Page 10

Vanessa strolled across the grass toward her wearing jeans so tight they looked like body paint and a shirt so short it was no better than a sports bra. River dug her fingers into the dirt to keep from jumping up and attacking the bitch.

Vanessa stopped feet from her. Their gazes locked, and Vanessa smirked.

"I don't know what it is about you that has all these Wolvenguard boys in such a tizzy.”

River threw on a fake smile. "Maybe it's the fact that I don't put out for anyone with a dick."

Vanessa's smile faltered for a second, and fire made her eyes narrow.

River snickered. As if Vanessa could do anything that would intimidate River.

"Let me ask you," said River. "How did you see this going? You help Titan kidnap me, and then what? You rush to Ares and Apollo and pretend to be so sorry I am missing, and they'll take you back, and somehow fall for you, though they didn't before they found me?"

Vanessa crossed her arms over her breasts.

"Well, I have news for you bitch, if that was your plan, go for it. I can't wait to see what they do to you." River cocked her head to the side. "I wonder if they will disembowel you outright or if they'll torture you first to see what you know."

"They wouldn't do that."

River got to her feet. "You think so? Then what are you still doing here? Titan doesn't want you. So why haven't you left already?"

Vanessa swallowed hard.

"Ahhhh..." River chuckled. "You have nowhere else to go, do you?

You may put on a good act, but inside, even you don't believe your bullshit.

You know if you go back, they will execute you.

Hell, I'd slit your throat myself if I had a knife.

Or even access to my claws. It's only the suppressors Titan has me on that has kept me from doing it already. "

"You think you're so special. You-"

"No." River stepped up to her. "I don't think I'm special. I know I am." River let her golden stare fall hard on Vanessa. It wasn't easy, but River managed to hold it for several seconds.

Vanessa tried not to look away from River, but she began to shake and then lowered her eyes.

The second River turned away, Vanessa lunged at her, but River sidestepped her and kicked Vanessa in the rear, sending her sprawling to the ground.

River's stomach roiled at the sudden movement, and nausea flowed through her, but she refused to let it take hold.

Instead, she jumped on Vanessa's back, pinning her arms to the ground with her knees.

She seized Vanessa by the back of the head and smashed her face into the dirt before lifting it and baring her teeth at the side of Vanessa's throat.

Vanessa screamed and howled as she struggled to get out of River's hold.

River chuckled. "You know, when my mates and I bonded and they marked me and I marked them, I didn't have to beg. They were so ready to mark me and make me theirs that I had to hold them off."

"Get off me!" Vanessa yelled.

"No. I am the High Luna. Omega and mate to Ares and Apollo Wolvenguard.

If I wanted to rip your throat out right now, I could.

If I wanted to disembowel you in front of everyone here, I could.

If I wanted to banish you from ever living on the North American continent for the rest of your life, I could.

I can do whatever I want, and there isn't a single person besides Ares or Apollo who could stop me.

So I'll give you a choice. You can either stay the hell away from me, or I kill you.

Personally, killing you seems rather more pleasurable to me, but I try to give people a choice.

I'm nice like that. So what will it be? Stay away or death? "

"Yes, Vanessa, which will it be?"

River looked over her shoulder at Titan, watching the scene unfold from feet away.

Vanessa tried to look over at him. "Titan I-"

"I believe my Luna asked you a question," he said.

Vanessa's mouth opened and shut several times.

River yanked her head back. "Sorry, I didn't hear that."

Tears sprang to Vanessa's eyes. "I'll stay away."

River sighed. "Damn. I was hoping you would choose death.

But just so you remember your promise to stay away.

" River raked her human nails down the side of Vanessa's face.

The marks wouldn't last more than a day, but River didn't care.

She wanted to send a message. A message that everyone who came in contact with Vanessa would see over the next twenty-four hours.

The message that River would not take shit from anyone.

And that she didn't need Titan to enforce that message, she could do it herself.

River slid off Vanessa, being sure to dig her knees into Vanessa's arms before she rose to her feet. River's wolf chuffed. River backed away. Her head grew fuzzy, and her eyes dimmed at the mix of sudden movements. Her belly flopped, and she dug her nails into her palms to keep from passing out.

Vanessa lay on the ground for a moment before getting up and turning to face River and Titan. Her blouse and jeans were stained with mud and grass, and blood smeared her face. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she squared her shoulders and inclined her head to River and then Titan.

"May I go?" she asked Titan.

"I don't know, my Luna, what do you think? Can she go?"

"Yes," River commanded. "And stay out of my sight."

Vanessa looked like she might say something.

Instead, she spun away, back straight, shoulders stiff, and strode to the guest house nearest the pool.

As soon as she was out of sight, River let out a low breath.

The nausea that had been a slight flutter before had turned into a tidal wave, and River sat shakily on the ground again.

A moment passed as she put her head between her knees and took several slow breaths.

Titan's body heat burned River's skin as he brushed her arm with his.

"You did well," he said. "Leading comes naturally to you."

River didn't look up as saliva pooled in her mouth, and she spat it on the ground.

Don't throw up. Don't throw up. Don't throw up.

"It's not leading that comes naturally, it's the fact that I'm sick of everyone thinking they can do whatever they want to me, and I won't defend myself.

Like I am somehow unfit to have an opinion or a say in my own life.

I'm sick of it. Sick of being told what to do.

Sick of being tossed around. Sick of people coming in and out of the room I'm staying in without knocking or asking or anything. "

"I get it," he said. "It's why I'm doing what I am.

I'm tired of being told I'm not worthy to be the king because my mother wasn't my father's fated mate.

I'm tired of others being shoved out, banished, beaten, and treated like dirt because someone else says they are better. See, we're the same River."

"No, Titan, we aren't. I gave Vanessa a choice: leave me alone or die. You wouldn't have. You would have simply killed her."

He shrugged. "Maybe. Maybe not."

She straightened. "If your father were here, right now, would you give him the option to take you back or die? Or would you have just killed him?"

Titan's eye twitched.

"Exactly. There are huge differences between you and me. I value life, everyone's lives. And I value allowing them to make their own choices. You don't. You want to make the choices for people and have them thank you for it later. But you know what that is? Slavery. Not freedom."

Titan swallowed hard. "Maybe you're right. Maybe I think some people don't deserve the opportunity to make a choice. Not after everything they've done."

"Like me? What did I do to you to make you take my right to choose away?"

His eyes hardened and then softened. "I shouldn't have done that to you. I know it doesn't make a difference, but I didn't know what I was doing that night I bit you. My wolf... All I can say is that it wasn't me."

"And that's supposed to make it all better?"

He shook his head. "No. It's just that night..."

"That night, what?"

He licked his lips. "I-"

"Highness," Kane called from the balcony.

How long had he been standing there? How much of what had happened with Vanessa did Kane see?

Titan nodded and got to his feet. "I'm sorry, I have to cut this short. I have a meeting I need to be at."

He held his hand out to River, and without thinking, she took it, and he pulled her to her feet. His body pressed against hers, and her throat dried. They stared at each other for a moment before she slid her hand from his and backed away.

"I suppose I'm headed back to my cell now?"

"It's not a cell, River. Like I said before, I would like to give you free reign of the entire house, but..."

"I thought you said I couldn't escape even if I wanted to. So what does it matter if I'm out here or in the basement?"

"My meeting shouldn't take more than a couple of hours. How about if I take you to the art studio I made for you? You can stay in there while I'm gone."

"I told you I don't paint."

He shrugged. "Why don't you try? You might like it."

River looked up at Kane, who still watched them like a vulture waiting for her to die so he could pick at her carcass.

"Fine," she said. "But I'm going to need some different clothes and my soda and candy."

Titan nodded. "Of course. I'll take you to your room and you can get everything you need."

He held his hand out to her, and River shoved her hands into the pockets.

Once again, he dropped his hand as if he'd expected nothing less and turned and walked to the stairs of the balcony.

Run. Escape.

“Yeah, yeah,” River told her wolf. Me too.