"Is it true?"
"And if it is?" If he were indeed looking for a Lyccan princess, what then? Would she turn out to be like everyone else, thinking he was now so damn desperate he would willingly ingratiate himself to the first woman with deep enough pockets to approach him?
Disappointment and rage rose to the fore, but he forced himself to rein his emotions in as he heard her ask about the type of princess she was looking for.Star was different, he strove to remind himself. And so he managed to answer in a tight but fairly calm voice, saying,"At this point, I'd be willing to marry anyone who could help protect my race."
And let it be the end of that, if she knew what was good for her.
But she obviously did not, since she was already asking him her next question, and it was even sillier than the first one.“But what about what you want?”
"This is what I want," he couldn't help snapping. Was she fucking stupid or what? Didn't she realize that what he wanted no longer mattered?
"Ah." She then flashed him a brave smile, and this threw him off. What the fuck did she have to be brave about when she wasn't the one burdened by the need to find a kingdom for her own race?
"Then..." Lysander frowned as he watched her chest rise and fall in rapid fashion, heard her heart hammering against his chest, and his puzzlement grew.
"You'd want me."
Lysander's brows shot up.
"Because I'm a Lyccan princess, and my name isn't really...well, it'sStarbut not in English." He watched her draw another shaky breath just before the words came rushing out. "My real name is Estrella Moretti, and I'm the younger sister of..."
Domenico Moretti,Lysander thought in disbelief.
"Domenico Moretti."
Domenico Fucking Moretti.
The wolf prince that Misty had left him for.
****
IT WAS A HARD TWO YEARS, and there hadn't been a single day, hour or minute that Lysander was not on the brink of collapsing and surrendering his body to the beast's command. Countless times, the urge to free himself from the pain tempted him beyond belief, but then...it would happen. It would be just as the jinn said, the anchor of his soul tightening around him and keeping him alive for just another moment. And it did so by making him remember.
Star.
The memories of her played again and again in his mind. They made him breathe a little more easily. Made him forget the pain. Made him hope. And when the memories weren't enough, he would imagine. Flashes of heat, fantasies of her naked body rubbing against his, her lips nibbling on the head of his cock before taking him all the way in, deep into her throat—-
They were not real, but it didn't matter. Theywouldbe real. One day. Someday. Soon.
And it was this hope that made him hang on just a little longer.
Until finally, the day came that it was the beast which bowed down to his will, its power fusing with his soul.
Finally.
He closed his eyes. Waited until her scent reached him. And then he started to run.
