Aliana
He’d locked me in his bedroom. His wolf was terrifying. I’d heard the stories, but I’d always thought they were exaggerated. He could rip anyone’s head clean off. My father was lucky to have only lost a hand and a foot.
He isn’t that scary, Zira said.
Sure. So why did you keep trying to shift?
I was simply startled.
I closed my eyes and replayed his wolf flying across the room. It had happened so fast. All I’d seen was black fur and white teeth.
But he smelled so good, Zira sighed.
I didn’t answer. I walked to the windows instead. The balcony door had been locked. I stood and observed the peaceful landscape, pack members moving in the distance. No one seemed oppressed or starved of resources. The Bloodborne pack were different.
But as a man, the Alpha King was not infallible.
He most certainly had a harem of willing pack members ready to service him at any given moment. Anger simmered in the pit of my belly. The man and his wolf were fucking filthy slutbuckets. Whoremongering cockfuck bastards.
He might smell good, but I don’t want a mate.
Zira didn’t reply.
She knew everything about me.
The lock clicked. I turned.
The Alpha King walked into the bedroom with Ember following behind him. Bastard. He wore a tailored black suit, a crisp white shirt that made every visible inch of tattoo scream for admiration. His scent was potent enough that I had to breathe through my mouth, because—fuck him.
Ember carried the tray to the table beside the loveseat and set it down. She turned to leave.
“Wait,” I said, and she glanced back.
“Yes, my Queen?”
I like her, Zira purred.
“How many pack members intimately service your Alpha King?”
From the corner of my eye, the Alpha King threw his hands in the air.
“Am I to be judged by those who came before you?” he said, his voice an octave higher than usual.
Ember’s fair complexion couldn’t hide the truth. Her cheeks tinged pink and she glanced at the man in question.
“I would need to check the list, my Queen,” she said, but didn’t meet my gaze.
“No,” the Alpha King snapped, stalking toward me. “Uh-uh. This isn’t happening. We will have our mating ceremony in three days. It will be held for all to witness.”
He stood before me, blocking my view of Ember.
“You can’t make me,” I whispered. “A life for a life, you said. And that life was as a servant.”
“Get out.”
He snarled the words, sending Ember rushing from the room.
“You would rather be a pack servant than my Luna Queen?” he asked, crowding me until my back hit the window.
“My father was mated to my mother, and it didn’t stop him from becoming a whore.”
His face darkened at being compared to my father.
“He even managed to sire a bastard,” I continued.
Maybe you should let him process that information. He doesn’t look well, Zira said as his hands landed on the glass above us.
His voice didn’t deter me. It made me want to push back harder.
“I’m simply protecting myself and my non-existent pups.”
His eyes flashed. Black, then burnt orange, then red. Blood-red. Claws scraped against the glass and his breath turned ragged.
“Pups, you say,” he growled, his wolf staring out at me from behind his eyes. “Malakh wants to fill your belly. Our union is blessed by the Moon Goddess. My father never strayed. Not once. He was devoted to my mother.”
I made the mistake of taking in his scent. I closed my eyes, but it did nothing. Not when he stood this close. The scent infiltrated into me.
“Your father was a weak-willed and unscrupulous man,” he said. “You will not place his sins at my door.”
The warmth of his flesh met mine as his lips trailed down my neck.
“You should eat,” he murmured. “Breakfast is vital for your health and fertility.”
My eyes snapped open—his had returned to their usual dark brown, but a smile played along his lips. I couldn’t be certain if he was joking or not.
He snagged my wrist and tugged me towards the loveseat. He sat and pulled me onto his thigh until my feet dangled between his legs. I was about to protest when a deep purr began to vibrate through his chest.
I stared at the tray. The scent of food registered, and I began to salivate.
He knows our weakness, Zira murmured. Mm. I can smell the meat.
He leaned over, and I grabbed his shoulder to steady myself while he removed the foil from the plates.
The savage didn’t even use cutlery.
He began to feed me by hand.
There was no napkin, so when the juices from the succulent meat dripped down my chin, he gripped my nape and licked my chin and lips clean. I sat frozen on his lap. He pushed something else into my mouth.
I chewed.
Zira’s low growl merged with his purring.
Maybe being his mate wouldn’t be so bad, she murmured. Ask him for seconds.
“What’s her name?” he murmured when her growl died down.
“Zira.”
His hand paused before he placed the seasoned strip of beef in my mouth. My tongue brushed his finger, and his entire body stiffened.
“Is it fair to deny Zira her happiness with Malakh? He is besotted by you both.”
Guilt hit hard.
An image of two wolves frolicking through the wild made my breath catch in my throat.
“What kind of a mother would she be?”
Zira pressed against my chest. She didn’t need to answer. I felt her yearning.
This manipulative bastard was good.
“We won’t need anyone to relieve us once we’re bonded to you and Zira. I’m almost thirty-two years old. A strong and healthy male. My life revolves around my pack’s wellbeing. Men and women have sex before they find their mate.”
“How many of them keep entire lists for that sole purpose?”
“I have a busy schedule—”
I snorted.
“—and a healthy appetite,” he finished, his eyes dropping to my breasts.
There were no nip slips. I’d buttoned his shirt up to my neck.
The man literally had two metal studs on his cock like a decorative showpiece.
“Three days,” he murmured. A threat wrapped in velvet.
I should have jumped off his lap on principle.
But I stayed for the honeyed yoghurt he uncovered.