“Alpha. Luna. This way please.” One of the True Omegas leads us to our table. As always, Edric’s subordinates, their mates, and his father are at the table with us.
“That took a while,” Luca teases, and I blush like a teenager caught in the act.
Edric bumps me with his shoulder, and holds up his whiskey glass. “We were distracted by the bar.”
My mate and his Beta start chatting, while Jolie gets up and brings something over. “You’ll need this.”
I take a leather satchel from her. “Okay. Why?”
“You’ll see in a minute.”
She sits back down without another word. I look at Edric. “What does she mean.”
“It’s traditional to gift the she-wolf with cash. It’s so you’ll have a financial cushion if something happens to me, or if our…union breaks down. They started doing it decades ago when wolves were constantly at war with each other, and she-wolves lost their mates faster than they could count.”
Slight panic starts tucking at my
My insides contract as Edric slips his arms around me, cupping both my breasts and rolling my nipples between his fingers. My wolf purrs in response to his touch. Sighing, I lean back against him, trusting that he won’t let me fall. He drops his head to my neck, nuzzling me, tracing the lines of my jaw, leaving behind a trail of fire in his wake. Warm need flushes through me, electricity exploding from my centre when his lips flutter over the mark he left on me. I try to turn around, want to look at him but he won’t let me. Swatting the side of my butt, he keeps me in place with his strong arm wrapped around my waist. “The only words I want to hear from you are yes, no, or stop,” he breathes in my ear. “Otherwise, shut up or I’ll start spanking you.” “Okay.” He swats my other butt cheek, not so hard that it hurts, but enough to sting. Instead of scaring me like I expected, it turns me on even more. I really don’t understand my sexual side well enough
Edric's POV: I’m having the hardest time letting go of Maya. Clutching her to my chest much tighter than I should. I came very close to losing control, my wolf forcing himself to the surface with a roar just when I was about to climax. I stopped him just in time. He’s quiet now, content for the moment. I lift myself up and off Maya, kissing her brow before I roll off her. “Are you okay?” She stretches, giving me a spectacular view of her body. In the back of my mind, my wolf growls. * Back off. I’ve just about heard enough out of you. * “Yes.” She rolls over into my waiting arm. I draw her against me, kissing the side of her face. “Did I hurt you?” I’m not too worried. I might have taken things just a little too far, but I could also feel and smell how much it excited her. “Yes,” she admits bluntly. “But it wasn’t…bad.” I can feel the heat from the blush bleeding into me. I know she enjoyed it, but I wa
Edric's POV: “Marcus Brown, you stand accused of launching an unprovoked attack on the Luna of Mountain Fire. What say you?” “I’m innocent, your majesty,” Marcus replies. What? He admitted it to me. I ball my fists in my lap, trying my best not to speak out of turn. “Motivate your claims of innocence.” “At the time of the attack, Maya was not yet the Luna for Mountain Fire, and Edric had not yet marked her, so she wasn’t officially his mate. In fact, she did not even belong to the pack. She was still a rogue.” Dammit, the fucker found a loophole. The king nods and turns to me. “Alpha Edric Payne, is this true?” I stand. “Yes, your majesty. It wasn’t official yet, but the pack had accepted her, and she already started performing her duties as Luna when it happened.” “But everyone did technically consider her a rogue.” “No, your majesty, a day after she arrived, she lost her rogue sc
Edric's POV: “Marcus, how long did you search for Maya?” “About a year.” “Why?” “I told you already…my shaman told me she’s The Star Child come to destroy us all. He translated some ancient texts--” “Did you really believe that story?” At the time, when I questioned Marcus, I thought he did…now I wonder if it’s possible I misread the man. “Yes.” I look over my shoulder at Maya, her eyes are glued on Marcus’s face. “But you were wrong…you admitted to me you were wrong, right?” “Yes.” “Would you say you understood what you were doing at the time?” “No, I was out of my mind…psychotic.” “Do you think so? I don't. You knew you were breaking our laws. You wanted Maya for yourself. Why?” Marcus is quiet. “You will answer every question truthfully,” the king orders. Why didn’t he do that sooner? Marcus goes pale. “The Star Child would be a powerful
I can’t say anything without making Edric look weak. Earlier, I was so angry with him…but after I heard Marcus's answers, I finally understood what my mate meant. Is he condemning the man to make me happy? “Very well,” the king says. “Sentence to be carried out at dawn tomorrow morning. Who will carry out the execution?” “I’ll do it,” Edric says. A wolf pops to his feet. “Really now, your majesty, are you telling me that Edric doesn’t bear a grudge. Look how eager he is to execute Marcus.” Edric turns around, his eyes cold. “As eager as you are to kill the emerging Alphas in your pack Kenneth?” So that’s Kenneth. I wondered what he looked like. He’s the first unattractive Alpha I’ve seen, with mousy, lank hair, and weird light brown eyes like dirty bathwater. The Alpha’s mouth opens and closes like a fish on dry land. “I would never...” Edric ignores him, turning back to the king. “The one who passes the sentence carries it out. That’s our pack’s law.” The king nods. “Very well.
My mate picks me up from the floor, and sits with me on the couch, holding his hand over my exposed ear. For a while, all I can hear is his racing heart. He’s afraid. Of me or for me? “Cameron!” When did Edric start calling the king by his first name? “What are we going to do?” “For starters, we tell no one about Maya ripping out his wolf, that’s for sure.” What are they talking about? “Kenneth!” the king says, and I can hear the sound of skin slapping skin. Something's definitely wrong here. I try to turn my head so I can look at the dead werewolf, but Edric holds me in place. “Don’t look. He’s not dead,” he says softly. “But he might as well be.” What? Edric must be wrong. I saw Kenneth die. I heard his heart stop. Saw his chest deflate. “Let her go. I want to talk to her,” Cameron says. I feel Edric tense under me. “Can’t it wait?” “No. Don’t make me order you.” “It’s okay,” I say, my lips still numb with sho
Every wolf we pass stops us and asks what happened to me. Edric lies so smoothly and convincingly, that even I am half-convinced by the time we make it to our bedroom. “I think everyone bought it.” He lays me down on the bed, and gingerly removes the shirt I’m still clutching to my chest. The wounds reopen and start to bleed again. He disappears into the bathroom and returns with a first-aid kit. “Should I call Doc?” he asks. “These scratches are pretty deep.” “No. Unless I won’t heal by myself. I will heal right?” “Of course you will. If you shift, they’ll heal faster.” I shake my head. My wolf almost took control earlier, just before I slashed open Kenneth’s neck. I can feel her pacing around, she wants to get out, eager to hunt and kill. I can’t risk it. “No. My wolf’s too…restless.” “She wants to kill, right?” I nod. “Yeah, it’s normal. She’ll settle, don’t worry.” Edric rips the tatters of my dress off, then drenches a cle
Edric's POV: Maya’s still asleep when I wake several hours before dawn. Groaning, I fling my arm across my eyes and swallow against the nervous knot in my throat. Killing isn’t new to me. Werewolves’ lives are often violent, but apart from the rogue, I’ve never executed anyone. “Jasper?” I mind-link my new Beta. “You awake yet?” “Yes, boss.” “Can you get a sword ready for me? Make sure it’s sharp.” “You’re not going to let your wolf kill him?” “No…I can’t stomach it.” “It’s not too late to let me do it.” “No. He deserves to die like an Alpha at the hands of an Alpha.” “What about Maya?” “She’s asleep. I’m not waking her for this. But just in case anything happens to me, the new combination to the panic room is five zero six nine.” “Gotcha.” “Did Marcus’s family leave yet?” “No. They’re staying for the execution.” “Even the little ones?” The youngest of Marcus’s pu