Invitation to the Mountains

LIANA

I’m glad that Lucian and I have smoothed things out. I couldn’t stand the feeling of something putting a wedge between us. I’m just sorry there’s no time for us to kiss and make up right now. Lucian had planned to work once we got home and has several meetings scheduled—which leaves me to my own devices for a few hours.

In need of a relaxing activity, I once again find myself in the library. Libraries have always been my safe place, somewhere I can go and feel surrounded by warmth and comfort even though I’m alone.

Wandering the stacks, I stumble on the Lycanthrope History section and browse through the leather-bound titles. A book catches my eye: ~The Reign of King Shelby and Queen Annalise,~ and I extract it from the shelf. Even though I’m not a great one for history, this one might just be worth a read.

***

Out at the pool, I swim a couple of laps, still reeling from the beautiful tale I’ve been reading about Shelby and Annalise. Their story is undeniably romantic. Their marriage was an arranged one, not welcome to either of them because each was in love with someone else.

At their first official meeting, they discovered that they were already acquainted. They had been having a secret affair with each other all along, blissfully unaware they were due to be each other’s betrothed. It couldn’t have worked out more perfectly for them. They lived to the ripe ages of 425 and 430, only having to spend five years apart before reuniting once again in the afterlife.

It’s strange to think that, now that I’m a lycan, I might live as long as that—or even longer. A lifespan that long almost feels like immortality. I wonder if Lucian and I will always be as madly in love as Shelby and Annalise were, until their deaths. I can’t imagine it any other way. Now that I can link with Lucian and feel his every emotion and physical sensation, it’s like he’s become an extension of my own body and soul.

For a second, I allow myself to think about the fact that Lucian may only have another two hundred years or so left, while I may have as many as four or five hundred. Fear and grief blaze in my heart but I shut them down. One day, I may have to live without him, but that is so far in the distant future, it’s not worth thinking about now.

On my lap back, Lucian is crouched poolside with a smile.

“Can you do anything without looking utterly irresistible?” he teases, and I chuckle while trying not to suck in water. He laughs, then stands as I approach and starts pulling off his clothes. I rest my arms on the pool’s edge to admire the view.

“Likewise, ~my king~,” I tease right back, causing him to give me a mock scowl while I hide my smile in the crook of my arm. Stepping back to the edge, he sits himself down before slipping into the water. With smooth strokes, he swims up behind me and wraps me in his arms.

“What have you been up to then, my little beauty?”

“The library. I found a shelf full of biographies about lycan royalty.” I sigh with contentment as we drift around in the water.

“You did, did you? So studious.” He chuckles quietly and we float some more. It’s almost as if he’s forgotten that only a few hours ago he was so worked up that he had to leap out of a car and tear away in his wolf form to shake off the thought of me in the arms of another man. “Oh, I must mention. Charlotte asked if we wanted to go to dinner tonight.”

“Off the estate?”

“Yes, she has found a new place in the mountains. Very exclusive apparently,” he says in a mocking tone, and I slap his arm playfully.

“I’d love to. I need to find something to wear.” I tread water, quietly contemplating the fact that I really have nothing that is in any way “fancy.”

“I am glad you said that, ~my queen~.” He twists me in his arms to face him, and I wrap my legs around his waist. He smiles mischievously as I roll my eyes. “There’s someone waiting for you upstairs,” he says with a wink and a hint of suggestion in his voice. I scrunch up my nose but he just chuckles before popping a kiss on its tip. “Off you go, my love. Daddy’s gonna have a swim.” He winks again and I laugh as he gives my ass a firm squeeze before pushing me off and gliding through the water.

I chuckle, rolling my eyes, and swim to the edge before pulling myself out with ease, no longer needing to use the steps as I once did.

“Lycanhood becomes you, my love,” Lucian calls from the other end of the pool. I smile over my shoulder as I gather my things from the lounger. Zeke’s outburst and my father’s angry words keep trying to rise to the surface of my mind, but I keep pushing them back down where they belong. I’m not going to let them ruin things.