*** ~~CALIX MALZARETH~~ *** I listened to the words coming out of Lorcan’s messenger's mouth, finding each one more ridiculous than the last. “…And then Princess Zephira beheaded the trainee and took the wolf girl to the dungeon. She and your other pets are imprisoned right now.” For a second, I just sat there, at my desk, blinking slowly at him, my brain needing time to translate the words into a language I could understand. The report I’d been writing for the council meeting that was barely two hours from now was long forgotten. I couldn’t decide whether to rip the messenger's throat out or find Lyric and rip hers out instead. I stood slowly, pushing my chair back with a screech. That stubborn little wolf. “If she isn’t already dead when I get there,” I said, “I’ll kill her myself.” I headed for the door. “My prince,” the messenger called after me, hurrying. “There’s something else you should know.” I stopped halfway through summoning my wings. My voice came out deeper.
*** ~~LYRIC VAELGOR~~ *** Was it really too much to ask for a single day of peace in this kingdom? It was one mistake. One tiny, impulsive decision to escape the four walls of my glorified prison cell called a bedroom for some fresh air and bloodshed. And yes—fine—maybe everything went downhill after that. But it wasn’t entirely my fault. If the demon prince had warned me that my blood was some sort of demon booster, maybe I’d have been more cautious when stabbing that trainee in the arena. Maybe. What was he so mad about anyway? I had expected him to be pissed, of course. He always was. Anger looked natural on him, like a second skin. But this? This level of wrath? The kind of rage that made his magic crackle, that made the walls tremble? That was new. And completely uncalled for. I didn't die. “Put me down,” I said. “I’ve done nothing wrong.” His grip loosened, to my surprise, letting me land on my feet. But he didn't release me. Those strong, rough hands lingered, holding
That didn't sound good. Was there another werewolf residing in Noctis Vhaelor, or did Zephira have me in mind when talking about a wolf's execution? One could only hope. “Where did you get that information, Zephira?” Calix asked, his voice lowering into an octave that made the room feel smaller. “I’m surprised you’re asking me. Aren’t you among the people who matter in this kingdom? You should have access to classified information.” "Cut the bullshit, Zephira. Spit it out. Who told you?" She crossed her arms. "You won’t even allow me to gloat. Fine. I met your lover, Syva Vocarnis, earlier today, and she seemed... gleeful. Naturally, whenever Syva is happy, it often involves you. So I was curious. I asked, and Syva’s reply was that you were rough with her last night, which she believes has something to do with the wolf. So she told her father that your pet had to die. You know Councilman Yai Vorcanis. He loves his daughter.” I was finding it a bit difficult to follow Zephira’s mo
"That's the first thing you ask me?” Prince Calix said, eyes narrowing on me. “You just found out you’re about to die, and that's the first thing you ask?" "What else should I say? I know my fate. I’ve accepted it. What I need to know is why you kissed me when you are promised to someone else." He stared at me like I’d grown two heads. "You're crazy. It will honestly be a relief to have you dead." I sprang up from the floor, facing him. "Of course,” I said. “You men are such cheating, heartbreaking monsters. You promise someone forever and then sleep with their cousin, putting a baby in them. You join forces with their backstabbing uncle to steal their throne from them. You gift them to a monster whose entire kingdom wants them dead.” My throat tightened, and my eyes burned. “Gods, he won. My uncle fucking won. He knew this would happen if you brought me here. I bet you’ll send my head back to him as a trophy. You were right after all. I’m weak. A crown princess outsmarted by
This had to be Prince Calix's first-ever attempt at humor—because there was no way, in this realm or the next, that I was sealing a mate bond with him. Not willingly. Not sober. Not without throwing myself into a pit first. “You want to mark me as your mate?” I asked. “Was I unclear?” “Werewolves have never mated with Khra'gixxes before—and for good reason. What comes next? I stay with you forever? I have your babies, if that’s even possible?” “Sealing a bond doesn’t mean we have to get married and reproduce.” “Oh, so I become your mistress?” “A lot of people would do anything to be in your position. Try to sound more excited. And no, we’ll only have sex one time to consummate the bond, or else it becomes invalid.” “I’m not doing it.” “You’d rather die feeding twelve men?” “I’m not doing that either.” “Pick a side, little wolf. Do you want to die or not? Because every time you speak, I feel less and less willing to help you.” So my choices were mate or die? “If you want t
I couldn’t tell how it happened, but as soon as Calix’s fangs grazed my neck, something inside me came awake. I tore myself free from the demon prince’s grip and dropped, falling to the ground fast. “Calix!” I called, seeing my life flashing before my eyes. He chased after me. I barely had time to scream again before he caught me, arms wrapping around my middle just seconds before I would have hit the ground. “You broke free,” he said. “How did you do that?” I’d never been more relieved to be in anyone’s arms as I was at that moment. His eyes were no longer glowing, which was another relief. “You were about to kill me,” I said. “What was I supposed to do?” “Werewolves don’t have magic. It’s not possible for you to break free from a shadow bond.” “I don’t know what happened, Calix. One moment I was scared, the other I was falling.” He didn’t say anything else, just beat his wings once, twice, and then we were rising again—slowly. He adjusted me back into that all-too-familiar
*** ~~CALIX MALZARETH~~ *** Lyric spun to face me, her eyes wide with disbelief. “This is barbaric. Deranged. You’re asking me to lie naked on a table as though I’m about to be sacrificed and have sex? Right here? With witches singing in my ears?” I sighed in frustration. “Don’t you think you’re being too dramatic?” “Dramatic? Gods forbid I actually have reservations about being railed in front of an audience.” “It’s just sex. You have had sex before, haven’t you?” “Of course I have. This is not how it’s done. It’s intimate. It’s pleasant. It’s between people who love each other.” Revka let out a long, amused hum from where she stood. Of course she was enjoying this. The three other witches stood still, their faces not betraying any emotion. I wished—for once—that Lyric would shut up and behave like them. Just once. “Lyric,” I said, stepping toward her. “Get on the table.” She folded her arms. “No.” “Do it. Now.” “Or what? You’re going to use your princely command on me?”
“Yes,” I said, never looking away from Lyric. Revka began chanting. The other witches joined her, one after the other. The air thickened, growing darker with the gathering of shadow magic. “That song…” Lyric whispered. “I know it.” “You heard it from Tai,” I said, shrugging off my shirt and tossing it aside. “It’s the mating song.” Her eyes trailed over my runes, as they did on both occasions she saw me topless. Every one of those runes was earned over decades of bloodshed, pain, power. She always looked at them like she was reading a secret language only she could decode. When I dropped my pants, her gaze dropped too. And stayed there. Her lips parted, and I knew—if I didn’t start controlling myself, I’d shift before I got inside her. Tai’s voice was already echoing in my head. ‘I’ve waited too long for this. I’ll put a baby in her.’ ‘Tai,’ I warned. ‘Do your thing, Calix. Leave me be.’ “Prince Calix,” Revka said firmly. “Right now.” Lyric was on her back, knees raised,
I started removing my clothes. Her eyes followed every piece of fabric I peeled away. She swallowed when my cock sprang free—hard and waiting. “The bond makes you mine,” I said. “And it makes me want to fuck you every time I see you.” “It would be in both our interests if you resisted that urge. We have other things to worry about.” I climbed onto the bed. She jumped off the other side. “What other things?” “Your father, probably in the next room?” “Good,” I said. “Let him hear me reclaim what’s mine.” She ran. I jumped down and caught her in three steps. Lifted her off the floor like she weighed nothing. “Why do you run from me when you want this?” I growled. “I don’t—” I shoved her against the wall. My fingers found her slick heat. “Then why are you moist?” “Sometimes women just are.” I grinned. “Here’s what you’re going to do for me, Princess. You’re going to scream when I fuck you. I want the entire palace to hear my name on your lips. Let them know who you belong t
*** ~~CALIX MALZARETH~~ *** I wasn’t sure what my father’s plan entailed, but it definitely didn't involve keeping me away from Lyric. From the moment I stepped into the palace, the guards had been oddly compliant—open with their words, clear in their directions. They told me exactly where she was. No stalling. No resistance. Just a quick escort to the room right beside the king’s. That alone made me suspicious. My father never gave anything away so easily. And when things were too easy, it usually meant something was deeply, violently wrong. I had braced myself for a fight. Had imagined breaking down doors, threatening whoever I had to in order to get her back. Lyta, Snaky, and Tundra had flown into my quarters breathless and wild-eyed, yelling about how the guards had taken Lyric. That was all I needed to hear. I didn’t trust my father. Not with her. Not with anything. The guards opened the door to the room beside the king’s chambers, and there she was—sitting on a low bed
My fists clenched under the table. I willed myself not to react. This man—this king—was dangerous. And not just in title. His presence alone felt like a suffocating blanket of pressure, like being trapped beneath a thick layer of shadow. He’d just threatened to turn me into a whore. And the terrifying part was—he could. The law said a royal’s mate couldn’t be executed. It didn’t say anything about everything else. I had to stay smart. I had to play the game. I forced my pulse to slow. Tried to remember everything I’d learned in those negotiation classes growing up. Back when I was being groomed for leadership. Back when I still had a name I could wear out loud. The king hadn’t stopped frowning. His eyes were sharp and cold. They watched everything—the tension in my shoulders, the way I breathed, even the twitch of my fingers. He was reading me. I sat up straighter. Let my voice drop. “Your Majesty,” I said, “I do not want to die.” “The options I gave you were sever the bond o
“They weren't supposed to be here until tomorrow,” Lyta said. “What changed?” Snaky, who was now sitting on a tree root, replied, “Because the king tricked the prince. He knew he’d try to hide her.” At least two dozen royal guards descended in a tight formation, their faces masked. Tundra leaned close to Lyta. “How the hell did they find us anyway?” “Think they followed us,” Lyta replied through gritted teeth. “They knew we’d lead them to Lyric.” The wind rustled across my bare skin. I was still naked from my shift. The ground was cold. My limbs ached. And yet, I stood tall, letting the guards currently landing on their feet take in the sight of me. One of them—older, broader, meaner—the one who landed first, was eyeing me curiously. His armor shimmered with rank. Captain, maybe. His eyes swept over me, pausing right below my bellybutton. I saw it in his jaw. The twitch. The hunger. The hate. I walked toward him slowly. “Are you the prince’s mate?” he asked. I cocked my head.
The silence after my outburst was deafening. Twelve of the most powerful beings in Noctis Vhaelor sat frozen in their seats. Every eye turned toward me—and none of them looked amused. And yet, I didn’t regret it. I’d do it again. Every word, every threat, every warning that had slipped past my lips, I meant. No one would feed from her. No one would touch her. I could still feel Lyric’s pulse under my tongue. Still smell her sweat. Her blood. Her pleasure. It coated me. It marked me. And the thought of someone else experiencing that was making me and Tai murderous. “What did you say?” Councilman Yai asked, breaking the silence. “I believe the words were clear, councilman.” “Your mate,” someone repeated. “He said she’s his mate.” “You can’t bind yourself to a wolf,” another councilman snapped. “It’s not possible.” “That’s unnatural,” one of the healers muttered. “Wrong.” More voices rose. “Madness—” “Sacrilege—” I didn’t move. I didn’t flinch. I just k
*** ~~CALIX MALZARETH~~ *** I watched Revka’s apprentices clean Lyric up in a makeshift tub. She didn’t speak. Didn’t move. Her eyes were closed, her breathing shallow. The bruises and bite marks covering her neck and chest were already fading, but the toll it took on her body wasn’t. I should’ve been weak, too. But instead, I felt... more alive than I had in decades. Magic surged in my blood, stretching through every vessel. Tai was purring somewhere in my mind, basking in the aftermath like a cat stretched in sunlight. So this was it. The mating high. The euphoria all the old ballads sang about. When poets wrote that no being could make a better choice than the gods themselves—this was what they meant. I never believed in it. Not really. Fated mates were rare. So rare that most thought it a myth. My father and my mother were fated and had been hopelessly in love with themselves—more than they ever loved their children, in my opinion. And somehow I understood it now. The pull
*** ~~LYRIC VAELGOR~~ *** I felt everything. The moment his fangs sank into my neck, it was as though the world shattered inside me. Pain. Heat. Need. My back arched off the stone table so hard I nearly threw him off me. But he held me down. His weight was crushing in the best way, pinning me, claiming me, moving inside me with maddening precision. Calix—or Tai—I couldn’t tell which one of them was more present now. Maybe both. Maybe neither. It didn’t matter. I was burning. My blood rushed to every limb, every nerve raw and alive. His bite wasn’t clean. It was feral. Messy. He wasn’t feeding with restraint. He was gorging. And gods, I liked it. A groan tore from deep within him, his hips jerking harder into mine, and I cried out as his cock hit some part of me that shouldn’t exist. The chanting around us was no longer background noise—it was inside me now, crawling through my bones like insects, a chorus of ancient words I didn’t understand but somehow still felt. My hands
“Yes,” I said, never looking away from Lyric. Revka began chanting. The other witches joined her, one after the other. The air thickened, growing darker with the gathering of shadow magic. “That song…” Lyric whispered. “I know it.” “You heard it from Tai,” I said, shrugging off my shirt and tossing it aside. “It’s the mating song.” Her eyes trailed over my runes, as they did on both occasions she saw me topless. Every one of those runes was earned over decades of bloodshed, pain, power. She always looked at them like she was reading a secret language only she could decode. When I dropped my pants, her gaze dropped too. And stayed there. Her lips parted, and I knew—if I didn’t start controlling myself, I’d shift before I got inside her. Tai’s voice was already echoing in my head. ‘I’ve waited too long for this. I’ll put a baby in her.’ ‘Tai,’ I warned. ‘Do your thing, Calix. Leave me be.’ “Prince Calix,” Revka said firmly. “Right now.” Lyric was on her back, knees raised,
*** ~~CALIX MALZARETH~~ *** Lyric spun to face me, her eyes wide with disbelief. “This is barbaric. Deranged. You’re asking me to lie naked on a table as though I’m about to be sacrificed and have sex? Right here? With witches singing in my ears?” I sighed in frustration. “Don’t you think you’re being too dramatic?” “Dramatic? Gods forbid I actually have reservations about being railed in front of an audience.” “It’s just sex. You have had sex before, haven’t you?” “Of course I have. This is not how it’s done. It’s intimate. It’s pleasant. It’s between people who love each other.” Revka let out a long, amused hum from where she stood. Of course she was enjoying this. The three other witches stood still, their faces not betraying any emotion. I wished—for once—that Lyric would shut up and behave like them. Just once. “Lyric,” I said, stepping toward her. “Get on the table.” She folded her arms. “No.” “Do it. Now.” “Or what? You’re going to use your princely command on me?”