Maisie

Tell them. Don’t tell them.

Tell them. Definitely don’t tell them.

I was plucking imaginary daffodils in my head while the car purred down the road. Telling them someone had broken into my room last night would mean admitting I was rattled. It would mean asking for help. It would mean being open and vulnerable and my pride wouldn’t let me.

So I sat in tense silence at the back of the Rolls Royce, pretending I didn’t notice four sets of eyes devouring me.

The cream sweater clung softly to my ample chest. The mid-thigh skirt had ridden up just enough to expose a dangerous stretch of smooth thigh. The knee-high boots made my legs look endless.

I felt their stares like physical touches. Like torches set to my skin.

Juliette was in the front seat with the driver, chattering away in soft, excited bursts I could barely make out over the demarcation and I felt like an idiot for letting Quinlan taunt me into the backseat with them.

"I’d like to go separately," I’d said.

"Appearances," Mercer said, pulling the door open for me. "It doesn’t bode well if we arrive separately."

Quinlan had grinned with mischief. "Why, May? Does being in such close quarters with us make you uncomfortable?" His eyes lowered and his eyes went darker. "Your nipples are hard."

I crossed my arms over my chest. I really needed to get thicker bras. "It’s called temperature change, Quinlan. You would know that if you ever took your biology classes seriously."

He licked his kissable, pink lips. "If biology looked anything as delicious as you do this morning, I’d have devoted my life to research and become a damned scientist."

Heat threatened to climb my neck. I refused to let it.

"And for the record," I said coolly, "I feel absolutely nothing around you."

His smile widened slowly. Then he gestured toward the waiting car with ridiculously elegant flourish. "Then sharing a ride with us for the next hour should be no problem." He caught his bottom lip between his teeth and the motion was outrageously sexy. "Unless, of course, you’re worried your precious little skirt won’t survive the journey to school."

I called the bluff. I had no idea what the hell I was thinking, but I did. And now, I couldn’t get a single breath in because the air felt electric.

"The Queen has been asking to see you," Soren said. "You’ll need to make mandatory appearances at court at least four times a month. For now."

I tried not to look at him. I’d always thought there was something oddly sexy about a man in a black shirt. It didn’t help that his hair was slightly tousled and his top buttons were undone, teasing his tanned neck and my mark on him.

In return, Soren perused me. His violet eyes lingered on the curve of my mouth, then slowly dragged down like invisible hands that grabbed my breasts and fondled them affectionately.

My breath caught and I fought the heat that had begun pooling in my lower belly, keeping my expression disinterested as I said, "And what am I expected to do during these appearances?"

Quinlan shrugged. "Engage. You’re the newest Lycan. The next Queen. Everyone is very eager to get to know you."

I fixed him with a cool stare. "You keep forgetting we’re getting divorced in a year. I am not the next queen."

Jericho’s amber eyes crinkled with dark amusement. "I’m glad that you think that."

There was mockery laced into his tone. Like I was at the center of a joke I hadn’t yet caught up to.

Juliette made a soft ’oooh’ gasp as we pulled into the parking lot. I got out of the car and already, we were drawing tons of attention. Students were pointing and whispering as we walked past.

Juliette’s tour guide was a slight half-breed who was quaking so hard in his shoes as he approached us, that I thought he was this close to having a seizure.

"H-hi," he stammered, eyes flicking from Juliette’s face to the scary Lycans behind her. And then me. "I’m—"

"Keith," Juliette finished. "I’m Julie."

The boy was still shaking. I could taste his fear at the back of my tongue. Juliette didn’t notice this at all, as she grabbed his arm and began marching him down the path.

"Julie," Quinlan called out and said something softly in French.

Juliette’s response sounded uncharacteristically harsh and Quinlan’s laughter was smooth and sexy.

I realized something was wrong when I stepped into the schools hallway and took the left turn towards my class and the Lycans followed me.

Confused, I glanced up at them. "What are you doing? Fourth years do not have lectures on the ground floor."

"Walking you to class?" Soren drawled.

I was wedged between them like a freaking sandwich.

"I don’t need you walking me to class. Don’t you have better things to do? Someone else to terrorize?" I gritted out, feeling extremely hot-faced and embarrassed. It was already bad enough that I knew I looked different now. Like them. I looked like I didn’t belong here anymore. I had never quite fit in anywhere, but now it was worse.

I would stick out like a sore thumb in every room, every gathering. I hoped I would have some time to get used to that. But apparently not.

"No one quite as important as you," Mercer purred. "Who knows? With how clumsy you are, you just might break a leg or two on the way."

Growling inward, I increased my pace. When I reached the doors to my half-filled classroom and every eye lifted and soft gasps echoed behind us, I whirled, cheeks flaming. "Could you please leave?"

"Sure," Quinlan drawled, "But you’re forgetting something."

"What—"

Quinlan grabbed my wrist and yanked me sideways. My back hit the classroom door with a hard thud. I gasped as he pressed his body flush against mine, his hot breath teasing my lips.

"Try not to get too excited," he murmured.

"Get your hands off me, Quinn," I growled.

His hand slid to the base of my throat, circling it possessively while the other braced against the doorframe above my head. My pulse hammered wildly under his fingers.

I hated this. I hated him. I hated how my body betrayed me the second he touched me.

But the bond didn’t care what I wanted.

A violent tremor rolled through me. Heat flooded my veins like liquid fire. My nipples tightened painfully. My core clenched, already growing slick and aching. I couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t think. Couldn’t fight the overwhelming wave of lust crashing over me.

His voice resonated warmth, a thoughtful rumble so close to my mouth I could taste it as his lips curved against mine. "Appearances."

Then his lips slammed into mine.

Anger exploded in my chest. I pressed both hands hard against his shoulders, trying to shove him away, but it was like shoving at a boulder.

His fingers squeezed tightly against my neck, hard enough to feel the bones in my windpipe and crush them, but he didn’t. It was a possessive hold, not one I might have expected from Quinlan, and it forced me to part my lips to draw in air.

He intruded my mouth, softly at first, then at the first touch of our tongue, any reservation in him melted with every press and dip, every touch of our lips.

I hated how good he tasted.

I hated how my tongue met his anyway.

Each kiss was harder, wetter than before. A blaze seared through me as I drew my blunt nails down the length of his chest. He growled low in his throat, and the slow glide of his mouth roughened.

Quinlan stepped closer, pressing his hard-on against my lower stomach. When his lips moved to my throat, my head fell against the door and I forgot where I was. Forgot I was mad. Forgot I was going to murder him for this. His hands remained braced on the frame

above me. Hot and wet, he kissed a path down my neck that set off sparks deep in my core. My vision turned hazy, a heavy heartbeat pounding between my legs. I was a combustible ball of fire burning hotter every second.

His lips dragged down my neck, sucking and biting. Sparks shot straight to my core. My vision blurred. My hips rocked forward on their own, seeking friction.

He dragged his mouth lower, nipping at the soft flesh above my bodice. My nipples were so tight they hurt. I was losing my mind in this hallway. I would have let him tug my sweater down right there and suck on them if he tried.

My hands betrayed me completely, sliding up under his vest, nails scraping over his abs as I pulled him closer.

He pressed his thigh between my legs, right against my throbbing clit.

I whimpered, grinding against him shamelessly. Pleasure shot up my spine like lightning. I was soaked. Desperate. Nothing but raw, humiliating need.

Stop. You hate this. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

But I couldn’t stop.

I was drowning.