I was stalling. Big time.

I no more wanted this male to bite me on the shoulder than I wanted to get my period six times a month.

Actually, I really was hungry. There were snotty little hoity-toity hors d’oeuvres at the party, but they weren’t enough to fill up a turtle.

Harrison listened for a few minutes and then agreed with whatever Oscar was saying.

“Sorry, Oscar likes to talk hockey. Even on my wedding night, apparently. The food will be here in a few minutes. Anything else you need? I’m being a bad host.”

“Nope. Let’s get this started. Since you and your cousin started the conversation . . . first curse word and how old?”

He leaned back and thought a while. “Eight or nine, I think, and it was ‘ass’. That’s my mom’s favorite word.”

I thought back over the events of the day. I hadn’t spoken to Harrison’s mother all night. Speaking to Harrison’s mother was something I actually looked forward to. She was said to be a lovely, kind, and generous queen.

The alpha queen was the one person in this household whom my people did not completely despise. Harrison had better not expect me to sit in a corner and not speak to anyone like some kind of blind and deaf trophy wife.

Shit, I guess I would have to if I wanted our debt paid and a life that would be money-worry free.

“I didn’t get a chance to talk to her tonight.”

“Who, my mom? Did you want to?”

I shrugged. “I’ve heard a lot about her. She seems like good people.”

“My mother is the best of people. Some days she’s the only reason I don’t run like hell from this place.”

“Like you could even get out of here.”

He gave me some serious side-eye. “Maybe I can.”

I was about to ask him what he meant and where the door was to get there when a light knock at his—or our—bedroom door sounded, and in walked a strong-looking young man, maybe a few years younger than Harrison and me. Maybe he was the same age as both of us. I would add that question to the list of the many things I didn’t know about the man I had just married.

“Everything you ordered and a few things for the lady,” he said, a little more joyfully than I would expect from a servant. “Enjoy your evening.”

He set down a large tray of delicious smelling food and left before I managed to get a thank you out.

“We played as children. He was the only other kid in the castle. It’s weird to call on him for things now. But I’m glad he got to stay.”

Whatever the memory was that Harrison was thinking about made him look downcast.

“Were you lonely as a child?”

He shrugged and took the lids off several silver platters full of a tailgater’s dream spread. “What about you? I’m tired of talking about me. Do you have brothers and sisters? They told me nothing about you other than you were educated and beautiful. They were correct on that account, by the way.”

“I have four brothers, all older. They weren’t allowed to come tonight.”

His shoulders fell as he picked up an empty plate and selected one of each item. “I’m sorry. I don’t make the rules. You said you were hungry?”

He held the plate out to me, and I was so taken aback, it took me a few seconds to react. When I did, our hands brushed, and the feeling of warmth from before came back with a fury.

But this time the sensation reverberated all over my body.

“Do you feel that, or is it just me?”

He looked stricken. “I thought it was just me. It must be because you are new here or something. We have to go to the Court of the Sun and the Moon to get your tattoo tomorrow. Maybe after that, everything will be normal again. It might be the only chance for us to get out of the castle grounds for a while, so enjoy it.”

From the tone of his voice, normal wasn’t something he wanted.

“So, tell me about this place. I mean, there are rumors, but I was blindfolded from the time I stepped off the airplane until I got to the room in the castle where my dress was. It was kind of ridiculous.”

He sat next to me. I noticed he didn’t make himself a plate. “There’s too much to tell you tonight, but I can tell you some. Havenwood Falls was founded in the 1800s by a few families who were fleeing persecution. They were attracted to this place because of the location, and they swear there’s something magical about the falls.”

He spouted the history like a teacher lecturing students, like he had no attachment to it.

“Your family was one of those?”

“No. We came a few years later. It’s a point of contention with my father. That might be a subject to avoid in conversation with him.”

The alpha from my clan back home in Louisiana was apparently very different from Harrison’s father. Black bears had one alpha over all clans, which was Harrison’s father. Then each smaller clan had their own alpha. Ours was Kar. He was the leader of a big family. We didn’t walk on eggshells around him. He was kind, just, and fair to all bears, and he certainly didn’t see my lighter hair as anything lesser.

He was one of us.

No wonder these people needed a bridge to the real world.

“Maybe you can take me into town someday.” Harrison looked uncomfortable again. “What?”

“We aren’t encouraged to leave the castle or the grounds. We are protected by a separate veil than even Havenwood Falls. The town is protected by a ward to keep the supes around here protected, but that wasn’t enough for the alpha. My father is constantly paranoid that the mages from the Luna Coven are out to get us. So he had a mage from Romania, who is not tied to the Luna Coven, come in and guard the castle with new veils.”

If I had a bunch of balloons, he would’ve just popped all of them with one stick. When I looked back up, my new mate was studying me. His gaze made me nervous again.

Harrison smiled. “Good thing I wasn’t a very well-behaved child.”

I couldn’t imagine a naughty bone in this prince’s body, but I perked up at the notion of getting out of this stuffy place just hours after arriving.

“Can we go to the falls?” I was a little eager already.

“I know a way. But first, we have to get your tattoo. It will protect you from hunters and make you recognizable to other shifters. And there are other things we have to take care of before we can even think about sneaking you out of the castle. Like . . . the mate marking.”

I knew the conversation was coming, I just hoped to avoid it for . . . forever.

“Do we have to do that tonight?”