Chapter 19
O ur allies lost their opportunity for a massage, the six of us hurrying back to our rooms to dress for tonight’s formal dinner. Every global pack leader will be all dressed up to celebrate this special night: the night before the King Alpha competition begins.
After challenging Noah to a game of staving off our lust for as long as possible, we’ve re-entered the lodge’s event hall biting back playful smiles, giggling every time we meet eyes at the elongated, cluttered dining table.
But before I realize it, my challenge morphs into a different game entirely. Noah’s wolf hasn’t retreated from behind his shifted eyes, his sly gaze washing over me between every bite of dinner. Just as I think I have him fooled that I’m “not watching” him either, sneaking glances when his head is turned, his mindlink straightens my spine.
Watch it, my feisty Luna. You’re going to get yourself in big trouble if you keep looking at me like that.
My mate tilts his jaw to gaze down at me, spiking my heart rate. He meets my stare beneath half-hooded eyelids, presenting a clear challenge for dominance; he knows my Alpha side is still more active than usual tonight.
I squeeze my thighs together, my heartbeat pulsing through my groin. After Noah teased me earlier, I have to squirm the ache away—applying just enough pressure to stave off my craving for Noah’s touch.
But shuffling in my seat only escalates my mate’s teasing stare. His grin heightens my every nerve, flooding my skin with goosebumps. You don’t want to lose your own challenge, do you?
I clear my throat, cupping my scent glands with both hands as I tear my gaze from him. No. I’m not going to lose. Just watch me, Alpha.
Luckily, the pregnancy-nose-safe food Annika special-ordered for me consumes my focus in a single bite. But as I shovel mouthful after mouthful of buttery mashed potatoes, Noah leans in close, as if he’s whispering in my ear.
Instead, he breathes me in, followed by a hearty purr. I can smell how wet you are for me, Luna. Are you sure that’s just from earlier?
I have to fight to swallow my potatoes, aroused shivers creeping up my spine.
When my hand slides up Noah’s knee, giving his upper thigh a hard squeeze, his back stiffens. From the corner of my eye, I spot his cock twitching in his pants.
Don’t play with fire, Alpha. My wolf is feisty today.
He purrs again—hardly able to help himself. She is, isn’t she? That’s why you’re enjoying me challenging you.
Are you sure I’m not the one challenging you? Preparing myself to top you again? I take another bite, giggling as Noah readjusts his pants in my peripherals.
But when I turn back to my food, Noah’s hand on my back slides up to my neck. A sigh escapes my lips.
Noah pauses, joining me in glancing around the room to see if anyone noticed.
But the conversation carries on as usual, and I shudder: Noah’s thumb glides beneath my hair, pleasure trickling down my spine as his touch ghosts over my mark. With his thumb’s gentle pet on the sensitive gland, Noah turns my panties from wet to soaked, my pussy flexing with each circle he runs over me.
I cross my legs, hoping to hide the scent. We reapplied my topical scent blocker before dinner, but my scent glands erupt with pleasure—enough for me to smell myself . With a few slow, focused breaths, I stifle all scent seeping from me once more.
Noah grins, his eyes flashing brighter. When he leans in, just his hot breath against my neck makes my heart race. “You really want to be called a good girl later, don’t you, Luna?”
I stiffen. That wasn’t a mindlink!
But I don’t have to tell Noah; with one look into his supercharged eyes, he knows exactly what he’s doing, and his glimmering smile couldn’t look more smug. I shiver, my crossed legs squeezing my clit with the movement.
My breath hitches in delight.
The Luna next to me perks up, and I freeze in place.
Noah straightens. Shit. Sorry, I took it too far.
Wrapping his palm around the back of my neck, Noah covers my gushing scent glands at my jugulars with his wide hand, allowing me to enjoy a gentle massage as my groin pulses faster.
But that doesn’t stop Noah’s scent from erupting into desire.
I clear my throat. Noah, I can smell your rut forming.
I know. Give me a second to stifle it before—
A clatter of dishes toppling to our left snaps Noah from his trance, his yellow eyes zipping straight to the source.
A few seats down, an Alpha’s tongue is deep in her Luna’s mouth, purring against her open lips in a heavy makeout.
My eyes widen. Oh, shit! Did we cause that?
Noah shrugs, clearing his throat as he turns back to his food. I-it’s hard to say. This... happens too.
Ah, okay.
I glance at the other wolves around us for any signs of distress. My shoulders relax as most wolves dig back in— laughing, talking, and eating from one end of the table to the other.
But with every few breaths, my core still flexes with desire. Noah, I... I still want you. It’s starting to hurt.
He squirms in his seat. I try my best not to feed into his fire, reining back my wolf as tightly as I can.
But Noah’s heels bounce. Fuck. We might have to leave, Omega. I've held my wolf back all day, and he wants to pick you up and mate you on the table.
My eyes widen as they catch on Noah’s tense hand on his thigh, barely hiding his flexing bulge.
Alpha, you’re so... My whisper comes out shaky. “...thick tonight.”
When his focus lands back on my breathy lips, a burst of his Alpha musk burns my eyes.
Swallowing hard, Noah readjusts his hot fingers on my scent gland. Tingles swirl throughout my pelvis, and I can’t help it; the horniest whimper I can imagine escapes my lips.
I clamp my hand over my mouth, muffling my words. “Oh, Goddess. I failed the challenge.”
“Shit. Fuck, I—” Noah can’t continue his thoughts, his focus consumed by the crash of dishes across the table.
After hoisting the New York Luna onto the table, flooding the white tablecloth with red wine, the New York Alpha licks his mate's innermost thigh—a clear sign he’s preparing her to mate.
All I can do is stare.
But he’s not the only one.
Over half the room is kissing. The other half have reverted from just making out to foreplay and beyond, moans erupting from every corner of the room.
“Noah, is this normal too?” I hiss, clutching Noah’s suit jacket.
A low, growling purr tickles my ear. “No. It’s not.”
I gasp, finding myself face to face with Noah’s primal mind. With his wolf in charge, his hands roam my extra-sensitive breasts, applying just enough pressure to send a jolt up my aching core.
“O-oh! Ah—” With my cries, wolves burst into heavier touch all around us.
The Lunas we protected earlier occupy their mates’ lips, diving into their Alphas' laps—if their thighs aren’t already wrapped around their mate on the floor, against the wall, or on the table. Tāne hoists Waimārie into his arms, carrying her with handfuls of her ass resting in his palms—the couple struggling to find their way out the door between heavy kisses.
“O-oh, my God,” I breathe. “This is not the polite dinner I expected—”
As I fawn for Noah’s eager tongue on my mark, my thighs shake with pleasure.
At the head of the table, Annika and Viktor’s full-body makeout grinds deeper with every growling breath. My body pulses with Annika’s every whimper, her dress barely disguising Viktor’s flexing arm beneath her skirt as he pins her chest to her dinner plate.
But then he very clearly enters her from behind, the sound of her mating whines digging straight into my groin.
My hips raise in need, drawing Noah's attention. Within seconds, his hand is up my skirt too. “O-oh, my— Um, Noah—”
Viktor purrs into Annika's neck, licking her mark as she squirms over his cock. My knees spread wider for Noah, aching for him to do the same as he rubs soft moans from me.
“I want another pup—” Annika gasps from the head of the banquet table.
Viktor chuckles. “Greedy Luna.”
His pace quickens until he plows into her, igniting the entire room into a musk so strong that my eyes water. As an orgasm builds low in my belly, my poor chair creaks in distress from my hips rocking into Noah’s hand. But my lungs tighten into panic: Noah’s incisors are on full display, my mate ready to drop into a heavy rut. Knowing Noah, he’d hate experiencing a rut in a crowd of potentially unsafe wolves.
But as he drools, opening his jaws to nibble at my mark, I grip his tie tight, holding him in place. “O-oh, my God, Noah! We really have to go!”
Dashing from my chair, I keep my hips far from Noah’s reach. Latching onto both his arms, I figure I’ll have to physically force him from the room, taking a few slow breaths to sober myself.
But with a gentle tug, Noah pops to his feet. I blink a few times, testing out what happens if I let go of him, backing up a few steps. Noah takes a few steps too, his wolf’s tail pointing to the sky in our bond.
Biting back my smile, I speed-walk backward. His wolf happily chases me out the doors, purring into my cheeks with courting caresses down my torso as we rush down the hallway.
I sputter out a laugh. “Alpha, you’re so sweet, even when you're rutting.”
Noah purrs, grabbing hold of my hips from behind. With one lick on my mark, my knees dip in the hallway, desire pulsing through me so strong that my thighs quiver. I can hardly blink through the musky haze Noah drowns me in, his scent begging me to drop to the floor with my legs spread wide.
But we’re still ten doors down from our suite.
Catching me before I crumble, Noah growls into my mark. “Mate, what do you need? You’re in distress.”
As if weights are tied to my knees, I groan, straining to move my legs. “Either you have to take a few deep breaths, or we’re stuck with solving your rut here. I want you so badly that I can’t walk another step.”
Smushing me against the wall, Noah flicks up my skirt, revealing drenched panties. My moan echoes down the hall as he slips beneath the fabric, twirling his fingers across my throbbing labia.
“You can’t walk, huh? Then tell me, Luna: can I mate you right here, in the hallway? Or should I carry you back to our room?”
“Right here, please.” I shakily unlatch his belt, freeing his bobbing cock.
But before I can drive him wild, Noah stops my hands. He purrs, his nose skating down my neck as he peels my panties from me. “Alright, Luna, we’ve gotta skip a few steps before one of us comes. With how soaked you are, I don’t need to warm you up.”
I whimper, rubbing my clit against his tip until he lets out a hungry hiss.
“That’s what I thought. Hold on tight,” Noah whispers.
When his arms swoop around the back of my thighs, lifting me until I can hook my legs around his hips, I moan at the press of his thick cock between us. He grinds me into the wall, coating the base of his shaft in my fluid, my ass in his hands.
“N-Noah! I—” I moan, my knees squirming beside his torso as desire blooms in my belly.
Noah growls, slowing his heavy suckling of my mark. Not yet, Luna.
He draws his hips back, shushing my whines with gentle kisses against my lips. My jaw drops as he eases himself inside me, his starved stare not leaving my flushed face for a single second.
I can’t stop myself from crying out, my aching core fluttering around his shaft as it fills me to the brim.
When Noah bottoms out inside me, my back rolls against the wall, delighted by how gravity sinks Noah deeper in this position.
His growl rumbles against my throat. “Fuck, Luna. You’re hotter than any wolf here by miles. Let me hear you filling up this hallway with your gorgeous voice.”
The slow rock of his hips draws a whimpering moan from me regardless, pleasure shooting up into my heart. Noah purrs, his thrusts deepening until I have to gasp in delight with every breath.
“Good girl. Keep telling me what you want.”
“M-more! I’m about to squirt—”
Noah flattens my writhing body into the wall, pounding faster as pressure builds in my core. He mates a rush of fluid from me, his cock stealing the attention of every nerve in my pussy.