E

    The midnight blue gown fit me just as perfectly now as it did that day in the shop. I smoothed my hands over the bodice onest time, turning this way and that and watching as the skirt red around my legs and the diamond ne Alexander had given me glinted around my neck.

    I looked like a Luna. More than that, I looked like someone who belonged on the arm of a future Alpha King.

    Too bad none of it was real…

    Right?

    Lately, I wasn’t so sure. Things felt… different since that day in the vault. I didn’t know where exactly Alexander and I stood anymore. Lovers? Partners? Still enemies? Or something else entirely?

    “E, are you ready?” Alexander’s voice called from outside the door. I jumped slightly at the sound and turned to go.

    “Coming!” I called out, and it was then that my eyes caught something behind the dresser. Something small and dainty.

    I bent to see what it was, and my eyebrows shot up when I saw the tiny bracelet that I’d thrown there months ago in

    anger. My breath caught as I carefully picked it up, flicking some

    of the cobwebs off.

    Seeing the little bracelet now, knowing that it had been Alexander’s way of showing me he/ cared more than he let on, made my chest turn warm with an emotion I hardly dared name. Without thinking, I sped the bracelet around my wrist and hurried out of the room.

    Alexander was waiting for me in the corridor, leaning against the wall with his hands in his pockets. When he saw meing, he straightened, green eyes sweeping across me with what looked like appreciation.

    “Beautiful.” The word came out so simply and matter–of–factly that it made my chest flutter, and when I moved to walk by him, he grabbed my wrist and held it up to inspect the bracelet.” I didn’t know you kept this.”

    I quickly looked away, cheeks warming. “Yes, well… You seem to like showering me with jewelrytely.”

    Alexander didn’t respond to that, although as we made our way downstairs and out to the waiting car, I couldn’t help but notice what almost looked like a faint smile tugging at his lips.

    As we pulled up to the entrance of the banquet hall where the party would be held tonight, I

    could see the crowd of reporters and photographers already gathered outside. shes started going off the moment our car stopped.

    “Here we go,” Alexander muttered under his breath. “Stick to the n.”

    I nodded, my heart sinking slightly as I recalled the “n” we’d discussed for tonight. Remaining by one another’s sides. Smiling for the cameras. Showing off the mating mark and my belly, although it was still t, as much as possible.

    Another reminder that despite everything, our marriage was purely business.

    The valet opened my door, and immediately the cameras started shing faster. I took Alexander’s offered arm and we walked up the red carpet together, ignoring the questions from the press about my pregnancy and our rtionship but stopping asionally to make sure they got a few good pictures of the happy couple.

    Inside the ballroom, the atmosphere was electric. The Alpha Council had pulled out all the stops for this event–crystal chandeliers, white tablecloths, centerpieces containing roses and gold ents. The most powerful wolves in the territory were all here, dressed in their finest formal wear.

    But what surprised me was the reaction we got when we entered.

    People actually turned to stare as we passed. Heads whipped our way, fans lifted to conceal whispers, and a few daring guests even pointed directly at us.

    Alexander’s hand tightened on my arm, and suddenly, the bond between us red to life. I bit back a gasp as his voice slipped into my mind like velvet.

    “Looks like we’re the star couple of the night.”

    The sound of Alexander’s voice in my mind sent a shiver scuttling up my spine, and the sensation of his hand on the bare skin of my back did nothing to quell it.

    Tonight was going to be easier said than done. If he used our mindlink like that too often, I might melt right at his feet like the lovesick, pregnant fool I was.