Darius said to me, "Relax. I'll wait for you to nod."
When the blood moon rose, Darius placed the queen's crown upon my head.
The royal bonding ceremony wasn't as cold as I'd imagined.
No one ordered me to bare my throat.
No one rushed me to offer a mark.
Darius stood before me, holding an ancient silver blade.
He gently said, "If you don't want this now, the ceremony can stop."
Outside the great hall, Alphas from every Pack were kneeling, waiting for their new queen to complete the blood-moon bond.
But Darius only looked at me.
I asked, "Didn't you say a royal contract can't be interrupted?"
"The code can wait," he said. "You can't."
I looked at him, and suddenly, I remembered what Caleb had once said.
The Pack needed Selena.
The elders needed Selena.
He needed Selena too.
