Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 87502 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 438(@200wpm)___ 350(@250wpm)___ 292(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87502 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 438(@200wpm)___ 350(@250wpm)___ 292(@300wpm)
“Thank you, Vivienne.” Korwyn came forward to take my hand in his. He bent and kissed the back of my fingers, and I felt a strange shiver go through me. My nipples were suddenly tight, and I felt a throbbing between my thighs. What was going on?
Before I could figure it out, Harris Murdoch was shoving between us, breaking the connection.
“The pup can’t stay with her!” he snarled. “He’ll have his cock in her before the night is through!”
But this time he seemed to have gone too far. I might have failed my husband in producing any heirs for him, but my chastity had never been questioned. Indeed, I got the impression that most of the townsfolk thought I was something of a cold fish—“Ice Queen” I had heard myself called, more than once—and there had been whispers of my nearly non-existent Heat Cycles. It was as though they thought my supposed sexual frigidity was what kept me barren.
With a reputation like that, no one was very willing to suppose I was inviting Korwyn into my home to seduce him. There were murmurs of disapproval and Father MacKaity actually shook his finger at Harris Murdoch.
“Harris, please!” he exclaimed. “You can’t say such things! This young man is the nephew of Lady Vivienne’s late husband!”
“That doesn’t matter,” Harris muttered angrily.
“Of course it does!” Father MacKaity exclaimed. “We all know that Lady Vivienne is a Moon Widow—she is too old to be remarried and will spend the rest of her days grieving her husband’s death. She would never engage in carnal activities with a younger man in that way—that would be breaking one of the Unbreakable Laws of our Pack!”
“Just because she’s an old bitch, doesn’t mean she doesn’t want to fuck,” Harris snarled. “What if she comes into a Heat Cycle while he’s up there with her?”
“I haven’t had a Cycle in the past fourteen months—not that it’s any of your business,” I said, glaring at him through my veil. “I’m simply offering Carter’s heir a place to stay until he can beat you at the Challenge.”
Harris’s face turned almost puce with rage and I knew I had gone too far. But I didn’t care anymore—I had already chosen a side and I wasn’t backing down now.
“Stand at my side, Korwyn,” I said, nodding at him with dignity. I might not have much in this town, but I had my status. I couldn’t leave the funeral early—but I could end it early—if I did it the right way.
I lifted my head regally and straightened my shoulders as I addressed the room.
“I want to thank you all for coming to Carter’s funeral—I know it would have meant a great deal to him,” I said. “However, I think it’s time we all went home. The rain will be making the roads slippery, and I know Carter wouldn’t have wanted anyone to get hurt staying late to honor him.”
Actually, this wasn’t true at all. Carter wouldn’t have given a damn if someone got hurt and probably would have wanted everyone to stay until midnight saying what a great Pack Leader he had been. But I didn’t care about that. My late husband was dead, and I was finished honoring the man who had stolen my life.
“Well, I suppose given the time and the weather,” Father MacKaity began, looking around nervously.
“Thank you, Father,” I said, nodding at him, just as though he had agreed with me. “And thank you for the lovely service. I know Carter would have been very grateful for all your kind words.”
Father MacKaity puffed up at once.
“Oh, well…he was a fine Pack Leader. It was my pleasure,” he said, nodding and smiling.
“Thank you. Come, Korwyn,” I said to the man at my side—just as though I’d known him my whole life. “Let’s get you settled in Wolverton Manor.”
Then, without any acknowledgement of the people staring at us and whispering behind their hands, I swept out of the funeral home with my head held high.
I might have made a poor choice, but I didn’t care. I would literally rather be dead than married to Harris Murdoch. I just prayed to the Moon Goddess that the young man at my side could beat him.
Otherwise, my life would soon be a living Hell.
THREE
VIVIENNE
The rain was coming down hard, drenching me at once but I made it to the Silver Ghost Rolls Royce that Carter had left me before my composure broke. I kept my back straight because I knew people were probably still watching but I could feel myself dissolving inside.
Goddess of the Moon, what had I done? I had bet my whole future on an untried Alpha—one I didn’t even know. I didn’t even know if he was safe to be alone with—he could be a murderer for all I knew!
But…I didn’t get any sense of menace from him. Not like I got from Harris Murdoch—the ugliness and menace rolled off of him in waves. It was one reason I couldn’t stand him—that and the fact that he was a bully who never bathed.