YENA

Watching Nolan hold Gina in his arms, even in this context. It made me feel like I’d been stabbed in the heart.

Luckily other people rushed over to help, and Nolan passed her off to someone else for medical care.

Nolan was inching away from Gina, not letting his eyes depart from her.

At first the jealous wolf inside me was enraged. I wanted my husband to come rushing back to my side. I wanted him to leave that skinny bitch behind and not care what happened to her.

But that was irrational. Nolan was still playing his part. Looking concerned about a person who’d suddenly fainted at his party.

It had never really been fun for me to be in public gatherings with Nolan. He was so different when he switched into Prince mode. I didn’t like that side of him.

It made me ache. Like I missed him, even though he was right there.

It made me miss the version of Nolan that I knew in private. The one with glowing green eyes and a real smile. And, sometimes, my blood on his lips.

Then I heard sirens coming from a distance, getting louder by the second.

They were coming from the front of the palace, carrying through the big marble hallway and echoing into the ballroom.

A crowd had gathered around Gina and the two people attending to her. I could only keep track of Nolan because he stood so much taller than everyone else.

“Clear out! Clear the way!”

Suddenly Gamma warriors were pushing the crowd back, away from the dance floor, and shouting for everyone to make a path from the door.

Then a few emergency medics came running in, carrying a plastic gurney and several bags of medical equipment. They shooed everyone away from Gina.

Nolan finally looked over at me, meeting my eyes across the room the second that he turned his head.

I couldn’t read the expression in his eyes.

NOLAN

All he had wanted to do was get rid of Gina. Get her out of here.

It was not just what he wanted. His wife and his mother were watching him, waiting for him to remove an unwelcome scandal from their presence.

Nolan looked down at Gina as the paramedics strapped her onto a gurney. Her eyes blinked open as they lifted her into the air and began to carry her away. She found Nolan and smiled when they made eye contact.

He saw a camera flash. And knew that whatever photo was just snapped, it was not going to look good for him.

Finally, Gina was in the hands of qualified professionals and Nolan could stop acting so concerned.

He turned and rushed over to Yena and his mother.

Luna whispered something into Yena’s ear. She nodded at Nolan from a short distance, then turned and walked away.

The princess stood alone, then, when Nolan reached her side.

“I don’t even know where to start,” he said. “Can we please get out of here and go talk?”

Yena looked like she had gone numb. The color was gone from her usually rosy cheeks.

“I’m so sorry, Yena. Please come with me.”

She let him take her hand and lead her away.

It was a long, tense walk to their suite but then they were in the privacy of their bedroom, and Yena finally spoke.

“Why was that bitch here tonight?” she asked slowly, through clenched teeth.

“I’m sorry,” Nolan said again. He paused, not sure where to start. He was trying to remember when exactly Gina had started texting him again.

“I didn’t ask you if you were sorry. I asked why she came to your birthday party.”

Nolan exhaled. He got close to Yena and moved to put his arms around her waist. She gave him a stern look and shook her head, making him recoil.

“She’s been trying to contact me.” Nolan took his jacket off and draped it over the back of a chair, then loosened his tie.

“Trying to contact you? What does that mean? Did you talk to her?”

Nolan looked Yena in the eye and felt intensely how angry she was with him.

“There’s nothing going on with me and her, I promise you,” he said.

“Then why won’t you answer my questions?”

“I’m sorry,” he mumbled. “Yes, I talked to her once. She was texting me nonstop, and I called her to tell her to leave me alone.”

Yena tapped her foot impatiently. Her arms were crossed over her chest.

“And did you talk about anything else? When you called her?”

“No.”

“Did she ask you if she could come to your party?” Yena pressed on.

“Not on the phone,” Nolan answered honestly. “She texted me again another day. I deleted her messages before reading them because she was pissing me off.”

“That worked out well,” Yena grumbled sarcastically.

She turned and walked over to the bed. She pressed her hands down onto the soft blanket and hung her head.

“Yena…”

Nolan walked up behind her. He put a hand on her back. And found himself pushing his hips into her… starting to bend her over…

Yena trembled and took a deep breath in.

Nolan ran one hand forward over her shoulder and down her collarbone. She was wearing the gold necklace he had given her. His fingertips dipped down below the neckline of her dress, pressing into her soft breasts.

Then, before he knew what he was doing, Nolan unzipped Yena’s dress and stripped it off her.

Then he bent his body over hers again and grabbed her by the hips with both hands.

Yena turned her head to the side and pressed her cheek into the blanket.

Nolan loosened his tie and took it off, throwing it onto the bed.

“You want me to fuck you, Princess?”

“Please,” she whimpered, looking back at him with pleading in her big blue eyes.

He took his time unbuttoning just the top two buttons on his shirt. Then he loosened his belt and unzipped his pants but left them on.

“Say it again,” he said.

Nolan felt a twinge of shame as he pushed Yena’s lower back down, getting ready to fuck her. He was ashamed of how she made him lose control so quickly.

What he really needed to do with Yena right now was talk to her about something important. But that’s not what he was going to do.

Yena was still seething with anger, too. He could feel it on her. But he could feel that she wanted it, too.

Maybe it was just too much to talk right now.

Nolan was already hard. And Yena was dripping wet.

He got himself inside her before he could overthink anymore. A growl tore out from deep in his throat and he felt electricity pulsing through every cell in his body.

Every other thought in the world left his mind.

Nolan pulled Yena’s blonde curls aside and put his mouth to her ear.

“I told you to beg me,” he growled.

Yena twisted around and clutched at the waist of Nolan’s pants, so she could keep her eyes on his.

“Please,” she said breathily. “Fuck me harder.”

Nolan couldn’t help himself. He threw her forward on the bed and climbed up on top of her.

His mouth found its way back to her ear, and he whispered, “I fucking love you.”

Yena shivered and moaned.

She reached her hand back and clutched at Nolan’s hair as he continued kissing her neck frantically and fucking her from behind.

“Harder…” she begged again.

“Anything you want, Princess.”

Suddenly there was a loud knock at the door.

He probably should have pulled out and shushed Yena. But instead he lost his very last ounce of control and fucked her like a madman, making her scream.