The one on our right rushed at us, and I screamed in terror, waiting for those claws to shred me. Conri leaped to the side only to have the one on the left pounce. We barreled into him, causing Conri to trip over his massive paws, but he kept himself upright. Conri swung around, his claws digging into the dirt as he halted. Quickly, he lowered himself to the ground, and it only took me a second to realize he wanted me to get off. I scrambled off his back, sliding down his side. I stood next to him, clutching my shaking hands to my chest. My heart was in my throat, and my legs shook with anxiety. As soon as I was safely on the ground, Conri lunged for the nearest one. His growls and snarls were vicious and blood-curdling as he ripped into the first one, never flinching or wincing whenever the creature raked its talons down his side. He didn’t even let out a whimper. The monster was not going down without a fight. The second one grabbed at his back, and Conri twisted sharply to pry it
“Varjo. They’re literally made of shadows and will drain you of your life essence.” An ear-splintering howl sounded in the distance, causing me to jump in shock. Conri nudged me to my feet, allowing me to lean against him. “It’s okay. It’s just Connor.” Conri threw his head back, and a soulful, long howl vibrated through his chest as he answered his beta. It amazed me for a moment that he could make such vicious-sounding snarls and then, moments later, let out a beautiful howl that warmed my core. Moments later, crashing sounded through the woods, and the rest of the pack surrounded us. Cody and Connor stopped near Conri. “Are you okay, my king?” Connor asked breathlessly. He had a gash on the corner of his right eye. It had begun to heal; the tip of Conri’s left ear was torn. Cody’s pure white fur was no longer pure. It was stained with not only Varjo's blood but his blood. “We’re fine. And the pack?” “No fatalities. Just some bumps and bruises. Nothing we couldn’t handle, my k
My breath hitched, and Conri flicked his ears. “Relax, Rieka, this is the Wolfsbane pack.” Conri stopped a reasonable, respectful distance away, allowing the shifters to step out of the shadows and come to him. A smaller Shifter with black fur, orange splotches, and an orange tail stepped forward. I had never seen markings like hers before, but she was beautiful. She stopped before Conri and bowed low to the ground. The she-wolf’s front legs stretched in front of her, her head rolling to the side to bare her neck to him. “Alpha King, thank you for coming.” She spoke soft and sweet, her voice like honey. “My name is Alpine, Gamma to the Wolfsbane Pack, and I would like to welcome you to our home.” Conri never faltered from his straightened posture, the façade of the Alpha King that all the packs had come to know. “Allow me to take you to our camp. Our Alpha is waiting for you.” Keeping low to the ground for a second longer, Alpine rose and turned to lead further down the path. As we
“What did you just say?” Devil cowered away from Conri as his aura flared. I looked at Conri for an explanation, but he paid no attention to me. “Phoenix is looking for the Malikah, my king.” “For what reason?” “That would be a question for the Blood Moon Pack, my king. But the Malikah is just a legend, a myth, right?” Conri stared at Devil for a long moment as if trying to decide if he was lying. “Right.” Without waiting for a response from Devil, Conri stood up, gently grasped my arm, and pulled me to my feet. We walked out of the hut, and he stood in the doorway, observing the activity in the camp. “Is this everyone that you have?” “Yes, my king. We have every Shifter we have on patrol, but we still have a lot who are under eighteen.” Meaning that they didn’t have their first shift and they were powerless. Conri nodded his understanding, his eyes still scanning the area. “Cody.” Conri’s voice was sharp and clear. Without hesitation, Cody sauntered to us, towering over us in h
“I’m going to allow the growling to slide, considering that you are nearing your first shift, and your emotions are in overdrive right now. But I will not tolerate defiance, Rieka. I no longer want you as my servant. I just want you to be mine, and I want to be yours.” I wanted to look up at him, but his aura kept my eyes forced down. Conri bent down and grasped my hands to help me to my feet, his purr vibrating through his chest. He placed two fingers under my chin to force my head up to look at him. “I do not like commanding you and forcing you into submission. If you’re having difficulties with your instincts, let me help you. Do you understand?” “Yes.” I chewed on my bottom lip to keep myself from saying, my king. He raised an eyebrow. “Yes, what?” I lowered my eyes, my eyelashes fluttering and my cheeks heating. “Yes, Conri.” He growled in satisfaction at the sound of his name on my lips. “Let’s go and try to get some sleep.” I allowed him to guide me out of my room and a
“Do you trust me?” I nodded my head without hesitation. “Lay down.” I fell onto my stomach, kicking my legs out down the bed as Conri straddled me. The intensity in the apex of my thighs grew stronger as he hooked his fingers under the seam of my pants and began to pull them down along with my undergarments, tossing them to the floor with my other clothes. He ran a hand up the inside of my leg toward the apex of my thighs. “Just like the first time, Rieka, relax. Don’t fight your instincts. Your body knows what it wants.” Between his gentle words and his purring, I would have let him do whatever he wanted to me. A moan slipped between my lips as he brushed the apex of my thighs, and my hips involuntarily bucked, wanting more. Conri chuckled. He leaned forward to trail kisses down my spine, nipping at my shoulder blades as he passed them. I groaned. He cupped my pussy, and I moaned again as he placed little nips along my skin. Not enough to break the skin but hard enough to make me gas
A hiss sounded from Conri as he stirred awake, his hands running up my arm. Something told me I was a lunatic for biting the King of Guardians, but my instincts wanted more. They told me to mark every inch of him so everyone would know that he was mine and only mine. I bit his other pectoral, my claws kneading his sides. He groaned and hissed through his teeth as he rolled over on his back. I straddled his waist, sinking my canines into his collarbone. His blood with a perfect concoction of metallic and sweetness that was like a drug to me. I ran my tongue up his throat, and he moaned just before I bit into the junction of his shoulder and collarbone on the other side. “Rieka…” Conri moaned as both his hands grasped my hips. He was probably going to throw me out. Send me packing. I was biting the King of Guardians, but the harder I tried to stop, the stronger my instinct became to bite him. I did, over and over and over—Conri sat there and took every bite; he let out a mixture of h
“If we keep going, I don’t think I’ll be able to stop,” I growled at his words as I wanted to continue. Or at least my wolf side wanted to continue; my human side kept telling me this was moving too fast. I raked my claws down his biceps as the war began to rage inside me again. His fingers hovered over my skin, barely touching me as it electrified my nerves. His hand traveled lower—and lower—and lower—and just when I thought I could burst into flames from the heat in my core, a knock sounded on the bedroom door. Conri’s head snapped up, his eyes flashing blue as he let out a vicious snarl in the direction of the noise. Sighing, he dropped his head down to my chest, kissing my breasts tenderly. “I have to leave.” I let out a loose breath, despair twisting in my gut. “Do you want to come with me?” I bit my lower lip and thought about it before shaking my head. “I think I had enough adventure for this week,” I informed him, and he let out a chuckle before pressing a kiss on my foreh
“You’ll never be able to stop us, little queen.” The Hunter snarled quietly. “You can pretend all you want, but the Malikah belongs to the Hunters.” His weight vanished as Conri called out for me once more, and in the next instant, he was a wolf again, racing off into the darkness. I scrambled to my feet and struggled to get a breath. My lungs felt like I couldn’t get enough oxygen in my body. Branches cracked and snapped as my mate barreled through the undergrowth, skidding to a stop beside me, breathing heavily. His blue eyes were wild and crazed as he looked me up and down for any signs of injury. “I’m fine,” I said hoarsely, my throat feeling raw. I grabbed a handful of Conri’s neck fur, and he raised his head to help me stand. After realizing that I was lying and indeed all right, Conri snarled angrily at me, his iced eyes now blazing. “What were you thinking, Rieka?” Conri snapped at me as I leaned against him. “You could have been killed.” I laid my head against his neck, c
“Yes, my queen. The King and Cody should be here soon. Stay put. Don’t wander off.” I nodded my understanding before watching Connor weave through the pack, checking on everyone. I slowly turned my head, looking around at everyone, when I heard a faint noise in the darkness of the woods. My ears perked as I strained to listen more carefully. The slight whine came once more. Cautiously, I stepped towards the sound, curiosity taking over every nerve in my body. I didn’t realize how far I had strayed from the pack when a sudden force barreled into my side, and I was knocked off my paws. A vast, muscular wolf loomed over me, his red eyes bloodthirsty. I scrambled to my paws quickly and launched myself at him. Something clicked inside of me, some ancient instinct. It was like some part of me knew that I had a pack, no, I had packs, wolves to protect. I had wolves that needed a queen to rely on to protect them. And I was going to be that queen. I latched my teeth to his scruff and used my
“You want to pull rank and be the queen. So be the queen. Lead them.” I swallowed hard as I looked back at the pack. My voice shook as I tried to speak as loud as possible for the wolves in the back. “As many of you know, we were giving sanctuary to the Wolfsbane Pack. Before they could cross the border, the Hunters ambushed them. Once again, the Wolfsbane Pack needs our help. The King is not here, but I am. Help me protect what all you have sworn to protect. We are Guardians, and we will not back down from a fight. We will not let anyone take away what we stand for.” As I finished speaking, my heart beat so hard I was sure I couldn’t feel it. One by one, each wolf threw their heads back and let out a unison of harmonious howls. “Very nice, my queen,” Connor whispered, brushing his shoulder against mine. “Let’s go.” Connor took off running towards the trees, and I followed him with the pack behind me. For once, I was running towards something, not away from it. CONRI’S POV Ever
“He had some business to take care of with the Nightshade pack,” Connor answered. “Threats were being made against them. Cody and the king went to ensure their safety.” I sighed heavily. This was getting worse by the day. “May I go outside?” Connor blinked at me as if I had just asked a stupid question. “Of course. You’re going to be queen. You may do whatever you wish.” I rolled my eyes. “Of course, I have to go with you to do whatever you wish to do.” He gave me a coy smile, and I huffed a laugh as I rolled my eyes again. “Well, then, I’m going outside. Feel free to join me.” I walked back into my room to the side door that led to the yard. It was a little hot, with the sun blazing across the sky, but there was a gentle cool breeze to balance the heat. “I want to walk to the pond.” Connor fell into step beside me. “You don’t want to run?” I shrugged my shoulders and frowned as I looked up at the sun and squinted my eyes. “Nah. I don’t think I need to run. I just want to wal
My stomach grumbled with hunger, but I couldn’t bring myself to eat anything without Conri here. It was late into the night when the door swished open, and Conri stepped back into the room. My heart immediately started to flutter at the sight of him, and I couldn’t stop the smile from spreading across my face as I sat up in bed to greet him. My core instantly heated and throbbed as my want for him grew more assertive. I could tell he could smell my arousal by how his hazel eyes darkened with lust when he inhaled deeply. I wanted to pull him in and kiss every inch of his hard, muscular body, but my motherly instincts also kicked in. “What did Devil want?” I asked, concerned for the packs flooding through me and almost drowning out my arousal. “Asked for sanctuary. There’s a section of my territory just southwest of here. I offered it to Devil and his pack.” “Will they be safe there?” Conri sighed and ran a hair through his dark thick hair. “I hope so.” “And if the Hunters att
CONRI’S POV I stared at my mate in disbelief, her words echoing through me. She never once showed interest in being Queen, and now suddenly, she was throwing it up in my face. I was the Alpha King, and she was challenging me. Her steel grey eyes were hard and dark, like a thunderstorm was brewing in them. I could feel her uncertainty down the bond as she tried her best not to cower under pressure, but a part of me admired her sense of bravery for standing up to me. I inhaled deeply to try to stop my temper from boiling over. No matter how much I admired her courage, I did not appreciate her defying me. “Go back to the bedroom, Rieka,” I told her as calmly as possible. “I will discuss this with you later.” I didn’t think her eyes could harden anymore, but they did as she narrowed them at me like she was trying to decide whether to push the matter or not. When I thought she would argue some more, she turned on her heel and stormed out of the study with Cody following her. Once she
“You look so beautiful when you cum.” Conri whispered to me, which caused my abdomen to tighten once more. He rolled off the bed and headed to the bathroom as I lay there on my back with limp limbs trying to come back down to earth. I must have fallen asleep because it was early evening when I opened my eyes again, and Conri was nowhere in the room—stretching my sleepy muscles and feeling utterly satisfied. I crawled out of bed and brushed my hair before going to the closet to grab some clothes. A sinking hollow feeling began to form in my gut, and something told me that it was because Conri wasn’t near me. Opening the bedroom door, I looked to the right to see Cody standing guard. I was mortified as I prayed to the Luna Goddess that he hadn’t been out here while I screamed Conri’s name. “Please tell me that you weren’t—” I started to say, but Cody’s chuckle cut me off. “No, my queen, but from the smell of you—” He sniffed loudly. “I can tell what you and the king have been do
I must have fallen asleep by the fire because hours later, a warm hand was slowly caressing my bare back, coaxing me to wake up. The purring from Conri’s chest reverberated through me, and I sighed in contentment at the sound. I moved my cheek to rub my eyes to feel something firm and solid under my face. I opened my eyes to find I was lying on Conri’s bare chest in the bed. He must have carried me over when I had fallen asleep by the fireplace. For the first time in a long time, I didn’t want to move away from him. I rubbed my cheek deeper into his chest and growled affectionately. I gingerly ran my claws down his chest, inhaling his natural scent deeper. His purring became louder as he gently pushed me onto my back and pressed himself between my legs. He supported his weight on his elbows as his forearms lay on either side of my head, caging me in. Conri lowered his head and dragged the tip of his tongue along the seat of my lips. I involuntarily shuddered at the sensual jolt the
“If she is the Divine Queen, then she wouldn’t need to be a guardian. Her power will come from the Luna Goddess.” Cody said. “Are you headed out? I can take the first shift.” Connor offered. “No. I’m headed back to her.” I turned and walked back down the hallway. “Don’t forget to check her eyes,” Cody called after me. When I opened the door to the bedroom, I saw Rieka standing by the window and staring out across the yard at the trees. I could feel that she wanted to go running down the bond. “You like running, don’t you?” I asked her quietly, and she started at the sound of my voice, spinning around to look at me. She relaxed slightly as I approached her, closing the door behind me. “There’s just something about the wind running through me that makes me feel so…” her voice trailed off in thought. “Alive.” I finished for her, and she nodded, looking back outside as a small smile appeared. I stood behind her and slowly wrapped my arms around her waist. She melted back into