Reign of Blood

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Who did Chronos even think he was?

After everything he'd put her and her kind through, throwing her over her own balcony was a whole new low. Was he trying to worsen her trust issues? And after everything she'd been through today already.

Apparently, she'd underestimated that irritating power of a mate bond—detrimentally. The plan had been to keep the werewolf King in the dungeon until she figured out what he'd done to Evette. Her bets were on brainwash. But then he'd said something about a child in the throne room.

And there was no way. There was simply no way he'd gotten Evette pregnant. If he had, then that changed everything.

She might have to give him a chance then.

History repeating itself.

The exact same thing had happened with the vampires when Nazreen was born.

The mere thought gave her shudders.

No more Squires. She'd be accepting no werewolf gifts.

Annaliese was all for sending the werewolf King on his way. In other words, straight to the guillotine. Or maybe she'd turn his blood to acid. That could be fun too. But now that couldn't happen. Great.

The Prince was just as bad, if not worse. Who did he even think he was?

And she totally didn't like his heavy handedness. What was with that? She was a Queen. Would it kill him to treat her like one?

Yes. Annaliese was a Queen for heaven's sake. When was he going to start fearing her like everyone else did? He could at least try to show some respect for what she had to say.

Grumbling, she made wide strokes for the grass bank beside the water, quite happy to go back to her quarters and pretend that none of this had happened.

So maybe the werewolf had a point about the lack of privacy in her castle—but did he have to be so dramatic? Obviously, he was searching for some sort of reaction. Whatever it was he wanted, she wasn't going to give in.

Just as her hand reached out for the grass, readying to pull herself back up, the werewolf grabbed a hold of her waist.

"Not so fast Annaliese. I didn't throw you down here for nothing."

Infuriated, she turned around, the water rippling all around her.

"Were you trying to get me killed? My body doesn't work like yours does. If I'd hit a rock on impact, I'd have died. So much for deciding you'd come to a decision. You're still out to kill me."

"You weren't going to die."

"Maybe not if I were a werewolf. A fall like that could've easily killed me. Imagine if I'd missed the water."

The werewolf looked way too relaxed about this.

It had actually happened, hadn't it?

The Prince had gone mad.

"You might as well talk to me now that we're already down here," he reasoned, basking in the light of the moon.

"I don't have to do anything for you."

"Gods help me Annaliese, I'm not letting you out of this water. Make the most of it."

"And what are you going to do to stop me?"

"You can't stop me from stopping you. Knock me out, blood Queen, and that's a lot of werewolf to drag back up to your castle. You can't even get help. Then you'd have to explain what we're doing down here in the first place. They might've believed I threw you out of your tower on a normal day, but how are you going to explain my nudity and your sexy little nipples straining against your dress?"