“Sounds like the effect of wolf’s blood to me,” he said, winking at her.
“You think?”
“Attacking without thinking? Just reacting instantly? Yeah, that’s wolf mentality.”
“Well, I like your blood in me then. It was a good feeling. Powerful. Plus, I can read your thoughts.”
“Yeah, about that….”
“What? You can read mine.”
“I see a shitload of problems with this new development. My thoughts of you tend to be anything but gentlemanly, Cora. And when you piss me off, you really don’t want to hear what I’m thinking.”
“My thoughts aren’t as tame as you think either.”
“Really? A good girl like you?”
“Try me,” she said, raising her eyebrows in a challenge.
He gazed at her and concentrated, drawing her thoughts to him.
She focused on controlling her thoughts, specifically for him to hear.
I want to rip his clothes off right now and run my tongue all over that smoking hot body of his. His lips, his chest, his cock, until he’s panting with need. And then I’ll take him in my mouth like I know he’s been craving. He won’t know what’s hit him. Tongue swirling, my mouth devouring every inch of his impressive length. Tasting him. Swallowing every drop of cum when he comes apart around me.
She watched him jolt and physically step back, blinking hard and sucking in a breath. His gaze snapped to hers and she could see in his eyes that he realized what she’d done. “You did that on purpose. You were controlling your thoughts.”
She laughed. “Yeah. Sorry, I couldn’t resist.”
“I can do it to you too, you know.”
“Go ahead.”
“No. Not right now.”
“Why not?” she asked, disappointed.
He crossed to the bed and perched beside her. He took her hand in his. “Because, my sweet, formerly-innocent wife, you need to rest. You’re exhausted and you’re not yourself.”
“Fine. All right. Seeing as though you said it so nicely.”
“Thank you.”
She smiled tiredly and held his hand tightly as he sat with her, waiting for her to fall asleep.
It wasn’t long before she did.
CHAPTER 19
Luca stood in the shadows of Michael’s bedroom, watching him sleep.
Fury raged within him. He could barely contain it.
“Are you trying to decide whether or not to kill me?”
Michael’s voice caught him by surprise. Luca watched his eyes snap open. He sat up in bed and stared directly at him, knowing exactly his position, even though he was positioned out of sight, in the shadows.
Curse the all-knowing bastard.
“Well?” Michael pressed.
“No,” Luca said. “We are beyond the black and white of that, are we not?”
“That would be an understatement after our telepathic conversation earlier. It would have been less taxing if you had a phone. I trust that you understand now what I was saying the other night during our confrontation with the princess and her wolf?”
Luca stepped from the shadows. “Yes. And, remember what I told you? The pureblood wolf is dead. I killed him.”
Michael smiled with amusement and shook his head. “No, you didn’t.”
“What? I was there, Michael. I know what I did. I know what I saw.”
“The wound was fatal, yes. But he still lives.”
“Impossible.”
“Her blood has made the impossible possible, Luca.”
“You’re saying that Cora saved him, brought him back from death?”
“Near-death. But, yes. And now he knows that you can actually kill him. The secret is out, Luca! I gave you the power to transcend your inability to kill your blood kin, thinking you would use it responsibly and actually get the deed done when the opportunity presented itself!”
“He would have died, if she hadn’t interfered!”
“You should have taken her, instead of walking away!”
“I couldn’t. Her magic… it’s getting stronger.” He lifted his shirt. “See? This is her doing.”
Michael failed to stifle a gasp as he studied the wound in the center of Luca’s chest. Luca wasn’t surprised. It was disturbing to look at. It was six inches wide, a deep, gaping hole that was oozing blood and… something else. He knew it couldn’t be puss, because vampires couldn’t become infected with anything. They were technically dead, after all.
“I came here, because I need you to heal me,” Luca said. “It’s been several days and it’s the same. It won’t close. And it’s glistening with silver magic.”
“I can see that. Hmm… it looks painful.”
“It is!”
“Have you been feeding?”
“Of course.”
“Then this magic is extremely powerful.” Michael swept his hand over the wound.
A shimmering, black glow emanated from his palm and spread to the wound. Luca growled in agony. As Michael brought up his other palm to assist, Luca collapsed to his knees, grunting.
Michael pulled back and shook his head with disbelief. “It’s not working.”
“What?”
“I can’t heal you. Her magic is too strong. I can’t breach it. You’ll have to let it heal in time. Give it another few days.”
More time? Absolutely not. “Try something else. I can’t go another few days in this much agony, Michael!”
“You have no choice. There is nothing else that I can do.”
Curses! Luca snarled and struggled back to his feet.
“When you are healed, you need to bring her to me. We can’t allow her power to grow beyond what it already has.”
“She has returned to the wolf compound. I can’t breach it. No vampire can. It’s invitation only.”
“Draw Ryan out. Do that and she will follow. She is his mate. It is in her nature to stand by his side. You saw that for yourself a few nights ago.”
“I will take her first, Michael.”
Michael released an exasperated sigh. “Luca, let it go.”
“Let it go? I will make Ryan pay for his father’s actions. It’s because of his father’s treason that I am burdened with a brother that is wolf. Wolf! I am a laughing stock because of it. Banished to this human realm, as a result, so my father doesn’t have to be tainted by the same shame as I. I will take her, Michael.”
“Fine. Just make it quick. I need to drain her power, before she gets much stronger and it becomes impossible. If I fail, we both lose. If I can’t draw her power into myself, then we won’t have the means to attack the Dark Realm and unseat your father. Don’t you want to be king?”
“Yes, of course.”
“Then hurry the hell up and take the whore already! Soon, Luca!”
CHAPTER 20
“We need to find a supernatural version of the Pill, so we don’t need to use these,” Ryan said, rolling a condom down over his throbbing cock, as he straddled his waiting and wanton wife.
“I agree,” she said, gazing up at him, her eyes hooded with desire.
Ryan adjusted his weight and lined his cock up with her sweet pussy. “Now, where were we?”
“Round four, I believe.”
He grinned at her and was just about to bury himself inside her tight heat when a sudden knock at the bedroom door stopped him.
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me!” he hissed, looking down at her with disbelief. “What?” he called out towards the door.
“It’s Josh. We have a situation.”
“Right now?”
“Code Red, Ry!”
Ryan released a heavy sigh, ripped the condom off and tossed it away angrily. He climbed under the bed covers and leaned over Cora, pulling her side of the duvet up to shield her naked tits.
“Come in!” he yelled.
Josh opened the door and strode into the room. He smirked when he caught sight of the two of them in bed.
“Something amu
sing, J?” Ryan snapped.
Josh quickly wiped the smirk off his face and shook his head. “No. Sorry.”
Damn straight.
“What’s wrong?” Cora asked softly.
Ryan shook his head at her with disapproval. He didn’t like her way-too-gentle tone with Josh. It was how she was with all the boys. It aggravated him. They needed discipline, not coddling.
She rolled her eyes at his silent disapproval and looked away.
“Well?” Ryan pressed Josh.
He reported, “We’ve got two Alphas at the gates demanding to speak with you.”
“Excuse me?”
“Like I said, Code Red.”
“Looking for a fight, huh?” Ryan said. The only reason that another Alpha would ever come knocking at another’s door was to challenge him. To kill him and take his pack.
“They both swear that’s not the reason.”
“Both? Who is it?”
“Alyssa and Troy.”
“Alyssa?” Ryan asked, taken aback.
“Who’s Alyssa?” Cora asked.
Ryan sighed with agitation and climbed out of bed. “My ex.”
“His extremely vengeful and batshit-crazy ex,” Josh added.
Ryan flashed him a look, as he snapped up his jeans from the floor and hurriedly pulled them on.
“Vengeful and crazy, huh?” Cora said.
“It’s a long story. But if she’s come here asking to see me, she wants my help, which means she won’t be pulling any more of that shit. Besides, I’m pretty sure she got the message last time I saw her.”
Josh tossed him his shirt. Ryan nodded his thanks and pulled it on quickly. He glanced around the room, looking for his jacket, when it suddenly came at him. He caught it and stumbled back from the power of the throw. He eyed the culprit. Cora. She glared hard at him. Oh, fuck. She’s pissed.
“Come with me, if you’re worried, darlin’,” he offered, as he slipped on his jacket. “But you should know by now that you are, and always will be, the only one.”
“Smooth talker,” Josh chuckled.
Ryan smiled innocently at Cora. “I’m serious. Come. But… get dressed first. I don’t want you giving the boys an eyeful. That’s just for me.”
***
Ryan approached the gates with Josh on one side of him and Cora on his other, along with two of his boys at his back. He glared hard at the two unwelcome visitors standing on the other side of the impenetrable metal bars.
Troy looked a lot older than the last time he’d seen him. But that had been more than twenty years ago. They’d run into each other at an Alpha meeting. Every now and then all the Alphas met to discuss business and territorial issues. Troy had been pleasant enough when he’d met him. But that didn’t mean he trusted him. As a rule, he didn’t trust anyone outside of his own pack. Troy’s gray, crew cut hair matched his macho military appearance. He wore black tactical pants and a navy cargo jacket. Deep age lines were etched into his face and his eyes were tired. Ryan knew he’d been Alpha of his pack for the last forty years. And Troy wasn’t immortal like Ryan was. No other wolf was. They all aged, apart from him.
Alyssa was as trashy as he remembered. He couldn’t remember why the fuck he’d ever hooked up with her in the first place. It had been ten years since he’d seen her, and he was still disgusted by the sight of her. His anger at what she’d tried to pull still hadn’t ebbed. Faking a pregnancy wasn’t something he could ever forgive. His eyes narrowed at the memory, as he took her in. Her striking red hair flowed in waves all the way to her waist. The leopard-print dress she was wearing clung to her body and left nothing to the imagination. It barely covered her ass and it was so low cut that her big tits were practically spilling out of it. Gold chains adorned her neck, matching her stiletto heels. The only sense of modesty about her outfit was the crimson jacket that hung off her shoulders.
“Troy,” Ryan said, greeting him politely as he came to a stop at the gates.
Troy nodded back respectfully.
Ryan turned his gaze on Alyssa. “Calling yourself an Alpha now, are you?”
“What else am I supposed to call myself, Ry?” she asked in that fake, sickly-sweet way of hers. “I lead my own pack. Why not call myself Alpha?”
“Because you don’t have one of these,” he said, gripping his cock through his jeans.
“Yes, but I remember well how that felt thrusting into me.”
Ryan rolled his eyes and turned to Cora. “Sorry. She likes running her mouth off.”
“It’s fine,” Cora said, shrugging.
Ryan draped his arm across her shoulders in a gesture of possessiveness. And a warning to Alyssa.
“Girlfriend?” Alyssa asked.
“Wife,” Ryan snapped back.
She scrutinized Cora for a moment, before eyeing him and exclaiming, “She’s not wolf.”
“And you’re a poor excuse for one,” Cora responded, before Ryan could get a word out.
He and Josh exchanged a look. Nice one.
Alyssa growled at the insult, but she did herself a favor and decided to hold off on taking a shot back at Cora.
“Great, now that we’re done with the pleasantries, why are you here?” Ryan asked the two of them.
“We need your help,” Troy answered. “Not just us. There are more. We’re just the messengers.”
“More what? Wolves?”
“Alphas. Entire packs. We’re in trouble,” Troy told him. He gestured behind him.
Ryan squinted through the bars, employing his long-range wolf vision. And that was when he saw them. Camouflaged in the night, standing a good hundred feet back at the edge of the woods, were the wolves Troy had referenced. Hundreds upon hundreds of them. They were in human form, but Ryan knew what they were without them needing to be in animal form. He could feel it.
“Fuck me,” Josh breathed.
“Is this—?”
“All of us,” Troy cut in. “Every wolf, other than those in the Dark Realm.”
“Where are the other Alphas?”
“Keeping their distance,” Alyssa responded. “It’s no secret that you and I had a connection, so they figured you wouldn’t kill me. And you always liked Troy. So, they sent us.”
“What?” Ryan asked, confused. “Why are they afraid?”
“Because of the rumors,” Alyssa said.
“Rumors?”
She gazed at him in wonderment. “That you’re pureblood. The Wolf King.”
Ryan looked at Cora and the same shock blanketed her face.
How do they know?
CHAPTER 21
Ryan stood with his arms folded across his chest, at the edge of the forest.
He had his wife beside him, while Josh had remained on base, per his orders, in case the whole thing was some sort of trap. As Alpha, and a renowned one at that, he could never be too careful. He had a lot of enemies. Living as long as he had, it was bound to happen.
Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of wolves in human form surrounded him and Cora. Each Alpha stood at the front of their packs, staring at him. Looking to him.
Jesus Christ Almighty.
“I have been told that the Vampire Prince has paid some of you a visit with Michael’s wolves at his back? Is this true?” he called out.
Silence.
“Speak. Don’t be afraid.” He gestured to Cora, “I have my wife with me, my calming influence. I’m not gonna fight. Well, unless I’m provoked, of course.” Better throw that in, just in case any of the Alphas get any ideas. He figured the pureblood thing would be enough of a deterrent. Best to be safe, though.
“It is true!” someone called out.
And then the floodgates opened.
“Five wolf strongholds so far!”
“They killed members of our pack!”
“The bloodsucker torched our homes!”
The flood of reports continued on for several minutes. When it seemed like they weren’t going to come to an end naturally, Ryan held up his hand
in a signal of silence. Things quieted gradually. “Okay. I hear you. Was Luca the one who told you I was a pureblood wolf?”
“He said he’d only stop once the Wolf King—the pureblood—took his rightful place in the Dark Realm! Ryan Winters!” someone answered.
“He is lying,” Ryan responded. “I know the Vampire Prince. He won’t stop. Appeasing him will do nothing.” He drew in a sharp breath and braced himself for what he was about to say, for the significance of what he was about to do.
The day had finally come.
He couldn’t run any longer.
He had to claim his birthright.
“We must fight back!” he thundered.
Silence descended again and all he could smell was fear. Shit. Too long spent in the human realm, living civilized lives had weakened them.
“I am the Wolf King!” he bellowed. “Nathanial murdered my father and took the Dark Realm two centuries ago. And now his son is trying to take this realm from all of us. We are wolves, my brothers, my sisters. Are you willing to accept vampire dominance? Are we that weak now, that civilized, that fear is the only thing I can smell from you all? Is this how great our species has become? Are we weaker than bloodsuckers? Are we?”
When he was answered with yet more silence, Ryan thundered, “Answer me!”
“No,” Troy piped up.
But no more replies followed.
Ryan looked at Cora and said, “Step back, my love.”
Her brow furrowed, clearly not sure what he was about to do.
He explained, “I need to show them my strength. Hope trumps fear.”
She nodded her understanding and stepped back a good few feet.
Ryan called the wolf to the surface and let it take him.
Every single being in the crowd took a step forward to get closer to the powerful presence of the white wolf. The only white wolf in existence.
Ryan howled up at the moon. The tremor of his roar blew through the trees and echoed hauntingly through the dark night.
In seconds, other howls followed. Slowly, but surely. Until every wolf was responding to his call. The ground rumbled beneath him from the force of the collective howls.
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