Page 24 of Their Rejected Queen

No one in my life has ever made me a promise, much less kept one. That’s why promises are so special to me.

I’ve made several, all to my sister, but I find my entire body on edge as I take in Godric’s vow.

“Why?” I ask.

Maybe I shouldn’t question my good luck. Godric wants me alive, probably not to stain his territory with blood and leave a mess to clean up. It can’t be any more complicated than that.

But I want to test this new promise.

I want to know where its roots lie.

Promises are a form of magic. They’re alive, they’re binding, and they have layers that can change a soul on a fundamental level.

The worst thing someone can do is make a promise they can’t keep.

Because that… that will tear a soul in two.

Godric curls his fingers through my hair and continues to nuzzle my neck. His touch feels like a brand. He’s unexpectedly warm, and I wonder if that’s a shifter trait or just a… Godric thing.

His growl transforms into what I can only describe as a purr, forcing my shoulders to relax at the sound that burrows into my chest.

That’s… pleasant.

I don’t dare move as Godric’s wolf clearly influences him, evaluating the submission of his prey. Maybe he’s using some sort of shifter magic to make me compliant before he rips my throat out.

Although, his answer to my earlier question surprises me.

“Because I’m not a monster, Liliana.”

His heat and his shadow are gone a moment later, and I dare to open my eyes.

He’s turned away from me. He stares back toward the forest as he flexes his fingers. “You’ll follow me back to my home, then you will eat and sleep. We will talk more in the morning.”

It’s an order, one he expects me to obey as his bones crack again.

The shift back into a wolf is faster this time. I wonder if that’s because he’s not fighting his beast now, and he’s on all fours again after I blink.

He glances back at me with those golden eyes, but this time they seem different.

The hunger has been replaced by a grief I don’t understand.

The wolf shakes, then begins to walk toward the forest.

With no other recourse, and the effect of his rumbling purr still stirring deep in my core, I stand, then put one foot in front of the other.

I follow the Alpha, but I can’t shake the sense that we’re being watched.

I catch a glimpse of a hood, then one white eye.

If Godric’s wolf doesn’t eat me, the mysterious man with Rinhold magic just might.

One life-or-death question rings through my mind.

Which one do I trust?

CHAPTER 7

My stomach drops when I cross the broken threshold that returns me squarely into the heart of the Blood Moon Pack.