“Harvey?” I whispered.
“I’m sorry about the timing, Rieka. I know that I promised this could wait until the end of the season, but it’s getting harder to restrain Archer. He’s going to need a reason. Soon,” Harvey explained.
“Give me two seconds. Stay on the phone.” Without hanging up, I put my phone back in my pocket and gave Everly a lame excuse as to why I couldn’t walk with her home.
Every instinct in my body wanted to tell her the truth and hated lying, but this was to protect her. I couldn’t have her involved. Not yet.
I walked to the park and found a bench where I could sit, away from all the people walking through.
“I’m ready to talk,” I said, having picked up the phone again.
“We need to let him go within the next week,” Harvey claimed.
“But how are we going to control him?” I asked. “We can’t just let him walk out of our front door. We won’t know where he’ll end up!”
Harvey was quiet for a little while. “Have you told Shay yet?”
I felt my cheeks brighten up. “I have…” I admitted. “Two months ago. But he wants to be part of it,” I quickly remarked.
“Good. I’d hoped that you would’ve. I just wanted you to trust him before you did. He probably told you that the case has already been discussed between us.”
I nodded. Not that he could see it, but my silence was confirmation enough.
“Good,” he said. “We have to meet up. Bring Shay. Your old house, at nine p.m.” And then he hung up.
What was I supposed to do with that information? Just be there by 9 p.m.? Bring Shay?
I had to get home. My legs weren’t fast enough, and a cab was too slow too.
I found a spot out of sight and shifted. It had been a long time since I had felt the wind through my fur. The warm breeze was very different from the cold winter air.
The ground was wet from the quick shower that the skies had dumped upon us, and my paws became brownish in no time.
I didn’t have the privilege of running through the streets, so the forest was my only option.
The guards opened the gates the second they saw me running toward them from the forest.
I ran inside and found Shay lying in his bed.
“Rieka?” he asked when he saw me in my wolf form. I jumped and landed with my dirty paws on his chest. Then I shifted.
I felt my voice coming back to me but had to wait for the complete transformation before I was able to talk. “He contacted me, Shay.”
“Who?” he asked, but he was having a hard time concentrating since I was butt naked on top of him.
“Harvey. Harvey contacted me. He wants us to meet him at nine p.m. today.”
I got up and grabbed the silk robe I had placed in his room. “Already?” he asked. “Weren’t we supposed to wait until summer? Until the Mating Season was over?”
I nodded. “He only mentioned that Archer was becoming more difficult. That he’s going to need answers soon or he will disobey orders.
“Harvey wants us to meet him at my old place at nine p.m. That was the only thing he said.”
“At nine,” he mumbled and looked at his watch. I looked at the wall above his bed where he had a bigger clock. It was almost 4 p.m.
I looked back, and he was staring at me. I knew that look. “Shay… Shay, stay there…” He got up faster than I could react.
He got up, wrapped his arms around me, and started kissing me all over my face. It made me laugh. “Stop it, Shay! You’re disgusting… Shay!”
“Then maybe…” He kept kissing me until he reached my ear. I could feel my legs starting to shiver. “We have time”—he bit my earlobe lightly—“for a little fun.”
He pressed his lips against mine and carried me to his bed. “But we need to be ready… Prepared for…” His fingers slipped inside me before I could finish my sentence.
I felt my mind getting hazier. I could only see him. Everything else didn’t matter right now. Not Harvey, not Icarus. Not even Everly and Caleb’s Mating Ceremony. He was all I wanted right now.
He unzipped his pants and let them fall to the ground. He didn’t even take off his shirt before he entered me.
It was fast and brutal, and I didn’t last long at all. No more than two minutes had gone by before I came the first time, but he continued.
He turned me around so I was on all fours and pulled me to the foot of the bed.
He grabbed my waist and started thrusting while he pulled me against him.
My arms couldn’t hold me up, and I let my head fall to the bed. I could hear his breathing picking up pace. He was close.
I was moving my hips as much as I could to give him the most pleasure, but just before he was about to release, someone knocked on the door.
Shay stopped. Every muscle in his body wanted to continue, but he had been pushed a lot by the rest of the council lately, and if this was important, he couldn’t miss it.
“What is it?” He growled dissatisfied. Maybe sounding a tad bit angrier than what he had meant to.
“I’m sorry, Alpha.” It was one of the maids. “Someone is asking for you. He’s at the entrance, and he refuses to walk away.”
“Give me one minute,” he answered. He bent down over my back and whispered into my ear, “You stay like this. I will be right back.” He swiftly grazed my nipple as he pulled out. An unfair move.
Ten minutes passed, and I still hadn’t heard anything. I was starting to get worried, so I put the robe back on and walked toward the door.
Just as I was about to grab the handle, the door opened. It was Shay, and he was fully dressed again.
“Put on some clothes and come to my office afterward.” Then he walked out and closed the door behind him.
Weird. I never thought that I would hear that sentence from his mouth. I used the door that connected our rooms and changed into a T-shirt and a pair of jeans.
It was quiet outside. As if the maids had been sent home.
I walked past Shay’s room and to the end of the hall. To Shay’s office. I knocked and slowly opened the door.
Shay was standing on the other side of the desk and was talking to another person who was sitting in the chair turning away from me.
“Hello?” I said.
The figure stood up and turned around. He was wrapped in a large, dark cloak, hiding his face. He reached for the hoodie and pulled it down to reveal his face.
The familiar white hair and the round earring in his left ear were not to be mistaken.
“Harvey?”
