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Chapter 13
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2024-10-29 19:42:56I was done fighting back my desires and welcomed their possession over my body.
I dragged my nails over Xander’s chest, scratching his skin and leaving red trails everywhere. I suddenly wanted to leave whatever mark I could to finally show that he was mine.
Xander’s arm snaked up the length of my back, and he fisted a bunch of my hair, crashing my lips to his once again.
His kisses commanded attention, and I moaned when he bit my lower lip.
He returned his arms to the front of my wet nightshirt and ripped it open. Buttons flew on the bed and rolled onto the floor.
The sudden breeze against my breasts made them peak, and I felt Xander’s hands explore my mounds hungrily.
He had moved his mouth down my jaw, following my neck, and kept kissing and nipping until his tongue latched onto my breast. His other hand made circular motions on the other, taunting me and making me wet.
My juices started wetting the inside of my thighs; the heat was building up between my legs.
I arched my back, allowing Xander more freedom to roam while I quickly went to work on lowering his pants.
His shaft hit in between my butt cheeks when it was freed from its confines, and I placed my hand around my back and started stroking it deliciously.
Xander was nipping and grazing my skin wherever his mouth went, sending waves of pleasure throughout my body.
I couldn’t wait any longer. Steadying myself with one hand on Xander’s shoulder, I guided his thick dick at the opening of my channel, rubbing its head the length of my lips.
Xander snarled and gripped my waist, forcing me down on him.
His black eyes were mesmerizing and impatient.
I couldn’t breathe, and my eyes rolled back from the painful pleasure I was having. My insides were still getting used to Xander’s size when he repeatedly pulled me back up and slammed me down on him.
My breath hitched. I had never experienced the pleasure of a man before, but my body seemed to know exactly what to do.
I felt his thumb press on my sensitive bundle of nerves. I was going to come soon if we didn’t pace ourselves.
As if on cue, blue sparks exploded behind my eyelids as I hit my peak, and I heard Xander gasp.
I quickly opened my eyes. Blue sparks were sizzling everywhere on my body, making me almost glow. I couldn’t hold them inside anymore, not with what Xander was doing to me, and at that moment, I didn’t care that he saw what I was.
“So beautiful,” was all he said, thrusting himself into me with more vigour.
He flipped me onto my stomach and removed the torn nightshirt from my back.
He lifted my hips and slid his cock back inside, making me moan hotly from the sudden sensitivity of his intrusion.
Xander’s movements became more erratic and desperate, and his fingers dug into the sides of my hips, forcing me to stay in place while he repeatedly rammed into me and made my toes curl.
He moved his arms to my breasts and lifted my top half to his chest without slowing his strides.
I rolled my head onto his torso as my nerves became tense from my impending climax.
Xander held my chest with one arm and used his other hand to remove the wet hair covering my neck.
He sped up, and when he found his release, I gasped in shock and pleasure when he sank his teeth into me, right where my shoulder started, sending me over the edge along with him.
He gently dropped me back on my stomach. I could still feel him twitch inside my pulsating channel before he rolled himself off and pulled me closer to him. He played with my hair before kissing my skin.
“I forgot to ask if you even wanted this,” Xander said as he licked clean the bite mark he had just made.
I turned my head to look at him. I was surprised to see that his eyes had become pale gray again, which made me guess his inner Lycan was gone for the moment.
I scrunched my nose at his remark. “What do you mean?”
“Well, you could have refused me. And with your rejection, the mating pull would have ended. But it has its consequences, as we would have to walk the rest of our lives as half a person.”
“Hmm,” I hadn’t thought I could have rejected him. It never even passed my mind to ask if something like that was an option. I was already under his spell from the moment we met. Besides, I would have missed out on something incredible.
I clenched my legs at the sudden yearning.
I felt Xander stiffen behind me, then laugh softly, “I can smell it when you get excited.”
I blushed as I understood what he meant.
“Best try not to wake the damn beast again.” I could feel him grinning. “And besides, now that I’ve marked you, you need your rest to heal.”
He kissed my wound delicately and then placed his hand on my stomach to nestle me closer.
“What about you? You saw what I did—what I am,” I held my breath, waiting for his answer.
“I grant you that a Lycan and a magic wielder are an unlikely pair. I’ve never even heard of both species being together. But since we’re fated mates, Ida, I promise to love and protect you and to always keep you safe.” Xander said matter-of-factly.
I let the air out of my lungs, satisfied with his answer. But that was not all the truth. I hesitated in trusting him with my identity. Would he feel different knowing who I really was? I was the daughter of a fallen king. Being with me might put him in more danger if ever I was discovered.
I didn’t know if this was something he truly wanted. Yes, he marked me knowing I had magic, but would his feelings change once he knew I was a Cardinal?
Tears spilled on my pillow. I had to tell him. I had to give him that choice, even if it was a little too late—I felt there was no turning back once the mate bond was complete.
I listened to his heartbeat, then noticed his breathing was coming at regular intervals, signalling he was asleep.
I exhaled.
It would have to wait until whichever time my courage would come back.
Feeling the silky touch of the sheet over me and Xander’s warmness was enough to shush my insecurities for now and send me into a good night’s sleep.
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I lay in Xander’s bed, basking in the pool of sun that shone directly over me. The higher part of the windows contained stained glass, and as the sun streamed from the half-closed curtains, it cast a rainbow of colours on my skin. It felt magical to see those dancing tints vanishing and reappearing from the movements of clouds in the sky. Xander had left early, not wanting to wake me. I groaned at the thought. I hoped that was the reason and not out of regret. Faiths, I hoped it wasn’t out of regret…. I hid my warm, red face in the pillow beside me to stifle my groan of embarrassment. I bit my bottom lip, thinking back to the steamy night I had shared with him and flushed a deeper crimson at the memories of his touch on my skin. The bedroom door opened, and it startled me to see Xander walk in, his gaze finding me immediately. I flashed him a stunned smile and bunched the covers to hide my nakedness. He removed the vest of his black two-piece suit and sauntered to my side. H
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With Xander knowing I was a magic wielder, he had encouraged me to practice magic again. He assured me it would be safe in his quarters, and I believed him, but I was still wary of Leo. The boy had always known this world—this hatred against Unnaturals. I didn’t know what he would do if he saw me performing a spell. Still, I engagingly accepted Xander’s encouragement and trained regularly by doing spells. I always did so when I knew I was alone. I was a little rusty, so I asked Xander if he had any books on spells or casting techniques in the estate. He had looked everywhere after I made the request, but the answer to my question had been “no,” and I received an unfortunate look from Xander, who knew this was important to me. It didn’t surprise me that there weren’t any books on that subject anymore. After Osprey came to power, anything regarding magic was destroyed. Priceless knowledge simply vanished at the beginning of his reign. It broke my heart. I almost regretted my lazines
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Xander POV I looked over the finances. I felt terrible leaving Ida alone in my wing while I tended to business my father had ordered. I longed to be back with her, and my Lycan was in one of his moods. I had a lot of difficulties keeping him in check ever since we had found our mate. For him, it was inconceivable that we parted from her. I kept reminding him of our duties, but he snarled at me. Besides, I was down to our last bit of business before I could call it a day and finally be able to see her. I had to get Ida’s papers from Mr. Crane, my notary. I had them drafted the morning after I had marked her, but I was missing some information before they could be signed and sealed. I had finally gotten word that they were ready. Ida had reluctantly provided some information about her family and past, simply saying that she didn’t have a last name since she was orphaned and lived most of her life as a slave in different houses. It made my job harder since I had nothing to go on. Not
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Sitting in the main parlour, I looked over the papers Xander had drafted for my freedom. I traced the ink of my new name with my index finger. It was written in beautiful cursive lettering: Ida Raven. It felt bizarre to see it written on an official piece of paper. Papers that were supposed to prove my free citizenship in Airedah. I was no longer a slave to the new regime. Legally binding documents… that were a complete lie. I thought of my father and mother and silently asked what they would think of their daughter’s new identity. Would my choices to survive for the past decade disappoint them? I had buried the Cardinal name to ensure I did not perish alongside them—but would they approve? Wouldn’t the fact that I could live secretly ease their deception? The Cardinal line was not dead, not entirely—Princess Cressida still lived inside me. She wasn’t gone, simply hiding until it was safe to come out. But I feared that the new Cressida would never be a sliver of what she once was;
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I had woken up early with Xander to go find Leo. Xander had given me a blanket and asked me to wait in the hallway before entering the room. Once he called me in, I lifted my hand with the oil lamp and entered the darkness. Through the flickering flame of the light, I noticed the small boy lying naked on the ground. I curiously looked around and noticed deep bloody scratches in the stone walls. There was a small table and a single chair. I guessed it was for Xander when he came over to stay with the boy through hard nights. Xander had explained that since wolves respected Alphas and he was naturally stronger than most shifters, Leo’s wolf never attacked him. He did have to restrain him with a shackle around the neck and one leg when Leo became a danger to himself, though. When I reached the boy, I placed the light on the ground and pulled the blanket over his tiny body. Xander slid a strong arm under him and lifted him. We brought Leo back to his room, where we cleaned and put him
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Xander was walking fast through the familiar corridors. I understood he was taking me back to his floor. My breathing had increased as the pain in my hand became more and more intense. The adrenaline was most likely leaving my body, allowing entrance to the complete agony of my injury.I examined my bent fingers. They were disgusting to look at. Bile rose in my mouth, and I had to swallow it back down. I didn’t know how to fix this; however, I knew going to his room would not help. I needed this fixed now before the damage became irreparable.“Go to the kitchens. I know someone who fixes injured workers.”“The physician works in the kitchens?” Xander asked, surprised.“No, but the butcher does.” I retorted.He gritted his teeth at my answer, took a left to the stairs, and hurried into the kitchens.After dinner, most of the cooks left, and the kitchen maids cleaned and prepped the area for the following morning.I hoped Saul was still there. I knew he stayed a bit later most nights to
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Xander POV I woke up early next to a shivering and sweating Ida. She was still sleeping, but the sheets around her were plastered to her wet skin. Ida smelled strange, so I gently touched her red cheeks. She was feverish. This was not good. My Lycan was howling inside. Saul, the butcher, had mentioned he’d send someone in the morning. I just hoped she’d get here in time before anything else happened. Ida’s bandaged hand was resting near the edge of the bed. Her three fingers stuck out, held by splinters and dressings. She’d have to keep it for at least three to four weeks, with regular bandage changes, until which time someone would re-examine and adapt the splint to how her healing was advancing. With last night’s events, I needed to get her out of here. I knew what my father was capable of, and I certainly knew the extent of what he was willing to do to get whatever information he could. He was loyal to a fault to King Osprey. He was one of the few nobles under him who had succ
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The road to Xander’s country house was exhausting. He refused to stop during the nights and pressed the coachmen to change shifts so they each had time to sleep whenever they were not driving. There were two carriages, one for Xander, Leo and me and the other for the staff who accompanied us. Their carriage was bigger than ours to better accommodate comfort and the rotation between coachmen. We occasionally stopped for the head maid—Diana, to change my bandages and inspect my injured hand. It had surprised me to see her in Xander’s room tending to my wounds when I woke up the day after my fingers were broken. I didn’t think she particularly liked me when I was a maid. Diana always seemed distant, severe and meticulous with her work. She was probably stricter than the housekeeper—whom she reported. Lucia had also been by my side, reading a book beside the bed and taking turns with Diana to change the cold press they had placed on my head to lower the fever. She stayed with me until h
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The whip cracked in the air. I felt the leather strings touch my lower back, and as Shrike pulled, I could feel my skin lift and tear. Once the hooks were out, I was flung back near the post. I stopped breathing and tried to control the pain. I had not expected that. “The show is for my personal amusement, as well as to install fear in your mind. Fear in the body is no fun, but fear in the mind, now that is entertaining. Regarding the reasons why I am doing this… let’s just say it’s simply to pass the time until the king arrives, and then we get down to the nitty-gritty.” I felt the leather touch the inside of my ribs. Again, the skin pulled as the hooks receded. Shrike inflicted four more hits, but those had been higher on my back, where my skin was thicker. It pained me less than the previous ones, but I still had to muffle a cry. I started sweating from the pain and noticed that my feet and knees were slipping in the small pool of blood that was accumulating under me. At this rat
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Xander POV When Ida and Diana left the house, I suddenly wanted to tell them not to attend the meeting. My Lycan and I had a bad feeling about all this, mainly with Ida smelling different. Diana had said she was fine, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that she wasn’t. Something in the past few weeks had definitely changed in her. Even Gideon had mentioned it to me. But we both were at a loss to figure out what it was. I couldn’t believe that two prime shifters couldn’t tell what was wrong with her. Leo came out of the house and looked at me, almost pleading with me to take him with us. I ruffled his hair and smiled. “Keep Nimu in the house and ensure everything is ready when we return. The horses must be fed properly if we are to leave in the morning.” Leo’s face turned bitter as he realized he would not be coming with us. He was still young, and I didn’t know what would happen on our outing. It was safer for him to stay indoors with the old wielder. He begrudgingly returned ins
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I closed my eyes and searched for what could unlock the memory orb. I let my energy wander through the glass sphere, pulling some of the power from it. I slowed my breathing and listened to the vibration passing through my fingers and flowing in me. I imagined it looking like a series of small strings tied taut inside the orb—protecting its content like a package needing to be unwrapped. I didn’t quite know what to do, so I whispered an unlocking incantation and felt my magic tug at the invisible strings that resided within. It didn’t want to open. I tried a different approach; I would force the strings and break them. I gathered as much energy as I could muster. My body heated up, and the memory orb became hot as well. I needed to control my power, or it could shatter the delicate magic that created the small spherical storage. Sweat dripped from my forehead, gliding down my side temples and lining the base of my neck. I needed to create a balance between high force and a gentle
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“You both could walk into a trap,” Xander repeated as I dressed in one of my fancier dresses. If I were to leave the house, I thought it best to look respectable. Diana had also dressed nicely. We had chosen these attires to fit better in the crowd. One look at us, and they wouldn’t spare a second glance since we were just another wealthy family staying in the city. My hands were on the poster from the bed, and Diana was cinching up my corset. Each time she tightened a lacing, it constricted my chest and made me take a laboured breath. Why did they have to make those things so tight? Diana pulled on another set of strings, and I almost fainted from the tightness. “Oh, might have overdone it. Sorry, Ida. Let me loosen this a bit,” Diana mumbled as she saw my face pale. Xander growled and sat on the end of the bed, forcing me to look at him. “Stop pretending you can’t hear me! You shouldn’t be going anywhere, Ida. You still smell funny,” he said exasperatingly. “Diana, have you lo
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After days of not hearing anything from Denis, we assumed he had no intentions of aiding us, so we prepared to leave the city. Diana had been a mess since she found out her brother was still alive and had not answered her note. “Do you think he read the message you gave him?” Diana asked me for what seemed like the hundredth time. We had had this discussion on more than one occasion, and I answered each time in the same manner. “I don’t know. I only know Denis took it and placed it in his front pocket. Will you tell me what was on that piece of paper I gave him?” Diana bit her lip while she continued folding some of our clothes. She kept the message secret, not wanting us to know what she had written. It had caused quite a commotion with Xander, who feared that Diana would betray and sell us out to her brother. I understood his annoyance, but I also understood the secretiveness Diana was keeping. The Chickadees had knowledge that no one else possessed concerning the contents of
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After Diana’s name left Denis’s lips, he rapidly collected himself and cleared his throat. “I’m so sorry. I mistook you for someone I knew long ago. Please forgive my misobservation. Allow me to help you. That was quite a tumble you almost had.” Denis gingerly got up and made his way to help Diana with the mess the fallen tray had left. “Please, let me take care of it, Sir,” I interjected, stepping before Diana. Whatever had happened, Diana still seemed a little shaken by the event. She straightened and mumbled, “It’s fine,” then gathered the broken porcelain. I didn’t think my friend almost fell; her path was clear, and Diana had an extremely sure footing from being a maid for such a long time. I thought she let the tray slip by sheer shock. If this man knew her, and she knew him, and they both acted like they didn’t know each other, I thought it best to separate them before the guards became suspicious. I glanced at Xander, who took the hint and asked the curator questions abou
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On the morning we left Starling Castle, we met Gideon and Leo on horseback while we were half a day’s ride from Perch. Xander had been right about us meeting them on our way out. Gideon seemed anxious at seeing us this early in the morning, but when Diana and Xander explained what had happened, Gideon had also fallen into a sour mood. I was happy to see little Leo again, and he was a great distraction from the others’ brooding attitude. He sat in between Gideon’s legs, holding the horse’s mane. His eyes lit up at the sight of me, and I pressed my horse closer to Gideon’s, gesturing Leo to come and sit on my horse for a while. I didn’t know if they had used the forest path to leave the city of Maple, but I knew their horse must have been tired of holding up all that extra weight. They even brought back a tiny chest with some of my nicer clothes. I thought it was a friendly gesture on Gideon’s part, but it was pointless since riding on horseback with a gown was tough. I preferred keep
