Wolf Princess Sold to the Dragon King novel Chapter 78

Chapter 78: Cuddling Without Consent: A Ryker Report

The bed exploded. One second she was asleep against his chest. The next, his body rocketed upright and she was airborne.

Ice packs went everywhere. One hit the headboard. One hit the floor. One hit her in the face.

The lamp went next, knocked off the table. Glass shattered.

Her hand flew to her chest, heart slamming against her ribs. Every future nap she ever took was going to carry the trauma of this moment.

Maddox zeroed in on her.

"Who the fuck are you?"

Of all the ways she had imagined him waking up, and she had imagined several, none of them had included this sentence.

Her mouth opened. No sound came out.

"Answer me. Now." His voice was cold. The temperature of a king who had woken up with a strange woman in his bed and was three seconds from solving that problem permanently.

Guinevere blinked a few times, stunned. She had received many looks in her life. None of them had broken her heart like this.

The door slammed open. Ryker was through it with his blade drawn, scanning for the threat.

He immediately sheathed it, assuming Maddox had just woken up startled and the lamp was a casualty.

"You just scared the daylights out of me. How are you feeling?"

Maddox’s eyes cut to Ryker, then back to Guinevere.

"Maddox?" Ryker’s brows knit. "Why are you looking at her like you look at the elders?"

"Arrest her."

Two words Ryker had hoped to never hear. The refund policy on Guinevere Lunaris was going to be complicated.

"You want me to arrest her," Ryker echoed. "I’ll answer that for you. No, you don’t."

"Yes I do. Now."

"What did she do? Laugh at your jokes and call you handsome?"

"She broke into my chambers, Ryker. A stranger got into my bed, wearing almost nothing, and was touching me without my consent."

On a scale of one to revealing, these pajamas sat at a six compared to the others Maddox had given her. She was wearing a camisole, matching shorts, and a bralette underneath just in case Aldric came back in.

"She was cuddling you without your consent." Ryker’s tone was flat and his face dead serious.

"Yes. She had her hands on me. And she’s wearing nothing."

"Bandaged hands," Ryker corrected. "Holding ice on your wounds."

"Someone get her some clothing and remove her, now."

"You picked those shorts, Maddox. You held them up and said, ’she’ll look incredible in these.’ Direct quote. I said, ’Please stop showing me women’s clothing.’ And you said, ’You’re just jealous no one wears shorts for you, Ryker.’ And I have not recovered."

"Ryker. This isn’t funny."

"Maddox, she is your wife. And I agree, I’m your High General, not your shopping companion."

"My wife." Maddox repeated it the way a man repeats a bad joke. "I don’t have a wife."

Ryker glanced at her, then back at Maddox. "Yes you do. You dreamed about her. One trip across an ocean. Seven hundred and fifty million pounds of gold. That girl. Ring any bells?"

Maddox looked at Guinevere again. His eyes moved down her body, across the baby blue pajama set, her bandaged hands, and the tears cutting tracks down her face. He looked at her like a thing he found contemptible.

Ryker: Jaxon. Sterling. Aldric. Maddox’s chambers. Move.

The mindlink was the tactical equivalent of pulling a fire alarm. Every name on that list would arrive at full speed, in varying states of dress, with varying levels of context.

He paused for one second, then added a name that cost him something.

Ryker: Kael. I need you in Maddox’s chambers.

"Maddox." Ryker’s voice shifted into the register he used when he needed the man inside the king to hear him. "I swear on my dragon. She is your wife and the woman you love."

Maddox’s jaw worked. His eyes hadn’t left Guinevere.

Her hand found her mouth before she knew it had moved. The look on his face wasn’t something she had a framework for.

"Easy there, buddy," Ryker said. "We have a war summit starting in a few hours. I need you to be king then, otherwise I have to be responsible and we both know how that goes."

Maddox didn’t laugh. He always laughed at that. Another joke with a lifetime success rate hitting the floor. Ryker was starting to take it personally.

Maddox took a step toward Guinevere. Then another.

Sterling entered at that moment. He took in the scene in one pass: Maddox advancing, Guinevere backed against the wall, Ryker positioned between them with his hand up.

Kael came through the door behind him.

"M-M-Maddox?" Guinevere whispered.

The stutter destroyed every man in the room at different speeds. Ryker first. Sterling second. Kael third, and his landed the hardest because he had caused it once.

In a blur, Maddox closed the distance and wrapped his hands around her throat.

Three men moved simultaneously. None of them made it in time.

Jaxon and Aldric entered the room just as her slippers left the ground. Her hands flew to his arms on reflex, but she didn’t fight him.

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify