Throne of Blood and Moonlight

Chapter 18 Throne of Blood and Moonlight By Ruth Nalio

Weston…

The rest of the day had been quiet with little said from Stella. I had kept a close watch on her ever since the little incident of her being in the sun too long. I was going to have to watch her more closely from now on. Although she seemed to get disgusted with me when she found me watching her. She had opened a book and turned her back to me shortly after the meal.

I stood and stretched as it was now time for dinner. “Stella, do you think you could behave yourself at the table with the rest of my pack?”

“Only because your mother is there and I don’t want to upset her. You have brought enough unrest to her with all of this.” She told me.

I gritted my teeth and refused to act upon what she had said. I wasn’t going to let her aggravate me. “Good. Shall we head to the great hall?”

“Look, the dog has manners.” She said as she closed the book and stood, her back still to me. She stretched her arms above her head, arching her back in a delicious curve. D@mn if the female wasn’t a beautiful one. She glanced at me then walked to the shelf and put the book back where she’d gotten it.

“Female, will you ever warm up to me?” I asked, shaking off the lure of her figure, of her scent.

She smiled. “Dogs have fur to fight off the chill.”

I sighed. “Eventually you will run out of dog comments.”

“And someday you will be able to ignore the fleas.” She countered.

“You just keep pushing me,” I said in a warning voice as I walked toward her.

“Dogs need encouragement, it’s how they are trained.” She said defiantly.

“I am not the one who needs training,” I warned.

“Let’s work on you first before we start on Casper.”

I laughed. “I’ll be sure to tell him you said that.”

“Yes, and I’ll be sure to let him know that his training is not going to be as much as yours. He learns faster than you I think.”

“I am not going to let you upset me, female,” I told her.

“It’s only a matter of time before you start barking at me again, right now I think you're slobbering too much over the thought of dinner to bite.”

“I think you need to have a bit of blood tonight after today,” I said, becoming serious.

“I don’t need you to tell me what I need. I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself.”

“Is that why I captured you so easily?” I asked with a raised brow.

She glared at me. “I didn’t want to catch your fleas.”

“You didn’t know I was a Lycan until after that, female.”

“Oh, why don’t you go drag your a$$ or something.” She crossed her arms as she glared at me.

“You are going a bit too far with that Stella.”

“Dog.” She mumbled as she walked to the doors. “Are we going to dinner or are we not?”

I shook my head. The female could get under my skin like no one else. “Let's go.” I walked over and opened the door for her. She didn’t even look at me as she walked by. I closed my eyes and told myself that I wouldn’t let her bother me.

Once she was out of the library she paused and glanced back at me and smiled. She gave a short whistle and patted her thigh. “Here boy, come.”

“Stella,” I said in a warning voice, my anger rising.

“Bad dog, I didn’t say speak, I said come.”

Before she could move I had her pinned against the wall and was inches from her face. “You had best stop, female, while I can still control my anger.” Having her body so close to mine had my lust rising again.

“Bad dog, down.” She said as she glared at me.

“Female,” I growled, struggling for control.

“Oh, alright, good boy come.” She said smugly.

I gripped her chin and looked her in the eyes. “Stop.”

“Now look, I was right, you do need training. You do something right and then you turn around and do bad, bad dog.” Just as the last word left her lips I kissed her. Pulling her body into mine and asserting my dominance.

“Enough,” I growled against her lips, wanting so much more than her d@mn lips.

“B@stard.” She hissed back and shoved against me.

I stepped back only a fraction, she was still pinned against the wall. “You will listen to me when I tell you to stop.”

“Let go of me.”

“Not until you understand whose castle you are in.”

“I am in the castle of the male who kidnapped me.”

“Yes, my castle and you will start treating me like it’s my castle.”

“Look around you Weston, there is not anyone else to see us, you told me I was not to undermine you in front of your pack and I have not. You can’t blame me for the way I am.”

I gritted my teeth, knowing she was right. “Can you not at least try to get along with me?”

I watched as her jaw tightened. “It’s not in my nature to get along with the male who kidnaps me.”

“You were getting along with me just fine before we reached my castle, why do you not try to be like that again.”

“I had hopes of escape then, I have none now, that changes things.”

“I will give you back to your father when this is all over,” I assured her.

“And he will kill you.”

“Not if you talk to him first and agree to help me.”

“You think he will listen to me? He’ll be too angry to listen to me.”

“No, he will listen to you when you are let go and he sees that you are unharmed and not even shaken. I will do my best to keep you somewhat happy and completely comfortable here, but I’ll not have you trying to override my authority.”

She looked away angrily. “I’ll do my best to respect you in your castle, but I cannot promise anything.”

I patted her cheek. “Good enough.” I let her go and gestured toward the great hall. “Now that everything is settled, I am hungry.”

“Yes.” She walked quietly alongside me to the great hall. When we reached the table I pulled out her chair for her and watched as the muscle in her jaw twitched. “I would like a bit of blood.” She said it so softly that I had barely heard her.

“Yes, I think I would like some as well.” She shot a glare at me and then settled herself at the table. My mother narrowed her eyes as she observed the two of us. I shrugged and took my seat.

Stella…

I wanted to simply beat the smug look off his face. The bloody mutt b@stard. I had to calm down and be decent to him if I wanted to make it to my room tonight without him pinning me to a wall. I gritted my teeth at the thought of him kissing me again. The thing that really irritated me was that a Lycan was a better kisser than my fiancé.

Not that it mattered. I was going to find a way out of that one if I could. I didn’t want to marry Devin. I had tried to talk myself into it but no matter how good-looking he was or how nice he was, I just didn’t want to marry him. It could be that he was too much like an uncle, what with him being my father’s advisor from the time I was born.

“Stella, are you alright, female?” Kate asked. “You are being unusually quiet.”

“I was just thinking.” I smiled. “I think dinner is my favorite time of day here.”

She smiled. “Why is that?”

“You are much better company than your son. Then again he is a male.”

She glanced at Weston and gave a small laugh at the same time. “Yes, I think you just need to get to know him a bit more.”

“I don’t think I’ll be here long enough to get to know him much better.”

“You could be surprised with what happens.” She said softly.

I frowned. “Don’t take this the wrong way, I enjoy my time with you, but I hope I’m not here much longer. My mother must be sick with worry and my father has no doubt started an angry rampage.”

She gave me a sad smile. “I know of a mother’s worry.” She looked at Weston who was no doubt listening to us, even though he wasn’t watching us. “I also know of a father’s anger. It will all fade when they know you are safe.”

“I hope so.” A small female quickly sat a plate down in front of me with slightly bloody meat. She had acted as though I would bite her. I frowned and glanced at her. She was already halfway back to the kitchens.

“Don’t take it personally. She did the same with me at first. Some of the younger ones in the pack are afraid of Vampires.” Kate told me.

I nodded and began to eat. The rest of dinner was filled with small conversations here and there. I didn’t talk to Weston in order to avoid insulting him.