Page 50 of The Forbidden Wolf

I threw open the door, ignoring the driver’s protests, and hit the sidewalk like an overconfident baby giraffe. I wobbled over to Sebastian, lifting my skirt so as not to drag it on the sidewalk, but it wouldn’t have mattered if I’d let it because the pavement was pristine. Laughing, Sebastian caught me by the elbow before I charged right past him toward the gilded doors.

“You’re supposed to let the driver help you out,” he chided, but his eyes were sparkling in a way they didn’t seem capable of back at the Plaza. “It’s his favorite part of the job.”

“What is this?” I gestured at the posters all around me. “What’s happening?”

“We’re going to a movie,” he said as if it were the most normal thing in the world.

“How?” I curled my fingers into the sleeve of his tux without even thinking. “We’re not allowed…”

“We’re the Alpha Heirs.” His full lips smirked. “We do what we want.”

“But… but how?” I waved at the doors. “This place is condemned.”

He shrugged and handed me the roses. “Not anymore.”

I took them, surprised by how heavy that many flowers could be. There must have been two dozen; their sweet aroma dizzying as I touched my nose to their velvet petals. I pushed away the guilt brought on by the memory of the petals waiting for my sister in the Tower Room. She never would have appreciated them anyway.

“Not anymore?” My eyes searched Sebastian’s. “What does that mean? You can’t just… uncondemn a building.”

“Sure you can,” he said lightly. “Would you like to go inside?”

I made a very unladylike sound of disbelief, not unlike the one Rose made when Jack told her she couldn’t ride sidesaddle when they rose horses on the beach. Sebastian smiled and offered me his arm. I looped mine around it, laying my palm across the widest part of his wrist where blood thundered through one of the delicious veins I couldn’t see. He was nervous. I made him nervous. Like, really really nervous.

The double doors swung inward as we approached, each one held open by a teenage shifter in a crisp red doorman’s suit. The scent of popcorn gushed onto the street like a wave of melted butter, and my mouth watered instantly. I swallowed hard and paused at the threshold, afraid to take one step further in case I woke up from the dream.

“Which one are we watching?” I gestured with my roses at the posters on the outside walls. Their genres ran the gamut from western to thriller to musical, and though I didn’t know their specific plots, it seemed that a case could be made for any of them as a perfect first date film.

“None of those. Not tonight.” Sebastian’s gaze intensified. “They’re just for theming.”

“Theming?” I arched an eyebrow. “What does that mean?”

He nodded at the posters on either side of us. “They all have something in common. See for yourself.”

I let go of Sebastian’s arm and walked the line of posters. They were all paintings rather than photographs, but the same elegant face stood out on each one. A beautiful blonde female with softly angled features and dazzling blue eyes. She looked very much like my mother. I glanced at the list of stars on each poster and found the repeating name.

“Grace Kelly?” I tilted my head at the High Noon poster where she peeked out from behind a rugged cowboy.

Sebastian stood behind me, warm breath tickling my left shoulder. I thought distantly of my freckles and Yara’s strange episode, of the anti-shifter rally happening in the park, and the danger my family’s pride had put the Five Thrones in. But mostly I thought about the way Sebastian’s energy electrified all my nerve endings. Every last one of them.

“She reminds me of you,” he murmured. “In looks, yes, but also…”

I turned my head slightly, our breaths mingling. “What?”

He swallowed hard. “She was a movie star. Perhaps the best of her decade. She could have starred in any film she wanted, but she gave it all up to marry for love and became Princess Grace of Monaco.”

I snorted in his face and looked away. “Of course you’d like that story.”

“No! Don’t you see?” He flung his arm at the open doors. “There’s nothing you have to give up to be with me! That’s the theme!”

“Nothing?” I whirled on him. “Just my whole family?”

“A father and a sister who cannot—who will not see your worth?” Sebastian stepped closer, his lapels rustling in my roses. His hands gripped my elbows. “Open your heart to me, Elyse. Let me love you the way you deserve to be loved.”

I recoiled as much as his grasp would allow. Of all the males in all the movies he might have quoted in this moment, he went with Cal? An ironic laugh rattled in my throat as I looked toward the open doors and the teenage shifters who had totally broken character and were watching like we were tonight’s feature presentation.

“Why isn’t this building condemned now?” I asked.

“It’s an historic landmark,” Sebastian said. “It would have been a shame for the neighborhood to lose it, don’t you think?”

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