Page 94 of Violet

Helpis a loaded word there. She’s asking if I can still have sex.

I almost laugh, but when I see how bright red her cheeks are turning, I stifle it. “Yes, I will, Princess. I’ll be able to rut and knot inside you. Is that what you’re asking?”

She shifts, her face burning. “Yes.”

I rub a thumb over the blush. “Don’t worry. Next time, I’ll be with you through the entire thing.”

She’s going to think I’m shooting blanks or something, but that’s okay. Better that than the real reason.

I’m going to have to call Clea and figure out how I can fuck Violet without getting her pregnant, even in heat. She’ll have an idea.

I finish my drink.

“Stephan, it’s okay,” Violet says. “I’ve been thinking about it, and I’m glad you told me. It’ll be fine. We have time to work out alternatives.”

I nod slowly and study her profile. I can’t tell what she’s feeling. I’m connected to her. That’s a result of the bite, but the effects were intensified from her being so close to heat. Now that she’s coming out of it, we only have the connection of the claiming. But when she looks at me, it’s with a calm, tired face, and I tell myself she truly is fine with it.

Like the princess says.

“You’ve gone from a man who doesn’t want…this…” She spreads her hands. “To one who bit me in a fit of…of lust? And now is saddled with me?”

She’s having doubts.

“I’m not saddled,” I say. “Minds change, things change.”

“Like feelings?”

“Yes.”

She nods. “We come from different worlds. You’re Emporia, a famous actor, and I’m…this.”

That’swhere this is coming from. She’s afraid she isn’t good enough for me.

“Oh, Princess… You’re anything you want to be. You’ve just been putting everyone else in your life first. It’s time for you to think about you and your happiness. And we don’t come from different places. I’m from here.” I go to take her hand, but change my mind and exchange her water for a glass of liquor instead, topping it off. “You know that.”

“Stephan, I… Out of everyone, you make me feel special, out of all the Alphas in the Season, out of anyone I’ve met. I wanted to be a dancer. I thought I could be somebody with that, but I wasn’t good enough, and…” She breaks my heart when she laughs. “It doesn’t matter. This isn’t a sob story, it justis. Thing is, you left Sabine, and I just toe the line.”

This time I do touch her. I take her chin and gently turn her face to me. And I try not to think of her reaction in the maze to my praise, how the need to please is bone deep, sexual.

No…she wants the praise, which is why she aims to please in that way. And I think it’s why the spotlight makes her panic. It’s too much for her and her little kink that’s unexplored. One we’ve barely scratched the surface of.

“You don’t toe the line with me. You might panic about doing the right thing with me, but I’ve seen the real you here and there. Do you know how many people fall all over themselves to do my bidding on a daily basis? Way too many. But not you. From insisting you didn’t know me?—”

“I didn’t.”

“Maybe, but you kept it up, Princess. And I bit you because…”Instinct, nature, jealousy. “I wanted to. Couldn’t stop myself.”

“I just thought…”

I breathe out and let go of her face, andafter a moment’s hesitation, I pour a tiny finger of bourbon for myself.

“You think a lot. Too much. It gets you into trouble.” I chuckle, even though it touches nothing inside. “As for living arrangements, I’m here for the summer. I have a career I’m not giving up, but I want to move into better roles, maybe do some directing, other stuff. We can work out logistics. Spend time in both places. You could stay here, and I would fly in for work. But I won’t live here full time.”

I have to tell her. At least some of it.

“When I was young and stupid, Princess, I met a girl, the wrong girl. Pretty, sweet, a whole lot of sass. She didn’t come from money. She wasn’t—” My princess puts her hand on my arm. And I cover her fingers with mine, drawing in her excess heat. “My father didn’t approve, and the battle-ax was emphatically against the match. When the Monarch says no, then that’s it. So we ran off. Heath knew, and some others, and my aunt Penrith helped. But the thing is, because of all this, Cecilia—that was her name—Cecilia didn’t get the care she needed until it was too late.”

“Stephan?”

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