*Alice's POV*"What is this I hear of William declaring you as his mate?" Joan asked as she walked into the kitchen to find me doing the dishes from lunch."You already heard?" I groaned. "Didn't you just get back?""So it's true?" Joan looked flabbergasted. "Yes, I just got back, and that is all the palace is talking about!"That's not good."Yeah, it's true," I told her. "He just blurted it out earlier. I got annoyed and walked away, though, so that's all I know, really."Joan kept her eyes on me, but once she was satisfied that I had no interest in William, she sighed and asked me no more questions.This wasn't good. Olivia would be looking for me to torture me if she knew anything good had happened to me. There was no doubt in my mind that she'd already heard the news, and she'd be furious—jealous, even. I needed to hide before she could find me.Then, I thought of Simon.Maybe I could sneak over to his place and wait for him to return.
*Alice's POV*"How did Simon save you?" I asked, my curiosity piqued. I couldn't get the idea of Simon, the savior, out of my head.Alan simply shook his head, but right when I thought he might answer, the phone that was still in his hand began to ring.I saw Simon's name pop up on the screen."This is Alan," he quickly answered once he saw who it was.I was standing close enough that I could hear everything that Simon said as well."The meeting is cancelled for today," his smooth voice came over the phone, making my stomach turn. "I'm sorry, Alan. Next time, I will tell you earlier."He seemed to be in a very quiet place, surrounded only by the rustle of leaves being blown by the wind. I couldn't hear any other sounds."What happened? Are you alright?" Alan asked. "You never cancel a meeting."I leaned in, wanting to hear what Simon was going to say. But instead of giving answers, he asked his own question."Is Alice with you?"My
*Alice's POV*Simon continued to walk towards me, and I panicked. I wasn't scared of him, but I was scared of his reaction.I had no idea why he laughed, but I knew he wasn't laughing because he was happy. There was no smile in his eyes.Great. After annoying him in the morning, I touched his nerve again. I stood there and watched him come towards me. I tried not to show my nervousness, but my feet just couldn't move. Olivia was stuck in the mud, and I was stuck in Simon's gaze. Our situations were different, but it was somewhat the same.Maybe I shouldn't have used Simon to scare Olivia. He eventually would hear about it from someone else if he didn't show up at this moment. But now, he was here and earlier than I expected. I thought I would be waiting until dawn.Suddenly my ankle was grabbed by a hand. Olivia reached out of the mud puddle and pulled on me, trying to use me to climb up. Because I was distracted and let my guard down, I was dragged backw
*Alice's POV*I took back my previous thoughts about punishments. I really hate running laps.It was almost dawn, but I still couldn't stop. Whenever I stopped, Simon would hit me with a pebble. I was not a kid anymore, but he still punished me for my behavior. Somehow, that made it even more humiliating.Curse him.At this point, I was over putting on the act for Simon. He never fell for it anyway, so what was the point? I threw away my usual sweet smile and disguise and became who I truly was on the inside: a mouthy shrew.I had been running for hours at this point, and my patience was running thin the more and more exhausted I got. I never took my eyes off him, and I scolded him every time I ran by the tree that he was leisurely sitting in once more."I can't believe you saved Olivia. Didn't you hear what she was yelling at me?!" I said the thirtieth time I had run past, but Simon had no reply.The forty-third time by: "Maybe if you didn't d
*Alice's POV*I wiped the sweat off my brow and brushed the dirt off of my hands. The sense of accomplishment I felt as I looked at my final trap made it worth it.The last few nights had been full of Simon teasing me, so I decided that I was going to get him back.After the night when he made me run until dawn, we officially started combat lessons.However, it wasn't in the way I was expecting or hoping.He had been provoking and teasing me every night until I would mutate. Simon believed that for me to be truly strong that I needed to quit rejecting my mutations and use them to fight. And it pissed me off.I knew that shifter blood was stronger, but that didn't mean I magically liked it. So, he had to provoke me every night in order to get me to change.Simon would corner me or rush me or do whatever he thought necessary until I would shift. Most of the time, it was rage that caused me to shift, but occasionally it was pain as well. Or even surprise
*Alice's POV*Simon guided me towards his separate housing, keeping his warm hand pressed against my back the entire way. Despite whether I saw anyone else or not, I kept my face covered. It wasn't until Simon had shut the door that I began to lower my hands.But even still, his presence alone was enough to make me doubt myself. So, I self consciously turned away so that he wouldn't be able to see me. He had made a comment that he didn't think that the beard had made me ugly, but that didn't mean I liked it."This is new," Simon said from behind me.I turned my head slightly to see him staring at himself in the mirror. There were angry red spots across his entire face and even from this distance, I could see the white heads. It was the worst looking acne I had ever seen.Even though I should be disgusted, I couldn't help the roar of laughter that came out of me as I stared at him. Simon looked at me in surprise, but then laughed as well. I tried to gather mysel
*Alice's POV*On the way back to the main palace, I stopped and pulled out the pen and paper from my dress pocket. Time for payback. And it would even kill two birds with one stone.I scribbled out a quick note to Olivia, pretending to be Simon, and asked her to meet him at our training spot. I couldn't help but smile at the wickedness of it. Simon would be teased romantically, since Olivia was not so easy to get rid of. She thought everyone should like her. Although she was afraid of Simon, she would go crazy if she thought that he liked her. And Olivia would be humiliated, just like she attempted to do to me earlier.It was a win-win.Since I was already about, I finished up a couple of things to help Joan before getting back to my plan. The last thing I did was swing by the bedrooms. Dropping the note off at her room, I hurried back to my own to change into my training clothes to get there as soon as possible. I needed to be there so I could eavesdrop and w
*Alice's POV*A tall, midnight black wolf appeared in front of my eyes.I watched as he rolled his front shoulder, and it seemed to heal in front of my eyes. I knew that healing was accelerated when in wolf form, but that was impressive.The moonlight reflected off of his coat as he walked up to me slowly.He was so handsome.For the first time, I found myself not feeling fear or hatred as I stared into his wolf eyes. Simon must have sensed my comfort or acceptance because he stepped even closer and bowed his back, nudging against me.After a couple more nudges, I realized that he was wanting me to get onto his back. I self-consciously lifted my leg over him and settled behind his shoulder blades.His fur was soft, yet rough at the same time under my hands. I tried my hardest to make sure I wasn't pulling on any of it. It was hard to know what to do when I had never rode on a wolf before.As soon as I was settled, he walked towards the road and o