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
Edric's POV: I barely stepped out of the shower after washing Marcus’s blood off me, when Luca mind-links me, taking me by complete surprise. “You’re taking her away?” “It’s for the best…look what her mere presence has done to you.” Luca is quiet, but I can still feel our link. “Luca? Talk to me, bud.” “Jolie will never forgive me.” “Yes, she will. You didn’t do anything unforgivable.” “I attacked you…because I wanted your mate. I have a lot more sympathy for Marcus now.” “Don’t be stupid, man, you’re nothing like him.” “I should be the one who leaves, not Maya. She brought our pack back together--” “Eventually, all the wolves will start behaving like you. I suspect the only reason the true Omegas haven’t become aggressive yet, is because they fear stronger wolves. They felt it much sooner…I saw it on her first day here.” “I know what I did was stupid. Wrong. I don’t expect anything--”
Abbadon's POV For ten years, I managed to stay away from Maya, and then I couldn’t stand it anymore. I left my home in Greece and went back. I watched her from afar, my heart screaming out to her, but knowing I couldn’t interfere. She needed her peace, and she found it. She was happy, living a life of domestic bliss with her mate and their mini-pack of eight pups. Deimos grew into an admirable young Alpha, and I felt her sadness on the day he left to take his place as Silver Springs’ leader. He was loved and respected. He visited his parents every chance he got until he stepped down as Alpha and was never seen again. Warwick took the throne on his twenty-fifth birthday. Edric was happy to retire. He was a good king and dragged his tribe into the twenty-first century whether they liked it or not, but he never wanted the job. He was at his happiest when his children and grandchildren surrounded him. Their third child, a boy named Joshua, returned to Mountain Fire when he was twenty.
With Warwick resting on my hip, and my other hand in Deimos’s I look around our apartment one last time. It was our home for more than a year, and I’ve grown oddly attached to it. “Where going, mama?” Deimos asks.I look down at my one-year-old who isn’t behaving like other one-year-olds and smile at him. “We’re going home.”“This home.”“No kid,” Edric says from the doorway. “This isn’t our home anymore. I build us a better home.”“Hellooo,” Cedric calls from the living room, his voice echoing in the empty apartment. “One last time for good luck.”I start laughing and let Edric take Deimos before we leave our bedroom for the last time.Cedric and Stephen waits for us in the living room surrounded by their three pups. They took to parenthood like ducks take to water, and soon after the pups arrived, Cedric resigned as Edric’s Gamma. “Are you sure?” Edric asked.“Yes,” Cedric replied, beaming at Edric. “It’s all I want now.”“You don’t just want paternity leave?” Edric joked. “Reconsid
Edric's POV Our date night turned into a bit of a flop. We had to take it in turns to stop each other. When Maya lost control, I’d remind her to stop, and when it was my turn to lose control, she’d remind me to stop, but somehow we made it work. Together, we found new and interesting ways to satisfy each other, rediscovering each other’s bodies. I yawn and flop backward on the bed. The moment we were home, Maya rushed off to find the boys, and I take the time to enjoy the silence. Goddess knows, I love my sons, but I do enjoy these quiet moments. It gives me a chance to think. The one good thing that came out of last night was that Maya finally opened up to me and shared her fears. Now that we’re talking openly and frankly again, I’m hoping that she’ll slow down and spend more time with me. I miss her. My phone starts vibrating and I pull it out of my pocket. With a frown I stare at the caller ID. “Adrian?” I answer. “Hello,” he says. It’s strange to hear his voice. We haven’t sp
Edric's POV Maya’s heat comes on as suddenly as it did the last time, only this time I’m here to experience it, and she’s not locked behind several layers of wood and steel. One moment, everything’s fine, the next I almost drive off the road as her scent fills the car and attacks my senses. I wipe my wet palms on my jeans and try to pay attention to the road so I don’t kill us. “What’s wrong?” she asks. “You don’t know?” I ask in return, hearing my voice rise several octaves. “You’re in heat.” “Is that what it is? I just thought I’m horny for…well, no good reason at all.” She laughs uncomfortably and shifts around in her seat. “Shouldn’t I get some kind of warning or something?” “Normally, yes…but we forget sometimes that you’re not normal.” We are almost to the hotel and the road is clear with no other cars in sight, but I’m not sure I’m going to make it. Blood rushes through me so fast that I can barely hear, let alone see. Just like last time her heat overwhelms me and I can’t
I crash through the misty woods, my wolf pushing our body harder than I thought was possible, oblivious to our surroundings as we keep trying to get away from whatever it is that’s chasing us. I never saw what it was. I just felt it. Danger. It’s right on top of us. ~ Go faster! ~ I scream at my wolf. She increases her pace, but we won’t be able to do this for much longer. We’ve been running for hours, and our legs are about to give out. At first, I’m relieved to see him. Abbadon lands in front of me, and I dash past him, placing myself between him and the thing chasing us. Finally, we can stop. I collapse to the ground, and my exhausted wolf lets go, forcing me to shift back to human. I curl up in a little ball on the cold, wet, forest floor and try to catch my breath, trusting that Abbadon will take care of the dangerous thing I’m trying to escape. I look up at Abbadon. My mate. No matter what he is or what he does, he’ll never harm me. “Is that what you think?” he asks in his
Edric's POV The weeks slip by without anyone taking much notice. New Year’s day comes and goes without much fanfare, but a week into the new year, Maya insists on speaking to Alpha Neil about Deimos, and after days of pestering me about it, I give in. The Alpha doesn’t tell us anything I haven’t already told her. “I don’t know what else I can say, Queen,” Neil says. “We grow up fast, and we shift young--” he shrugs --“but that’s just how it is with our kind. We are big, we’re strong, and we’re violent.” Maya shudders lightly and looks over at Deimos who is trying to pull himself upright against a couch. “He’s not even five months old yet,” she whispers. “Yes,” Neil replied. “And by the time he’s twelve, he’ll look like a fully grown man. But you have to remember, he’s still just a child.” The Alpha bites into his nails, his face pensive, then he sighs and goes on. “This is important. The first shift is the worst. It lasts for hours, and it is brutal. Make sure you lock him up.” “W
I haven’t seen Edric in such a good mood since the day he introduced me to the pack back at Mountain Fire. At first, the higher-ranking wolves wouldn’t join us, refusing to eat with the ‘lower filth’ as one of the warriors called the True Omega that walked past him. Just when I thought my grand plan would come apart at the seams, Stephen and Cedric jumped in and arranged everyone according to their rank, which placated some of the grumpier wolves. Less than an hour later, everyone is happily chatting and enjoying the day. Even Maxwell and Alexander’s widow, Esther, came out of their hiding place to join us, but they are sitting by themselves, away from the rest of the tribe. “He looks much better,” I say while staring at Edric’s uncle. Edric looks up and follows my gaze. “Yes, now that he’s not getting poisoned every day. He’s actually improving, but he’s still not speaking. Winston says the damage to his brain is catastrophic. He’ll heal some, but he’ll never be quite…right.” I’ve
Edric's POV I lie on my side, watching Maya sleep, trying to get rid of the unnecessary guilt that’s trying to eat me alive. She kept trying to reassure me that it’s okay, but I’ve been so conditioned by my time with Mountain Fire, that I can’t let go and believe it. I lost control. "Alphas don't lose control," I can practically hear my father's voice. It's as if he's standing right next to me. "It's a thin line between losing control and going feral." Sighing, I pull on a pair of loose boxers and go back to the balcony for a glass of wine. I won't be able to sleep while I feel like this anyway. “Evening,” Stephen says from their balcony. “Hey,” I answer and pour some wine into my glass before I walk over to the low wall separating the two balconies. “Where’s Cedric?” “Inside, feeding Warwick. How’s your date going?” “Well, it’s not…I think it’s over. Maya’s asleep.” Stephen laughs softly. “Yeah, I’m sure she’s tuckered out. You two were a bit…loud.” I blush, grateful for the d
It’s like I’m standing outside myself. Watching, hearing, feeling and seeing everything my wolf does. I have no control over myself and my body anymore. It was already too late when Edric brought me inside -- by then she had taken control because she sensed my hesitation. Edric tries to pull away from me, but she growls a low warning and grips his hair, roughly pulling him back to her, folding her lips around his mouth. The kiss steals the breath from my body and drives me insane with dark, needy lust. I want to stop fighting it, want to stop overthinking every little thing, I want to stop fighting my wolf and just let it happen. I want to find my mate again and be with him like we used to be when we found each other. Edric picks me up, and I wrap my legs around him. He carries me across the room, slamming me against the wall so hard that my head connects to it with a jarring thud. It doesn’t even slow my wolf down. Her claws surface and she rips his shirt to ribbons. I’m terrified