Unlikely Queen (Crystal Castle 1)

I feel these things for him.

I want to do these things to him.

So many dirty things.

He looks into my eyes, and if I hadn’t looked into his a hundred times before, I would look away at the power they hold. But I have, and I can tell that despite how hard they look, he is kind. To me, at least. To others, perhaps not.

Cold hands brush my face before they fall ever so slowly down my cheeks, dragging along my neck before they land on my hips. He grips me, and I feel myself only thinking of him.

How can his touch drive me so mad? It’s a simple touch, yet it makes my insides scream with madness.

Madness for him.

“Some things are better left unsaid.”

I reach out and graze his hip, and he doesn’t pull away.

I can feel him between my legs, our bodies that close. Would it be wrong if I started to move to see what he would do? If I touched him between his legs… Would he need me, or want me, the same way I want him?

“Tell me,” I demand. I lean up on my tippy-toes, ready to kiss him, to feel his lips for the first time, but he stops me, his finger reaching out and touching my lips.

“It’s time for you to go now, little fighter.”

I open my mouth to argue with him, but before I can, I am back where we left from and everyone is looking at me like I’ve grown a second head, which I know I haven’t.

John has Tatiana around the waist as if he is holding her back, and when she spots me, she instantly calms and he lets her go.

“You aren’t allowed to do that again.” Tatiana reaches for me, but when she touches me, she swears and pulls her hand away.

“What?” I ask her, confused.

“You are like fire. Look…” She shows me her hand and I can see the red marking from where she touched me. Everyone is quiet as they watch me.

“What am I?” I ask her softly, so my voice doesn’t crack or break. “Grim touched me, and I didn’t hurt him,” I tell her. “So why did I hurt you?”

Tatiana looks back to John, who walks over and touches my shoulder, and when he does, he pulls away just as quickly as Tatiana did.

“Fuck, you are literally like fire.”

“What does that even mean?” I ask, my voice becoming shrill with fear.

My sister appears worried for a second before she turns away. “We have to get Tanya. We can work it all out after that. I’m sure it’s nothing bad, Talia. Your power has been through a lot more than you’re used to. Let’s come up with a plan, then we go from there.”

I nod because right now that’s all I can do.

She watches me while the group listens as John starts speaking. I want to lean on her shoulder, to tell her I love her, but I can’t. I’m too afraid I may hurt her, or worse, kill her. I am craving her comforting touch, yearning for the attention that I desperately seek right now. There is simply no way to risk it. At this moment, I am on my own, and the only person I can touch without hurt and destruction is Death himself. How peculiar—it goes against everything logical and within reason.

Slowly, I step closer to her and lean in enough so only she can hear me, but not close enough to actually touch her.

“Are you afraid of me?”

Her eyes go wide at my words. “No, never.”

I know she means it, but it doesn’t make me feel any better. Touch is something I crave, but I know right now, it’s off the table.

“I didn’t mean to. Before…” I don’t even know what it was, or how to even discuss it. All I do know is I couldn’t control it a second longer.

“I know. And that’s something we will work on at a later date. You know I will do anything in my power to help you. But right now, Tanya needs us.”

I know she’s right, it needs to be less about being in my own head right now and more about being here. When I focus back on our surroundings, I see that everyone was listening to our conversation.

Shit! Wolf hearing, I forgot about that.

John starts talking again, and all eyes go back to him.

“We have no home anymore, and you still expect us to help them?” one of the wolves says, the edge in their voice full of resentment.

I try to keep my head low as they sort it out. But I lean over to Patrick who is now sitting next to me in the grass, his knees up, watching his alpha intently.

“What happened to your home?”

“You happened.” An angry wolf glares at me. It’s the same woman from the night we arrived on their land. Clearly, she wants no business with us. “If you hadn’t entered our land, demanded that we help you, and taken our alpha away, we wouldn’t be here.” She’s angry, and the angrier she gets, the closer she steps toward me.