Aliana
Three days of coddling. Three days of Sorin glued to my hip. Three days of multiple men trailing me around the house and garden if Sorin was occupied for longer than a minute.
“I’ve never seen him like this,” Ember whispered.
“At least you got to see his dick,” I muttered, tossing the orange peel onto the table with unnecessary violence.
Ember froze.
“You mean—you haven’t—but the ceremony—”
“How is it that practically every woman on this compound has bounced on my mate’s dick, and I’m the one being denied?” I stuffed a segment of orange into my mouth.
Blood oranges. My favourite fruit right now.
“I should visit the priestess,” I mused. “He might be cursed. Or defective.”
“File the consignment documents with the rest,” Sorin said as he came into the living room.
I was tempted to throw a piece of orange at him, but I would never waste food.
Rev followed behind him, shuffling papers into a file.
“Good morning, my sweet,” Sorin murmured, leaning down to kiss my cheek.
I turned to face him. My fingers clawed through his hair until I held him in place, and I kissed him. His wolf growled. Zira growled louder. I closed my eyes and tasted the coffee on his lips.
His fingers curled around my nape as he deepened the kiss.
Throats cleared. Feet shuffled. Neither of us let go.
“Mm,” he hummed as he pulled away. “How are you feeling?”
I released his hair.
“Underwhelmed.”
Ember covered her mouth and looked away. Rev studied the paperwork as if it were holy scripture penned by the Moon Goddess herself.
“How about a trip to the market?”
“Why? Are cucumbers in season?”
Rev began to choke, and Ember ran out of the room.
We need to break them, Zira growled. Tonight.
I stared at my clueless mate.
“That sounds wonderful.”
? ? ?
The square still had Alpha Grayson strung up on the thick wooden pole. I cringed when he saw us coming. He looked pitiful—stripped of his fine clothes, stripped of soap, stripped of everything he’d once carried like armour.
“I’m sorry, Aliana,” he rasped.
I held Sorin’s hand and tried to walk faster. It didn’t work.
“Did you just address my Luna, you piece of shit?” Sorin snarled.
Dear Moon Goddess. If he ever found out that same piece of shit had tried to corner me when I was seventeen, he’d truly lose it.
Someone handed Sorin a large beef tomato. I couldn’t resist. I had to watch.
Aim. Fire. Splat.
Right on his nose. Red juice, pulp, and a few seeds smeared across his face.
The Alpha licked it off hungrily.
That, I understood.
“Someone pass me a knife,” Sorin growled.
“Oh, look—cucumbers,” I said, dropping his hand and sprinting away from him.
“Fuck.” He swore under his breath and gave chase.
I glanced over my shoulder. He was smiling as he closed the distance, Rev and Talon trailing a few metres behind.
This man, and his wolf, had humbled me in ways I never could have imagined.
? ? ?
Ember stirred the substance, and I began to shake my head.
“I think I’ve changed my mind. I can shave.”
“It’s up to you, but it gets easier as the skin adapts. I hardly feel it now.”
“I suppose I want my coochie to look pretty,” I grumbled. “What if I get performance anxiety?”
Then a thought occurred to me. I leaned up on my elbow.
“You know you’ve seen my vagina before my mate has. Now, about his piercings—”
“Nope.” She raised a hand in the air. “That was in the past. Not going there.”
The wooden stick was laden with wax. Hot wax. I closed my eyes as she laid out the strips.
Holy. Shiiit. That was hot.
“Just relax,” she murmured as the cloth pressed over the wax.
There was no warning. Nothing. Just hair being ripped out by the follicle.
“Holy mother of—fuck,” I screamed, clutching myself. “No.”
“Oh.” Ember gasped and reached for the ice pack.
“Why would anyone fucking torture themselves like this?” I cried, pressing the ice pack against my burning skin.
The bedroom door burst open.
Sorin’s head swung back and forth between us before he scanned the room. He moved closer, then stopped dead when he saw my legs spread open.
Footsteps followed, and I yanked my robe down.
“Get out!” I shouted, hurling the ice pack at him—and instantly regretted it.
He caught it and stared down at it.
“What’s happening here?”
Ember caved and blurted out everything.
He nodded slowly, as if it all made perfect sense. Just as he turned to retreat, I caught him pressing the ice pack to his own face.
I collapsed back onto the pillows.
It was not happening tonight.