Shifters had the best noses on the continent, and Caspian was the most powerful of his kind. But singling me out amid over a thousand soldiers in a camp town that reeked of liquor, sweat, and cooking smoke? That went beyond keen senses. I didn’t want to dwell on whatit meant. I already had too much on my plate. It wasn’t practical to fill my mind with every dark fantasy.
“That’s something,” I said vaguely.
“Are you hurt, Max?” He stalked closer. The playful ease was gone, replaced by raw concern that darkened his expression to something fierce and protective. “Let me escort you to the medic wing.”
“I can handle a few bruises,” I said. “I don’t need anyone to coddle me.”
“I’m not just anyone, Max,” he crooned. “And I like to cuddle.” A smile danced in his eyes, the playfulness surfacing again like it couldn’t stay buried for long. “It’s one of my favorite things to do. I’ll show you good cuddling, and I promise you’ll love it too.”
Seriously?I was supposed to roll my eyes, yet a slow burn lit behind my navel. I prayed these shifters, especially their prince, couldn’t see that well in the dark, because my face burned so hot I could have lit a Stormglass lantern with my cheeks.
“Then you should go home and cuddle a pillow, Highness,” I said.
Someone, probably one of his men, coughed into his fist.
Caspian chuckled in delight. “I also love to chase, Max.” My name rolled off his tongue like honey. “You’ll learn that I’m a shifter, after all. We can cuddle some other day. It’s too early for bed.” He stepped toward me and threaded his fingers through mine before I could react. “Come. Let’s not waste the night. We’re going to have a good time.”
The contact of his fingers lacing with minesent an electric jolt racing to my center, like a lit fuse following its track. My toes curled inside my boots so hard they cramped.
Why did it feel so delicious when any of the heirs touched me? I hadn’t tried the dragon, and I wasn’t about to. And I had no need to hold hands with some random cadet for comparison either. My body never reacted to anyone except the heirs.
All four of them.
What the fuck was going on?
“It’s not proper, Your Highness,” I protested weakly. “You’re a prince, my high-ranking officer, and I’m not even a real soldier yet.”
“Let me decide what’s proper, cadet.” Heat and amusement sparkled in his green eyes. “Everyone knows I drink with my soldiers all the time. If it makes you feel better, you can just picture yourself as one of them.”
I didn’t want to let go of his hand. Yet I also didn’t fancy Aelindor or Nikolai seeing me draped over another man like a loose woman. At least Nikolai had kept our secret arrangement private. And now I stood in the middle of the town, gripping the shifter prince’s hand, while his guard detail watched, while Bryn watched, questioning my very character with every heartbeat.
I’d wanted to be loyal. Faithful. But my body betrayed everything I believed in. How could I be so greedy as to want all of them? I should slap myself hard enough to quit being such a shitty person.
“But, Prince.” I tried one last time, half-heartedly. “Don’t you think this is fraternization? Isn’t it against the uniform code?”
“Oh, Max. My Max.” He let out a low laugh. The sound sank through me like good liquor, warm in my chest first, then lower, then everywhere it had no business being.
Shit.
A Field Guide to Shifter Instinctstated in explicit detail that shifters could smell arousal. The chemical change in a person’s scent was as obvious to a shifter’s nose as smoke was to human eyes.
So when Caspian’s nostrils flared as he caught my scent and his green eyes lit up, I let him pull me along. It was best to get the hell out of here. Every shifter present could smell exactly what I was feeling right now.
Half of Caspian’s guard detail trailed behind us. The other half stayed behind to clean up the mess—the prince had told them to “take out the trash.”
Bryn trailed after us among the shifters. I wondered what my friend was making of all this: me holding hands with a prince like royalty while his guard escorted us through a camp town.
“I still think we shouldn’t hold hands like this,” I said after a few steps. “It’s not becoming for soldiers.”
At least in public.
“Fine. We won’t hold hands.” He unthreaded our fingers with a smirk that made my stupid heart stutter. Then he draped his arm over my shoulder and pulled me against his side. “But we can do this. Like comrades. We’re just buddies going for a drink to celebrate.”
He was impossible.
If Aelindor or Nikolai saw us, I could always blameCaspian for initiating the contact. That was the best defense I had.
Shit. I’m a cheater.
