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Arthur

The shockof cold fingers coming to rest on my bare abdomen snapped me unwelcomely out of my sleep. I turned my head and my face fell into a mess of tangled brown hair that was not my own. A beam of morning sunlight shone through a gap in the curtain, somehow managing to spotlight just my eyes. I squinted, cringing. In the confusion of my rude arousal, it took me a moment to remember just who it was that I was sharing my bed with, and with some hesitation, I carefully parted the frazzled curtain to take a peek at herface.

As the fogof sleep cleared from my mind, the memories of the night before returned to me.Ah, that’s right. Miss Melany Dewall, heiress of the Rose ClawClan.

The very firsttime I’d met Melany, I was six years younger. It was at a family function, my parents had invited all the biggest wolf clans to attend, and I’d told myself I would have her—at least for a night. Certain circumstances ruined those prospects that night, so when she contacted me two days ago and told me she’d be coming through Wolfheart for a charity function, I’d nearly forgotten who she was. Seemed I’d made more of an impact on her than she had on me, but six years could do that, especially when there were so many other brunettes inbetween…

Melany snorted in her sleep.I was awake, fog cleared. Now that the chase was over, the thrill and all existing desire was fading at breakneck speed. I just wanted her out of my bed. I reached up to tap the touch panel on the headboard above my pillow, and electronic motors began to whirr, drawing open the curtains and flooding the room with light. I shifted my body to pull myself out of bed when Melany stirred, pushed her hair out of her face, and smiled atme.

“Good morning, darling,”she said, and I cringed.Darling?No, no, no. Then I felt her fingers make an unwanted approach to my morning erection. I gasped, not out of pleasure.Why the hell does she have such coldfingers?

Ipulled my hips back,withdrawing my package from her clutches, and slid out from under the covers. I walked over to the window, the sunlight prickling my naked skin, and pulled on a shirt and pair of slacks that were hanging off the back of a chair. Melany’s bra lay strewn across the seat of the chair, her panties and skirt crumpled up on the ground next to it. She sat up in my bed and stared at me, holding the sheets up to cover herchest.

“Ican arrangefor a car to take you back to your hotel,” I said, looking out the window. In the gardens down below, I saw my five-year-old nephew, Kota, sprinting around in his wolf form as my brother Christophe chased him. I smiled. His paws still seemed too big for his body and he was clumsy, but the little sprout was growing fast. Even after five years, it still was hard for me to believe my older brother was mated with a kid. Hell, it was hard to believe thatallof my brothers were mated with kids. I was the last Luna standing. As the second eldest alpha, I wasn’t used to having this kind of attention turned to me. The pressure had always been on Christophe, for being the eldest and the heir to our family name; and on Vander, because he was the sole omega of the family. There weren’t many expectations placed on me, and unlike my youngest brother, Loch, I knew how to keep my parentssatisfied.

Lochand I were similar in a lot of ways—at least before he’d gotten married. We had similar appetites for girls, though I may have been a little bit hungrier than him. We both had disdain for the rules of highborn life, but the difference was that I at least acknowledged the game and how to play it to my advantage. I’d been a diligent student. I followed our customs and, for the most part, kept my reputation clean. Most knew about my ways with women, and though I’m sure it wasn’t approved of by a lot of the hoity-toity types in the highborn circle, I at least would never do anythingdishonorable.

“Aren’tyou going to at least offer me breakfast?” Melany asked with asmile.

“Iwould,but I’ve got commitments.” Breakfast was out of the question. Anything that would imply or encourage any emotional involvement was out of the question. And I did have acommitment.

“Oh,”she said flatly, and slipped out of bed. I watched her move through the room, gathering her clothes, the morning sunlight hugging the curves of her naked body. She was beautiful, with the kind of slender frame that I liked. Last night, the thrill of seeing her naked would’ve given me a hard-on right away. Right now, I felt nothing. The thirst had been quenched. The want wasgone.

“Would you like some coffee?”I asked. “I can have some ready for you in thecar.”

“That would be nice,”she said, stepping into her clothes. “Help zip meup?”

Idid,and then picked up the house phone on my desk and hit the number to dial Stephen, our head of staff. “Stephen, have a car readied for my guest, please? And have a cup of coffee waiting inside,too.”

“I’ll letyou know the next time I’m in town?” she said as I walked her down to the front door. Stephen was waiting by the car, and he opened the back door forher.

Ismiled and nodded.“I had a wonderful time with you last night,” I said. I could see she wanted to kiss me, but she restrained herself and left a light peck on my cheek before getting into the car. Stephen shut the door behind her, and the driver pulled the car away. I watched until it had disappeared from sight down the long driveway out of the Lunaestate.

Iexhaled,and rolled up my sleeves. “Don’t give me that look, Stephen,” I said. I could see he was looking at me with a sliver of amusement. Of anyone in this house, Stephen knew my triumphs the best. Being the head of house staff, he’d helped me hide enough of them back in pre-academy when having a girl overnight at the house would’ve been a horrible offense. Now I was thirty-two. Having a woman over wasn’t such a breach in family protocol, and Stephen had seen all the faces who’d comethrough.

“Idon’t haveany idea what you mean, sir,” he said,smiling.

“Sure,you don’t. Do I have time for breakfast before theceremony?”

“Of course.There’s food waiting in the diningroom.”

Ashrill howlof excitement pierced the air, and little Kota sprang around the front of the house, still in his wolf form. He sprinted at me as fast as he could and then jumped, shifting mid-air back into his little five-year-old human form. I caught him in my arms and lifted him uphigh.

“Woah there, kid.”

Kota giggled,kicking his legs in the air. “Spin me around, UncleArthur!”

Ididas I was told, and did a quick twirl on the ball of my foot with Kota held over my head. He laughed and squirmed, and I set him back on the ground. Christophe jogged around the corner, and Kota toddled over to him, wrapping an arm around his leg. My brother was only a year older than me, but it’d always felt like he outpaced me in maturity and grace by a decade. He’d grown up with the weight of responsibility on his shoulders, and two years ago he’d assumed his right as leader of our clan, the Crescent Moons, after our fatherabdicated.

It wasa natural transition for Christophe. I knew he had some doubts about it, but it was obvious that leading was what he was meant to do. I’d graduated from the same school as him, the Dawn Academy’s Alpha Leadership College, but I was far less suited for the work than him. I’d chosen the Leadership College simply because it sounded better than the other options. The healing arts were beyond my level of intelligence, and I wasn’t cut out for the fighting arts. How could I be? I was a lover bynature.

“Good morning, Arthur,”Christophe said, picking up his son under one arm. “Was I seeing things, or did you just whisk someone away into a car? Who was it thistime?”

“Melany Dewall,”I said plainly. “Do you rememberher?”

“Of course.Rose Claw Clan. I had a clan meeting with her father last month. She’s a smart girl. She’d be a good match,Arthur.”

“Smart, but boring,”I said. “And she has coldhands.”