Page 31 of The Forbidden Wolf King
That new guard took one look at me and opened the door to a room, gesturing that I enter. “The king said that if you came looking for him, you were to wait in here,” the new guard said. “He is finishing up a meeting.”
He did? My stomach dropped when I thought of how thoughtful that was. And clearly his men weren’t going to tell the advisors I was here. “Thank you.” I dipped my chin and then entered the room, leaving both guards behind me. They shut the door and it was in that moment that I realized I was in Axil’s private living quarters. The space opened into a giant sitting room with a dark red velvet sofa and a roaring fire. I inhaled and had to suppress a moan. It smelled like him.Like pine trees and moss, and man.Stepping farther into the room, I peered to the right, through the open double doors and my gaze landed on a giant bed with red silk sheets and a cream fur blanket.
Axil’s favorite color had always been red.
My mind then went to how many women had seen this bed. According to Eliza’s sister, not many. I had to fight the urge to riffle through every single drawer and cubby hole. I didn’t know grown King Axil. I only knew the boy, the young prince who I wasn’t even aware was royalty at the time.
Young Axil was an expert marksman. He was a future alpha, the most dominant man I ever met. He liked to hunt elkin and sing songs by the fire with his friends. He’d traced the freckles on my collarbone and told me how they reminded him of certain star patterns. I reached up and touched that spot now.
Older Axil was king. Still dominant. Still in love with the color red. But I knew nothing else about this man.
Seeing an open book on the sofa, I walked over and pick it up. Examining the leather tome, I stroked my fingers along the author’s name.A. Grey.
Older Axil reads.
Just as I was about to flip the book open and see what it was about, the door opened behind me. I startled a little, clasping the book to my chest as my heart jumped.
Axil strode into the room, took one look at me and smiled. “Seeing you after the day I’ve had is about the best thing I can think of.”
It was sweet, but I hadn’t fully forgiven him yet, so I ignored his comment. “What’s the book about? A war manual?”
Wasn’t that what all kings read about?
He chuckled. “No. It’s a fantasy tale of a young woman who carries both light and dark magic. She reminds me of you.”
My heart stopped beating then and I set the book down on the couch before standing tall again.
“Oh? What darkness do I carry?” I asked, crossing my arms over my chest in a protective gesture.
He looked regretful at saying that but stepped closer until he was only a few inches away from me. Just he and I standing in front of the fire. In his room. Adults.Alone.
“Well, when we were fifteen it was the loss of your parents.” He reached out and stroked my cheek and it sent a zap of energy down my spine, causing me to swallow hard. “And now … it’s …” His face fell. “My leaving you.”
He was right about all of it. I did carry that darkness with me even to this day.
“Axil, I can believe your brother forced you magically to walk away from me that day … but the day after? And the day after that? I’m sorry but I’m not stupid. I can’t believe that.”
He nodded and then reached down and grabbed the hem of his tunic. I stopped breathing when he started to pull it up over his head.
What the Hades was he—
A whimper lodged in my throat when I saw the network of scars across his abdomen. I was forced to blink rapidly lest I fall into a puddle of tears. Reaching up, I traced a few of the thick jagged lines across his chest. “These weren’t here before,” I couldn’t help but say. I’d stroked his bare chest under the moonlight many times. That summer we would shift from wolf form into human and put on the most basic of coverings. He was topless nearly the entire summer.
“I was imprisoned for two years after I walked away from you that day,” he said, his voice growly and low.
Shock ripped through me. Was this common knowledge? Because I’d heard nothing of it. Two years?
“Why?”
“My brother had just become king and my instructors at the training camp said that I was perfect at everything and if he didn’t watch out, I could overthrow him.”
I placed my hand over my mouth in anticipation of what he would say next.
Axil looked pained then, like he didn’t want to go back to that place in his memories and I wanted to tell him he didn’t have to explain himself, but it would be a lie. I had to know. If I were ever going to trust him, I had to know everything.
“He beat me into submission every single day until he was sure I would never challenge him. I barely ate, he forced me to be scrawny and weak,” Axil said and my wolf rose to the surface.
I wanted to hunt Ansel down right now and skin him alive. I instinctively stepped closer. Without thinking, I threaded my fingers through Axil’s, and his face relaxed.
