“Yes, good, you should go,” I say, raising my chin, pretending it wasIwho dismissed him. “It is late. Good night, Callum.”
He releases a shuddery breath as he exits my chambers.
Part of me wants to chase after Callum, and another wants to keep the door closed and never let him back inside again.
After dropping the letter opener on my bedside table, I sit on my bed and put my head in my hands.
I don’t know what is wrong with me.
I feel like I am playing with fire—and there’s a small dark part of me thatwantsto get burned.
Later, when I’m in my nightgown and settling down to sleep, I tell myself it was all just a lapse in judgement. I’ve had a long day, and the adrenaline made me want things I have never wanted before. That’s all.
I didn’t really want to kiss him. I didn’t really want him to touch me. That would be wrong. I am an unmarried woman, and that would go against everything I have been taught to believe. It would take me even further away from my duty to my kingdom.
But it occurs to me, in the dark of night, that if Callumdidtouch me, Sebastian would not want me anymore.
I close my eyes, pushing down the dark thoughts this revelation has created.
When I finally fall asleep, I dream of Callum’s mouth on my skin, his rough hands on my body, his strong arms holding me close to him.
And then I dream of unfamiliar wolf eyes, watching me, from deep within the forest.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
“You look frustrated this morning, Callum,” says Blake at breakfast the next day.
He saunters over to the alpha table and seats himself beside the acting Wolf King.
“Aye, that he does,” says Robert, not bothering to lower his voice. “Something to do with the Southern lass, do you reckon? I wouldn’t be going around looking like I had a stick up my arse if she was wearingmycollar.”
He goes on to describe the horrible things he would do to me to relieve his frustration, much to my disgust, while two other Wolves roar with laughter.
Beside me, Callum’s jaw sets.
“What do you reckon, Blake?” asks Robert, realizing that Blake doesn’t seem to be listening.
The dark-haired wolf is sitting with one arm slung over his chair, seemingly staring at the tapestries that depict different stages of the moon hanging from the walls.
Lazily, he turns his head. “About what?”
“The lass!”
I feel Blake’s eyes on me, just for a moment, even though I’m staring down at my porridge. My fist tightens around my spoon.
“She’s adequate, I suppose,” he replies.
I look up just as he grabs an apple and saunters out of the Great Hall.
Robert laughs as he continues his disgusting monologue about me. Rage builds inside my chest.
I wonder if he’d be so amused if I slipped some wolfsbane in his tea.
Callum puts a hand on my leg, and I start.
“I’ll kill him for you, if you like,” he says.
His voice is quiet, but the air feels charged for a moment. A furrow appears in Robert’s brow, so I know he heard him, and Callum smiles at him. Threateningly.