The Forbidden Wolf King: Kings of Avalier, Book 4(14)
He didn’t stop walking, and I swallowed hard when he got within two feet of me before slowing.
I held my breath as he stepped right up to me, toe to toe and stared me down. His nostrils flared and I had to suppress a moan. He smelled like dominance and bad choices, like fifteen-year-old Axil. The memory of kissing him was burned on my tongue and I suddenly wondered if he tasted the same.
“You didn’t take a weapon? I remember you being smarter than that, Zara,” he growled and that anger was back in his gaze.
I placed one hand on my hip. “I’m surprised you remember me at all with how easily you left me,” I snapped back, though I wasn’t sure it was true. One of the things he’d said to me was that he would never forget a single freckle on my skin. He’d traced them nightly under the stars all summer.
“I …” His face fell. “Zara, leaving you—”
“I don’t want to talk about that. The past is the past.” I pursed my lips.
He looked down at his hands for a second and then back up at me. “Look … Zara, I’ve been thinking, you could break your leg. Say it happened hiking and I would excuse you from tomorrow’s trial. Dorian could send a replacement.”
My glare narrowed as rage built up inside of me. “Are you that afraid of me winning and being stuck with me the rest of your life?” My head tipped back as genuine laughter erupted from my throat.
When I looked back at him, his anger was completely gone and his eyes were on my lips.
“Damn, I forgot how sexy your laugh was.”
His words knocked the air from my lungs and I froze as he leaned forward and against my neck, inhaling deeply.
“But I remembered how good you smelled.” His voice was ten octaves deeper.
My mind was scrambling to figure out what was going on when his fingers came up to brush across my lips. The whimper I’d been holding in released then and he pulled back to look at me.
“And for as long as I live, I will never forget how you kiss, Zara Swiftwater,” he stated and my legs nearly collapsed beneath me. “And I dream of being stuck with you forever, I don’t fear it.”
There were no words for this moment. I didn’t have anything to say so I just stared at him. Why was he muttering all of these incredibly romantic things to me? He left me at the summer camp after his brother reminded him of his duties to the throne. I was Mud Flats trash, not good enough for him.
The memory of how that all went down rose up inside of me and I took one step closer to him so that my body was pressed flush against his. My breasts slammed into his chest and his eyes widened slightly.
“Axil Moon, I pray that you remember how I kiss, for the rest of your life.” I leaned in and dragged my lips lightly across his, delighted to hear the moan of pleasure escape him. Then I pulled back and met his gaze. “Because you will never taste this mouth again. I will win the trials, become your wife, and leave you to an empty bed until my dying day.”
With a snarl of anger, I pulled away and sidestepped him, walking quickly back through the woods the way I came.
I thought I heard the sound of snapping bones and when I reached the open grassy knoll behind the castle, a tortured howl rose up across the forest behind me.
Whatever he was feeling now was an ounce of what my fifteen-year-old self had felt when he rejected me.
Now, more than ever, I was motivated to win this competition. If nothing more than to see the look on Axil’s face when I slammed the bedroom door shut on him on our wedding night. I didn’t care who I would have to kill to get my revenge. This was our way, and I’d been stupid to question such traditions.
FOUR
The next morning I hurriedly washed up at the outdoor communal bathhouse and then put on fresh clothes. Cyrus said that he’d gotten drunk with one of the king’s advisors last night and that they had let slip that the next trial was one I was well suited for, living in the Mud Flats, but I might have to go hungry for a few days. Going without meals didn’t worry me, unless of course I was weakened and then called into a fight, which was probably going to happen. They were testing our strength. So instead of the light breakfast I normally ate, I scarfed meat and fresh fruits until I was sickeningly full.
When I arrived at the blue champion tent, it hit me that there were only twelve of us left.
How quickly we’d been culled in half shocked me but I got over it quickly when Ivanna gave me a grin.
She was no doubt still basking in her ability to have made me take no weapon into my fight yesterday.
I walked right up to her and looked her in the eyes. “I still won,” I reminded her.
Her gaze narrowed but she said nothing.
“Hello champions!” a familiar voice called behind me and I turned to see the same male advisor from yesterday. He was holding a large canvas sack and held it out to us. Eliza slipped into the large tent last, looking sleepy and possibly like she’d been up all night crying. I wondered whether yesterday was her first kill and how she was taking it.
“Place any weapons or personal items, other than clothing that you have on, in here.” He shook the bag.
We all looked at each other in confusion.
“You will be searched,” he added and that got us moving.
I reached down into my boot and pulled out my small knife. Ivanna did the same and some of the others too.
Eliza took a fancy jeweled hair clip from her blonde tresses and held it up. “Will I get it back?” she asked and I rolled my eyes.
Leia Stone's Books
- Leia Stone
- The Last Dragon King (Kings of Avalier #1)
- Fallen Academy: Year Two (Fallen Academy #2)
- Mated Girl (Wolf Girl #4)
- Wolf Girl (Wolf Girl, #1)
- Fallen Academy: Year Four (Fallen Academy #4)
- Annihilate (Hive Trilogy #3)
- Skyborn (Dragons & Druids #1)
- Queen Alpha (NYC Mecca #2)
- Anarchy (Hive Trilogy, #2)