36. Lumi
Chapter 36
Lumi
A mbrose slows to a stop, and I slowly climb down from his back. In a second, his golden smile is staring at me, and his fur is replaced with flesh and blood and skin that I long to sink my teeth into. To tear apart and devour in equal measures. To claim and ruin.
He has the audacity to just stand there looking like every fantasy man I’ve ever imagined with a smug smile.
“My queen, I knew you were the one. I knew it.” His eyes light up as he speaks, like everything inside him believes the words he speaks.
I shake my head. “I barely broke free of that spell, and at the very last second. I’m not the one at all.” I sigh, letting my head fall while trying not to think about how I would have traumatized us all if I had waited even a few seconds longer to break free of the spell.
He tilts my chin up to look at him. “You’re the one.”
“The one? What does that mean?”
“It means you will be the one to break the curse.”
“I can’t.”
“You don’t get it—”
“No, you don’t get it! I can’t shift! We can’t complete the marking ceremony. I’m weak. I—”
His lips crash down on mine, shutting me up. And for a moment, I didn’t realize how much I needed to just be kissed. To stop overthinking and worrying that I’m not enough. When his lips are on mine, I’m more than enough.
The heat of his body presses hard against mine as his hand tangles in my hair, holding me tight against him. I melt into him, loving that we are both naked and that my leather jacket is the only thing clinging to me other than him.
Suddenly, he stops the kiss, leaving me gasping for more.
“You are not weak. You are a Moonlight pack member now. You are my mate. You are my queen. The Moonlight pack’s queen. You are more than enough. You proved that tonight. No one has broken through a spell like that before.”
“What do you mean?” I cock my head up at him.
“I mean, usually, the initiation takes the pack members far longer to break through the spell. Enduring the worst pain. Their worst nightmares. It takes hours, sometimes days before they break through the spell, if they can break through at all. It never involves someone breaking through the spell that quickly. You are powerful—more powerful than any of us.”
I scoff, looking him up and down. “I’m not stronger than you.”
“Strength isn’t just about physical muscles. And the strength and power you have is like nothing I’ve ever seen.”
I hold my breath, not sure how to respond.
“You can complete the marking ceremony, whether you can shift yet or not. But after tonight, I have no doubt that you’ll be able to shift soon. You just have so much power and strength in you. Your body needs to make sure you’re ready for the shift first. When you shift, when you tap into that physical strength, you’ll be unstoppable.”
“You think so?”
He nods, his eyes bearing into my soul. “It’s your choice if you want to complete the ceremony before you learn to shift. But you’ll survive. I have no doubt about that, just like I had no doubt about tonight.”
When he looks at me, there’s an undeniable tingling in my body, something so deep and raw.
“But we don’t have time, do we?”
His eyes glaze over. “Not really.”
I want to know why we don’t have time. I want to know all the truths, but I’m not sure I’m ready to ask or hear the answer tonight. Not after everything I’ve been through.
A part of me just wants to curl up in bed and sleep until I’ve forgotten this entire nightmare. But the other part…
Before I get a chance to gather the courage to ask, Ambrose’s eyes are smiling down at my chest and belly.
I follow his gaze and nearly jump out of my skin. “What is that?”
Ambrose runs his fingers gently over the glowing marks on my chest and belly. “They are runes, magical marks to tell the world you belong to the Moonlight wolves. Everyone in the Moonlight pack has them.”
I frown, faintly remembering seeing a hint of a glow on Ambrose before but that’s it. “Why haven’t I noticed them before?”
“The curse. The magic isn’t as strong as it used to be. Now, only other pack members can see the runes. They’ll help protect you and help you fight your individual curse.”
I trace my finger over the crested moon surrounded by an intricate design that expands from the middle of my chest across the upper curves of my breasts. I look at him with heavy eyes and see a similar design across his chest. His is darker and twice as large, expanding across his entire chest. I see flickers of lines forming all over his arms and shoulders that begin to dip around to his back. He’s covered in the golden marks. Beautiful.
“What’s my curse?”
He shakes his head. “I’ll know when you know.”
“How?”
He looks up at the moon and then back at me, like he doesn’t want to torture me anymore tonight. And telling me the truth is torture for him. I can’t handle any more torture. I can’t handle any more pain.
“Kiss me. Fuck me. Make us both forget for the rest of the night.” Forget that I was almost raped by the entire Moonlight pack against all of our wills.
He opens his mouth to most likely argue with me that I’m not safe with him, but I’m not having it.
“I proved myself more than capable tonight. I’m safe. I trust you,” I plead confidently.
His eyes scan mine for any sense of doubt.
I look him dead in the eye, challenging him in the only way I know how.
Ever so slowly, he lowers his lips back to mine, close enough that they brush against mine but not close enough that he’s actually kissing me.
I suck in a deep breath, waiting for him.
“I trust you, too, my queen. I trust that you’re strong enough, strong enough to handle me. To truly be my equal.”
His kiss lands, and then he’s devouring me like he’s been waiting for me his whole life. When his lips press against mine, I realize I’ve been waiting for him, too.
The jacket that was my lifeline protecting what was left of my modesty is tossed to the ground, and I wrap my arms around his neck to keep from immediately grabbing onto other areas of his body that seem far too quick to be touching.
But after Isolde cast that spell on me, I’m horny as hell and desperate for that kind of connection. I’m still not sure Ambrose is going to give me this after denying me so many times before.
“Your thoughts are loud,” Ambrose says into my head while smiling against my lips.
I blush. “I didn’t say anything.”
“You did, my queen. You did. And don’t worry, I’m not stopping until you’re completely satisfied tonight.”
“Promise? Because we’ve come close before and—”
His lips crash in a demanding kiss that has me stumbling backward before he grabs my hips and stops me from tumbling to the ground. All of his body is pressed against me—his lips, his hard chest, and his long, thickening cock is stretched between my legs. His hand roams up and down my body, warming me from the swell of my breast down to my hip bone.
“I’ve never wanted anyone more,” he says while simultaneously kissing me as hard as physically possible. And then he pulls away, leaving me gaping for more. “I’ve never wanted anyone more. If you want this, then I won’t stop it—not anymore. I won’t deny either of us what we want. I want you. I’ve wanted you since the moment I saw you at the offering. It’s been torture to deny either of us,” he says.
I’m speechless; I don’t know what else to say. I’m grinning from ear to ear, not believing that this incredible man, this alpha, is mine. That I can finally have him. Nothing else can come between us, not anymore.
I’m confident that we are mates. I can complete the marking ceremony whether I can shift or not. There is nothing left that can get in our way.
The way Ambrose looks at me is like he’s never seen anyone so perfect. Like I’m the thing he’s been searching his whole life for, and he can’t wait to claim me fully. There might be a marking ceremony later, but tonight is the night we make it official. Tonight is the night that we decide for ourselves that we are mates. We are enough for each other.
“But you might not want me to fuck me once you find out the truth,” he says through the bond.
I frown.
“Nothing will make me not want to fuck you,” I say out loud instead of silently in his head. He needs me to hear that I want to fuck him as much as I needed to hear him speak the words out loud.
“Ask me.”
I narrow my eyebrows at him as he grips me harder, like he’s fighting with himself. He’s holding onto me desperately like he thinks I’m about to bolt.
But I’m not sure what he wants me to ask.
“Ask me. Ask me the thing you’re most curious about. You already know Emeric and Rowena’s curse. Ask me mine.”
I swallow hard, and my heart beats rapidly. I’m terrified to ask, but I don’t want him to know that. I want him to think that whatever he has to tell me, it will be okay. Because it will be.
I take a deep breath, calming my body in his arms.
“I want you. Whatever your curse is, we will deal with it together. It won’t change what I want.” I kiss him passionately, sweeping my tongue across the seam of his lips to prove my point.
His expression doesn’t change. The fear in his eyes doesn’t leave. He hesitates for just a second and then says, “My curse is I can’t fall in love. If I do, they die.”