Riannon tried not to grin.

She couldn’t tell for sure if there were any camerasinstalled in this room, so she had to be extra careful just in case.

To keep herselfbusy, she took a glass full of wine and sniffed it to check that it wasn’t poisonedthis time.

Given the history she had with foxes, she could never be sure...But the fox king probably had some use for her even now, so the drink was cleanof any substances other than alcohol.She took a slow sip and listened carefully.“I am not interested in what kind of problems they have,” Castiel soundedauthoritative.

There was no playfulness in his voice to which she was used to.“Tell them that if they are not ready on time, they will share the destiny of thosetraitorswerecats.”Riannon gulped.

She remembered how Alpha Ramina had been telling them thatfoxes and bears were offering her to unite their clans in the war against wolves.This was confirming her words at the Summit.“And what about the wolves?” Castiel asked his companion, his tone displeasedand arrogant even now.“The Alpha told us that they are ready to act and waiting for your command.”Images flashed before Ria’s eyes.

Back in the past, she saw wolves fightingother wolves.

It brought her to the conclusion that they were talking about thetraitors.

But she needed more.

More information.

At least something.

A pack orthe Alpha’s name, a location...

anything that could help her find out who thetraitorswere!“And what about the white bear clan?” the fox king kept the interrogation of hissubordinate while she froze on her seat.

“Their king says that they will arrive soon.

But he still has the same condition.”Riannon placed her glass back on the table, trying not to crush the stem in herhand from all the tension.

White bears...

This was a crucial piece of information.That clan came from the North and, if she wasn’t mistaken, they lived right nextto the North Lycan kingdom.him to deal with his lycan king as soon as he helps us deal with ours.” NowCastielsounded content.But it was Ria who was the one truly pleased.

All her effort went into pretendingnot to care.

Not to curl her lips, not to make any muscle flinch on her face.

Shecouldn’t give herself away.

That was why she did her best to look bored while shewaited.The two men discussed a few other things quickly, including doubling the securityaround the territory.

But that didn’t matter anymore.

When Gideon came for her,she would be ready.The doors opened again and Castiel strode in with a faint smile on his face.“Forgive me, Riannon,” he took his seat and at the same moment servantsappeared, bringing in the actual food.

He probably ordered them to do it via themind link.“Oh, trust me,” she straightened her back, “I was not offended.

I think the less wesee each other, the better.”He swallowed that almost insult, knowing that she wasn’t ready for him.

Not yet.Castiel loved watching that strong beautiful woman, who held herself like aqueen even in captivity.

Her every move was filled with grace and confidence.

Hehad princesses in his harem, but none could even begin to compare in his eyesto Riannon.

He was sure that he knew what she was thinking after seeing all those girlstoday.

He knew that he needed to do damage control if he wanted to have arelationship with that woman.

And he wanted it badly.

She intrigued him at theirfirst actual meeting, but the more he watched her, the more his need for her wasgrowing.She was the perfect Luna.

Everything that any alpha could ask for.

Beautiful,smart, special...

That made it especially hard to resist her charm.“So,” she raised her brow at him and he loved how daring she was.

The spirit ofroyalty.“So,” he found herself mimicking her tone, waving for the omegas to leave“I have to say that your plan was not bad,” she stated plainly, but this littlecompliment made his lips curve a bit anyway.“And yet somehow you saw right through it,” he smirked.

“Tell me, Riannon,where have I made a mistake?”He didn’t make a mistake and that was exactly the problem.

In her past life, hewon.

And even now he was far from losing.

Even despite everything that sheknew.“I guess you angered the Moon Goddess,” she took a bite of her food.

Whateverit was, she had to take care of herself well.

She had to have the strength for whatwas about to come.

So, she wasn’t going to starve herself out of spite and makeherself weaker.He chuckled softly and followed her example.“Tell me,” he said after a while, “how did you know that I was going to use thename Everett? I was thinking about it for so long but I still can’t find an answer tothis question.”

“If you want any kind of information from me, you will have to answer a fewquestions first yourself,” Ria put down her knife and fork, taking a napkin togently pat her lips.

“And then maybe, I’ll share too.”“And what exactly do you want to know?” Castiel didn’t feel like hiding much fromher.

She was already there in his hands.

What was the point? When she knew –she would only be impressed by the scale of the work he had done.

She had tobe impressed“How did you fake a scent of Brayden’s mate on Roxanne?” she shot the firstquestion at once, without any hesitation, “I know that she is a siren and used thatalluring ability of hers.

But you had to work on the scent too.

Because it was thefirst thing that attracted him to her.”“You are still not over that?” he smirked, and she felt a prick of shame.

Because,no, she wasn’t over it.

She had to know everything.

She did not love her exanymore, but she needed to learn what happened there exactly.“I thought we were trying to have an open conversation here,” she taunted him.hardly ate anything.”“I am full,” the Luna cut him off.“Then let’s go.

I am going to show you something,” he grinned at her with delight.He stood up and gestured for her to do the same.

Riannon had no objections tothat.

A part of her was worried that he would take her to the dungeons, whereBrayden’s real true mate was chained to the walls...

But they didn’t walk far, asthe fox king pushed one of the next doors and held it for her.She entered a spacious room that looked like some kind of a laboratory.

Testtubes, microscopes and equipment she couldn’t even name were everywhere.

Itlooked professional enough to her and all she could do was to give the fox aquestioning look.

“This is where the scent was created so that Roxy could copy it,” Castiel smirked,looking a bit smug.“How? You had to have a sample,” Ria tried to reason with him, trying to find anexplanation.“I’ve been studying shifters’scents for many years,” he started explaining.” Yousee, in most cases, mates’ scents are connected biologically.

This is how werecognise our couple.

Mates are so closely connected that over time I managedto see a pattern.

By testing and probing, I managed to find out what scent wouldattracta person if I had his or her DNA.

It’s not a 100% match, of course.

One wouldrecognise their true mate.

If he meets him or her.

But as far as you know, yourhusband never did.

I don’t even know if he could recognise his mate prior to yourrejection.

You know how marking works.”“I do,” she smirked and took her hair away, moving the dress slightly aside toreveal her beautiful golden crescent mark.

Castiel growled at that, his eyes glued to her flesh.

It would be anunderstatement to say that he did not like what he saw.

But at the same time, hewas fascinated by the gold shining on her delicate skin.“An unbreakable bond,” she rubbed it into his face, pulling the dress back on to“We’ll have to test that theory out,” he stepped closer, “when I kill Gideon.”“You could try,” she chuckled, “but there is a reason why you tried to breakwerewolves first.

You can’t deal with him without that.

And now that part of yourplan is gone.”“My plan doesn’t solemnly depend on that.

And part of it still worked.

The biggestpack was broken into two parts.

And the Alpha of one of them is mine now.” His

eye glowed again as he was dangerously close.“Why is only one of your eyes glowing?” she decided to distract him and itworked as he turned away from her at once.“That’s a long story,” he sighed.“As you have told me before, we are in no hurry,” Ria took that chance todistance herself further from him and pretended to look at the equipment he hadthere.“I wandered into the wrong place and encountered the wrong person when I wasyoung,” he said at first, but after hesitating for a few moments, added in a hoarsevoice.

“My father...

It was my father.”Riannon’s lips parted but she quickly clenched them back.

“Why?” she heardherself saying.“I wasn’t exactly the son he wanted,” Castiel confessed, still not looking at her.“Not the pure blood that he wanted to see as his heir...”“What do you mean?” she felt that this was important too.“I am a hybrid,” he turned to face her abruptly and in no time he was right next toher again.

“My father stole my mother from the bear clan.

She was alreadymarried, but he did not care.”“But you were still angry at Gideon’s father for killing yours,” Ria pointed out,crossing her hands on her chest in a defence motion.

She did not like the way hestared at her.

As if he was hungry.“Of course I was,” he sneered at her, tracing his finger over one of her arms andmaking her shudder.

“First of all, it was a matter of honour.

But second of all, itwasmagic

“How?” she tried not to give him any reaction, knowing that this was exactly whathe was looking for.“Too many questions for someone who didn’t share anything yet,” he bent lowerto her, his face way too close to her liking.

“Let’s just say that my path tobecoming a king would be shorter.”She tried to step away, but he trapped her between one of the tables and hishands.“So, how did you know about Everett?” a smirk spread over his face as he lookedat her lips.“Axel didn’t suit you.” Riannon tried to stay calm.“I thought that we agreed to share information,” he took it as a game, “not lie toeach other.”“You have your sources and I have mine, Castiel,” she dived down and managedto escape him, hearing his laughter behind her back.“Cass,” he said.

“I want you to call me Cass.”“And I want you to call me Alpha Michaels,” she retorted, “but something tells meyou are not going to do that.”“Who knows,” he took another step in her direction, and she liked it less and less,“It has a good ring to it.”“Do you want me to kill him?” Onyx asked, growling inside.

“Can you?” shecouldn’t help but wonder.“I think we can take one hybrid,” now her wolf sounded offended, but ready tospring to action any time.“I have no doubt,” Ria sighed, “but it will not stop the war.

And now it might onlycomplicate things.

I need more information before we act.”“Who works in this lab?” she decided to throw the fox king off the topic.“This is my little heaven,” he said with pride.

“And a little hobby of mine thatbrought me so many fruitful results.”one of the tables to make sure there was something between them.“You mean Eden,” Castiel chuckled.

“Yes, I suppose one might say so.”“And what’s the plan there?” she quirked her brow up.

“When do I get a reddress?”He watched her for a few seconds while furrowing her browsbefore answering,“Never.

The day you become mine, I let them all go.”This wasn’t what she counted on.

She wanted to use the harem against him.

Andhere he was dismissing its significance instantly.But she knew far too well that it was yet another tactic to manipulate her.“What was the point of keeping them there in the first place if you are going todiscard them now?”“Believe it or not, Alpha Michaels ,” he smirked when he said that, “But they wereuseful in many ways.

Each of them is there willingly.

It was their choice.

And Itreasure each of them in my own way.”“And is that why you are starving them tonight?” she reminded him of the simplefact that he prohibited giving them dinner that day.“I am punishing them for misbehaving.” Castiel informed her firmly and withoutany shade of hesitation or regret.

“They touched what’s mine.”“I am not yours!” she gritted her teeth.

“Of course, you are.

Everything in this house is mine.

They knew you were minethe moment they saw you.

But they still chose to attack you.” He scowled.“Maybe they can sense that they are about to be thrown out on the street?”Riannon snorted.“I am not going to throw them out on the street!” he let out a deep chesty laugh.

“Itrained them for years for a reason!”“As you did with Roxanne?” it suddenly occurred to her.

He was going to usethose women as his pawns.

Send them to different packs, plant them as spies,put them in other men’s beds.“Too many questions,” he shrugged it off.

“Let’s go.

I want to show you other“I am too tired,” she did not let him finish.

“I want to...”“Okay,” the fox king looked slightly disappointed, but he nodded reassuringly.“Not all at once.

I get it.

We have all the time in the world to get to know eachotherbetter.”She was relieved that he chose that approach.

But she knew that she shouldn’tcount on him sticking to it for too long.He took her back to her room personally, not saying much on the way there andshe hid behind the door when he tried to give her a kiss on the cheek, escapingthe undesired contact.Riannon sat on the bed and listened to his receding steps.

And when he wasgone, she waited some more.

In about half an hour, she opened the doors andlooked at the short guard, ignoring the tall one.

This one seemed mentallyweaker toher.

“King Castiel said I can ask for whatever I want and I have some requests,” sheannounced with a tone that did not take prisoners, making both men swallow.“Don’t worry,” she sneered at them like a cat who was about to devour a littlemouse,“ Nothing dangerous is on my list.”Just an hour later, the three of them entered the Eden.

Girls in red were lookingat her in shock, not believing that she dared to come there again.“What the hell have you forgotten here?” the same blonde with her two friendsappeared before her first.“Ladies,” Riannon popped a bottle of champagne with ease, gesturing for the twoguards to bring in the sushi and other snacks she requested, “I think we startedwith a wrong foot.

Why don’t we fix that?”