I inhaled his scent, barely containing the shiver that raced down my spine. It was a mixture of sandalwood and a hint of whiskey. The button-up shirt he wore did little to conceal the contours of his body, which I studied absently. Not too beefed up, but more than a swimmer’s build. His arms were lightly tattooed, with writing in ancient languages, if I wasn’t mistaken. He wore jeans that hugged powerful legs ending at black Doc Martin shit-kickers. I pulled my gaze from his body and rested it on his face, taking in the sharp jawline that was lightly dusted in a five o’clock shadow. His mouth was full, sensual, and pulled back tightly to reveal a smile that was all teeth.
“Are you finished eye-fucking me?” he asked darkly, his voice sending a shiver racing down my spine.
“Maybe,” I said before giving myself a mental shake. “Since when does Haven Falls need a king?” His eyes did a slow perusal of my body, stopping briefly over the top I wore, which crisscrossed over my chest, exposing my midriff and sides, leaving a little more cleavage than I was comfortable with being exposed to his heated stare. My skirt was slit up the sides of my legs, revealing both thighs before it stopped at my hips. The boots I wore matched his, but they were more for comfort than kicking ass. Slowly, his eyes lifted to my breasts once more before stopping on my face.
“Since I took control of it,” he growled. The sound of his voice slithered over my flesh, wrapping around my throat until air no longer could enter my airway. “Who the fuck would you be, little girl?”
“Aria Hecate, daughter of Freya Hecate, born of Hecate,” I smirked impishly, watching as his eyes narrowed, and the tick in his jaw hammered at the mention of my last name. “These are my sisters, and I assure you, even as the king, you don’t have the authority to remove us.”
He chuckled seductively, closing the distance until he was in my space, breathing my air until there wasn’t enough for the two of us to inhale. His breath fanned my flesh; his proximity forced my neck to careen to hold his stare. He lifted his hand and brushed a single finger over my cheek as he stared me down.
“Hecate,” he hissed as if the name was something vile stuck to the tip of his tongue. “Fucking witches.” Snorting, he stared me dead in the eye as if he’d be happier with his large hands around my throat.
“Well, not sure on the fucking part, but we’re definitely witches.”
“And what is your other half, Aria Hecate? Your mother was a whore, one who slept with any creature brave enough to crawl between her thighs.”
“Me? Who knows, because as you’ve so delicately pointed out, my mother is a whore,” I noted, studying the way his eyes narrowed on me as he lifted his nose, inhaling deeply. “You want to sniff my ass too?” I assumed he was an alpha wolf, but the power radiating off of him wasn’t anything I’d felt before.
“You should leave before it’s too late, witch.” His men chuckled behind him, and I narrowed my eyes on him, letting my eyes slide down his frame before coming up to frown as if he were lacking. “Your kind is nothing but fucking trouble.”
“You don’t know me, so I suggest you stop stereotyping me with other witches. I’m not leaving because some asshole tells me to leave. I have it on good authority that, at this moment, no Hecate witch sits on the council, which means there is a line to get into this realm that isn’t getting pushed through. Tell me I’m wrong, oh great King of Haven Falls?” He stared me down with coldness in his gaze that sent ice humming through my veins. “Without one on the council, the covenant cannot award citizenship to immortals wishing to enter this realm. They need our bloodline present to approve those applications, and the process calls for a vote from each original bloodline, or did that change when you proclaimed yourself a king?” I waited for him to say something to counter it, but