na's

s Theodora's face before she smoothed

n a carved wooden wheelchair was pushed

e, his lips bloodless. He looked like he'd been sick for a very long

as the prince of whispers and rumors-the one who had offended a powerful noble, been

was the barest hint of a greeting. His voice was as co

s tone was warmer than it had been with me,

time, those deep blue eyes had a focus. They seemed to pierce through my

elt like being targeted by a predator, even though

n said, his words a qui

I looked up, just as surpr

aid slowly. "A respectable lady should not be hum

frozen heart. Besides Livia, he was

sked, a flicker of i

up, and a faint expression that might have been a smile touc

from his long illness. "Miss Alanna Cruz, after your rejection ceremony with Brann

eodora looked like she was about to leap

a wolfless Omega who was about to

you're saying!" Theodora was the

I couldn't decipher. "According to royal law, even a disinherited prince's mate enjoys the protection and ho

was offering me a way out. A complete e

s. Brannon's legal traps would become meaningl

ippled, short-lived prince? Was I ju

ste," but my instincts screamed that this man wa

trangers. Was it simply a sense

asked, my voice

need each other, don't we? You need a sanctuary, and I... I need a

no pity, no charity. Only an inv

would have kept me a pawn, a piece to be moved and sacrific

ked and disapproving

nd in his. His palm was cool, but it

. "I will become your mate after

knew, in that moment, that my fate-and the fate of this