Chapter 44: The Wolf King: Chapter 44

“I do not believe that gentlemen do that,” I whisper.

Callum grins.

The wolf is still in his eyes. His irises are forest-green and glint in the flickering light coming from the hearth. I feel warm and soft and weightless. It makes me even more aware of the solidity of his body, which hovers over mine, and the hard length that presses against my bare thigh.

Another lick of heat pulses through me.

What would it be like to make him lose control in the way that he just did to me?

I do not know much about men, but I know if I touched him. . .

His eyes darken as if he knows the direction of my thoughts.

I try to slip my hand between us, but his body is flush with mine. So, I nudge his big shoulder. Conflict mingled with something else crosses his features before, warily, he lets me push him onto his back.

I prop myself up on my elbow. I am transfixed by his body. I take in his large biceps and the dusting of hair on his chest. I cannot help but recall the first moment I laid eyes on him, when I found the size and strength of him threatening.

Now it stirs something very different to fear inside me. How can a male be built this way? His sculpted frame rivals that of the marble statues of the gods that line the King’s Approach to the palace. Hard and powerful and commanding attention.

Only, his cheeks are flushed, and his lips are swollen, and his chest moves up and down quickly. I have done that to him. Despite coming undone beneath him just moments ago, letting him have total control of my body, I feel powerful. What else can I do to him?

I touch his chest. He watches my hand as I run my fingertips down the ridges of his torso. I reach the hard V of his hips, and cast my gaze downward.

His arousal is obvious, visible through the thin material of his breeches. I hover my hand above it, my heart hammering in my chest. Callum seems to stop breathing. I think I have as well.

I have never done this before. Never touched a man. I have never wanted to until now. Will he finally lose control around me? Will he bend me over and take me in the way Wolves take their women?

Before, that frightened me. Now, heat pools between my legs in the place that is already slick and wet.

Tentatively, I move my hand down.

Callum lets out a low growl of frustration and grabs my wrist before I can touch him. In a sudden movement, he pulls me back to the pillow, turns me onto my side, and pulls me against his chest. His whole body is tense, flush against mine. His heart hammers against my back.

“What are you doing?” I growl.

“We have a big day tomorrow.” His voice is strained. “You’ll meet with the king. You should get some rest.”

A swell of disappointment grows in my chest. “You don’t want me to touch you?”

“More than anything, I want you to touch me.” He swallows. “But it wouldn’t be right. I’ll give to you, but I won’t take from you. That’s where I draw the line.”

I huff. “You are a gentleman, after all, then?”

“I’m a wolf and an alpha. I must have my honor.”

His hard length presses against my behind.

I shift slightly. He hisses through his teeth and puts his hand flat on my stomach, fingers splayed. He holds me still against him. “Princess, that’s not a good idea.”

“If you don’t like it, do something about it.”

“Speak to me like that again, and I shall bend you over my knee,” he growls in my ear.

Indignation spreads through my body, heating and pooling between my legs. He chuckles and kisses the back of my neck, causing another thrill to surge through me.

“And I do like it,” he says. “I like it very much.”

“Then, why?”

“One day,” he promises darkly. “One day, I will show you what happens when you touch a wolf.”

He strokes my bare stomach, his hand beneath my shirt.

“Now, go to sleep,” he says.

The movement of his hand is gentle and soothing, and—weightless as I am—I soon find my eyelids drooping and my body relaxing into his.

“The Wolf King is truly back?” I ask.

“Aye. He’ll address everyone tomorrow morning. We’ll speak with him then.”

“Are you worried?”

“No,” he says, but I catch a hint of hesitation.

“What happened? Why did he need your aid?”

“He was visiting one of the outlying clans, trying to drum up support for the war. He ran into Sebastian’s soldiers not far from here. The force of the army was much larger than it usually would be to siege a fairly insignificant castle, and they had better weapons than I’ve ever seen them fight with before. They took the whole castle and fort, and we barely escaped with our lives. Some didn’t.”

“He’s coming for me,” I say, horror replacing the warmth in my body. I knew this was coming, and for a while, I’d let myself forget. I was a fool.

“Aye.” His chest hardens against my back, and he pulls me a little closer, his hand firm on my torso. “They’re getting close.”

“Does the Wolf King know they were there because of me?”

He hesitates again. “No. I think James presumed they’d got wind he’d be visiting and the attack was in his honor. I haven’t told him about you yet.”

Silence falls over us, thick and heavy. All I can hear are the dwindling flames in the hearth, and the wind blowing against the castle walls. Words don’t need to be said.

When the Wolf King finds out I am the princess of his enemy, things could go badly.

“He won’t hurt you,” Callum says, finally.

He sounds so certain that I want to believe him.

Yet it is a while before I fall asleep.

I dream of wolf eyes, watching me through the trees.

***

The weak morning sun shines on the two dresses laid out on Callum’s bed. Callum retrieved them for me, not wanting me to encounter any Wolves while wearing only his shirt. Now he sits his armchair, looking out of the window, with a pensive look on his face. He’s fiddling with the button of his cuff.

If today wasn’t such a big day, I might be worrying that he regrets what happened last night.

But today, I meet with the Wolf King. I have no time to be dwelling on stubborn alphas, or the things that he did to me with his tongue.

I look between the two costumes I instructed Callum to bring me.

The first impression I make with his king is important and I have a difficult choice to make.

One garment is white and simple. It would make me look innocent and demure, like a perfect princess, a perfect doll.

The other is the black dress that caught my eye when I first arrived here. It’s striking, with intricate lace sleeves and a high collar. It is something someone important would wear, someone powerful. I run my fingers down the dark material, tempted by the power it seems to hold.

The two are polar opposites.

“Which one would your king like best?” I ask.

Callum slides his gaze from the mountains, to me. “Hm?”

I place my hands on my hips. “Which dress?”

“They’re both bonnie. You’ll look beautiful whatever you wear.”

I exhale. “That’s not the point.”

He raises his eyebrows and looks confused.

I shake my head. “Never mind. You are truly useless.”

He grins, then shrugs, moving his gaze back to the window. I cannot tell whether it is what we did last night that troubles him, or the upcoming meeting with the king.

Either way, I have more important things to be worrying about right now.

I eventually settle on the white dress, deeming the black too threatening. I was dressed in white the first time I was paraded in front of Sebastian, and though the outcome wasn’t favorable to me, it gained the best outcome for my kingdom.

I comb my fingers through my hair, then pull on my boots.

“I’m ready,” I say, finally.

He turns his head, and offers me a genuine smile, his eyes bright in the morning light. “You look perfect.”

“Are you sure?”

“Aye.” He opens his mouth as if to say something, then seems to think better of it. He runs a hand over his mouth, then turns his gaze back to the grey sky. “We’ll head down in half an hour.”

I don’t think I can wait that long. Not with Callum in such an odd mood, my thoughts consumed with what I let him do to me last night, and my doomed future creeping ever closer.

Something black catches my eye on the stone floor by the armchair—giving the whirlwind inside my chest a focal point. I pick up Blake’s collar.

He said he needed Callum alive. For what purpose?

He said some other horrible things about me, too. And he kissed me.

“I’m going to return this,” I say, holding up the collar.

Callum turns his head to look at me, his eyes momentarily hardening on the obsidian stone at the collar’s center.

His nostrils flare, then he smiles.

“Okay. But if you’re not back in ten minutes, I’m going to murder him.”

I nod.

Glad to have something to do, I head to Blake’s chambers.