Page 18

“I was abducted from the palace where I was helping figure out what they were giving the shifters. One of the kidnapped shifters managed to escape, but he was killed, and I conducted an autopsy on him. The drug they’d injected him with preserved his body flawlessly. I managed to figure out the drug and its formula, but what you were given was something different, an earlier version of it.”

“The palace? Which palace?”

“The one in LA?” she says slowly. “King Erik hired me—”

“King Erik?” I feel a jolt.

“Yes.” She stares at me. “You must know him. I mean, if you were kidnapped, you must have been a part of his kingdom.”

“His kingdom,” I murmur softly, amused. “Yes. Yes, I was. So, Erik hired you because you’re a…”

“Scientist of sorts. I’ve done a lot of things. I studied medicine and worked in the morgue for a while. Then I started studying veterinary medicine, and I worked as a vet for a year or so before I switched to research.”

“What did my—What did Erik hire you to do?”

“I just told you. Shifters were being kidnapped and disappearing. One of them managed to escape, and it was later discovered that the reason they were able to be taken so easily was that they were unable to shift and fight back. Erik wanted me to find out why they were unable to shift when they were attacked.”

She pauses to pour herself a glass of water. “It took a lot to convince him to let me conduct an autopsy on the shifter who had escaped. He had died, you see. Didn’t make it. I managed to discover the formula just as Cassian kidnapped me. I don’t know what makes your kind able to shift forms, but Cassian and his people were able to create a drug that cuts off your connection with your wolf. That’s what happened with you. And I fear”—she pauses, her voice getting stuck in her throat—“I fear that’s what he did to Leanna.”

Leanna is clearly somebody important to her, but before I can ask her, she looks my way. “Leanna is the queen of the Northern Kingdom.”

I blink, trying to remember who the king of the North is. There’s a name itching in the back of my brain. I know the man.

“Cedric Raine is her mate. He’s a big brute.”

Ah, Cedric. Now I remember. It’s obvious that Maya is not very fond of him. It’s very surprising to me that Cedric took a mate. “Is Leanna from a noble family?”

Maya shakes her head. “Not even close.” Her voice lowers, even though there is no one else around to hear her. “Apparently, she was a dead ringer for Princess Vivian from the Eastern Wolf Kingdom. According to Leanna, Vivian did something to piss Cedric off, and then she killed somebody or did something really bad, so Cedric decided to invade the Eastern Kingdom. He found Leanna there, kidnapped her, and made her his mate.”

I’ve been chopping the mushrooms, but now I stare at the cutting board, my knife going still. I don’t remember Cedric being so foolish as to kidnap a woman to mate her. There were plenty of females within his kingdom that his pack elders wanted him to marry. “Why would he kidnap a random woman?”

“She was his fated mate,” Maya tells me, looking irritated. “He wasn’t very nice to her in the beginning, and then Vivian came back, and then…a lot happened. Am I talking too much?”

I look up from the vegetables. “Not at all. I like listening to your voice.”

Her cheeks turn a lovely shade of red. “I—Okay, then.”

When she doesn’t say anything further, I urge, “Vivian came back from where?”

She beams at me, and I resist the urge to smile. She’s adorable. Maya is a striking woman, but more than anything, the energy she exudes makes her mesmerizing.

I’ve always been a quiet man. Fortunately, my mate talks enough for the both of us. It also helps that I enjoy listening to her, with her animated expressions and dramatic tone. She’s lively, and I know for a fact that once we return, the palace will no longer feel so constrained to me. Even here, with the sound of raindrops hitting the windows and the fire crackling in the fireplace, this small space is enough for the two of us.

When we were in the cell together, I would often find myself relaxing when she would talk to me. The sound of her voice calmed the demons in my head, quelling the screaming inside. She doesn’t seem to know the kind of impact she had on me. My wolf is smitten with her. In my darkest moment, she was a ray of sunshine, of hope. She managed to pull me back from the edge of despair.

She doesn’t trust me much. It’s obvious with the small, tense looks she keeps sending my way. But I don’t blame her.

She’s still talking, telling me about how Vivian returned to the North and threw Leanna into the dungeons while Cedric was away. Her story unfolds with Leanna escaping to the human world and having Cedric’s child, the prince of the North.

“Finn?” I ponder the choice. “Does the name mean anything?”

She vacillates. “Ah. No, well, actually…”

When she doesn’t finish her thought, I find myself watching her. She looks awkward, fidgeting with her glass.

“Finn was the name of a character on a reality dating show we used to watch together. He was the most well-adjusted person on the show.”

“I see.” I turn my attention back to the canned beans.