Tilly Ann.
"It's going to be an interesting marriage. What is your stand on public execution of wives, King Winchester?" Chase asked.
Father's face tightened. He poked the wrong father.
"There will be no execution, public or private," Alpha Kale Dubois assured my father smoothly. His voice was calm, controlled—the voice of a man who'd talked down worse situations.
"Good," Father said. "I have five dragons. It would be very awkward for your kingdom and mine, In-law."
I watched all of them. Watched the diplomatic smiles, the careful words, the way everyone was already pretending this hadn't happened.
"We haven't been properly introduced. I'm Kale"
The man who stepped forward looked like Chase Dubois if Chase had been carved from mountain rock and fed a diet of raw meat and smaller wolves.
He was big. Mean. Alpha.
"ALPHA"
In my anger, I had completely tuned out everyone but Chase.
I lowered my head instantly.
One doesn't get to be the Alpha of all the wolves that walk the earth without terrifying people at first glance. I understood that now.
"Princess." His voice was low, unhurried, and absolutely certain.
His eyes swept over me. The ripped dress. The wild hair. The flushed face. I knew exactly how I looked. Like a wayward tart who'd just been finger-fucked in a closet by his wayward son.
"I went boar hunting," I said, before he could ask.
There was a pause. "Boar hunting?"
"Yes, Alpha."
"But you are a princess."
"I'm not exactly storybook, Alpha. I'm a Winchester first. We hunt"
He said nothing for a long moment. Disapproval sat on his face like a crown. But he didn't press.
I saw an advantage and took it.
"I am the last girl you want as your future Luna, Alpha Kale. I hunt boars. I have a thing against personal hygiene and corsets. I cuss too much. I have been told I am opinionated. I would make a horrible daughter-in-law."
He took a step closer. I took one back towards my father. He was a terrifying man.
"You will do just fine, Matilda." His voice was final. "As long as you have your dragon and produce a couple of cubs, we will get along."
"Cubs?"
"Baby wolves, child."
He said it like he was discussing livestock. Like I was a breeding mare with a title.
Something cold slithered down my spine.
Then his expression shifted—not softer, exactly, but less stone. "You will be loved and protected too, Princess."
I didn't believe him one bit. Love and protection was an after thought to a man like him.
"You are frightening her, Father"
It was Chase, playing the role of the gentleman. He tried to hold my hand but I slapped it away.
"Like I would ever hold your hand. Keep your fingers to yourself, Mr. Dubios"
I turned around and walked away.
I made it twelve steps before my legs started shaking. Fourteen before I wanted to look back. Sixteen before I realized I was clenching my hands into fists because they still remembered the feel of his chest, his shoulders.
I did not run.
But, I wanted to.
Behind me, I heard my mother begin a stream of apologies. Heard my father's low, rumbling voice cutting her off.
Heard Alpha Kale say something I couldn't catch.
I kept walking.
The shirt smelled like him. I hated that I noticed. I hated that I didn't take it off.
Most of all, I hated that when I closed my eyes, I still felt his fingers inside me—and that for one brief moment behind that door, before the wheelchair and the emptiness and the performance, I'd seen someone real looking back.
I didn't know what to do with any of it.
So I just kept...walking.
***
The knock came at sunrise the next day, just as I was about to call for my bath.
I frowned, tying my robe tighter. Probably my mother, with another lecture about not mouthing off to future husbands.
"Not now, Mama," I said under my breath and marched to the door.
I yanked it open.
And there he was. Not my mother. Chase Dubois. Still in that damned wheelchair, parked in the hallway.
Every furious feeling from the storeroom rushed back. My face went hot. Without a word, I moved to slam the door shut.
His hand shot out and stopped the door.
"What do you want?" I hissed. "This marriage will not happen. I don't care what your father promised mine. And you don't have access to me or my bedroom. So, goodbye!"
He looked up at me. His dreamy eyes weren't cold now. They were… tired. Like he had stayed up all through the night.
"I am sorry that I made that stupid joke about execution" He rubbed the back of his head. "Truce?"
That made me pause. And suspicious.
Chase Dubois did not look like a man who would ever admit that he was wrong. This was a game. A sick game.
I pushed on the door again. He was playing another game, I don't care for it. He held it firm.
"I am sorry for offending you, Matilda." The way he said my name made me look at him. "It has nothing to do with you. I am just a miserable… fuck face."
A surprised laugh almost burst out of me. "Finally, something we can agree on."
A real smile touched his mouth. It was almost playful.
"Let me make it up to you. I had my omega set up a place for a light picnic before breakfast. In your favorite spot in your garden. At least, your mother said it was. The one by the willow tree and lake. Does that interest you?"
He was being gentlemanly. Kind. The anger in me softened, turning into something warm. "No. Not even a little bit" I said, trying to sound careless.
"You can punch me whenever I do or say something stupid"
My eyes lit up. Punching Chase would make me very happy. "I will think about it"
"Good. See you then, Matilda."
He wheeled himself backwards, then turned and moved down the hall. I watched him go, until he turned the corner.
I closed the door slowly. A stupid smile was on my face.
I leaned back against the wood. Maybe… maybe he wasn't all bad. Maybe the chair explained the strangeness. Maybe he'd been putting on a show in front of the parents, protecting us both.
Knock knock.
My smile grew. He forgot something. Probably more pretty words.
I pulled the door open, ready to tease him. "Did you forget to—"
He was standing.
No wheelchair. No weakness. He was just… standing. Different too. The weariness in his eyes was gone. All that was left was the most piercing and captivating eyes I have ever seen.
All the air left my lungs.
I should have asked. Should have demanded answers. Should have shoved him away and locked the door and never looked back. Instead, his mouth found mine, and every question I'd ever had dissolved into the taste of him.
He didn't let me speak. He moved fast, one step forward, his hand cradling my jaw, his mouth crashing down on mine.
This kiss was worse than the storage room.
I gasped into his mouth.
He didn't wait for an invitation.
He walked me backwards into the room, kicking the door shut behind us.
My back met the wall beside the door.
He pressed into me. One of his hands was in my hair; the other on my hip, holding me there.
He finally broke the kiss, but only far enough to look into my eyes.
"How did you escape in the storeroom?" he whispered, his voice amused. "Did your mother suspect that her virgin little princess had been thoroughly finger fucked by me where she stores her Manila rope and vinegar?"
He kissed me again, slower this time.
I couldn't think. I could only feel. If I could think I would have asked him what the hell he was talking about. He was there when his father and my parents entered. When he shoved me into the storeroom and looked them straight in the eyes and lied.
But I was rather preoccupied.
My hands fisted in the soft fabric of his shirt—the new one he was wearing.
Pulling out a little to ask "What is with the occasional wheelchair and tired eyes, Chase Dubois?"
He looked at me briefly before turning his attention to my chin, kissing me there. "Hush. Busy right now, Winchester."
He kissed me until I was dizzy, until my robe was loose and his touch was everywhere—my waist, my breast, the curve of my hip. I was gasping, my head spinning.
He pulled back just an inch, a wicked smile appearing on his swollen lips.
"I am hungry. May I eat?" he murmured, his thumb tracing my lower lip.
He looked like a different person towering over me like that.
"I don't have...food" I murmured. It was a little difficult to think about food.
"Oh sweetheart. You have exactly what I'm craving. Please, spread your little dainty pussy for me"