Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 79692 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 398(@200wpm)___ 319(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79692 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 398(@200wpm)___ 319(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
“If you are sure?”
I nodded. “I am.” So please go, I couldn’t help but think guiltily, before I forget how to speak proper English.
When Pasquale left, I managed to survive for three point five minutes. Two hundred and ten seconds of not looking at the dance floor...where he was.
Alejandro Moretti.
The charming playboy prince from the Moretti werewolf pack, brother to the heir, and – for over a week now – my Cavaliere. It meant bodyguard and P.R. guy among other things, a champion that potential female alphas like me needed in order to rule a pack without any objection from the Panthera.
Tall, dark-haired, and possessing his pack’s famous emerald-green eyes, Alejandro was one beautiful specimen. I should know – I had seen him naked. It was just once, but it was more than enough. No matter how hard I tried, I just couldn’t make myself forget. The look of it. The feel of it—-
I irritably pushed the rest of my X-rated thoughts away. I had to stop thinking of him that way. Especially now that I was engaged.
Especially now that he was like...that.
Yes, I had lost the battle. I was now looking at my bodyguard, who was anything but. Bodyguards were supposed to stick close to their charges. They were supposed to be single-mindedly focused on anticipating and eliminating threats, but the only threat Alejandro seemed to care about right now was not getting laid.
He was on the dance floor, a wicked smile on his lips as he flirted and danced with a female panter. Wait, I meant panther. The way she was so obviously panting after him had me distracted.
He was dressed completely in black, as was his usual. The way his hands were roaming up and down her slender body, however, made it obvious that he might not be dressed for long.
The thought had me sucking my breath in. I knew I had no right to be hurt, but I was.
“Princess?”
My lips curved in a relieved smile when Stefano suddenly appeared at my side. Tall, blond, and gorgeous beyond belief, Stefano Guidicelli was also an impressive warrior. He had, in fact, all the makings of a true alpha but because he was the bastard son of a jaguar pack leader, he had ended up becoming my father’s right-hand man.
“You appear troubled.” It was his way of asking if I was about to cry. Warriors were not supposed to cry, and he was basically telling me to go somewhere private if I was about to forget that lesson.
“I won’t be troubled if we dance.”
Without a word, Stefano took my hand and whirled me onto the dance floor. He had spun me so fast it made me laugh as I placed one hand on his shoulder while his other hand clasped my waist. No sparks flew as our bodies came close. From the very start, Stefano and I had always known his heart belonged to my younger sister. I was totally fine with that. Stefano, however, was still in denial.
“You do not need to force yourself to do this, you know.” The words were deliberately vague, but because we had known each other for so long, his meaning was clear. Others who may have overheard him were likely to think he was referring to my engagement with Pasquale, but that wasn’t it.
I shook my head briefly. “It’s what the pack needs.” And by that, I meant Alejandro Moretti. Although seeing him flirt with women wherever we went – and he had been doing that – cut my heart to pieces every time, the thought of terminating his services hadn’t occurred to me. And it never would. “You’re just too stubborn for your own good, that’s what this is all about. You may be the one to inherit pack leadership, but you’re too young to make decisions like this. You’re only nineteen—-”
“Fate rarely calls upon us—-”
Stefano sighed in exasperation. “Don’t.”
I blinked innocently up at him. “What?”
“We both have the same taste in movies, princess. So don’t.” When I opened my mouth, he said dryly, “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.”
Crap. He really was good, to know that I had been quoting Optimus Prime.
“I hate how you know all my favorite quotes,” I grumbled.
Stefano smilingly ruffled my hair. “How could I not? All the comics, video games, and movies you got to enjoy were from me—-” He whirled me to the edge of the floor, and when I spun to a stop, I found myself looking up at Alejandro.
He asked with a charming smile, “Good evening, princess. I believe it’s my turn for a dance?”
I couldn’t make myself return it. “I’m sorry, no.”
Around us, the shifters gasped.
Stefano frowned.
My cheeks flushed red in shame. I had been so flustered by his sudden question that I forgot all about the extraordinary hearing of shifters.
When I turned to face Alejandro to apologize, he beat me to speaking, his charming smile still in place. “I understand, princess. My deepest apologies for forgetting my position.”