Chapter Seven #2
“...G ETS HERSELF INTO. ..”
“I don’t know what to tell you, Mom. My lady’s always pissing someone off.”
That woke me up.
Indignation cracked my eye open, then the other. I blinked freely—mildly surprised that I could.
Slowly, my vision cleared.
Nyx sat on a wooden chair, elbows propped on the table while he leaned over his phone. Next to him a large, weird greenish-brown moving thing loomed over his head, but he didn’t seem concerned.
I squinted, my brain cells slowly connecting. It wasn’t a freaky writhing creature. It was a wall... made of palm fronds.
I turned my head, finding three more of the same frond walls surrounding us and another above, acting like a roof. Beneath me, I stretched out on a bed of leaves, vines, and moss that was more soft and comfortable than it sounded.
“When are you coming to Italy, love? You’ll be much safer here.”
“I can’t go without Daciana. She needs me and I need her.”
Even in those dire circumstances, I heated up like butter on a Florida sidewalk.
“Every time I leave the girl alone, someone tries to kill her.”
“Didn’t need... to add that last part,” I rasped.
Nyx lifted his head, showing off the black bandana still wrapped around it. “She’s awake. I’ll call you back.” Nyx ended the call and turned to me.
We stared at each other for a solid minute—jaws opening and closing with all the things we needed to say.
“We’re in the forest,” Nyx began, breaking first. “A quiet, secluded spot. No one comes this far, I promise.”
I just nodded.
“You took a long time to heal,” he continued when I didn’t say more. “So long, I had to call Mom again. She helped me create a poultice for your wounds.”
Flicking down, I noticed for the first time the hard, cracking brown stuff caked all over my body.
“To keep the wounds from getting infected until your body took over.”
“Okay,” I croaked.
“What happened, Daze?”
“I was going to ask you that.” I laid my head down again, eyes fluttering shut. “Edric... Paxton... Are they okay?”
“They’re in the infirmary along with half the school. Halfway through giving those bastards a lesson, I smelled an instructor coming,” he said. “I got out of there before they could all point the finger at me, but I had to leave Edric and Paxton behind.
“I didn’t know what I walked into, Daze. I didn’t know if they were part of what happened to you. The best thing to do was to get you to safety—where you could heal in peace. But they are okay,” he added.
“How do you know that?” Tears stung my eyes seeing visions of Edric and Paxton broken and bleeding. “Did you check on them?”
“Next best thing.”
Nyx tapped something on his phone and turned it to me.
“—arrest them!” Nia’s voice echoed loud and clear. “These bastards used us! They turned us against our friends and forced us to hurt and kill p-people.” Her voice cracked in distress, although I couldn’t see her. Her camera was too busy panning over the full and bursting infirmary.
Groaning lumps were on every bed, and in the last shot before she spun away, were my lumps—Edric and Paxton.
I sat upright, leaning in to see, but Nyx was right. Even in that split second, I could see they were healing and being attended by the infirmary nurse. They were in the best place they could be right then—
—and so was Nia.
“They did this all because they couldn’t stand losing beignet breakfasts and dorms with an en suite! Isn’t that right, Megan?” The camera whirled on the bruised and battered girl straining to cover her face with her thin, flimsy white sheet. “Daciana wanted all of us to come together for a better, equal future, but you couldn’t have that.”
“Leave me alone!”
“Tell me, Megan. Tell us all! What about equality and harmony among the wolves was so offensive to you? Huh!? What about it made you need to put Sara through a concrete wall!”
Megan whipped off the sheet and growled, her jaw elongating and eyes yellowing.
It would’ve been intimidating if she didn’t collapse in on herself—hacking and wheezing.
“That is enough, Nia!” The camera spun and wobbled as a familiar voice tried to wrestle it out of her hand. “This is an infirmary, not a circus. These people need quiet and rest to—”
“—get well enough to pack their fucking bags!” Nia twisted the phone up and around, angling it for an unfortunate view up Ash’s nostrils. “That’s what you were going to say, right, Vice Headmistress? That you’re waiting for them to heal up enough to take their expulsion letters and walk it and themselves out the damn door!”
Ash flushed red. “This is hardly the time— I didn’t witness— When the time is right, I will interview everyone who was in the mess hall this morning and ascertain the truth—”
“The truth? Ha!” Nia barked, making Ash jerk back. “Of course you’re still waiting to see the truth. Because you’ve already decided what I and every omega here say isn’t the truth, so you’ve got to wait for whatever bullshit lie the alphas spin to justify keeping them here to get another shot at killing us for good.”
“How dare you! I will not be accused of—”
Nia spun away again—already done with her. “And what about you all?” Nia ran at the silent line of secret police officers posted up against the back wall. “Isn’t this what you’re here for? To catch killers? Well, there’s about thirty of them right the fuck over there, so when do you all get off your fucking asses and do something about it!”
My brows were as high as the officers’ twitching brows were getting, fighting to stay silent and stoic as Nia swept her camera over their faces.
“Nothing to say, huh? Not even going to make a show of handcuffing the murder and assault suspects to their bed? Well, if that’s not why you’re here, tell everyone the real reason. Because it damn sure isn’t to investigate the murder of former Headmistress Dagem.”
“That is enough, Nia,” I heard Ash cry. “Turn off that phone!”
“You can’t silence us anymore! You can’t deny us justice anymore! We’ll have justice or you’ll have war! Justice or war! Justice or war!”
I didn’t think my jaw could drop any further... until more voices joined in.
“Justice or war! Justice or war! Justice or—”
The picture suddenly spun. Nia’s voice got smaller as the wall got larger and closer, then everything went black.
Shaking my head, I slowly sank back on my leafy, frond bed. “I assume we owe that abrupt ending to Ash smashing her cell against the wall.”
“That would be my assumption as well, but it didn’t matter. Nia was live, and the video on Loop Garou has already been watched... ten million times.”
There went my dropping jaw. “Ten million!? With a ten? And a million!”
He nodded. “Loop Garou is blowing up, Daze. Everyone is demanding answers. Thousands are demanding arrests, and even more are reposting their chant—justice or war.”
“My gods,” I breathed, wishing I could do more than flop around uselessly in a bed of leaves.
“You chose your second-in-command well, Daze. You wanted her to get the omegas on your side and she delivered—in a big way.” He tossed his head. “Honestly, after this, you’ve got more than the omegas choosing you.
“I’ve been watching the forums while I was away. I saw what irritating, scoffing blowhard Magnus was throughout the whole thing, but after seeing the video, and finding out nearly every metal wolf was put in the infirmary, or worse, he’s come down hard. The clan leader of every metal wolf in Wolf Nation just issued a statement saying, and I quote, ‘High Priestess Daciana is right. There is something sick, rotten, and diseased at the core of our nation when calls for change and equality are met with brutality and murder.
“‘If those responsible for the heinous actions of this morning are not brought to justice, they will have war.’”
I didn’t think my eyes could get any bigger. “Magnus said that? Clan leader Magnus said those words.”
Nyx tipped his chin.
“My gods,” I repeated, all other words failing me. “What about Ash? Has she issued a statement or done anything more than run around breaking people’s phones?”
“I’m pretty sure she’s gone around confiscating everyone’s phones, because Nia’s video was the last that any student in the school has posted about this morning, and you know there’s no way they wouldn’t be blasting their sides of the story unless they didn’t have a choice.”
“Wow.” I rubbed my temples and hissed, dropping my hand. I received a blow there that morning that was apparently still tender. Nyx was right. I was taking a concerningly long time to heal, and deep down within my soul, my wolf was taking a concerningly long time to wake.
Down within that place, I felt for my bonds... and brushed up against only one for Edric. Did I imagine that moment with Paxton? I was so sure that he heard me in his mind? That my voice broke through an alpha’s command and stopped him from doing the unthinkable?
I guess I was wrong.
“Okay,” I whispered. “I guess that means there’s only one thing left to ask.”
“What is it, baby?” Nyx fell at my side, taking my hand. “I’m here for you.”
I nodded, lips trembling. “I just want to know... why the fuck are you wearing that bandana? You look like you’re about to go super saiyan.”
Nyx cringed. “Thanks for that description. It’s always nice to know your girlfriend thinks you look stupid.”
I should’ve corrected him and said I wasn’t his girlfriend... but I didn’t.
“And I have to wear this because I worked things out with Patrick.” Nyx rocked back, sitting down and propping his elbows on his knees. “I can’t believe it, but he forgave me. Said we’re good.”
“Wow. I admit, I didn’t think that was possible.” I eyed him. “But why does that mean you have to wear that bandana?”
“Because the man extracts a high price, and I mean that literally. I had to sign over my entire trust fund to him, and make a video that, if you love me, you will never look up. But handing over three million dollars wasn’t nearly as hard as this.” Nyx ripped off the bandana.
Eyes bugging out of my head, I clapped my head over my mouth. Tattooed across his head in big, bubble rainbow letters were the words: HOMO-HATING PRICK
“Wow.”
“Yeah, wow.” Nyx put the bandana back on. “He said I can’t have it removed for at least five years, so our daughter isn’t going to know my face without bandanas, hats, and makeup.”
“Oh, Nyx.” Despite everything, I smiled at him. “Patrick did extract a high price, but I’m proud of you for being so committed to earning his forgiveness that you paid it. As strange as it sounds right now, considering you’ve seriously fucked up that pretty face, I’ve never been more attracted to you.”
He smirked. “I’ll bet saving your life also upped my sex appeal.”
“You assume correctly.” I winced, pushing myself up and swinging my legs to the floor. “I still can’t believe today went so bad so fast. Nia once said she couldn’t believe people went around feeling like this all the time—in fear of someone hurting them.
“I admit, my goddess powers made me feel invincible too. Why wouldn’t I when I’m only vulnerable for twelve days out of the entire year?” I sighed, head sinking into my hands. “I don’t think I’m invincible anymore.”
“So it’s true. Everything Nia said. The alphas commanded the omegas to attack you and all the metal wolves, and the ones leading them were—”
“Badr and Orion.”
“Fuck’s sake,” he breathed, falling back in his seat. “What the hell happened to those guys! How could they do this? How could their wolves let them do this?”
“Badr’s wolf let him try to kill me before. I assume the bastard taught Orion the trick of it.”
“But all the other alphas too,” he pressed. “They know killing you before you complete the bonds puts the future of the wolf race at risk. How could they throw that away for—for beignets and en suites!”
My jaw clenched, throat tightening. “Because they don’t give a shit about anyone else anymore. Fuck sure not the next generation when their own is losing their grip on their power. It’s like I said, Nyx. Just like Luame warned me. When the time comes for the alphas to choose between gaining limitless power, or an equal and fair society for everyone—they choose power without a second thought... or mercy.”
Nyx dropped his jaw, fist shaking. “I’m not like that, Daze. Like them . I was,” he whispered, voice ragged. “But not anymore. I choose you and Hope. Always. Every day. All the time.”
Tears prickled behind my eyes. Warm and salty like the ice melting around my heart. “I know, Nyx.” I reached out, lacing my fingers through his. “I believe you.”
Lifting my hand to his mouth, he pressed a soft kiss on my palm and then just held it there, breathing me in. “So what now?” he asked after a beat. “We have to wait until sunrise before we set foot in that school of course, but five people died and dozens more were put in the infirmary. Plus, the only thing anyone knows about what happened to you is that you went missing.
“You have to go back in there with a show of force so powerful, it smashes any more thoughts of rebellion.” Nyx glanced at the castle in the distance. “It’s not like before when you lived in a secluded temple surrounded by bodyguards. Now you have to live, eat, and sleep right next to your enemies, and you can’t have them thinking that all they have to do to get rid of you is wait another month.”
I swallowed hard, knowing he was right... and knowing what I have to do. “I have a show of force, Nyx. A big one. An effective one. One that’ll work better than violence, punishment, or appealing to their imaginary better natures. I wanted using it to be a last resort because it’s a precious and finite weapon. Once we’re out, we’re out.”
“Daze, what are you talking about?”
I stood up, wobbling slightly, but eventually got steady on my feet. “It’ll be easier if I show you.”
***
N YX AND I WERE A SILENT duo trekking through the woods.
As I leaned on him as we went, my strength leeching out of me like the weird, stinky poultice cracking and littering the forest floor.
“In Incepe Din, there are a lot of people there—mostly women—who ran behind its high metal walls to escape horrors and abuse you can’t imagine,” I began. “Obsessively violent stalkers. Abusive exes. Wars. Oppressive regimes. And a lot of them have someone on the outside who wants them back by any means necessary.”
Nyx hummed. “Like the alpha council wanted you back when you ran. The guys and I weren’t there to see it, but we got letters from our family about the secret police swarming the streets day and night—ruthlessly tracking down even the merest suspected sighting of you. Anyone who was thought to be hiding you was taken in for questioning and never seen again.”
“What?” I cried. “No! I didn’t know that. My goodness, they’re vile. Why do people need me to convince them the council are horrible people when they don’t even deny it?”
“It’s actually frightening all the corruption and oppression that we’ve accepted as normal.” He shuddered. “It’s weird how things don’t seem wrong until you have a kid and you realize all those normal, acceptable things will be happening to her.”
My grip tightened around his arm. Nyx was right about how the veil suddenly rips off of you when you become a parent.
He was so scarily right.
Nyx shook himself. “Sorry, I interrupted you. You were talking about the people who live in that leech’s bunker.”
It took me a minute to put aside my fears for Hope and refocus. “Yes, Incepe Din. So, just like me, a lot of the people there have very powerful enemies who’ll do terrible damage if they ever find out where they’re hiding. Because of that, the community has a stockpile of weapons that they’re ready to use if that day ever comes.” I carefully guided Nyx through the maze of wolf traps he couldn’t see. “After Lucia heard my story, she gave me their entire arsenal of”—we stepped through a break in the trees—“this.”
Nyx set one foot in the garden and snarled, fangs bursting free. He released me and shot back—his wolf ripping through his skin in an instant.
“Nyx! Nyx,” I cried. “It’s okay. It’s what I brought you to see.”
“It’s not okay!” he replied in a series of barks, snarls, gruffs, and howls. “The earth is crying out. It’s screaming! What is that stuff? It’s not natural.”
“No, it isn’t.” I dropped down, kneeling beside the darkly glowing bloodred mushroom. Or at least, it looked like a mushroom with a little rounded umbrella top and a soft, wiggly stem, but unlike other mushrooms, this one made no attempt to hide that it was dangerous. The very air around it was thin, like even it was trying to get away. “I call it the vocal cord killer,” I told the wolf lurking in the trees, circling the little hidden clearing as though he was looking for a weak spot.
“I could come up with a better name for it, but it gets the point across.” I gently touched the thing and shivered. “Of course you don’t like it. Your alpha senses are screaming at you that this thing is not your friend.”
I heard his bones crack and pop as he shifted back to human form. Nyx slowly stepped out—naked as the day he was born. “What is it?” he croaked. “How can it grow in the earth but take nothing from it. The ground isn’t feeding it and the rain isn’t touching it. How?”
It mildly surprised me that Nyx knew all of that. Nyx talked like the earth spoke to him, but the moon had only spoken to me once, and I still wished I could bash that conversation out of my head.
“Because it’s impossible,” I admitted. “It’s wolfsbane, Nyx.”
“That is not wolfsbane. Wolfsbane is a natural plant.”
I shook my head firm. “And that’s what this used to be too, until it was planted in soil fertilized with echidna droppings and watered with vampire blood.”
He blinked. “Come again?”
“Echidnas are female monsters who live in the demigod dominion. They give birth to other monsters, and their ancestor is a goddess too—the mother of monsters,” I explained. “They’re horrible, nasty things, but their droppings make great fertilizer. Demigod farmers use it to grow crops at three times the normal speed.
“Lizela stole a horse-drawn echidna manure cart when she fled across dominions and wound up in Incepe Din, so there you go. They discovered that you could combine wolfsbane and vampire blood and grow it in that manure to create a more... targeted poison,” I said clearly. “It’s dangerous for us because it’s wolfsbane, but because the vampire blood drains it of life, it can’t spread through our bodies and kill us. It only kills the spot where its injected.”
“The vocal cords,” he whispered. “But if you injected it into a werewolf’s heart, it would kill us.”
I tipped my head. “It’s wolfsbane, Nyx, so of course it will. That’s exactly why they made it. All of that silver bullet shit is a myth, but a bullet to the heart that was coated with this?” My fingers skittered over the horrifying fungus. “That would do the trick. Any werewolves that attacked Incepe Din wouldn’t live long enough to regret it.”
“So...why, then?” Nyx slowly dropped down next to me. “Why waste time taking their voices away from them when you’ve got your hands on a murder weapon that they’ll never see coming?”
It struck me hearing Nyx refer to the alphas as them . He meant it. He was on my side.
“For three reasons. One: We’re wolves and wolves don’t fight with guns or bullets. Two: These mushrooms are all we have of our secret weapon, and every missed shot would be an unforgiveable waste. And three: Because the alphas don’t fear anything or anyone because why would they? Anyone challenges them, they can just command them to turn around and walk away.
“Death won’t get rid of that arrogance. War won’t beat the false sense of superiority out of them. The only thing that will cow those fucking pricks is to turn them into what they look down on the most—omegas.”
Nyx didn’t say anything, but he didn’t argue with me either. Shrewd eyes swept over the small clearing. He was tense like he was desperate to shift and claw these mushrooms up soil and root, but he held back.
“Why are these the only ones we have? Is there not enough time to grow more?”
I shook my head. “There isn’t any more echidna manure. Lucia tried to grow it without the droppings, but it turns out that’s a key part. Echidnas are descendants of gods who hate the gods. That hatred is etched into their very souls, and apparently their shit.” I shrugged. “I said once that an alpha’s command is a gift from a god and you need a god to take it away. Turns out echidnas are close enough.”
“I see.” Nyx nodded slow. “I just have one more question, Daze, and that’s does this need to happen?” He met my eyes. “Don’t get me wrong. I’m not advocating for mercy, but if I’m thinking like the alpha I am, I know I’m still dangerous without my voice, because I don’t need my voice to shove a whole log down someone’s throat.
“Why not kill them, Daze?” Nyx dropped without a lick of hesitation or consequences. “Or expel them if you don’t want to make martyrs out of them. Or—my personal favorite—kill them and then expel their corpses.”
I chuckled softly. “Killing them would make them martyrs. I’ll be the mad, bloodthirsty queen priestess who executed the brave heroes fighting to take back our school. No,” I growled. “After what they did to Paxton, Edric, Ava, and Zarina, they don’t get to be remembered as heroes. I want them sobbing and snotting their hearts out while they skuttle out of here with their tails between their legs back to a world that treats them the same horrible way they’ve treated every other wolf their whole lives.
“Oh no, Nyx,” I hissed through clenched teeth. “They don’t get to die because that would be too quick. Too kind. They’re going to live with the shame and humiliation of having the whole world at their fingertips, and then having it all ripped away by one little spoiled, pampered princess priestess. Only when they’re begging and mewling at my feet, willing to give me anything and follow me anywhere to get their voices back... that’s when I’ll cut off their fucking heads.”
I came to, finally noticing the huge eyes staring at me. “Hmm. Did that freak you out? Edric says I invent new levels of sadism when I’m plotting revenge.”
“You do... and it’s hot,” he growled, blowing my eyes wide. “Dammit, woman, you made me come in my pants and I’m not wearing pants!”
I glanced down and squealed, covering my giggle when I saw he wasn’t exaggerating.
“Come on.” Nyx took my hand and helped me up. “We can’t do anything until the morning, so let’s get away from these horrible things. Can you shift?”
I lost my smile, shaking my head.
“Then lean on me.”
Nyx wrapped me up in his arms, beginning the long trek back to the little frond hut.
I appreciated the lengthy silent walk because it gave me the time I needed to make up my mind.
“Sorry for the rough accommodations,” he said, helping me down onto the bed. “I wanted to take you off the grounds entirely but who knows if we’d be any safer beyond the gates. Not all the comments on Nia’s video were supportive... or kind... or sane.” Nyx looked back toward the door. “You rest some more while I hunt down some food for us. Won’t be much but I make a delicious spit-roasted rabbit.”
A gentle grip on his wrist stopped him. “Before you go running off to be a rabbit’s worst nightmare, I was wondering if we should do it now or later? Because if you’re not that bothered about candles and shit, we can do it now.”
Confusion, then understanding broke on his handsome face with blown brows and wide eyes. “Wait, are you for real? You want me even with this?” Nyx motioned to his covered forehead. “What could be least sexy than a guy with prick stamped on his face with rainbow bubble letters?”
“I don’t know, I think it’s plenty sexy,” I purred. “With your long hair, diamond stud, and that black bandana, you’re like a hot, roguish pirate.”
“I see,” he said, rocking back on his heels. “Well... this changes everything.”
Nyx’s lips crashed on mine.
We went at each other like wild animals—devouring each other’s mouths.
Lifting me up, Nyx tossed us both on the springy, leafy bed. Sinking in the moss—faint scents of earth, cedar, pine, and Nyx enveloped me. Towering over me, the look on his face as he soaked me in made me doubly, triply, and quadruply grateful he couldn’t see me blush.
“Gods, you’re gorgeous. Like sex and ruthlessness rolled in dough, deep-fried, and dipped in hazelnut chocolate.”
I giggled. “Is that a Black thing?”
“That’s a my-favorite-treat thing.” I shivered as he sliced clean through torn and ragged clothes. “I’m going to devour you whole, girl. I don’t know where you’re ranking me on your favorite-fated-mates list, but I’m about to be number one.”
I couldn’t stop laughing even as I rolled my eyes. Amazing that Nyx even coaxed a laugh out of me after the events of that morning, but that he couldn’t get me to stop—was nothing short of a miracle.
I shot into his arms, moaning as he finally captured my lips. Nyx molded me to him—fitting our bodies together like puzzle pieces.
My hands were everywhere. Stroking his chest. Tangling in his waves. Memorizing every dip and curve. All of him was hard to my touch, but yielding to my pressure—wanting to give in to me as badly as I did for him.
He nipped my lips, demanding entrance. The sweet perfection of our tongues tangling weakened my knees. He was the only thing keeping me up—holding me firm to him, wrapping my legs around his waist, moving his hardness between my middle.
He broke free and laid me down. Fingers tracing down my body, a trail of goose bumps followed his path, as though my very skin was reaching out to keep him.
Finding his home, Nyx kissed the inside of my ankle, making me shiver. My skin was alive like it’d never been before. I was acutely aware of the moss tickling my back, the glow of the starry moonless night peeking through the leaf roof, and our shadows moving in the darkness.
Nyx skated up my thigh, his lips following in his hands’ wake. Little whimpers escaped my mouth under his tender, nipping kisses.
I grasped his shoulders and tugged him down, indulging in another sinfully delicious kiss. He bit my lips, enticing a squeak, then kissed me soft. Returning to his explorations, Nyx found the valley of my breasts, buried his head between them, and groaned.
“Kill me,” he moaned. Nyx arched my back, displaying my rounded mounds and their hardening peaks for his pleasure. “Kill me now because I’ll never be happier than this.”
I bit my lip, holding back my grin. Yeah, it was easy to see why Nyx made me smile.
If I expected him to do more, he surprised me. Nyx left my breasts alone and cold—continuing his journey. Anticipation rose as he spread my knees apart.
“Tell me, deep-fried gorgeous.” He teased a circle around my opening. “Do you taste sweet too?”
I blinked, cheeks heating. I think I tried to answer him, but nothing intelligible came out.
Nyx buried his face between my legs, finding out for himself. I made a strangled noise as my legs snapped over his ears—back arching off the bed.
He plundered my entrance—licking, nipping, and sucking on a particular place that sent electricity zipping beneath my skin.
“Holy fucking gods,” I gasped.
I twisted and writhed on the bed, doing my best to pull his head off his shoulders. Nyx just laughed while I did my thing—sending delicious vibrations through my core.
Suddenly my legs were pushed up and out, spreading me wider than a freeway. His head dipped. A warm, expert tongue licked my puckered hole.
“Oh!” I jerked, bottom scooting away.
Nyx trapped me with a hand flat between my breasts. Slowly. Deliberately. He drew me back.
“Easy, baby,” he said. “I’m just getting started.”
Sweat beaded on my skin at his final wink before ducking down. It was a good thing his arm around my thigh and palm to my heart kept me down, because living bubbles grew and burst within me—threatening to carry me away.
Or at least that’s how it felt as he had his way with both holes—teasing one, tasting one, and then switching it up.
Moans peeled from my lips as loud and begging as the victims in my revenge fantasies.
“N-Nyx,” I screamed. Heat built in my lower belly, contracting it painfully. I was already sore and aching, but this was an ache I never wanted to go away. “Nyx!”
Nyx gently bit that spot, and I exploded.
“Heh-uhh!” I moaned, heels pounding the crown of his ass. Again and again pleasure bowled me over, blowing up my mind as one explosion ended and the other began. The chain reaction carried me all the way down, leaving me a flopping, sweaty mess. “Oh, gods. Do that again.”
He chuckled. “Your wish is my command, my queen.”
Nyx dipped down again, having his way with my pussy. I was a sweaty, writhing mess as he brought me to another orgasm. Wasn’t your first time with someone new supposed to be an awkward, fumbly disaster?
I don’t know what I was expecting with Nyx, but it wasn’t for him to already know my body better than I did myself. Here I was thinking assholes were for kicking—like Badr—but Nyx was teaching me they had other, more pleasurable uses.
“More.” I palmed his cock, earning a deep, husky groan that curled my toes. “Now.”
“Promise me something? If I ever hesitate or say no to that command... shoot me.”
I laughed. “For consent reasons, I will not keep that promise, but I appreciate the enthusiasm.”
“I’m just saying.” Nyx linked his fingers through mine and locked my wrists above my head. “Something must’ve gone wrong with me, so put me out of my misery.”
I wrapped my legs around him, swirling my pussy around the tip of his weeping cock. “I’ll put you out of your misery right now.”
“Who’s stopping you?”
I didn’t know who moved first—him or me—but in a blink, he was inside me to the hilt, stretching me farther than I knew I could go.
“Ah, Nyx,” I moaned.
He pumped slowly at first, letting my body adjust to the magic of him, him, and more him inside me. I was right that my virgin entrance wasn’t built to fit a man of his size.
“Oooh,” I breathed, thighs tightening on him. Nyx bent and wrapped his tongue around my nipple. “Oh!”
A variety of sounds, cries, and moans poured from my mouth as he flicked the poor nub in time with his pumps—bobbing between my legs, bouncing me on the moss, and playing with my breast. His prey had no way to escape him.
“Oh, Nyx, I can’t—” The fire was blazing out of control. Our sweat slicked our bodies. My fevered pants hazed the air. “Please, I can’t... I’m going to...”
His response was to move to the next breast and put it under the same exquisite torture. I spasmed as the first wave crashed through me. Half a thought crossed my mind to slow things down. Draw my orgasm out for as long as possible.
I angled up and Nyx struck that spot, rolling my eyes up in my head.
Too late.
“Yes, right th-there. Ahh!” The second crash dragged me under, drowning me in the deepest depths where my fantasies couldn’t reach.
He tensed in my hold, grabbing and crushing the leaves. He grunted—back bending in half as he spilled warm wetness inside of me. “Fuck,” he breathed, collapsing on top of me.
“Wow.” I wrapped around him, peppering his hair, ear, and cheeks with kisses as all around us the glow enveloped our skin. “Despite everything, I’m glad we did this.”
“ Oh, me too, baby. Me too ,” he spoke in my mind, his chest heaving
I poked his side. “ That’s not what I meant. I’m happy we did this because... ” The ghost of Badr’s canines sank into my throat. “Because I don’t want to spend any more time not being with the people I care about.”
“You won’t, Daze.” He raised his head and gently kissed my chin. “We’re going to do it, love. We’re going to win, and then we’ll bring Hope home.”
My throat tightened. I wasn’t talking about Hope, but then again... I was.
***
T HE NEXT MORNING, WE rose with the sun.
Despite monitoring every post, feed, and meme on Loop Garou, not a single one of them came from a student or staff in the academy. Somehow Ash pulled off a complete social media blackout, so we had no idea what we were walking into.
“That’s why you have to sneak the cord killer into the kitchens,” I said as we set out, me rustling and whispering in a palm frond dress. “Everyone will be focused on me, especially after I summon the alphas to an emergency meeting and gather them all in one place.”
“What do I do with them when I get in there?” he asked. “There’s no way anyone’s going to eat a donut with that mushroom thing sprinkled on top. Doubly so for the forest wolves. You can taste the wrongness coming off of it.”
“Not when it’s boiled down and mixed into something with a stronger flavor.” Nyx helped me over a log—ever the gentleman. “That’s why I want you to put it in the beer. One mushroom gives us thirty-two doses. Any more and it’s too diluted to work and their cords will heal. Any less and it’s too strong and their throats will burn up and they’ll die.”
“Hmm. Are you sure you want me to handle this part of the plan? Because whenever I think about what those bastards did to you, burning their throats sounds pretty tempting.”
“I...” I trailed off, a scent hitting my nose. “Burn...”
“They fucking deserve it, Daze, so all these vicious, sadistic revenge plots you’ve got cooking in your head, you let them out and—”
“No, Nyx!” I seized his arm. “Burn! Something’s burning!”
He grasped my shoulders, handsome face stricken. “You don’t think—”
“—the cord killer!”
We ran all the way—me slower than him, but as fast as my burning lungs and jelly knees would carry me. We got as close as we could to the clearing until the flames stopped us.
Fire engulfed the wood—greedily consuming the bark, burning and blistering the leaves, feeding on the brush to grow, climb, and spread even higher. Heat assaulted our faces, warning us to go no further.
“But we have to get through,” I shouted. “It’s burning! It’s all burning!”
“Daze, we can’t! We have to go back. That horrible stuff is in the air, we can’t breathe it in!”
I barely heard him. Rage built in my chest, but it wasn’t nearly as overwhelming and corrosive as my sorrow. How could this happen? I needed the cord killer. Hope needed the cord killer! She needed an army that could fight for her without sitting, staying, and begging at the first alpha’s command.
“I don’t understand,” I croaked, falling to my knees. “The only weapon we have against the alphas and it’s just... gone.”
“Thanks for confirming you don’t have any more.”
Nyx and I whipped around—his claws ripping out of him and a growl tearing out of me.
A manure-covered monster slinked out of the wood and smoke, his grin starkly white through the gloom. “Surprised, Nyx?” Badr made a show of flexing his healed jaw. “Next time, you should leave the twigs and sticks at home and fight for real.”
Nyx snarled, lips peeling back from his teeth. “Good idea.” He raised his hands, readying to—
“Ugh!” Nyx dropped to his knees and fell flat in the dirt.
“Hey!” I cried. “What—”
Pain exploded in the back of my skull. I was out before I hit the ground.