Chapter 10

“Oh my god,” the gorgeous one says, her eyes flashing as she leans forward to stare at me, a hand pressing to her chest. “Are you like – are you one of the wolf people?” she asks, her face breaking into a wide grin. “Wait, show me your teeth – can you make them all pointy?”

I burst into a blush because – I mean – my world has both wolf shifters and humans, but that’s totally normal. Never, ever has anyone been oddly delighted to discover that I’m a wolf.

And certainly, no one has ever thought it was cute.

“Damn it, he might like that,” the blonde woman murmurs, glancing at her friend. “Orion is a wolf too, on his mother’s side –“

I glance down at Anton, processing this information as I panic slightly, wanting to get the hell out of here. He looks up at me and bares his own teeth, clearly letting me know that he’ll handle it.

A wicked snarl rips from my ghost’s snout as he suddenly doubles in size and prowls towards the two girls, who shriek in fear and press back against the still-open door.

“Thanks, girls,” I say, quite cool, glaring at them both as I follow Anton out of the bathroom and into the hall. “I appreciate you holding the door for me.”

Silence reigns as we move into the darkness of the hall, Anton again at my side once the bathroom door swings shut. I smirk down at him, very proud and pleased and grateful to have him there. “How are you doing that?” I whisper. “Why can you get bigger?”

He looks up at me with gleaming eyes and I’d almost swear he gave me a little wolf shrug, but –

“Avoiding me?”

My head snaps up as I nearly stumble over my own feet at that deep, familiar voice. At my side Anton presses close, protective but calm, warning me to keep my head.

I quickly gain my equanimity, crossing my arms over my chest as I give Prince Orion a cool stare. “Following me?”

He smirks, two golden goblets in his hands as he shifts his gaze down to Anton at my side. “Nice wolf. Where’d you get it?”

“Oh, this?” I ask, gesturing elegantly towards Anton, who looks up at me, worried at the too-easy tone of my voice. “This is my emotional support wolf. I need him by my side at all times.”

“Really,” Orion says, grinning at me now, thinking I’m being cute and kidding around, trying to impress him or make him laugh like the other nineteen women in this palace undoubtedly are.

“Yeah,” I say with a happy sigh, unflinching as I hold his gaze. “He alerts me for my safety whenever there’s a god damn jackass hanging around, cornering me in hallways.”

Orion’s smile falls from his face in shock. Anton, I swear, groans in misery, shaking out his fur.

“And look!” I say, pasting my sister’s patented pretty-pretty Princess grin onto my face as I gesture to Anton, who looks up at me with pleading eyes. “He’s alerting me right now! Looks like I need to go.”

I drop the smile from my face in an instant and stride forward. Anton, ever-faithful, keeps pace at my side. But as I move to pass Orion he steps in front of me, blocking my path. “Oh, come on, Princess,” he says, cajoling and a little cruel. “We got off on the wrong foot – at least have a drink with me. It’s part of the Game.”

“Seriously?” I quirk an eyebrow. “Do you honestly think I’m stupid enough to take a drink from you ever again?”

His smirk spreads into a slow, rather wicked smile, clearly implying that I just might be that dumb – or that he can convince me to be. “This is much milder than what you had last night.”

I boldly take the cup from his hand, sniffing it but not taking a sip. “Didn’t get enough of my secrets out of me last night?” I ask, my voice scathing as I tilt my head back to look up into his face.

Silently, I curse, again, the fact that I’m so short. Very inconvenient, surrounded as I constantly am by all these damn Alphas.

“You’re just pissed,” Orion says, laughing a little as he narrows his eyes and looms over me, “that I got the upper hand last night and learned how you actually feel about this whole Game – that you can’t trick me into marrying you now by pretending that you want to.”

“You think I want to trick you?” I ask, my voice saccharine like it’s adorable that he thinks that. “Baby, I’m just trying to leave.” I gesture to his broad frame, still standing in front of me.

Orion steps slightly to the side to clear the path. When I don’t move, he smirks and continues on, knowing he’s got the upper hand and relishing it. “Honestly, I was surprised to see you here after your rather firm declaration that you’d rather die than marry me?”

“I wasn’t given much of a choice, was I?” I ask, blinking innocently at him. “Like your daddy wasn’t going to send his little messenger bully to vanish me off if I decided to stay in my room.”

“You dressed for the occasion,” he counters, lifting his own glass towards my gown. “If your participation was forced.”

“Didn’t have anything else to wear,” I return, my voice getting lower and softer. “My other dress was covered in liquor, if you’ll remember.”

“Yes, can’t say I’ll be wiping that memory of liquor dribbling down your chin from my mind anytime soon,” Orion murmurs, dropping his eyes to my lips like he owns them. A snarl builds in my chest.

“Treasure the memories, highness,” I snarl, turning away, hating him a great deal more than I did two minutes ago. “They’re the last thing you’ll ever get from me.”

I begin to walk past him when Orion calls my name out behind me. I ignore him, done with it, too pissed off to truly consider the consequences of my actions, but Anton growls and steps in front of me, obliging me to look down into his eyes and willing me to see the importance of this.

So I sigh, and turn back to the Prince.

“You want to know what I think?” he asks, playful and cold.

“Not really,” I sigh. “But you’re going to tell me anyway, so make it quick.”

“I think,” he says, slowly crossing to me so that we’re only a hand’s breadth apart. “That your pretty little soul-wolf likes me.”

He reaches out and presses a single finger to my chest right above my heart, where my wolf lives inside. He gives a tiny shove – and honestly, it would be playful if it wasn’t so cruel. But my inner wolf dodges from foot to foot in my soul, unable to deny it – she is drawn to him, to this jerk, even if we hate him at the same time.

God, if he wasn’t just so…damn handsome.

“I think,” Orion continues, smug, leaning closer. “That you decided to stick around when you found out that I’m not quite so…wait, what was the charming way in which you phrased it?” He grins with half of his mouth, revealing a single pointed canine. “Oh yes – ‘deeply ugly in the face’?”

If I had a knife, I swear I’d plunge it right in his chest for that.

Fortunately, I do have words, which I can make just as sharp.

“Aw,” I say, letting my face drop in pity and stepping even closer to him – close as a lover, close enough to kiss. I slip a hand up over his shoulder, patting him consolingly. “Is that what your daddy told you, little ‘Ri ‘Ri?” I pout, speaking to him like a child. “That you’re a pretty boy, so pretty that all these girls want to be here, just for you?”

Orion narrows his eyes, not liking the way that I’ve turned the tables here.

“Well, let me let you in on a secret,” I say, slipping my hand down over his chest and wrapping my fingers in the fabric of his shirt, yanking him down to my level so that his ear is even with my mouth.

I feel his breath on my shoulder, picking up its pace.

“Attractive people, Orion?” I whisper, letting every piece of venom I’m feeling slip into my voice, coloring it in shades of viper black and blood red. “We don’t need our daddies to bribe girls with a wish to find someone to date. We just find them ourselves.”

I press my fist to his chest and give him a hearty shove away from me, letting my eyes communicate every bit of hate for him that’s surging through my veins at the moment.

Then I take the goblet of liquor in my hand casually upend it, spilling my drink all over his pretty suede boots.

“Oops,” I say, smiling up into his face as he stares at me, aghast. “Looks like I’ll need another one of these. Excuse me while I go fetch that.”