[Author's note: This is a sequel to an earlier work, The Fae Queen's Pet, which is available here.]

I heard her before she entered the room. Her footsteps were light as if the wind carried her feet across each piece of the floor. And sometimes it actually did. She used to sneak up on me, but in the three months I’d lived in Featherstone, the Raven Queen had fallen prey to my advanced predatory senses, the kind only a fierce huntress could cultivate. 

My senses would never be as sharp as those of my inner wolf, but enough bled through that I was a better tracker than any human and most faeries. 

Casually striding over to the window in my bedroom, I unlatched it and waited for the queen’s knock at my door. Two arrived. She was growing impatient. 

Good, I thought. Just what I wanted. 

I called for my mistress to enter, and she opened the door. I noticed Barsilla, her arrogant left-hand lady hovering just above the queen’s shoulder. That piskie had grown increasingly fed up with my antics as of late. At least, she made a big show of it. 

Of course, when my eyes hovered over the queen, I felt my heart skip a beat. Eyes widening as though I was looking at her for the first time, I came within inches of dropping my plan entirely. Her otherworldly beauty held me in a trance, seven feet of alluring artistry from her sleek obsidian hair to her enrapturing violet eyes that held all the mysteries of a Faerie Queen seemingly within reach, daring all who saw to reach forward. 

Her words floated across the room to my ears with all the confidence of a monarch who expected obedience and steadfast loyalty. 

“Come, my pet. I’m scheduled to hold court in 10 minutes, and I need my fearsome beast.” 

It took almost everything I had not to prance across the room and throw myself at her. The tiny fae hovering nearby had her usual pencil and clipboard out at the ready in case she needed to write down something important. Barsilla’s eyes practically said, “Do it. I dare you.” 

But that was ridiculous. The piskie couldn’t have known what I was planning, right? I looked at her again in her tiny librarian outfit. And just staring at the representation of order and rules in the palace rekindled some spark of rebellion in my bratty ass. 

“Apologies, mistress,” I said, not looking at Varella again because I knew her eyes would lure me in again, freezing me in my tracks. 

“Don’t you dare,” was all I heard Barsilla say as I frantically slid the window open and leaped outside. The queen was fast, and I felt her grasp millimeters from my nape as I dove toward the palace grounds a few stories below. 

Landing and immediately tucking into a roll, I exhaled. Then I rose with as much speed as I could leech from my inner wolf and bolted toward the back of Featherstone. 

From the window, I heard my mistress’ low tenor voice carry a warning, “My pet. . .” 

Those words sent a shiver down my spine, and I knew this was fucking with her schedule. But I didn’t care. You welcome a brat into your home, and you should be expected to anticipate the consequences. 

I didn’t hear her leaping out the window after me, just the soft swish of wild rye grass under my feet as I bolted away from where I landed. 

Will she endure the humiliation of being seen chasing down her pet werewolf, or will the mighty queen march herself to hold court without the fierce beast she’s grown so accustomed to wielding over her nobles and guests? I thought, snickering. 

A few months ago when I’d arrived at Featherstone, freshly ensnared in a bargain of the queen’s making, I wouldn’t have dared acted this way. There were probably mice in the walls of the basement that were less timid than me. 

But what can I say? The queen and her best intelligence agent had made me very comfortable here. They’d given the werewolf a cookie, and in turn, she’d not only stolen the entire glass of milk but the jar of remaining sweets as well. 

Okay, normally I wasn’t this bad. But this week had been long, and restlessness was building up in every joint of my body. Maybe I was a little pissy. Or perhaps the full moon was three nights away. 

Both things could be true, I thought, the rear guard tower coming into view as I rounded a corner. 

It stood a few stories higher than my window with a narrow spiral staircase running up the center. A few faerie guards stood on the ground watching me bolt for the stone bridge behind the palace. They were armed with spears and leather armor bearing the queen’s crest in the center, a black bird, head back, beak open, and crying to the sky with its wings spread wide. 

The guards looked nervously at each other as I continued running full speed in nothing but my silk pajamas with various puppy designs sewn into the fabric. My curly brown hair bounced behind me, and I realized the guards were calculating how much trouble they’d get in if I was allowed to simply cruise on by. 

“Um. . . Sierra?” One woman with short green hair cut into a bob stammered as she took a step to block my path. 

I leaped about five feet over her head using every bit of that borrowed werewolf strength in my legs. She didn’t move to grab me, just scratching her cheek in confusion. Looking further up the guard tower, she called for Ceras. 

The queen’s top talon jumped from the second story and landed behind me, hand axe rattling at their side. 

“What is it, Belamie?” They asked as I continued running for the bridge, morning sunlight reflecting off the lake. The scent of forest and fish entered my senses as my brain told me I was nearly free. 

“Do we just let the royal pet go?” Belamie asked. 

Turning back for a brief moment and running backward, I yelled, “Ceras! If you see the queen, stall her! And suggest to her that I went out the front gate into town. Please and thank you!” 

Rushing off into the tree line, the last thing I heard was Ceras chuckling to themselves and stretching. 

“Patrols turn up anything this morning?” They asked. 

“No,” Belamie said. 

“Then we’ll let her majesty sort out this issue with her pet. She’ll be fine,” Ceras said. “Besides, I doubt the queen has let her prized possession get too far ahead of her.” 

Rushing into the trees and seeing aspens, evergreens, and other greenery native to Faerie, I sneered. 

Bullshit, I thought. There’s no way the queen would delay court to rush after me. 

Bushes whipped around me, and I jumped over a stump, knowing it would be more difficult for the queen to fly through the treetops and snatch me from above. That was assuming she was giving chase. 

After about five minutes, I came to a stop, sweaty and heart-hammering. This particular patch of trees wasn’t far from where the queen had put down my inner wolf, earning the right to be my pack leader. 

My eyes darted at every snapped twig, a bead of sweat running down my cheek. To my left, a rabbit took one look at me and decided it could afford the risk of chomping on a purple flower nearby. 

Bitch, I’m a werewolf, I thought. You should be fleeing in the opposite direction. 

Puffing out my chest, I turned toward the brown and white rabbit. I put my hands on my hips and said, “Excuse me. Do you know what I am? You dare to snack in the presence of a fearsome werewolf? An apex predator for which capturing a rabbit in her jaws would be pup’s play?” 

The rabbit didn’t even turn its head to acknowledge my words. It just continued chewing on the flower’s stem, taking the vegetation in like a board into a sawmill. 

Raising my hands slowly and pretending I had the claws of my inner wolf, I took a step toward the bunny. 

“You should be more cautious in assessing your surroundings for danger, Bugs.” 

The rabbit’s blue eyes finally glanced over at me as it sniffed at another flower nearby, this one with a large yellow bulb. Its nose and whiskers twitched before it decided to ignore me once more and snatch another snack. 

“I’m serious, little bunny. Surely you smell the wild canine inside of me. Your heart should be pounding in your chest, eyes watching my claws for any hint of movement. Otherwise, when you’re distracted, you might yourself suddenly hoisted into the air and EEEEEP—,” I shrieked, interrupted by a sudden, terrible force of upward movement that snagged my shoulders. 

Up through tree branches I went, air sucked out of my lungs from sheer terror at the speed with which I was being carried. 

Looking down, I watched the trees below me start to shrink, and then I felt myself suddenly reversing direction, falling toward the lake approaching terminal velocity. 

“Fuuuuucccckkkk meeeeeeee,” I screamed, preparing for a sudden bath of epic proportions. As a werewolf, I was a bit tougher than the average human even when I walked on two legs. But from this height, I could at least expect a bruise or two landing in the water. 

And then, just as I steadied myself for a fishy fate, a pair of well-toned arms caught me just a few feet above the lake water. I was close enough to already smell the algae and aquatic turtles I prepared to join. Yet, I’d been given a reprieve. 

Looking up at my savior, I saw the Raven Queen grinning down at me with all the smug satisfaction radiating from her face that she could muster. Two large black-feathered wings carried us over the water as Varella gradually moved into a hover, holding me Lois Lane style in her arms. 

The lake wind swirled around my hair and floppy pajamas as her violet eyes found mine. The inhuman red eyes I carried were locked in her gaze, not even wielding enough strength to frighten a wee rabbit. Goddamn, some days I was a downright disgrace to the canine race. 

“Well, my pet. I hope you got all those. . .what do you mortals call them? Zoomies? Out of your system. We’ve got a long day at court ahead,” she said, the grin never leaving her face. She knew I wouldn’t get far. She knew! 

Sighing, I crossed my arms. 

“I bet I was so close to getting away. You probably panicked and used all your magic to track me down,” I said, frowning. 

“Actually, I was watching you from the sky the entire time. You’re in the heart of my court, where my magic is at the epicenter of intensity. Before your feet even touched the ground I was in the air above you,” she said, laughing. 

Her dulcet chortle left me wanting to curl up in her arms and wrap myself tightly within her grip, closing my eyes and forgetting about all the needs and responsibilities of running a queendom for the day. 

But no! I’d done this for a reason, and she needed to know why. Even if the inconvenience was beyond minor, she had to know there was a point. Well. . .as much of a point as my bratty ass could make for being obstinate, which typically wasn’t much beyond being eternally difficult for the sake of adversity. 

“Yeah, well. I wasn’t even really trying. You’re lucky I didn’t let my inner wolf loose,” I said, arms crossed tighter. 

“Ah yes, an ability you’ve yet to manifest here, even after three full moons. But rest assured, my pet. Even if you were on four paws instead of two legs, I could have easily snatched you from the forest floor as I did just minutes ago,” she said. 

And then the queen’s grin started to fade as she raised an eyebrow. 

“Though your inner wolf wouldn’t have run just before court anyway. It seems to be tamer the longer you remain under the weight of my sorcery and influence, bound by my bargain. But you, Sierra, acted out unexpectedly this morning. Why?”

This was my chance! Here I could let her have it! But instead of unleashing a torrent of words, I just found myself lost in her eyes again. There wasn’t an ounce of impatience in her voice, despite today’s events being delayed by a few minutes. Though I guess you start when the queen says you start. And if you have a complaint, her werewolf would bite your face off. 

Sighing again, I sagged in her grip, words caught in my throat that I couldn’t seem to dislodge or cough up. Fuck, all I could do was that infamous bottom gesture where I pointed my index fingers at each other and looked pathetic. 

On second thought, it’s no wonder the rabbit didn’t run away screaming earlier, I thought. 

“Come now, my pet. You ran for a reason. Out with it. It’s just the two of us here over the lake,” Varella said with an added softness to her tone. The game was over. And now I had to suffer the consequences of my actions, namely being upfront about my feelings. Surely there was something a little easier I could endure, being locked in an Iron Maiden or forced to listen to Rascal Flatts on repeat?

The queen made no move to rush me, which just increased the feelings of wanting to curl up tight against her breasts and have a few hours with her all to myself. 

“You’ve been so busy lately,” I finally managed in a pathetic whisper. That was all the queen got for at least 30 seconds. 

A crane covered in pink and white feathers flew around us and closer to the shoreline of the palace while my mistress waited for more words. 

“And Lily’s still gone on her assignment in the Tulip Court. I just— maybe I needed you to pay attention to your pet for a few minutes this morning,” I said, looking anywhere but her eyes. Saying this stuff was embarrassing enough. 

The Raven Queen did not sigh. And she chose her following words carefully. 

“You speak right, my little wolf. My work and duties have increased threefold over the last few weeks,” she said. 

“And you won’t tell me what you’ve been working on. Whenever I ask, you give me some vague answer meant to dismiss my curiosity,” I said. 

The queen looked over the palace for a moment. Her eyes carried a quiet contemplation that I couldn’t begin to analyze. But then again, she was a Faerie Queen who’d lived for centuries. Her perspective was bound to be drastically different than mine. And maybe I’d forgotten that. 

“I’ve been working on Bliss, Sierra. And it's remained under wraps so much so that not even Cereas knows about it. Even your girlfriend hasn’t heard my plan yet. So why don’t we have dinner tonight, just the two of us, and then I’ll finally answer all your questions,” the queen said. 

Now that did lift my heart pretty high to the point I felt like I was running on clouds. Damn if my mistress didn’t know exactly what strings to pull. 

All I could do was nod and finally give in to the temptation to nuzzle up into Varella. I breathed deep in her scent of chilly night air and raspberries that I’d come to associate with safety and comfort. I sighed one last time, content with the answers that’d been given me. 

The Raven Queen leaned down and slowly kissed my forehead, sending a tickle of delirium through my mind. It was something much more powerful than serotonin, and I made a muffled noise of pleasure. 

“Can we head back to Featherstone now? I’m afraid your inner wolf’s presence is required,” Varella whispered. 

“Just one more minute hovering here, please. I need you, mistress. So let me have you for just a little longer.” 

And because she spoiled me rotten, I got five more minutes with Varella just holding me over the water, morning breeze carrying our hair around us this way and that. 

I need to run away from her more often, I thought.