Authors: Savannah Stuart
house like a thief in the night. She knew it was totally the coward’s way out but the
thought of facing him and having
the
conversation with him was too much. At least this
way she wouldn’t have to take the memory of another argument with her. Or the agony
in his expression before she walked away.
Not that the knowledge was much of a consolation. Her heart was shredded to
ribbons at the thought of never seeing Thomas again.
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Nissa smoothed her hands down her black pants as she exited the elevator to the
fourth floor of the designated building for the treaty meeting. They’d picked New York
City as their destination and chosen neutral ground in the form of a perfectly bland
office building. Located in the middle of Manhattan, it was owned by humans none of
them knew. Despite the cool temperature in the hallway, her palms were clammy.
Today was the day.
With her mother dead, she was the interim queen and would soon be meeting with
The Council. Technically only two out of the eight Council members would be at the
meeting, but they’d been permitted to bring Alphas from four of the strongest packs.
That meant Thomas’ father would be at the meeting. Hence her ridiculously damp
palms. She was so ashamed at the way she’d left Thomas, then ignored all his attempts
to contact her.
“You okay?” her sister whispered as she gave her hand a small squeeze.
Swallowing hard, she flicked a quick glance in Kassia’s direction but she was
mindful of the six other Gentry members walking with them. She couldn’t appear weak
in front of them or she’d have to deal with the fallout later. Even if she hated all this
political crap it was unfortunately her life now. “Of course.”
But she wasn’t. Nausea swirled inside her mercilessly. She’d skipped breakfast in
lieu of three cups of steaming hot, black coffee. Now the bitter liquid swirled around in
her stomach like acid.
After the way she’d sneaked out of Thomas’ house in the middle of the night weeks
ago, the thought of seeing anything or anyone related to him made her shiver. Her
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traitorous nipples hardened at the thought of his callus-roughened hands or sensuous
mouth teasing them.
He’d been so insistent that everything between them would work out and he’d
make a place in her life but she knew better. Instead of arguing or dragging things out,
she’d simply left. Yes, she was the worst kind of coward but she’d needed to get to her
dying mother and she hadn’t had the energy to go up against a dominating man like
Thomas.
And no matter what he said, she couldn’t allow him to suffer throughout the rest of
their life together. She loved him too much and she knew he’d eventually resent her for
taking him away from his family. His resentment would be worse than anything.
She steeled herself as one of her men opened the heavy oak door to the conference
room. Entering before her sister, she nearly stumbled in her heels but thankfully caught
herself.
Thomas sat at the table with five other shifters. And they were all hulking. No
wonder her people had lost the war all those centuries ago. All these men were giant
predators.
Her throat tightened as his dark eyes narrowed on her. Oh yeah, he was pissed.
Beyond angry. And she didn’t blame him.
Forcing herself to breathe, she looked at the two Council members she’d held a
video conference with the week before and smiled at them. “Gentlemen, it’s nice to
finally meet you in person.”
Both Adama and Brenner nodded politely at her as they stood. “Nissa,” Brenner
said first. Then he motioned toward the other males. “This is Calder, Haki, Isandro, and
you’ve already met Thomas. We heard about what happened with your cousin and
since the Lazos pack gave you protection, we granted the request that Thomas come in
place of his father even though he is not yet an Alpha. We hope this is acceptable?”
She nodded stiffly. “Of course. My people are very grateful for the protection
afforded me by the Lazos pack.” Nissa couldn’t believe her voice didn’t shake. Her
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insides felt like jelly yet somehow she managed to sound completely unaffected. Or
maybe that was just wishful thinking on her part.
At her words the two Council members visibly relaxed. One of them motioned
toward the seats across from them at the long, rectangular table. “If you’re ready to
start, we are.”
Gratefully she took a seat and barely refrained from collapsing onto it. Her sister
and four of her men sat, but two stood back guarding the door.
Brenner lifted a briefcase from the floor and spread a handful of papers on the table.
Even though she was doing her best to avoid looking at Thomas, she could feel his
heat-seeking gaze searing into her. Her underarms dampened and beads of sweat
popped up across her forehead. Inwardly cursing him for being here, she slipped off
her slim-fitting, two-button jacket.
As she turned to drape it across the back of her chair, her sister gasped. Nissa’s back
went ramrod straight as she swiveled back to face the shifters.
Under the table, Kassia grasped her leg in a death grip. “You have the bondmate
mark? When did this happen?” she whispered.
Gritting her teeth, she slightly shook her head. The shifters could all hear her no
matter how quiet she tried to be. “Not now,” she said through gritted teeth. She’d been
wearing sweaters and jackets the past couple weeks.
How could she have been so stupid?
She wanted to put her jacket back on, but couldn’t without looking obvious or crazy.
But her sister didn’t listen. “I didn’t know you’d
bonded
with anyone. Holy shit,
Nissa.
Who?
” Her voice was so low Nissa could barely hear her, but she knew the others
across the table could. Even if they pretended to ignore them, they’d just heard every
single word.
Thomas loudly and obnoxiously cleared his throat. “Permission to speak, Council?”
The two older wolves looked at each other, then him curiously, before nodding.
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“I thought the queen was to be married soon. I’m just curious where her mate is. If
we’re all signing this treaty shouldn’t
he
be here?” The others might have missed it but
the slight cut of sarcasm wasn’t lost on her. Neither was the heated stare he sent her
way.
“Nissa will not be taking a mate anytime in the near future. She’s called off her
impending nuptials,” one of her councilors answered for her.
“Then why does she bear the bonding mark on her shoulder?” His question
silenced the entire room.
She could feel everyone’s eyes on her but she kept her gaze trained on Thomas.
“How is that important to this meeting?” To her horror, her voice shook.
He paused for a moment, as if weighing his words. “If you’re mated we should
know his politics and views on shifters. We have a right to know who he is.”
Brenner, Adama, and the three other Alphas nodded and murmured their
agreement.
Traitorous tears pricked her eyes. She couldn’t answer him in front of everyone.
How could he do this to her now? Embarrass her like this? She would not cry in front of
all these people. Her mother would have never showed such emotion. Or any emotion
at all. Neither would her sister. More proof she was just an imposter and had no
business as queen. Feeling sick, she abruptly stood. “If you’ll excuse me for a moment, I
need to confer with my sister.”
Let them all think what they wanted. She needed to get the hell away from him so
she could think straight. Or simply breathe. As she strode down the hallway she felt
Kassia fast on her heels.
She turned to speak to her, but came face to face with Thomas instead.
“Where the hell are you going?” he growled.
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Without looking at him, she tried to yank away, but he just pulled her tighter
against him until she was flush against the length of his body and there was nowhere
for her to run.
“Hey!” Kassia shouted from down the hall as she raced toward them. “Get your
paws off her.”
Nissa held up her free hand. “It’s fine.”
“Damn right it’s fine,” Thomas muttered. He glanced around, then dragged her
toward another door. They’d rented the entire floor but she didn’t like being
manhandled.
“Get your hands off me.” She tried to pull away but he only released her once he’d
dragged her into another bare room with the same style conference table as the one
they’d been in.
“You’re mated?” His words were a low, feral growl.
He didn’t realize it was him.
She didn’t know if she should be relieved or not. “What
do you know about my kind’s mating rituals?”
“I heard what your sister whispered to you. You’ve become fucking
mated
in the
past two weeks? How could you do this to me?
To us
?” His voice rose with each word
and he advanced on her fast.
Retreating, she kept going until the backs of her legs hit the table. He just kept
coming until he caged her in. “Who is he?”
She couldn’t hold his dark gaze. Looking at his chest, she bit her bottom lip. He was
already pissed and she knew he’d freak when she admitted the truth.
“Who. Is. He.” His angry words sent a chill through her. She’d never heard this
particular tone from him before and it actually frightened her.
“Why?” Anything to delay the inevitable.
“Because I’m going to kill him.” He breathed out the threat so low she wasn’t sure
she’d heard him right.
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“You don’t mean that.”
His jaw ticced and he still didn’t back up to give her space. “Why’d you bond with
someone else, Nissa?” Raw pain laced his words and she realized he truly had no clue
about the fae’s mating process.
“The fae don’t have a choice who our bondmates are. Mates, yes, if we so choose.
But we can technically leave—or divorce—our mates. With bondmates, there’s no
choice.” She turned slightly to the side and pushed her hair out of the way to reveal the
small Celtic knotting symbol on her shoulder. “This happens once we bond with our
destined mate. I didn’t have a choice.”
He glared at her shoulder. “You chose to fuck him though, didn’t you?”
She almost jerked back at his words, but more than anger, she could actually feel
his physical pain. Reaching out, she placed a light hand on his chest. Despite the tension
in the air, she felt the overwhelming need to soothe him. He tensed but surprisingly
didn’t pull away. She racked her brain, trying to find the right words. There weren’t
any so she just blurted it out. “This is from you, Thomas. I got this after we made love.”
“You haven’t been with anyone else?”
She shook her head.
A ragged sigh tore from him and he cursed under his breath. For a moment he just
stared at her. “Why didn’t we…” He trailed off as if answering his own question. “We
didn’t bond before because I never came inside you.”
Still afraid her voice would shake, she simply nodded at his words.
Relief filled his expression but just as quickly a frown marred his face as he stared
at her. “Did you know we’d bond?”
Her eyes widened. “Of course not.”
“But you left Miami
knowing
we were bonded.” It wasn’t a question.
“Yes.” Even if she wanted to, she couldn’t deny the obvious.
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“Why’d you leave without even a fucking goodbye then? And that letter was
pathetic.” The words came out raspy and angry.
Shame filled her because he was right. She should have stayed and stood her
ground, but deep down she hadn’t been sure she could actually leave him. The most
selfish part of her wanted to bring him home with her but it wouldn’t have been fair to
him. “Because I don’t want you to give up your life and family for me. You’d eventually
resent living with me and constantly looking over your shoulder.”
“Don’t you have any faith in this treaty?”
“Of course I do. But being mated to the queen—before or after the treaty—would
make you a constant target.”
“So
you’re
a constant target?”
“Sort of. I mean, not always, but if Venetia’s attack on me is any example, do you
really want that kind of life?”
“I want the choice, Nissa. And I choose you.”
Her throat tightened. “What about your family? I see how close you are to them.”
“You’ll be my family. I’m a big boy, Nissa, and I know what being away from them
will mean. I still choose
you
.”
Unbidden tears rolled down her cheeks. Even though she tried, she couldn’t control
them. Why did he have to say the perfect thing?
“Ah, shit.” He reached up and cupped her face, using his thumbs to brush away the
wetness. When his lips pressed softly against her cheeks, she shut her eyes tight and
tried to pull away. To block him out.
“Why do you have to say all the right things, Thomas?” she muttered.
He ignored her attempts and wrapped his arms around her waist. When he did, she
gave in and laid her head against his chest. She savored his strength and warmth.