“Oh, just call me Selena.” She seemed surprised at the title as she shook his hand.

  “Sure,” he said with a kind smile.

  “How come you’re so nice and polite to her?” I asked incredulously. “When I first met you, you put me in a headlock and told me to try and get away.”

  He grinned widely. “In my defense, it was a part of your training.”

  “She’s here to train too.”

  “Maybe I just like her better.” He shrugged.

  “I am the more likeable sister.” Selena agreed.

  “You’re the more ugly sister but definitely not the more likeable,” I grumbled.

  “More ugly? You’re definitely the illiterate sister.”

  Nathan stood up and reached down to pull Selena up, but ignored me. They both gave me cheeky grins while I glared and stood up myself.

  “I have to agree with you,” Nathan added.

  I was appalled at this turn of events. I never thought they would join together and team up against me. I didn’t like it at all.

  “You two look like Cinderella’s ugly stepsisters when you’re all buddy buddy like this,” I muttered.

  “You’re more like Ursula if you want to bring Disney into this.” Selena cackled like a hyena at her own joke.

  “Let’s just get started,” I mumbled and rolled my eyes at her.

  “I have no doubt in my mind that she must be your sister,” Harrison cut in with a chuckle as he walked up to our training mat.

  “Unfortunately. Selena, this is Harrison. He’s the head of the Royal Army. Harrison, this is Selena.”

  “It’s a pleasure, Selena. I look forward to training you.”

  “Let’s get this show on the road. I feel out of practice.” I rolled my neck side to side and shook my body out, getting ready to spar.

  “If you’d actually showed up to practice, maybe you wouldn’t feel that way, kid.” He chuckled heartily.

  “I like to keep everyone on their toes.” I grinned at him cheekily.

  “I believe that. Now, I want the two of you to spar first.” He pointed at me and Selena.

  We both nodded and walked to the center of the mat, facing each other. We lost our immature bantering and got serious. This wasn’t the first time we had sparred. We knew when it was time for joking and when to get serious.

  We began slowly, circling each other and watching the other’s movement. Selena struck first, throwing her fist towards my face. I easily dodged it and sent my fist into her gut, causing her breath to catch slightly.

  She backed up. We circled each other again. Neither one of us were particularly patient people but she was more impatient than me. Which is why she struck first again. She aimed her fist towards my face again but when I dodged that she kicked me in the side of the knee. It buckled a little but I managed to stay upright. Until she tackled me.

  My back hit the mat, her full body weight on top of me, knocking the air from my lungs. She threw a right hook, nailing me in the eye, before I got my bearings.

  I drove my forearm into her ribs, knocking her off of me and switching our positions. I returned the punch to the eye. She reached up and punched me in the gut. I countered with a gut punch of my own, which knocked the wind out of her since she was flat on the ground.

  She managed to maneuver her leg up between mine and sent her foot into my stomach, throwing me backwards. She jumped on me and twisted one arm painfully while wrapping the other around my neck. I tried to lift my other arm to push her off, but she fell to the side, trapping my free arm under her body, but still keeping me restrained.

  I struggled to break free, while she kept urging me to tap out. I refused. This fight wasn’t over until I was unconscious or victorious.

  I’ve been training with Selena for years and I had only beaten her a handful of times. As much as I hated to admit it, she was stronger than me during those times. I was faster, but that only did so much when she overpowered me. I wouldn’t let that happen now. I was stronger now, smarter. I’ve been training with the best of the best. I was able to beat Nathan. I won’t let her win.

  With that new burst of inspiration, I wiggled my arm out of her death grip and elbowed her in the temple. It wasn’t hard enough to knock her out but enough for her to loosen her hold on my neck so I could slip out.

  Since she was already on her side, it was easy to flip her onto her stomach. I sat on her back and forced both of her arms around her back and up towards her neck, pushing as far as they would go without pulling her shoulders out of its socket.

  Her legs flailed, trying to kick me. She only managed to kick me in the butt a few times but not enough to hurt. She continued to fight, but I didn’t let up. I moved her hands up the slightest bit, making the hold more painful.

  Finally, her hand tapped lightly against my arm. I released her from my hold. We both stood up and faced each other. Her eye was already starting to bruise, as I knew mine was as well. Her nose was trickling blood. She looked at me begrudgingly, but I could tell she was impressed; not that she’d ever admit it.

  “Your dad taught you two well. You’re already in pretty good shape, Selena. There are a few things we need to work on, for both of you, but you’re both natural fighters.” Harrison drew our attention to him. “Now, let’s get to work.”

  ***

  “You’ve reached the Royal Office, how can I direct your call?” I asked into the phone receiver.

  My legs were propped up on the desk, my left ankle crossed over my right, as I leaned back in the rolling chair. It was Friday morning, and I was back to answering phones in Tyler’s office. Selena was supposed to be helping. Instead, she was sitting on Tyler’s desk, being nosy and distracting. Not that he seemed to mind.

  We were planning on spending the morning in here then head out to train after lunch. After that, Selena, Dalton, and I were going to Harrison’s place for dinner. Tyler, Kieran, and King Finnian were heading out of town for the night at one o’ clock, so Selena had no choice but to hang out with me.

  Matt and Kat were going on a date tonight, then Kat would be joining me and Selena for a much needed girls’s night. The guys wouldn’t be back until early in the morning, so we had plenty of girl time before Tyler stole Selena back from us.

  She hadn’t been very happy when she found out about his overnight trip since they just found each other, but Tyler had to go. Apparently, King Finnian had some kind of business he needed to attend to in the human world.

  Tyler and Kieran not only helped him with werewolf matters but also with his company. He had a human that he trusted acting as the CEO. He couldn’t really publicly act as the CEO since he didn’t age. That was something he couldn’t let humans notice. So, he had a human who knew the truth as the face of the company while he did all the work from the castle. It worked out great because he was anonymous and stayed away from any radars but still made plenty of money, which was needed to rule an entire species.

  He liked to go every few months, just to check on things personally. Tyler, Kieran, and several guards always went with him.

  “I need to speak to King Finnian, please.” A deep voice grunted into the phone.

  “He’s not taking any calls this morning, can I take a message?”

  It didn’t surprise me that the call was for him. He had gotten a ridiculous amount of calls; most weren’t important. I would usually transfer them to Tyler or Kieran, who would determine if they were of importance.

  Although sometimes, I could tell that they weren’t and handled it myself. But today, Tyler told me to only take messages since Finnian wasn’t going to talk to anyone today; he was preparing to leave, after all.

  I had, unfortunately, seen him twice this morning since he decided to work out of his public office today. I’d gotten used to not seeing him regularly while I was in Tyler’s office; I had actually only seen him in his public office three times.

  But he was here today, just down the hall. I could feel his presence. His scent clung to the air, thoroughly distracting me. I ignored him both times, which I could do easily since Tyler and Selena were the only people around, and they both knew the truth.

  Selena had sent him glares both times and tried to mouth off to him, but Tyler stopped her. If looks could kill though, Finnian would be dead a hundred times over.

  I refused to even look at him, even though I felt his eyes on me both times.

  “This is important. Tell him it’s Alpha Rylan Covington. He’ll want to take the call.”

  I was going to tell him no but something in his voice told me that it was important. I glanced over at Tyler to see what he wanted me to do but he wasn’t paying any attention. Instead, he was distracted by Selena’s shrill laughter.

  I sighed heavily. “Okay, hang on.”

  I pressed the hold button and walked out of the office, still unnoticed by the lovebirds. I swallowed thickly, gathering my courage, and walked to the end of the hall. Once I reached the thick wooden door, I raised my fist and knocked gently twice.

  “Come in.” I heard him grunt.

  I twisted the knob and walked in. As I laid eyes on him again, I made sure to keep a straight face, acting completely unaffected by his presence. His eyes swept over me, from head to toe. His eyes were soft and glazed over as he took me in, but I didn’t let it fool me.

  “There is an Alpha Rylan Covington on the phone, Your Highness. I was going to take a message but he insisted that it’s important. Do you want me to tell him you’re unavailable?” I mumbled formally.

  He cleared his throat, his eyes meeting mine again. I couldn’t handle his piercing cerulean eyes but I didn’t want him to feel superior, so I held his gaze, refusing to look away.

  “I’ll take the call. Thank you, Miss Keating.”

  I gritted my teeth. “He’s on line one.”

  I turned and walked away, closing his door softly behind me before he could say anything else. I was tempted to enhance my hearing and listen to his conversation since his public office wasn’t spelled to be soundproof, but I didn’t care. Or, I didn’t want to care anyways. I shouldn’t be concerned about him or what he’s doing. So, I walked away and let my hearing stay human.

  “Who was that?” Tyler asked when I walked back in his office, finally noticing my disappearance.

  “Alpha Rylan Covington.”

  “Rylan called? Did he say why?”

  “Nope,” I answered shortly. “Why? Is he important?” I asked as an afterthought.

  “He’s a Council member. King Finnian ordered him to look into the rebellion.”

  He didn’t give any more information and I didn’t ask for it.

  The rest of the morning after that went by quickly. I split away from Tyler and Selena after a quick lunch to go to my room to change into workout clothes. After throwing on a pair of shorts and a t-shirt, I walked out of my bathroom.

  When I saw Finnian leaning against my bedpost, I let out a disgruntled groan and threw my hands up in exasperation.

  “What could you possibly want now?” I grumbled in irritation.

  “I just wanted to tell you I’ll be away from the castle overnight.”

  “Yeah, I already know that.” I rolled my eyes.

  His lips tugged up in the corners. “If you have any problems, Niki will be available to you. If you get in any trouble, she will keep you safe. I’ll be back around seven in the morning.”

  “I can take care of myself,” I retorted.

  “I know you can; but she’s here, just in case.”

  “Whatever. Is that all? I have better things to do today than talk to you.”

  He smiled a tight smile at me but it looked more sad than anything. “That’s all, Miss Keating. I’ll see you at the ball tomorrow.”

  “There will be a lot of people there, King Finnian. Hopefully, I can avoid being in your general vicinity. If I’m lucky, that is.”

  He ignored my comment. “Have a good night. Stay safe.”

  With that, he walked out, leaving me alone once again.

  ***

  The rest of the day passed by quickly. Training went well, and dinner went even better. Harrison’s mate, Winnie, was a sweetheart and a damn good cook. She reminded me of my mom. She told us we were welcome back anytime. I knew I’d take her up on that offer soon.

  Tyler, Kieran, and Finnian left soon after Finnian left my room. Selena went to go see Tyler off, but I chose not to be in attendance for that. They were taking Finnian’s private plane to New York, where his headquarters were located.

  Selena had gone upstairs after we got back to take a shower before meeting up in my room. I was going to do the same, as was Kat. I already had movies and snacks spread out on the coffee table for our girls’s night.

  Before I could go to the bathroom, a knock on my door stopped me. My eyebrows scrunched together, perplexed at who it could be. Selena and Kat would just walk in, Tyler was gone, and Matt and Dalton were at a poker night that Nathan was having at his house.

  I walked over and pulled the door open, surprised to see Niki. I stepped aside and allowed her to walk inside, before shutting the door behind her. We walked over to my couch and took a seat.

  “To what do I owe this visit tonight?” I started.

  “I know how confused you have been, dear girl.”

  “What do you mean?” I mumbled.

  “Finnian has kept you in the dark. I didn’t want to get involved. My hopes were high that he would have told you on his own, when he was ready, but I fear that day may never come. He’s stubborn, that one . . .” Niki trailed off.

  “You’re going to tell me?” I asked hopefully, perking up slightly.

  “Of course not, I could never betray his confidence like that.” My hope deflated again.

  “But he is hiding something?”

  “He is. You will have to discover what it is yourself, I’m afraid.”

  “No offense, Niki, but why did you come here if you weren’t going to tell me?”

  “I have excellent news to share with you,” Niki said cheerfully.

  “What’s that?” I raised an eyebrow, half in question and half in annoyance.

  “Katerina mastered a very important spell recently.” Her eyes gleamed knowingly.

  “Oh yeah?” I asked, uninterested.

  It wasn’t that I didn’t care about Kat’s training; I did. I was just feeling disappointed and let down. I felt like Niki dangled a hook in front of me only to snatch it away before I could actually reach it.

  “Yes. It is a spell to view someone’s memories.”

  “I already knew about that. She already spelled us so that no one could do it to us. She mastered it like, at least a week ago.”

  “Oh, good, I’m so glad you already know how the spell works,” she stated joyfully.

  I just continued to give her a dry, annoyed look but it didn’t seem to bother her. She stood up.

  “I hope you have a wonderful night, Kendall.” She walked towards the door and I followed behind her. She stopped before she could open it and turned to face me. “I assume Kat informed you that Finnian’s mind is also shielded from prying witches?”

  I nodded.

  “His mind is open to Kat but only until he gets back tomorrow morning. I suggest you tell Kat to search for the vision I showed him to narrow down her search. Goodnight, Kendall.”

  With that, she left. I did nothing but stare at her retreating figure, my mouth hanging open in shock. I walked to my bathroom and showered, my movements entirely on autopilot.

  I thought over Niki’s words. She was giving me the opportunity to find out the truth, to find out what Finnian had been hiding from me . . . What was keeping him from me.

  If Finnian and I were making any kind of progress, I wouldn’t do it. I would wait until he was ready to tell me. It was an invasion of privacy and trust. I knew if he did it to me, I’d be pissed. But I really had no choice. He would never tell me, and I wanted to know; needed to know. I needed to know what was so bad that we couldn’t be together.

  With that in mind and my decision made, I got dressed and waited on the couch for Kat.

  Looks like our girls’s night was going to go a little differently than expected.

  Chapter Nineteen

  After I got tired of sitting, I started pacing around my room, chewing on my thumb nail nervously. I wasn’t sure about this; I wasn’t sure about anything. But I did know that I needed to know. I couldn’t live in the dark anymore.

  As I paced, I thought of all the things that could go wrong. Would he know what we were doing? Would he feel us riffling through his head? Would he be mad at me or would he be relieved that I finally knew?

  More importantly, I thought about what I might find. Would I end up mad or relieved? Would he do something in the future or had he already done something in the past? Or was it something I would do, or maybe someone else.

  I let out a rugged sigh and raked my fingers through my dark brown curls roughly. I pulled my hands out of my tangled locks and rubbed my face harshly, anxiety filling me to my core. What would I find?

  After a few minutes, my door finally opened. Selena walked through first, with Kat right behind her. They shut the door, leaving the three of us alone and away from prying ears. Kat noticed my tension filled state right away and glanced worriedly at me, but Selena took a minute.

  “Finally, a room with some freaking heat. I almost froze my tits off walking down here,” she complained dramatically. Normally I would agree; the castle was always cold, which was why I turned the heater in my room on earlier. But, right now, it could have been freezing and I probably wouldn’t notice. “What’s up with you?” she asked, finally noticing my anxiousness.

  “I need you to do a spell,” I blurted out, looking at Kat.

  “Of course, what’s going on? What do you need me to do?” Kat agreed immediately.

  “I need you to search through King Finnian’s memories.”

  Her dark eyebrows knitted together. “I can’t, Kendall. I wish I could, but Niki spelled his mind to keep people out.”

  “She did, but she said you have access to it until he gets back.”

 

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