Darcy Branwyn

My writing playlist: If I Ever Lose my Faith in You. It would take a few posts just to explain everything that’s going on with Danielle and Lothar, and what they stand to lose for being together, so I’ve decided to ease into that through several excerpts rather than info dumping on you guys. 🤪 Oh, and as a side note, Lothar always calls Danielle, Darling.

…There had been a time when he’d cared. He’d taken his inherited responsibilities as head of the Council seriously. The majority of Darling’s pregnancy had been spent dodging council meetings so that he could be with her or on his phone or computer in their quarters. She’d said she hadn’t minded him being preoccupied, that being together had been enough for her. But he’d minded. All the things he’d had to keep from her for years in order to keep his status, like how he loved her more than was allowed, or that he’d attacked and almost killed a mortal over her once.

And for what?

What was the point?  To keep her safe, their children safe? Was the pack even safe for them anymore?

Lothar nearly threw his phone at a tree.

Darling caught his arm. “Ah, maybe not so much.”

He looked at her for a long time. At last he felt her nudging his mind with hers; she was gauging his emotions. Finally, she let go of his arm.

“Okay, go for it,” she said.

“Yes?”

“Yes.”

He threw it at the nearest pine tree, the phone shattering on impact. He felt slightly better. She went over to inspect the damage, then bent to pick up what was left of the splintered screen.

She looked at him. “Sometimes, I almost regret not letting you slug Fredrick. It’s kind of sexy when you get like this.”

He shook his head at her. Only she would think that. She tossed the broken piece aside. “Too bad they can still reach us through my phone.”

“I know.”

“Feel any better?”

“Slightly.”

“Want to break anything else?” She looked a little too excited about that; there was a gleam in her eye. “Maybe we shouldn’t be left to our own devises, huh?”

“I believe that is what the Council is beginning to think, Darling.” She was being too light about this, but he appreciated what she was trying to do.

“If we’d stayed home instead of helping out vampires they probably would have left us be.”

“I think it was too much for Fredrick, to see you again, now that you’ve had children.” He couldn’t not look her over. It was compulsorily. She didn’t just look different, but better.

She knew.

Him, and what he was thinking.

Darling came to him. Reaching up, she pushed his hair back. “I’m not sure why you don’t cut your hair anymore, but I think that’s sexy too.”

He hadn’t really thought about it, other than he just didn’t care. There were a lot of things he didn’t care about anymore. He’d been too controlled for too long, for her, for their race because there were all kinds of expectations on him as alpha. Because of all the years he’d wanted her but knew what end it would come to—the end it was coming to.

“You’re not as restricted as you used to be,” she said. She could, technically only feel his emotions but she was aware enough of him to turn them into thoughts. She shrugged. “There was a time when that would’ve terrified me.”

“And now?”

“Now I regret having put so much pressure on you in the first place.”

He shook his head.

“I know, you would never blame me, but I do.”

He reached for her, pulling her against him a little harder than he’d intended. “Sorry,” he said.

She looked up at him and smiled in that way she did that made him want to be her next meal. It was bad. They were under orders from the Council to return to Lithuania immediately. Her father couldn’t hold them back any longer, and all Lothar could think about was her. Having him. Right now.

“This may be why they don’t allow males like me to exist,” he said.

“Stop. No.”  

“It is though.” Territorial Aggression was rare but forbidden. If he was convicted of it, then the hunter would become the hunted. And there would be nothing she could do to stop it.

“I don’t care,” she said. “Just don’t talk like that.” She came up on her toes, grabbed his head and pulled his face to hers. Kissing him might have been a bad idea. He was on a hair-trigger. But then again, she probably knew that. He hitched her thighs up around his waist and she wrapped her arms around his neck like she had no intentions of letting go ever.

He got them to their tent but she had a stranglehold on him. “Darling?”

“Oh.” She released her legs from around him and slid to the ground. She grabbed his shirt, pulling it off of him as fast as she could.

They couldn’t get at each other fast enough, or have each other hard enough. Eventually, they both collapsed from exhaustion…

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