Read with BonusRead with Bonus

Parlez-Vous Français!

One Week Later

“We’ve been invited to dinner,” Anastasia hesitantly said to Essence, who continued to comb her hair, ignoring her. “E, did you hear me?”

Essence huffed. “Yep, but it took me an entire week to find a decent hair store and nail shop, and I’m going, so you can go to dinner at castle Crème de la crème by yourself.” She held up one of her hands. “You see my nails? I need a fill-in something terrible. Thankfully, I bought a couple wigs with me because I would have definitely lost my mind.”

Anastasia whispered, “He won’t come out of his room again, not even to work out in the courtyard anymore.”

Essence stilled. “Why not?”

“It’s the anniversary of their mother’s passing. Kano takes it really hard.”

Dropping her comb, Essence folded her arms to her chest. “What time do we need to be there?” She might not want to be mated to him, but Essence knew about loss herself. There was something about Kano’s sadness that weighed heavily on her heart since she’d met him. She rummaged through her clothes, picking up a dress.

“It’s perfect,” Anastasia said, smiling. “Thank you for coming. Cayden and I have a feeling you can get him out of his room.”

“I-I don’t know about that.”

Anastasia gave her an intense look in response. “I do.”


Walking down the familiar hall of the castle, Essence stood outside of Kano’s door. Before she knocked, he opened it and towered over her.

“How did you—” He scrunched his nose, and her eyes widened. “You can smell me?” He nodded, and she looked at him, appalled. “Oh, my God! Is it my perfume?! Because the man at the department store said I smelled like baby laughter. I swear if his jerry curl wearing ass lied to me—”

Kano shook his head feverishly. He wished more than anything he could work up the nerve to say something. To tell her she smelled like vanilla, and since the day she’d walked into his room, he’d craved to smell it again.

Essence saw glints of gold and realized it was his eyes. He pivoted his face away and blew steam from his nose in frustration. She placed her hand under her chin. “What’s wrong with your eyes?”

Your pheromones and that damn dress are what’s wrong… fucking hell! He thought as he avoided looking at her, knowing his wolf would react again. Her hair was the color of mint now, and her black dress showed him curves he’d somehow missed before when they’d been fighting. Kano could hardly process her words as he finally faced her and stood in admiration of her gorgeous face.

Essence placed her hand on her hips. “Are you gonna continue to be rude or invite me in?” Moving to the side, he let her walk past him into his room. He fiddled with his fingers as he watched her pause, taking in the changes he’d made. “You have pictures… a TV—I love your mirror!” She posed in it and snapped her fingers. “Damn.I.look. good.” Kano couldn’t help but laugh, and she smiled at him. “Hey, you laughed! We’re off to a great start.”

Her eyes locked onto something next to the TV. Walking over, she picked it up and stared at the sealed collection of Martin DVDs. She turned to him. “You got Martin? How come you didn’t open and watch them?” His face turned red, and her eyes widened. “Wait… w-were you waiting for me?” she asked.

Kano grabbed the DVDs and shoved them inside his dresser, embarrassed. She cleared her throat, changing the subject to not make his discomfort worse. “Um… so I was wondering if you would come to dinner?” He shook his head and heard her huff. “Please? The lovebirds make me sick. You know they shared a peach the other day? I can’t take that kind of assault on my eye sockets again.” She pouted dramatically at him. “Pleaseeee with a cherry on top and sprinkles. Oh and strawberry syrup… wait, what were we talking about again?” Kano closed his eyes and let out a deep laugh.

“I like your laugh,” she said, and he smiled in return. “I wish I had a decent laugh. I sound like a dying cat, and if I laugh too hard, I snort like a pig, but don’t tell anyone, though.” She laughed, and Kano gave her a small smile.

“I like your laugh a lot,” he whispered.

She grinned. “Thank you. Now, will you put me out of my misery and come with me to dinner?” Inhaling sharply, he finally agreed.


At the dinner table, Cayden watched his older brother fumble with his soup. Kano let out a sigh, feeling embarrassed that his unkempt hair kept getting into it, keeping him from eating. Essence grabbed his hand, making him put down his spoon, and he looked at her hand over his. Removing it quickly, she rubbed the back of her neck.

“Sorry. I should have asked if it was okay,” she said. Avoiding his eyes, she called out to Savina, “Hey, uh, do you think you could get him a fresh bowl of soup?” Savina nodded, and walked into the kitchen, and Essence got up from the table. Disappearing down the hall, she quickly returned and stood over him. “This is me properly asking, can I put your hair up so it won’t keep getting in your face?”

His eyes shot to his brother and Cayden linked to him, “It’s okay… she just wants to help.”

Exhaling, Kano nodded and pushed himself back from the table. Essence slowly brushed his hair, undoing the tangles, and placed a high bun on the top of his head. She whispered, “Keep the scrunchie.” He looked at her, and her spit caught in her throat at the softness of his pale eyes. Gently grabbing her hand, he smiled small in appreciation. “You’re very welcome,” she said, giving him a smile in return.

Cayden watched the interaction. Fascinating. He thought to himself as they all took back to eating. After a few moments of silence, he finally spoke. “Thank you for coming to dinner, Kano. I know today is a hard day, particularly for you because mom laid—” Face hardened, Kano gave his brother a sharp look before slamming his spoon down immediately silencing him. Cayden shook his head. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking.” It was too late. Kano stood, and his massive body stormed from the dining room, leaving everyone sitting in silence.

Cayden turned to Anastasia and Essence. “This was my fault. I pushed too hard again. It’s just after all this time, I really was hoping we could remember our mother as she was instead of how she died.”

Anastasia stroked his hand. “Can I ask what happened? If it’s too painful, I understand.”

He inhaled. “She killed herself… silver nitrate. Kano was twelve, I was ten.”

Essence and Anastasia’s eyes widened. “I’m so sorry,” Anastasia murmured.

He nodded. “Thank you. I’ll be honest, it truly scarred Kano in a way that I could never understand.”

Essence paused. “What do you mean?”

“My mother”—his lip trembled slightly, and he cleared his throat—“was in his bed holding him at the time she passed. I’d crawled back into my own, but Kano woke up in her arms. I think it haunted my father, too. He could barely look at Kano after that.”

Essence dropped her spoon. “Excuse me,” she said, and quickly got up from the table as Anastasia consoled Cayden. Darting to Kano’s room, she knocked calling out to him, “I know you know I’m out here. Please, can I come in?” After a few moments, the door creaked open, and she pushed it the rest of the way.

Kano rubbed the back of his neck, and as he turned, he felt her soft hand on his arm. Hugging him as best she could, she felt his body still. She sniffled against him. “I’m so sorry that happened to you.” He closed his eyes and exhaled deeply. Feeling him hug her in return, she melted against him, and the two stayed still for a moment. Finally pulling away, she looked up at him, and before he could process it, his large hand wiped a tear from her eye. She saw his body freeze, and he quickly retracted his hand, a look of horror plastered on his face.

She reached for him. “No. It’s okay, Kano, really,” she said.

He backed away from her and folded his arms to his chest. Seeing her saddened eyes, he walked to his dresser and pulled out a picture. Kano handed her the photo of a woman with raven-colored curls that matched his.

“She’s beautiful,” she said, and he smiled small in appreciation at her words. “Thank you for sharing that with me.” He nodded and put the picture back before pulling out the DVDs. “You want to have popcorn and a Martin marathon?” she asked, grinning brightly. He gave her an award-winning smile and nodded.


Kano looked at Essence and was completely mortified at the woman on the screen. Her jagged feet were being assaulted by an electric trimmer, and she seemed to enjoy every moment.

Essence laughed at his expression. “That’s Myra. Her feet are so horrible, they have to use special tools to take care of them,” she said. His mouth dropped, and she laughed harder. “It’s not real, Kano. Nobody’s feet really need an electric trimmer that size for maintenance.” She looked down at his feet and tilted her head. “Well, no, yours definitely could probably use a saw and some other things… you know what? Let’s just set them on fire and start over.”

Kano glared at her and she laughed uncontrollably, causing her to snort. She stopped and cut her eyes. “Don’t.you.dare.laugh.” He zipped his lips with his fingers but let out a snicker. Their eyes returned to the screen, and he watched as Myra soon became bald. His face reddened, and he tried his best to keep his laughter in.

“Parlez-vous français!” Myra shouted and Kano could no longer hold back. A loud, deep laugh erupted through the room, taking Essence by surprise. Then, to her shock, she heard him snort before he quickly covered his mouth.

She cackled. “Oh my God, you just snorted!” she shouted, and he shook his head. “Yes, you did!” she said, and laughed harder at the red on his face.


“She hasn’t come out yet?” Cayden asked Anastasia, who shook her head. It was late, and they were growing worried about the fact that Essence and Kano had disappeared. Walking to his room, they saw the door open, and they peered inside. Both fully clothed, Essence laid inside his arms, buried deeply under him. An episode of Martin played in the background, as they both lightly snored. Cayden’s wide eyes looked at Anastasia. She jumped up and down and they both celebrated before they quietly closed the door.

Hearing the door close, Kano stirred, his body going into shock. He quickly raised Essence’s arm, and terror coursed through him when it slumped back down. “No! No! Please wake up… please…” he whispered, and then exhaled sharply when he heard her gently snoring. He wiped his eyes and positioned her on the other pillow, stilling when she moved back and snuggled under him again. Laying back, Kano refused to fall asleep, and he laid with his eyes open, fighting his drowsiness. Every few seconds, he checked to make sure that Essence was still breathing, and each time the fear that he’d awake to find that like his mother, he’d killed his mate grew more and more in his heart.

Previous Chapter
Next Chapter