potential badness of the current situationand declared it monumental. Part of that stemmed from Fiona's suspicious and pessimistic reaction. After all, shewas related to the king, which meant she knew him andwhat he was capable of a lot better than anyone else Walker knew. But the rest of the itch between hisshoulder blades came at the prompting of his owninstincts, and those told him—screamed at him, really—that trouble currently stampeded toward him like a herd of
angry water buffalo. He couldn't give much of a logical explanation for why he felt like that, but his instincts tended to be good ones, and he'd learned a long time ago to rely on them and listen to what they had to say.
He didn't know all that much about the inner workings ofthe Fae courts. He knew there were two of them and thatthey traded power year in and year out, each monarchreigning supreme for six months before surrenderingpower to the other. He knew Queen Mab ruled the Seelie Court, as she had for the last nine hundred years, and heknew her people were renowned for their art and music,their capricious, merry natures, and their vain beauty.
And he knew about the Unseelie Court, ruled for just aslong by King Dionnu. Those Fae enjoyed a different sortof fame, one based on intrigue and mystery, dangerousmachinations and dark seductions, wild midnight ridesand raids, and dark, powerful magics. But that just aboutsummed up his understanding of Faerie.
Because of the restrictions on travel between the twoworlds, his exposure to the fair folk has been extremelylimited before Fiona's arrival. He'd met only one Faebefore, a young man obsessed with his ownentertainment and convinced of his own irresistiblebeauty. Now Walker realized the man had been a cousinof Fiona's, but at the time he'd just thought of him as apain in the ass. His self-indulgent and unauthorized jauntaround town had brought the wrath of Mab down on thehead of the Others and caused a world of trouble. The Silverback Clan and the rest of the Council of Others hadbid him a relieved farewell and hoped earnestly never toencounter his kind again.
Like everything else, that had also been BP, so Walkerfigured he could be forgiven for not having anticipatedthat he'd be dragged kicking and howling into the politicallife of a culture he knew no more about than how to spellit. The assumption didn't seem out of line.
Oh, who the hell was he kidding? Since the princess hadwaltzed into his life, the lines had shifted so far out ofwhack, he couldn't even be sure they still existed. Especially the one that had been drawn to keep the pawsof scruffy beta werewolves off of elegant Faerieprincesses. She seemed completely oblivious of that one,as she demonstrated every time she pressed thatluscious little body against him.
His teeth clenched reflexively against the desire to lick hischops. Damn her for giving him a taste, because now hecouldn't stop remembering it. His fingers itched to touchher again, to fill themselves with sweet, subtle curves andsilky soft skin, and it was all her fault.
She should know better than to tempt him, know betterthan he did that a relationship between a Lupine and a Fae was doomed from the beginning. Lupines mated forlife, a life that lasted an average of seventy years or so,as opposed to the Fae's virtual immortality. If that didn'tput a damper on the romance, other facts would, like theone about Lupine jealousy—which blazed out of controlanytime someone so much as stared too long at a mate —juxtaposed against the notoriously fickle passions ofthe Fae. All in all, these two twains were destined neverto meet, much less live happily ever after.
So why did Walker find himself struggling so hard not topin the princess to the nearest flat surface and mark her
as indisputably his? What kind of sick joke was that?
Blocking the intoxicating scent of her from his mind, hefixed his gaze on the sitting-room door just in time to seeit open for a figure that defied
angry water buffalo. He couldn't give much of a logical explanation for why he felt like that, but his instincts tended to be good ones, and he'd learned a long time ago to rely on them and listen to what they had to say.
He didn't know all that much about the inner workings ofthe Fae courts. He knew there were two of them and thatthey traded power year in and year out, each monarchreigning supreme for six months before surrenderingpower to the other. He knew Queen Mab ruled the Seelie Court, as she had for the last nine hundred years, and heknew her people were renowned for their art and music,their capricious, merry natures, and their vain beauty.
And he knew about the Unseelie Court, ruled for just aslong by King Dionnu. Those Fae enjoyed a different sortof fame, one based on intrigue and mystery, dangerousmachinations and dark seductions, wild midnight ridesand raids, and dark, powerful magics. But that just aboutsummed up his understanding of Faerie.
Because of the restrictions on travel between the twoworlds, his exposure to the fair folk has been extremelylimited before Fiona's arrival. He'd met only one Faebefore, a young man obsessed with his ownentertainment and convinced of his own irresistiblebeauty. Now Walker realized the man had been a cousinof Fiona's, but at the time he'd just thought of him as apain in the ass. His self-indulgent and unauthorized jauntaround town had brought the wrath of Mab down on thehead of the Others and caused a world of trouble. The Silverback Clan and the rest of the Council of Others hadbid him a relieved farewell and hoped earnestly never toencounter his kind again.
Like everything else, that had also been BP, so Walkerfigured he could be forgiven for not having anticipatedthat he'd be dragged kicking and howling into the politicallife of a culture he knew no more about than how to spellit. The assumption didn't seem out of line.
Oh, who the hell was he kidding? Since the princess hadwaltzed into his life, the lines had shifted so far out ofwhack, he couldn't even be sure they still existed. Especially the one that had been drawn to keep the pawsof scruffy beta werewolves off of elegant Faerieprincesses. She seemed completely oblivious of that one,as she demonstrated every time she pressed thatluscious little body against him.
His teeth clenched reflexively against the desire to lick hischops. Damn her for giving him a taste, because now hecouldn't stop remembering it. His fingers itched to touchher again, to fill themselves with sweet, subtle curves andsilky soft skin, and it was all her fault.
She should know better than to tempt him, know betterthan he did that a relationship between a Lupine and a Fae was doomed from the beginning. Lupines mated forlife, a life that lasted an average of seventy years or so,as opposed to the Fae's virtual immortality. If that didn'tput a damper on the romance, other facts would, like theone about Lupine jealousy—which blazed out of controlanytime someone so much as stared too long at a mate —juxtaposed against the notoriously fickle passions ofthe Fae. All in all, these two twains were destined neverto meet, much less live happily ever after.
So why did Walker find himself struggling so hard not topin the princess to the nearest flat surface and mark her
as indisputably his? What kind of sick joke was that?
Blocking the intoxicating scent of her from his mind, hefixed his gaze on the sitting-room door just in time to seeit open for a figure that defied
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