Chapter 4 - Jace #2
As Jeremy speaks the words, the golden threads glitter and turn to dust. It seeps into our skin and onto the stone beneath us. Glittering, drifting in the soft breeze.
And I can feel everything. I can feel her.
She is everything.
My heart races, and my body begins to hum with need for her. My wolf wants to sink his teeth into her throat, to mark her as our own. I sneer, fighting for control.
We are married now.
I will not claim her in that way until she wants it too.
I did not come home for love. Or lust. Or desire.
I came home to lead this pack as the best Alpha this world has ever seen.
Taking a step away from Mira, I thread my hand through hers and lift her hand into the air, “My Luna, my light, I will run with you tonight,” I thunder.
“And I invite my pack to join us, to celebrate. To run until your breath is lost and your pads are raw. To have fun for the thrill, the chase, the freedom. And then to join is for a feast.”
In the clearing, people are shedding their clothes and shifting to wolf form. It’s beautiful chaos. Jeremy steps away from us, shifting with the elders. Our pack begins to run, leaping from the clearing into the trees.
I watch Mira.
She bites her lower lip, her eyes still yellow gold.
“Go ahead,” I growl.
She swallows hard, determined not to let me smell her insecurity. But it’s there. She’s shy. She’s self-conscious.
My Luna should never feel self-conscious about my gaze. Does she really have no idea how much I want her?
I lift the veil from her face and let it fall behind her. Her eyes pierce into mine, and my wolf screams against my mind.
With her breath heavy and her chest heaving, she slowly slips the thin straps of her dress off her shoulders, one at a time.
The flowing fabric slides smoothly down her body, landing at her feet on the stone.
And all time stops as my eyes trace over her naked form. More magnificent, more beautiful than I could ever have imagined. Each curve is sculpted to entice me. The softness of her, especially the fullness of her hips and her thick thighs… I can’t tear my eyes away.
Jux is wild, kicking, howling, snapping at my thoughts.
Mira shifts, and in a haze of gold and amber, Mika appears before me. Her fur was glowing in the moonlight. She lifts her head up to look at me, and her wolf looks amused. Taunting me. Daring me. Her eyes are piercing and captivating.
Then in a flash, Mika leaps from the rock, landing elegantly on the soil before darting into the forest.
I drop my robe from my body and stand naked in the night, utterly alone, my cock as hard as stone, tilting my head back and listening to my pack howling and yelping in the distance.
For a moment, I think I shouldn’t shift. Jux is not in my control. He’s feral with need.
But I must.
I must let him run.
I shift faster than ever before. And the moment the pads of my feet touch the stone, Jux takes over.
I’m sprinting, following her scent as though it were drawn in the air. I see it, through my animal eyes. I smell it as though it were something I could touch.
My wolf flexes and stretches, and muscles ripple as pleasure spreads through me.
I am more alive than ever. Tonight’s magic has taken me by surprise. The lure of it. The intensity and depth that I felt in my body.
Or maybe it was just her. All of it was her.
She’s close.
In my mind, I can hear Mika. Still teasing me, daring me to catch her. Ahead of me, a flash of gold streaks past as she leaps across my path.
Jux howls in excitement, snapping at her heels.
Mika kicks me in the jaw, and it both angers me and excites me. It makes me want to pin her on the ground with my teeth sunk into her throat. It makes me want to…
Focus, Jace. The entire pack is in these woods. You are not alone.
My wolf is twice as strong as hers. Even more so. Even with her curves and thicker form, I am far bigger than her as a man and as a wolf. She is a kitten in my claws.
When I run next to her, I have to slow my pace so that our strides are in tune, and each step becomes a rhythmic repetition of hers, with our bodies tight against each other. I feel her muscles. I feel her heartbeat.
I can’t take it anymore.
In a flash, I lose control of Jux, and he leaps onto her back.
I throw her to the ground, pinning her down, and lay my body over hers. Jux grabs her by the throat, and to my surprise, Mika doesn’t fight at all. She lies beneath me, her breath a heavy mist in the night air, with her head tilted back to expose her vulnerable neck.
My teeth have not broken skin. I don’t taste blood. But I want to. I want to mark her.
Squeezing my eyes shut, I fight with all my strength. This is not how it’s supposed to be. Mira must be willing, not just her wolf. And I can sense her holding back.
This is an obligation.
Fear stains her scent, and in a flash, it is no longer Mika locked in Jux’s jaws, but rather Mira…Naked, lying on her back with her legs spread around me.
I smell earth. I smell moss. And I smell her.
She is radiant with her caramel hair wild over her shoulders and against the soil.
Her eyes are bright gold and wide as she stares up at Jux, the wolf holding her down.
In human form, she is impossibly small beneath me.
Brittle, delicate, and even more divine as my wolf tongue licks over the heat of her throat, still locked in my jaw.
Soft flesh. Salted. The veins pulsing with heat.
My canines push dangerously into her skin.
I want to taste her center. The slick honey that I can smell soaking her delicate folds between her legs.
Jux growls, and for the first time in my life, I believe I won’t be able to control him as he presses the full weight of his body onto her. He moves to spread her legs wider, and she whimpers.
The perfect sound, the perfect scent. The perfect shape of her...
But the panic of him hurting her gives me strength, and I rip him from my mind.
Jux retreats, and I shift back to human form.
Breathless, my body is lying over hers. My hands are pressed into the soil on either side of her head, and my cock, rock hard and aching, is pushing against her spread legs. I cold thrust forward and penetrate her with one movement. The pain I feel from having her is overwhelming.
It surprises me how small she still is beneath me. And how strong her scent still is.
Now it isn’t Jux I need to control, it’s myself.
Mira’s lips are parted, and she’s taking sharp, heavy breaths.
She’s trying to hide her thoughts, but by the moon magic granted to me as Alpha, I can push past her barriers. It’s intrusive, but I’m struggling to stop myself.
Fuck he feels so good. Stop breathing his scent before you lose control.
Oh my fuck, his cock is massive. If I rock my hips up, I can…
no….stop this… this isn’t what you want.
He doesn’t even like you; he just… oh no, he’s listening…
She squeals in fright and squeezes her eyes shut as though that might block me out.
She doesn’t want this, and no matter what I want, no matter what our wolves want, I have to honor the wishes of my Luna.
With a dark growl, I push myself off her.
“I’m sorry,” I mutter, holding out my hand and pulling her to her feet.
“Jux was…” I can’t find the worlds. She stands nervously, wrapping her arms around her body.
I grab her jaw and push her head to the side to study her throat.
Brushing her long, silky hair away, I study her delicate, soft skin, red with the imprint of my teeth.
“He didn’t break the skin,” I whisper, turning her face toward mine. She stares into my eyes and says nothing.
Part of me is filled with regret. I should have let Jux claim her. In human or wolf form, I should have taken what’s mine. My wife. My Luna. As the Alpha, I have every right to do so.
But the sane part of me, the part in control, understands that my Luna is with me for eternity. If I do not have her trust and love now, I must work to earn it. We are going to lead this pack together, and Mira is already reluctant. I have already betrayed her once in the past.
To be the best Alpha, I must have the best Luna. And forcing her to be with me is not the way to begin our relationship.
“Come, let’s go and feast,” I say, stepping away and walking back toward the stone where our clothes are. I won’t shift back into wolf form. It’s too risky. I might not be able to stop him next time.
I hear her following me.
The feast is held at the mansion and goes on until early the next morning.
I’m exhausted and want nothing more than to fall into bed with my Luna, but when I invite Mira to join me in our room, she looks horrified.
“No, I uh, I can’t,” she stammers.
“Why not?” I demand, annoyed that she’s making every step difficult.
“I, um, I need to pack up a home. This was all so sudden. There are things I must tend to before I move in with you,” she says quickly.
“I won’t let you run, Mira. Whatever you’re planning, you can’t escape your duty,” I growl.
“I’m not going to escape again, I just…I can’t move in with you yet,” she huffs.
She’s playing hard to get. The little bitch wants you to take her like an Alpha should. Show your power.
Her eyes flare with disagreement. Dammit. I hadn't meant for her to hear that thought. She has a way of disarming me, breaking my usually rigid control.
“Sorry. It was an intrusive thought,” I grumble. “You may go, but there will be guards outside your cottage twenty-four-seven. I can’t take chances, Mira. I trust you will understand,” I snap, glaring at her. She nods, then hurries away, leaving me alone on our wedding night.
***
It’s late afternoon before people begin to surface after our night-long celebration.
I walk through the compound, greeting my pack, stopping to help, then clean up here and there, and listening to their congratulations and well wishes for my marriage and my new position as Alpha. It takes me a while to reach Mira’s cottage.
Nodding in greeting to the guards, I step up to her front door and knock twice.
She tugs it open and looks shocked to see me.
“Good morning, are you ready?” I ask.
“Ready?” she stammers.
“Are you packed? I will have them come and fetch your things to move into the mansion.”
She shakes her head, looking horrified. “No, definitely not. I still have a lot to do. I need another day.”
Annoyance spikes me, but I push it down.
However, day after day, she comes up with a new excuse.
Finally, I realize that she has no intention of moving in with me, so I decide to take matters into my own hands.
I pack up my things, slinging my Black Ops-issued army-style canvas bag of belongings over my shoulder, and march over to her cottage. When she opens the door, I walk right in and drop my bag down.
“Where shall I unpack?” I ask gruffly.
“What?” she exclaims with wide eyes, taking a sharp breath as I step closer to her.
She wants me, but why is she fighting it?
“I’ve dismissed the guards. The Alpha must live with the Luna, and seeing as you refuse to live in the mansion, I will move in here,” I snap.
“No, you will not. This is my home. You aren’t welcome here. Get out!”
I growl dangerously and push her up against the wall. “Do not forget, Mira, that you are speaking to your Alpha!” I snarl.
To my surprise, she doesn’t back down. Her fierce determination grows stronger, and she shoves me away. I can’t help the smirk of amusement that plays over my lips.
Dangerous little she-wolf.
My inner voice grows lower, and it vibrates through me as I address her in silence.
You will not disrespect your Alpha and your husband. The pack is watching, and we will present a united front. Regardless of how you feel about me, I say, my Alpha tone reverberating through her, leaving her absolutely no choice but to obey.
Mira nods.
She can’t find an Alpha command. Not delivered with magic.
It is a gift every Alpha has. The ability to control any member of his pack by thought alone. The wolf in her is incapable of denying me what I want. And therefore, Mira can’t either.
Now tell her to drop to all fours. My wolf is begging, pleading, and desperate to take her.
I shove the thought aside and quickly step away from her.
She swallows hard, and I can smell her desire, no matter how reluctant she is. Her body wants this. Her wolf wants this.
And her scent is driving me fucking crazy.
“I was just about to make something to eat,” she snaps, angry at her unconscious reactions to me. Or angry at me, who knows? She has every right to be angry with you, Jace. What you did to her in the past is unforgivable.
My eyes trace over her beautiful face. Her full lips, high cheekbones, and thick, long hair hanging loose over her shoulders.
I’ve always been attracted to her. Yes, I denied it, I did my best to deny it, but I always knew she was far more to me than just another Omega.
The day I rejected her confirmed it. The agony I felt.
The agony I know I caused her. It confirmed it all.
I thought the Moon Goddess would accept my rejection and choose another mate for me, but she didn’t.
Mira turns away from my intense gaze.
“I can help,” I say, following her into the tiny kitchen. These cottages are small and comfortable. They are ten times more homely and welcoming than where we stayed during Black Ops training.
We work in silence. Every time our bodies brush against each other, it’s impossible to deny the current of energy between us.
By the end of our lunch preparation, I’m already worried that I’ve made a mistake moving in with her here in this confined space. My goal isn’t to have her. It’s to get my Luna on my side. To be the best Alpha possible.
My goal is to do what is right for my pack.
But dammit, she is playing with my self-control.