Page 22 of The Wolf King's Demand

“I want to get to know you,” he answered. “We haven’t really gotten the chance, and I don’t think we’re going to get a better opportunity for a while.”

She shrugged. “If you like. I can’t say there’s that much to know about me.”

He rolled on top of her, his face almost touching hers. “I thought we already had that conversation.”

“I’m just saying you probably have the basic idea. I’m a princess. I like hanging out with my sisters. I’m good with computers. That’s pretty much the idea.”

“Those are the surface details,” Tyler said, moving back to her side, where he propped his head up with his hand. “I want to know about you. What makes you get up in the morning? What makes you happy?”

“You can ask whatever you want,” Addison replied, blushing slightly. “I just might not be as exciting as you hoped.”

“As exciting as me, you mean?”

“Well, yeah. I mean, you’re already ruling a kingdom. And you’re used to people trying to kill you, or at least you sure make it look that way.”

“I may have seen a thing or two,” Tyler admitted.

“I just don’t have anything like that in my life. I don’t want you to be bored.”

“You think that’s all exciting because you haven’t done it.” He stared into the distance for a moment. “I was born a prince. I was born a shifter. There was no choice but to step up to it. Same with having enemies. They came after me. All I did was survive.”

“You could have been a bad prince.”

He sighed. “And who would have paid the price for it?”

“My point exactly.”

He lay there, silent, thinking that over. “Well, you’re just entering into my world, and you’ve already fought off an attacker, killed a rogue, and attacked a woman to save a child.”

“I guess I did, at that.”

“That, to me, sounds like someone I’d like to know. It’s easy to be brave when you’re already a wolf, but you were brave even without that. Which brings me to my first question.”

“Hit me.”

“What’s your favorite kind of music?”

Addison laughed. “My favorite kind of music? I was expecting some deep, soul-searching question.”

“Well, maybe we’ll get to that,” Tyler said. “But we’ve all got to start from somewhere.”

She thought for a little. “I guess I like jazz. I don’t know why. I think it’s because there’s so much space for the musicians to just play around and show off how good they are. More than most genres, it’s just about being able to let people know what you can do. And I think that’s neat.”

“And you said that wasn’t a deep, soul-searching question.”

She rolled her eyes. “Well, maybe my soul just isn’t buried all that deep. Anyway, it's my turn now. What do you usually do with your evenings? Before I got here, I mean?”

“I spend much of my time reading in my study,” he answered. “Or when I’m tired of that, sometimes I’ll go out and just feel the moonlight on me and the ground beneath my feet.”

“As a human or a wolf?”

“You don’t get two questions.” Tyler’s eyes narrowed. “It’s my turn, and I get a harder one. For someone who’s worried that their life won’t be interesting enough for their own fiancée to want to know, how do you always manage to come off so confident?”

Addison felt a tugging sensation in her heart. She hadn’t expected Tyler to cut that deep or even to pay such close attention.

“I guess I’ve made peace with not being that interesting,” she finally said. “Maybe it’s a middle sister thing. But I figure that whether someone’s looking or not, I might as well do what I want. If I’m going to do something, I should do it as well as I can, right?”

Tyler wrapped his arm around and pulled her onto his chest. She closed her eyes and could almost feel herself sinking into him.

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