion?"

She grinned. "My mama would be proud of you. You see, my papa still eats out of her hands."

I made a face. "I don’t want them eating out of my hands. I just want them gone."

"Even if you do get divorced in one year, Maisie, you will always be bonded to them. They will always be in your hair and under your skin. Spending the rest of your life tied to men who like to control your life and tell you what you can and cannot do and do not respect your boundaries and decisions, is awful place to be. You will always need some control over them to keep them in line."

"And you think wearing a lingerie around the house is the best way to achieve that? If I remember correctly, it’s high on the list of things I’m not supposed to do when living with males like them."

"It isn’t so much the lingerie. It’s more the message behind it. You can wear it, but they cannot touch you unless you permit it. That seems like a good place to start."

I thought about it. It seemed like a good idea, but I was going to mull over it for longer. Maybe when I had more control over my urges. Maybe when I could hear the word ’fuck’ from one of them without getting wet.

That meeting had been a test of my will and control. And it had taken everything from me to remain composed. For every time Soren said the word fuck, my insides had clenched. And for slice of Quinlan’s gaze over my breasts, I had fought the urge to climb over the table and bury his face into my chest. For every one of Mercer’s deep ’no’s, I had felt the vibrations of his voice between my legs. And Jericho’s reminder of his tongue between my legs reminded me of the amazing things his tongue had done in my mouth and inside of me.

I was more than relieved when I arrived and found that they had been summoned to court again and wouldn’t be back till later tonight or tomorrow morning.

It gave me sometime to get used to being here before they were back to toying with my sanity again.

Hatred and rage, it seemed, was nowhere near enough to kill the lust. But it was enough to drown out my feelings.

And that was okay for me. It gave me more than enough clarity to focus on what was important.

Me. My future. My life.

What did I want? Freedom. I would dig my way out if I had to.

My eyes narrowed at Juliette. "Has anyone told you you’re bad influence?"

She grinned like I had handed her the moon. "Merci."

"Why aren’t you on your brother’s side?"

Juliette looked offended. "We are friends. Are we not?" Then she smiled. "I got enrolled."

I blinked. "Enrolled?"

She nodded excitedly. "Greymoor. I heard so much about it. It’s popular, even in France. I’ve been homeschooled since I was little. I cannot wait to meet..." she went off on a happy trail about meeting more people and making new friends and how nervous she was and also excited that we get to go to school together.

I half listened, going through my box.