Chapter 4

-Willow-

“Tea, my Lady,” a servant said as she placed a tray filled with a teapot, cup, and all sorts of flavors on the coffee table further away. I had just come out of the bathroom, wrapped in a small, dark purple robe as she placed it down.

“Thank you,” I said before she bowed and left the room, closing the door behind her. I walked over to the many assortments, studying them, wondering what I should choose. I eventually went with a strawberry-flavored tea before I poured the warm water onto it and let the flavors stream into the water.

I waited a little, finding a book, before I went back and removed the teabag from the warm water. I began reading as I sipped my tea slowly. I wasn’t very tired, and while I had told Carter to go have fun, it didn’t mean I didn’t still miss him or wish he would be here. I had been to the palace before, but it was different now that it was my home. I even found it hard to focus on my book and began rolling my head around.

My body felt strangely tense tonight, and I couldn’t figure out why. A moment ago, I felt fine. I sighed, drinking the last bit of tea before I decided to head to bed, but I kept tossing and turning, feeling strangely warm. I sat up, rubbing my eyes, before I noticed the world was turning blurry in front of me. It kept going in and out of focus, as if I couldn’t see.

“What is happening?” I whispered.

I reached for my phone on the nightstand. Carter said I could call him all night if something was wrong. I found his number by dialing it, but it went to voicemail after a little while.

“Come on!”

I tried calling him again when I suddenly felt a sharp pain in my stomach, and then it felt like I had drenched myself. I dropped the phone, letting it slide to the floor and not caring if it got ruined. I pushed away the covers, noticing how my robe and the bedding beneath me were wet. Had I… peed myself? But that couldn’t be possible. I had just gone to the bathroom.

I didn’t get to figure out what was happening to me before another sharp sensation went through my stomach. Something was horribly wrong. While she-wolves experienced heat, they only appeared once a year, and there were lots of symptoms leading up to the very day they experienced it, making it easy to lock themselves away to not be a temptation to any nearby male wolves. It lasted only a day, but this was completely different, and I had had my heat only a few months ago.

No, this wasn’t right. I felt that sharp sensation again before I began gushing my slick, and my clit was throbbing with the need to be touched. I buried my head in the pillow, groaning like an animal. I had to get some help because, clearly, I was sick. I tried sliding out of bed, but those sharp sensations were getting more powerful, and all I managed was knocking down the lamp on my nightstand before slumping over the side of the bed and grabbing it tightly, begging for it to be over soon.

The only thing that worked on calming a heat was either medicine or a male coming inside you, but this wasn’t a heat. I didn’t know what it was, but it was painful and incredibly shameful, as my body seemed to work up to receiving something inside it.

“Oh, stop!” I groaned before I rolled my stomach, my robe falling open. I had to relive myself and slip my hand lower, touching myself, but my body wasn’t agreeing with that. The painful sensation only turned more powerful, making me let out a little scream. What the hell did I do?

-Cain-

I had changed from my normal attire to some sweatpants and got ready to go to bed when I heard a crash. The crash sounded muffled as if it were coming from inside another room, but my sensitive hearing still picked it up. I was used to being on guard by now, so anything unusual always seemed to hit my senses, alarming me that something was amiss.

I opened my bedroom door, looking down the hallway, confused. I couldn’t see anything wrong, and when I smelled the air, there were no new smells. It was all the same, but as I was about to turn back into my room, I heard a small scream. That made me perk up again, and I looked down the hallway, knowing it was coming from further down.

Slowly, I began walking toward where the scream had come from. I passed my brother’s room but stopped to go back and grab the handle. I looked into it, but he hadn’t come back, meaning he wasn’t the one making those sounds. Another groan echoed my way, and I turned my head.

I left my brother’s room, then came to another door. I halted, inspecting it and turning my head slightly. That’s when I heard the groan again. It sounded almost animalistic, and I felt confused by it. I took a step back, looking at the door, when a servant came up the stairs and was about to walk the other way. I called out to her, and she turned to me.

“Who occupies this room?” I asked.

“That would be Prince Carter’s fiancé,” she told me.

“Thank you.”

She bowed before me, then walked down the hallway. I sighed, realizing my brother had probably just gone to sleep in Willow’s room, and the sounds I was hearing were just those two enjoying themselves. I shook my head, about to walk away, when my wolf suddenly jumped forward, stopping me.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

Go check.

“I don’t want to see my brother fucking his fiancé,” I snarled.

Go check!

“Why are you being so insistent on this?” I questioned.

Just then I heard another strange crash, and I turned my head, sensing something wasn’t quite right, because either my brother and his fiancé were going at it, so lamps and tables were breaking, or my brother wasn’t at all in the room with her.

A dark anger took over as I stormed back to my room, then checked my phone. I logged into my old social media account, and there I saw a picture that had been posted just a few minutes ago with my brother and his friends standing together. My brother wasn’t home, I realized, and so whoever was in that room with Willow couldn’t be him.

“Cheating little she-wolf,” I growled before I threw my phone on the bed. I might not be that close to my family anymore, but I wasn’t going to allow my brother to marry someone who couldn’t stay loyal to him.

I stormed back to Willow’s room, no longer caring about her privacy. I grabbed the door handle and flung open the door, only to almost be knocked over by the most heavenly smell of strawberries. I coughed, so powerful it was, and then my cock went straight up, hardening in an instant.

I looked down, shocked by the reaction I was getting. This smell was incredible. It was making my head dizzy, but maybe that was because all the blood was going south. What was happening to me? I turned my head to think I would find Willow on the bed with some man, but the bed was messy and empty. Where the hell was she?

Just then, I heard a strange groan again. It was coming from the bed, but wasn’t it empty? That was when I noticed this strange trembling clump by the end of the bed.

I closed the door a little, walking closer and needing to inspect that strange clump. It seemed so strange, and I had been so certain that Willow was in here with someone, but there couldn’t possibly be two people underneath that thin blanket. So either the other man was hiding in here somewhere, or Willow was alone after all. But why make those sounds then?

I reached out, grabbing the blanket and slowly letting it slide away from the clump, letting it fall to the floor. I was so shocked by the sight beneath me. All curled up and trembling laid my brother’s fiancé, naked and sweaty.

She had her arms wrapped around herself, and she couldn’t have become any smaller, so tightly she was curled together. She was shaking and letting out these small, painful sounds, but as she let out a little scream, another push of that heavenly scent was sent toward me. Fuck, was she in heat?

Can’t be. We would have lost our minds then, my wolf pointed out.

He was right. While I had a strong reaction to Willow, I was not losing my mind. Normally, a female’s heat triggered the rut of a male, and he would become as much of an animal as her, only knowing how to mate. I still had my head, but then what was wrong with Willow, and why was I reacting this way to her?

I reached out, touching her sweaty shoulder, and she was so sensitive that she screamed, curling away from me. I withdrew, and she turned her head, looking up at me. The pupils had eaten the color of her eyes, making them look even bigger, but what I noticed was not the color. It was the wakening of ancient instincts that told me that this she-wolf in front of me belonged to me.

Cain, that is our mate!

My wolf jumped forward, recognizing Willow for what she was to us, but that wasn’t exactly a joyous revelation. She was my brother’s fiancé, after all. She couldn’t be my mate! Yet I didn’t get to think too much about it.

As Willow set her eyes on me, she pushed up from the bed. While her limbs were shaking and she was rather uncoordinated, she was able to get on her knees and reach for me. Her hands tugged on my pants, yet she had no strength left.

“Please… help me,” she whimpered in the sweetest little voice.

It was enough to make me dizzy, and the sight of those sweet, heavy breasts of hers made my mouth salivate. Fuck, no! I was better than this! I had changed. Yet Willow began tugging harder on my pants, and she pressed her face against my stomach before she licked the skin, making me groan contently. We were mates, so even the smallest touch was meant to entice me. Her licks were even worse because they almost made my mind snap.

“Shit, what do I do?”

You fuck her! She is our mate! Claim her before someone else does! my wolf growled, only listening to our ancient instincts, which wanted us to claim and mate.

“Are you crazy? She belongs to Carter!”

She is clearly sick. She needs you!

“Am I really what she needs?” I questioned.

Look at her eyes! The smell, it’s poison!

I turned to Willow again, grabbing her hair to stop her from licking my skin. She gasped as I forcefully brought her head back so I could inspect her.

“Look at me,” I ordered, and like a good little submissive mate, she turned her eyes to me. Fuck, they were truly huge, with the pupils exploding. She had definitely been given something, and I was starting to recognize what it was. But it was very bad.

These sorts of aphrodisiacs had horrible side effects if you weren’t able to fuck them out of your system. One of them could even cause a coma. They were made with the intention of having someone near to take care of you, but they weren’t exactly legal anymore either. Not that it had ever stopped the upper class before.

Help her!

“Is the solution really to fuck her?” I groaned, knowing how complicated that would make everything.

She is ours. Mating with her wouldn’t be wrong. She belongs to us.

I was finding it hard enough to think straight, and so when my wolf proposed that she was already ours to take, then it felt like my strength to say no—the celibacy I had forced myself into—all slipped away. Willow was right there—so beautiful, right for the taking, and I was harder than ever before. With a determinate shove, I got rid of my pants, and my cock was freed from its prison.

The moment I was no longer covered, my mate sprung into action, only driven by the poison in her system, and her mouth enveloped me, sloppily sucking me as if she couldn’t quite figure out how to do it. Nonetheless, I groaned at the sheer pleasure of having her mouth around my sensitive flesh. I grasped her hair harder, controlling her and forcing her to take me a bit deeper as I used her for my own pleasure. I lasted seconds with her mouth around me, and I began spilling down her throat.

That first orgasm turned me into an animal, and I pulled her off me before I threw Willow onto her back, jumping over her. As her mate, I could go multiple times in order to satisfy her needs, but the scent she was sending out into the room was also ensuring I stayed hard for her. I spread her legs wide and leaned down to taste her. She screamed loudly when my tongue ran over her wet skin.

“Fuck, you’re drenched,” I groaned against her before I licked her again, but it seemed to be too painful for her. Her body wanted one thing, as she had been pushed into this heat-like state.

So I moved up her body, positioning myself, and in one powerful thrust, I was inside Willow’s warm channel. She screamed, trying to get away from me, and I noticed how she tightened herself around me, so it felt like she was squeezing the life out of my cock. “Did my brother never have a taste of you?”

Willow couldn’t answer. She was too deep into the poison running through her system. She was shaking badly, and tears were running down her cheeks. She was in so much pain, and it was not from me entering her. However, I held onto her, ensuring we both stayed still, and when she calmed down a little, she came to me again.

She wrapped her legs around me before her arms circled my neck and brought me to her. She kissed me and tried moving against me, needing my release inside her. I couldn’t withstand the temptation. I had gotten so good at it, but Willow was something else. She was meant to tempt me beyond belief. I wasn’t supposed to have the ability to say no because that was how it was between true mates.

I slid out of her slowly before slamming into her again, hearing the sweet moan that escaped her. I would go slow if I could, but the poison in her body was affecting me too, and the longer I stayed attached to her, smelling that heavenly scent, the more crazy she drove me.

I began fucking her harder, the bed moving with us as I got lost in her body, feeling how incredible she made me feel. I couldn’t remember sex being this good, and the sounds she made as I pleased her were the best things I had ever heard. They spurred me on, and Willow began tensing, shaking even more as she came, experiencing an explosive orgasm that made her body arch up against me as I continued to drive into her.

My thrusts became more desperate as my body was working toward something I had never tried before. I realized too late what it was as I began expanding a bit inside her, latching onto her, sealing her shut, and then came with a roar as I began spilling into her. Willow felt the pain of me knotting her tight little pussy, but I couldn’t stop it. Alphas knotted their true mates since there was a small chance that the pain of being knotted triggered their females’ ovulation.

While heats were the only times a female was extremely fertile, alphas got an advantage by being able to knot their mates. The chance was small, but it was there, and the pleasure that rolled through my body, not just from coming but from sealing myself to my mate, was immense.

Willow kept whimpering as I filled her and took up the space inside her, but then the pain gave away to sheer pleasure, and she shook again as she came before we both slumped down on the bed. I was panting like I had forgotten what air meant while Willow buried her face in the crook of my neck, drinking in my dark alpha scent as she found comfort in me.

However, the night was far from over, and I knew this was only the beginning. The moment my knot withdrew, I was on her again. I slipped out, turning her around, and got her ass in the air as I began pounding into her, feeling such a powerful need to both claim and dominate her, and Willow, my sweet little mate, kept taking me over and over, crying out for more.

“Mine!” I growled before I leaned over her and bit into her neck, marking her as mine.