Page 47 of The Lycan King's Captive

“Come with me in the shower and I’ll get you even dirtier.”

My heart sped up. “Promise?”

He lowered his mouth to mine, and he spoke in a warm river in my head. “Cross my heart.”

EPILOGUE

ABBY

I gave the male in the corner a skeptical look. “Are you going to behave yourself or do we need to have another talk about your claws?”

His golden eyes narrowed.

“Not the answer I was hoping for.”

Nothing.

“What if I promise you a treat?”

His whiskers twitched. After a second, he stalked across the room and twined around my legs.

I smiled down at him. “You’re getting hair all over my pants.” I picked him up and scratched between his ears. “But you’re so handsome I’ll let it slide.”

The cat in my arms purred. A beat later, the baby in my belly gave a mighty kick.

I gasped, then laughed as I carried the cat to the exam table. “I think you’ve made a friend.”

The checkup took about five minutes. As promised, my feline patient kept his claws to himself—and I upheld my end of the bargain by rewarding him with a treat from the canister in my office. His owner was late, so I took him to the garden and watched him roll in the grass in the sunshine.

I shook my head. “For someone who pretends to be dignified you look absolutely ridiculous right now.”

He ignored me.

Typical. Cats had been ignoring humans—and probably everyone else—since Egyptian times.

“Oh!” A breathless lycan guard skidded to a stop on the edge of the garden path. “My lady, I’ve been looking for you everywhere.”

I smiled. “Sorry, Landon. I should have left a note. Bart here loves the garden, so I thought I’d let him explore for a bit.”

Landon’s face melted as he watched his cat arch in the sunlight. “How did he look?”

“Perfectly healthy. I’d like to keep him on the heart medication I started him on last month. I think we finally found the right prescription.”

“That’s a relief.” He went to the cat and scooped him up, and I got to watch the somewhat surreal sight of a six-five lycan guard cuddling his ten-pound cat like a baby. “You’re a good boy,” he crooned, “aren’t you, Bartholomeow?”

Bart yawned. With his luxurious mink-colored coat and deep golden eyes, he was used to being admired.

I heaved myself off the stone bench and put a hand in the small of my back. “Bart is my last patient of the day, so I’m going to head upstairs.”

Landon was at my side in an instant. “Let me help. It’s my fault you had to sit out here on that bench. If I’d been on time for Bart’s appointment, you wouldn’t have had to wait.” He paled. “The king is going to kill me.”

I patted his arm. “Cyrus is not going to kill you. And I didn’t mind waiting. I don’t get a lot of time to myself these days.”

“Still, I can at least make sure you get up the stairs okay.”

Exasperation swelled in my chest. One thing I’d discovered about lycan males was they were downright ridiculous when it came to pregnant females. The only way to handle them was to be firm.

I pointed down the path leading out of the garden. “Take Bart home. I’ll handle Cyrus.”

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