Hekate’s Bride

It is well past midnight and I can vaguely hear the owl hooting out my window.

Creeping toward the door, I pull on the straps, adjusting them to fit around my boobs. Should’ve gotten a new pair. These are hella tight.

As I twist the doorknob, hoping for a quiet exit, I come face to face with Boris, the ever-vigilant captain of my guard.

Damn. How do I get rid of them? How the hell am I supposed to sneak out if someone’s always on guard around the clock?

“Princess, do you need something?” Boris inquires, stepping forward.

I force a nervous laugh, holding the door open wider. “I was hoping I’d get some air.”

He nods, but I know he won’t let me go alone. No chance. He motions to the rest of my entourage, and it’s crystal clear they’re coming along for the ride.

“We’ll accompany you, Your Highness,” Boris declares.

“Actually, Boris, I’d like to take a stroll on my own. You can stay here and guard the room. I won’t be gone for long,” I announce, chin high and back straight. An order that he’d dare not disobey.

Well, I’m in over my head because Boris says, “I’m sorry, Your Highness, but I can’t break my oath. I have to follow orders–”

“I’m giving you another. I would like to take a walk alone and you will stay here. Do not follow me.”

He lowers his head in subservience, stepping in front of me to block my path. “I am under an oath I will not break, your Highness. I cannot do as you ask.”

My frustration bubbles up and I growl, storming back into the room and I slam the door shut in his face. I kick at the rug, knock over some furniture, and finally flop onto the mattress, pounding it with my fists in sheer annoyance.

Cursing under my breath I pull myself up, fixing my gaze out the window. A crazy idea sparks in my mind, but I shake my head, dismissing it as pure madness. No way I’d survive if I took a dive from that height.

But I consider it for a moment longer, peering at the windowsill. Something clicks, and without a second thought, I dash over to the window. Peering out, the chilly wind kisses my skin, sending shivers down my spine as I calculate the distance to the ground.

I chuckle nervously. Even a lycan wouldn’t risk that drop and come out unscathed.

I nibble on my lower lip, nerves unraveling in my stomach. Rune’s room is a couple of floors above mine. If I can climb across the walls, using the ledges of the neighboring rooms as stepping stones, maybe, just maybe, I can make it. Or, you know, break my neck trying.

I reach out to Sloan, trying to glean her thoughts on this but she is silent, still. I sigh and mutter to her, *Come on. You can’t sulk forever.*

A warning growl is all I get from her and I let it be. With my heart pounding in my throat, I swing my leg over the windowsill, feeling the cold metal pressing into my thigh.

*Okay. I can do this,* I whisper to myself. It’s just like agility training. This is not a big deal.

I plant one foot on the ledge, the stone beneath my boot providing a precarious foothold. The night wind tousles my hair, whispering warnings.

My body stretches, leaning outward, defying gravity as I transverse the horizontal expanse. Fingers extends into claws that punch into the wall, helping me keep still on the wall.

I don’t look down. I keep my eyes on Rune’s window as ledge becomes a momentary refuge, a platform for me to catch my breath and steady my nerves, before crawling to the next. The stadium lights twinkle below, an enchanting backdrop to my daring escapade. Heavens help me.

My muscles begin to protest and I stretch further, reaching for the next ledge.

A loud groan has me stopping in my tracks and while I know I really shouldn’t pry, i have no choice. I have to climb past this one and to do that, I need to heft myself up.

As I heave myself up, my eyes inadvertently catch a sight that I desperately wish I could unsee. Cass, one of Rune’s friends, stands by a mirror, clutching his… well, let’s just say it’s an image that will haunt me for a lifetime. Goddess, eww.

I might have let out my disgust a bit too audibly because Cass’s gaze narrows as he shoves his *sock* back in his pants, and I quickly duck my head beneath the ledge, silently praying to the Goddess that he won’t be curious enough to investigate further.

I strain to hear any indication of Cass’s movement, and the soft padding of his footsteps reaches my ears.

An exasperated sigh escapes my lips as I swiftly reach for the next ledge, and then the one after that.

Fortunately, Rune’s window lies wide open. I summon the last ounce of strength and lift myself off the windowsill, stumbling into the room just in the nick of time before Cass catches a glimpse of me.

My heart is still racing and I laugh, cheering myself inwardly on my success as I pat down my thin tank top and the short skirt, getting the dust off it and adjusting the straps once more.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

I yelp at the voice behind me, startled, and I turn, ready to give an explanation as to why I have broken into his room, but my breath hitches in my throat, and my eyes widen in awe or disbelief, I can’t be sure.

Rune stands before me, clad in nothing but a towel, and he is breathtakingly beautiful to look at.

I mean it. I can’t breathe looking at him.

Water droplets glisten and trail down his chiseled body, accentuating every hard plane and sculpted muscle. The towel clings to him, teasingly revealing glimpses of the v of his torso. My pulse quickens, and a rush of heat floods through me, igniting a fire within.

His moon-white hair, damp and tousled, frames his angular face, adding an air of untamed sensuality. His stormy eyes, brimming with intensity, meet mine, sending an electric jolt coursing through my veins. It’s combination of strength and vulnerability that draws me in, like a moth to a flame.

The room seems to grow smaller, the air thick with an intoxicating blend of desire and tension. Time slows to a crawl as I take in every delicious detail, imprinting the image of his wet, glistening body and tousled locks into the depths of my memory.

A surge of conflicting emotions washes over me, stirring a tempest within my soul. The flames of attraction flicker with a ferocity that defies reason, even in the face of our mutual animosity.

I force my gaze away, swallowing hard and fast. My hand rises to my throat… because I don’t know where else to put it and I start to speak. Only, it comes out in meaningless stutters.

“I speak to came you…”

That can’t be right. My cheeks flame and I start to sweat. “I… you speak–” Shit. My words are all scrambled. As are my thoughts.

Rune blinks slowly and his head tilts slightly, noting something I cannot see and he murmurs as he turns away from me, heading to his closet. “Shut the windows. You’re cold.”

I’m pretty sure I am everything but cold right now, but I do it anyway, sighing softly as the warmth of his room and his scent envelope me.

“So…” I start, fidgeting with the hem of my skirt and the strap that holds them up. “You’re getting married.”

Stupid. Who starts a discussion like that? I had a well planned out speech for this and I had practiced for hours. Pity, I don’t remember a single thing.

“I am,” Rune says without hesitation. “Turn around.”

“Why–oh!” I exclaim, swirling in record time as his towel drops, but not fast enough to avoid seeing a glimpse of his perfect ass.

I shake my head severally, trying to get the image out of my head, but it only gets worse as the sigh of fabric against skin fills the air.

Needing to break the awkward silence as I listen to his dress, I blurt, “Was it your decision?”

“Yes.”

“Ginevra is your choice? Not your father’s? Not for convenience?”

“Yes.”

“You’re lying,” I quip, whirling to find him pulling up a ridiculously cute pair of pink pyjamas trousers that look oddly familiar. “Are those mine?”

“No,” Rune answers without looking at me, but the tip of his ears are red. He’s lying.

They were several sizes bigger when I got them, so I’d dumped them in my dresser after wearing them once. If Rune has them, then…

“You were in my room!”

He spares me a cool gaze that has me wondering if I’m wrong. “Why are you here, Astrid?”

My lips purse and I suck them in. “Hekate’s been visiting me. My dreams to be precise. I’m not sure what to think of it–”

The closet door shuts softly, and he wipes his wet hair with a short towel. “Think of it as nothing.”

Ignoring the pain in my chest at his words, I cross the room, stopping a few feet away from him. “I see you, Rune,” I whisper, and when he goes still, I push further, closing the distance between us. His gaze finds mine, and I swallow the painful lump growing in my throat as I raise a hand to his cheek.

I expect him to flinch, tell me to get out, or push me away.

But the moment my fingertips touch his stubble-free cheek, he shudders, eyelids drooping. I don’t know what to feel about this. My heart pounds painfully in my chest, and I dare a step forward, caressing his skin.

He jerks almost immediately, as if catching himself doing something absolutely despicable, and he wrenches my hand off his face, growling. “Is this how desperate you’ve become? Climbing through my window in that miserable skirt, touching me, seducing me. Why do you never listen, Astrid?” he asks, taking a menacing step forward. “What is it that you truly want from me? I bet you don’t even have an answer to that.”

I stumble three steps backward, but Rune catches my forearm without hassle and tosses me onto his orgy-sized bed. My skirt rides up, and his nostrils flare at the sight of my exposed thighs and a peek of my red thong underneath.

Yeah, maybe the skirt was a bad idea.

I push backward, trying to get as far away from the edge of the bed as I can, but Rune lunges for me, grabbing my foot. He pulls me back to the edge, and his hands rise up my thigh, lifting my skirt even higher.

“Rune, stop it,” I say, but there’s no protest in my voice.

He laughs, a cold, brittle sound. “You came here in search of something, Red, and I will give it to you.”