Aliana
When he tried to move, my fingers tightened in his hair, and I winced, feeling the loose strands I might have yanked free. It couldn’t have been worse than the hot wax and cotton strips, though.
“No,” I said, crossing my ankles behind him.
His deep chuckle tickled my ear.
“I couldn’t pull out even if I wanted to,” he murmured, before licking his mark on my neck. “I was only going to turn us over so you’d be more comfortable.”
“Fine,” I mumbled.
Zira was silent. My mind was still reeling as Sorin spun me around, and I felt his thick cock and bulbous knot all over again.
The sudden thought of my own inexperience cut through the mellow haze—how many women had known exactly what to do with him, how to move, how to ask for what they wanted. I had none of that. Just instinct, and hope that it was enough.
“No wonder you shagged half the compound,” I muttered, shuffling my legs on either side of him for better weight distribution.
It felt so good. So fucking good that it pissed me off.
Relax. It’s ours now, Zira said lazily.
I was still a little salty until he raised his hand to brush my hair back. The tattoo caught my eye—half wolf, half wraith, the two so entangled I couldn’t say where one ended and the other began. He plumped a pillow beside his head and pulled me onto it, so we were at eye level.
“I can’t change my past, my love,” he murmured, cupping my jaw, using his absurdly long thumb to stroke my cheek.
I held his arm and studied the ink properly for the first time.
The wraith’s cloak unravelled into ragged strands that bled straight into the wolf’s fur, down through its legs, until the two creatures were one and the same.
Just below the wolf’s snarling head, a single paw stretched forward, claws bared.
It looked less like a wolf and more like something out of an older, hungrier myth.
“I suppose,” I sighed. “I should have added it to the prenup—the right to pull your piercing out with pliers if you ever strayed. Missed opportunity now.”
He literally has a wraith tattoo on his body, woman. What more proof do you want? Zira burst out, dry and exasperated.
I’d have thought she’d be more chill after that tremendous orgasm.
She muttered something about divine intervention before drifting off again.
“You can still add it to the contract, if you want,” he said, leaning forward to kiss my lips.
I clenched around him, and he hissed. I didn’t react to the bit about ripping a hole through his cock—only to the fact that he was serious.
“I have something for you,” he said, reaching for a small box beside the bed.
That made me smile. How many of his women had gotten gifts while his dick was still inside them?
He rested the box on his chest and lifted the lid.
The lost pendant—the one my father had tracked down.
Instead of selling it to Sorin, he’d kept it, intending to extort money from him later.
He confessed as much under duress: he’d planned to pawn off the fake, then come back claiming he’d “found” the real one, angling for a second trade.
I didn’t think about him or his family much anymore.
Not since they’d tried to kill me. There was nothing left in me for them. Not even contempt.
“Are you sure?” I asked, knowing this had been his mother’s. “What if it falls off? What if I lose it?”
Panic crept in. I didn’t want the responsibility of something so precious. Something one of a kind.
“Nearly losing you put everything into perspective,” he murmured, lifting the gold pendant. It was oval, set with a sparkling crescent-moon diamond, surrounded by a scatter of smaller diamonds—and among them, a single ruby star.
“Thank you. I’ll endeavour to look after it as though it were my own mother’s keepsake.”
His Adam’s apple bobbed before he fastened the chain around my neck. This Alpha King of mine—I needed to give him a break.
Nah, keep him on edge, Zira put in. Find a middle ground between crazy and affable.
“Let’s face it. It’s better than the shock collar you put me in,” I said, glad he couldn’t hear our thoughts.
He chuckled and pulled me close, letting his hands linger on my lower back.
We waited for his knot to go down, but when my stomach rumbled, he carried me to the couch and began a whole new style of feeding me.
? ? ?
“I need to attend a meeting,” he whispered.
I didn’t open my eyes—he’d barely let me sleep.
“Good for you. Go get ‘em, champ,” I murmured sleepily, stretching beside him.
“You’re coming with me.”
My eyes flew open.
Ugh. His hair was ruffled, his eyes full of mischief, a crooked smile playing along his lips. Bare-chested, and a reminder of everything he was capable of. With every passing hour, the bond seemed to take firmer hold of our faculties. Our wolves had fallen hard.
“No, I need to sleep and rest,” I said, closing my eyes again so he couldn’t tempt me.
“And I can’t be without that sweet, sweet scent of yours,” he countered, moving in for the kill.
His lips brushed the mark on my neck, and he began his sniffing nonsense. My stomach tightened so fast it felt like a cramp. He smelled so damn good—no shower yet to wash away our unique, mingled scent.
I moaned, turning into him without realising it.
I told myself I missed being a single organism. But Zira was there to remind me of the facts.
? ? ?
His officers backed away as Sorin held out his hand for me while I stepped down from the SUV. A different method of transportation—and a different welcome—from the way I’d first arrived at the compound.
My eyes lingered on the ink across his hand, the way it swallowed mine whole. The others watched their Alpha King—some with curiosity, some with awe, and some who exchanged nervous glances with one another.
That’s when I heard the whispering.
“Do you want to die? Don’t look at the Luna.”
I glanced at Sorin, but he either hadn’t heard them or was ignoring them entirely. More people began gathering at the compound’s main hall.
I was glad Ember had insisted on formal clothing. I’d have shown up in pyjamas otherwise.
“There she is.”
“Queen Aliana, how are you feeling now?”
“Luna, I brought you some berry patisseries. Your favourite.”
My head snapped up at the woman holding out a white box.
Talon moved to intercept it.
“I’ll have that, thanks.”
I glared at him.
“Tell him to take one tiny bite,” I hissed at Sorin. Royal taste-tester, my ass. More like greedy fat bastard.
I smiled at the crowd.
“Thank you so much for the warm welcome. I am well now, and I hope to become better acquainted with you all soon.”
Warmth and excitement seemed to radiate from his pack. Sorin’s hand settled around my waist as I turned to wave to my well-wishers. My heart felt full that they’d come to greet me.
We walked through the crowd, officers lining up to escort us inside. Sorin introduced me to the coordinators who represented his people. The meeting’s agenda was multifaceted, and I found myself glad to be there beside him.
He knew exactly what he was doing—trusting me to be there at his side when he made decisions about our pack.
This was not the Silvermere way.