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You stupid fool.
It was too late anyway. The moment our skin met something extraordinary happened. Energy flared between us like a living thing. I staggered back, but his hand held mine tight. A light flared between our clasped hands, pure white and brighter than the fire. The wolves closest to us had to look away, but I stood transfixed, blinded by the magic we had created.
The light swelled outwards, enveloping Lucas and me in a bubble of cool, quiet energy where there was nothing—no sound, no people, just me and him in pure, perfect harmony with each other. Then the light retreated in on itself like a reverse big bang, sending my hair swirling and shaking the hem of my cloak.
It collapsed into nothingness with a loud pop.
I gasped for air.
Lucas was wide-eyed.
We pulled our hands apart, and I looked at my palm. Nothing, not a bloodstain, no sign of a scar. As if the cut had never happened. I healed fast, but no one could heal a deep cut in five seconds. Even a vampire needed to concentrate in order to heal.
This was magic, pure and simple.
“Congratulations,” Callum said, seeming a little wobbly. I’d never been through a werewolf wedding ritual, but I had a feeling it wasn’t supposed to happen like this. “You are now Queen of the Eastern wolves.”
Great, and I’d just started getting used to princess.
The circle of wolves bowed before me, as low now as they had for Lucas, and they spoke as one, “Your Majesty.”
Creepy.
I rubbed my hands together self-consciously and gave a weak smile. “Thanks.”
“Now,?
? Callum continued, clapping his hands together and shucking his robe off his broad shoulders. “Let’s get onto the fun stuff.”
The wolf chorus howled their approval, and I remembered what I’d really been afraid of.
Getting married had been the easy part of my night.
Lucas took my hand, and I jumped. “It’ll be fine,” he soothed.
Callum called to Lucas, and my…husband shook his robe free. The two naked kings stood in front of the fire, their skin glowing gold in the light, and not an ounce of fat between them.
“Have you ever done this with another king?” Callum asked.
“No, you?”
“Never.”
“Should be interesting,” Lucas said, his smile wolfish and a touch crazy.
“Count of three.”
“One…” The moon broke out from behind a puff of cloud, bathing us all in a cool, silver light.
“Two…” The entire circle dropped their robes. I wanted to cling to mine, but it seemed stupid to be the only one clothed in a crowd of butt-naked shapeshifters.
“Three.” Lucas spoke last, and when the final vowel slipped past his lips, he exploded.
First I thought Eugenia had turned from cabins to launching her magic at other wolves. A yelp escaped my lips, and then I realized what was happening. Lucas’s skin tore apart at seams that shouldn’t have been there, shredded by the tendons and muscles expanding under the surface. His beautiful face cracked, pushed outward by shards of bone forming into a hideous snout. Lucas’s jaws opened, too big for his face now, and when the skin fell away, he yawned wide, exposing a mouthful of teeth that would make even the deadliest predator wet himself. All of what had once been my Lucas was gone, and in its place was a massive wolf, its coat gleaming golden blond in the fire.
This had all taken mere seconds.
New magic hit then, a wave of it slamming into the circle like the aftershock of a nuclear bomb. I was taken to the ground as the magic burned my skin, but it wasn’t a human scream coming from me, it was an animal howl.
