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And that once Maxim finds out…he’s going to take a big bite out of me.
Chapter Eight
Maxim
The engagement ceremony is subdued.
Because I subdued it.
The only good thing about being in the middle of investigating a terrorist attack is that I have an excellent excuse to keep the guest list small and the gathering under heavy guard. I’ve also made it clear that the curfew in effect for the rest of the tower applies to this exercise in futility as well, so it can’t drag on until all hours.
And it will be a futile exercise.
I will chew off my own arm to escape this trap of a marriage if I have to, but I doubt such drastic measures will be required.
I just have to bide my time and give Willow enough rope to hang herself. She knows more about Kelley than she’s letting on or she wouldn’t have stubbornly refused to use her pack gift to help me gain more information on her sister.
Sooner or later, she’s going to slip up and I’ll catch her in a lie. Or her pack gift will betray her. Or I’ll convince my father he’s wrong about the prophecy and that forcing me to marry Willow is a serious mistake.
One way or another, this alliance is doomed from the start.
The thought makes me smile as I ask my temporary fiancée, “Enjoying the evening?” The cocktail reception at the Atrium Bar is even smaller than the ceremony in the gathering room earlier, which is perfect. The fewer people I have to toast this marriage with, the better.
“So much,” Willow lies with the same brittle smile that’s been fixed on her face all night.
I grin. “I’m so glad.”
Her eyes glitter. “You look glad. Are you imagining how nice my head is going to look on a pike atop your tower?”
I chuckle. “Of course not. You’ll get to keep your head. Your other body parts, however…” I shrug casually. “Those are still up for grabs. I hear it’s harder to force a man into marriage with only one arm.”
She sighs. “I apologize for going behind your back, Maxim, but I didn’t feel I had any other choice.”
“No other choice than to rob me of one of the most important decisions a man makes in his entire life?” I keep my tone pleasant, but the words make rage boil in my veins all over again.
I don’t plan on marrying Willow, but the that fact that she’s come this close to forcing the issue and put me at odds with my father, is still infuriating.
“You were holding me prisoner, torturing me for information I didn’t have, and trying to take advantage of my pack gift without my permission,” she replies, equally pleasantly. “Forgive me for thinking I was safer sharing the news that we’re fated mates with your father first.”
“Right.” I sip my bourbon, nodding to an old friend of my dad’s as he walks by before I continue, “But I don’t think you knew we were fated mates. I think you were gambling that my father knew about the prophecy and would want me to be king.” I turn to face her, asking the question that’s been plaguing me since our meeting with my father yesterday. “But the question is, when did you know? Did you come here with a plan to force me into marriage, little wolf? Have you been playing me since the moment you showed up on my doorstep?”
Her brow furrows. “I’d never heard of the prophecy until the night after…” She clears her throat. “Until two nights ago. I had a dream about it. And in the dream, I just… I knew.”
“Knew what?” I challenge.
“That you were meant for me,” she says, the faint glow in her eyes making it impossible to argue.
And damn it, I’ve felt it, too. I’m drawn to her, compelled to touch her, soft for her in a way I’ve never been for anyone else.
Even now, with anger boiling in my blood, there’s a part of me that wants to make amends, and an even more vocal part that wants to take her back to my bed and make her come until she’s too drunk on pleasure to cause trouble for a few hours.
Just the thought of her bare skin pale against my black satin sheets is enough to make my cock thicken behind the fly of my suit pants.
No one would say a word if we decided to start fucking a month early. The adults in the room know how hard it is to resist your mate once you’ve found them. But I refuse to give into temptation, even if Willow seemed willing. Which she doesn’t. She’s made certain to keep a good two feet of distance between us all night and her energy is positively frigid.
Not surprising after what I did to her, I suppose.
Though it does make me wonder…
