by Meg Xuemei X
To Marrok, I said, “The decision is mine, and I’ll always decide for myself. This is my fight, and following through is my style. Without style, there can be no identity. And I’m not just fighting over you.”
He knew what I meant. I wanted to earn the respect from his pack and a position by his side.
Pride brightened his turquoise eyes, yet fear lurked under.
“But if your opponent withdraws—” Marrok said, turning to Daciana, in the hopes of her offering truce and peace.
He really didn’t want me to go through the duel. Overbearing alpha male! He knew I wasn’t made of glass, but it would take a long while for him to accept that I was a warrior. I would always fight in the frontline, both in his fortified Keep and in the Witch Tower.
“I insist on my right of challenge given by our ancestors,” Daciana said.
Marrok’s eyes turned steel hard and cold as ice. “I’d have taken care of you as I take care of everyone here. Yet you insist on going after my mate. Unfortunately, she’s stubborn as hell and insists on finishing what you stirred up. You do realize if you hurt Kaara, I’ll gut you, and it won’t be a quick death.”
“Is she such a good fuck that you want her that much?” Daciana hissed.
Marrok narrowed his eyes. “The best. There’s a reason she’s my fated mate.”
A cold, cruel smile twisted Daciana’s lips. “I don’t mean to hurt her,” she said. “I mean to end her! That’s how much I want you, and I’m proving it to you.”
Marrok glowered. Hadn’t expected that, had he? I wondered if the shifters understood the old saying of “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.”
Never heard of that! Marrok huffed in bitterness.
Now he regretted that he’d just signed my death sentence himself by declaring his sole desire for me. On top of his remorse, he looked like he wanted to tear her throat out.
Was a shifter’s matehood so dominant that Marrok couldn’t help feeling possessive and overprotective toward me?
You have no idea, thorn, Marrok flung me a thought. He was now too upset to add sweet before the ‘thorn.’
Just try not to interfere in my battle, I pushed back. Try not to get in my way.
You haven’t fully recovered from the bloodsucker’s venom, woman!
I’m fine. And don’t call me woman. Not in that tone, I said. I had a shot of whiskey. It isn’t as good as I expected. Tell Lou it’s too dry. One of you have to do something about it.
A thin smile played on his lips. I have the best wine in my house—ours.
Daciana shifted.
At the same time, a grey wolf appeared where Marrok had been, ready to swat the brown she-wolf away from me.
Don’t you dare! Not if you want me as your mate! I screamed at him, and the grey wolf stopped in mid-air with a thunderous snarl.
I listened to Daciana’s thoughts and emotion. I listened to the flow of her blood. I used my empathic ability to sharpen my senses and detect her fatal meridian point.
My martial arts and weapons master had taught me to mark out a death point.
Meridian points had been my finest subject in Lithuaria Empire.
The she-wolf flung toward me in a beautiful, powerful arc. I leapt a nanosecond later and landed on her back. Grabbing her brown fur with one hand, I rammed my fist to the soft spot right between her jaw and neck.
We tumbled down to the ground together.
Daciana rolled and pinned me down with her paws. She was amazingly swift and powerful. If she hadn’t regarded me as her mortal enemy and wasn’t determined to take me out, she could continue to be an asset in the wolf clan.
The she-wolf opened her vast mouth to bite down on my head and I could see her deep throat through her long fangs and pink tongue.
Roaring in terror and rage, Marrok was beside me in a second.
I’m fine, Marrok!
He froze.
Daciana shut her mouth with a shocked, painful expression. She didn’t understand what had gone wrong for her. The last vicious light departed her eyes, and I didn’t think I would miss its glistening.
Marrok dragged the brown she-wolf’s body and tossed her away from me before her dead weight dropped on me.
Everyone started talking at once, focusing on my last move that had taken her out, worried the move would be fatal to all wolves.
Marrok shifted back to his humanoid form and pulled me into his hard, muscled arms.
“You’re hurt,” he said, his anger overwhelming me. He cursed profusely.
He’d seen the shredded fabric beneath my shoulder blade and the scratches from a wolf’s paws beneath—the last score from his former lover.
“Witch! She’s another witch! She used dark magic to kill Daciana!” one of Daciana’s minions snapped out of her shocked daze.
Marrok snapped his head toward her, his eyes cold blades. She recoiled and dropped to her knees. If she was in a wolf form, she would show him the belly. And I was glad she stayed a human. I didn’t like the idea of any female showing Marrok their naked bellies.
The others put distance between themselves and me, remembering I was the Wickedest Witch’s general. Merely minutes ago, they’d thought I was fun.
Antonio stared down at Daciana in sadness. “Your Majesty, what about—”
“She isn’t dead,” I cut in. “She should regain consciousness in an hour.”
I hadn’t gone for her death point. If I had aimed for that, she wouldn’t have had the chance to pin me down and scratch me. She’d have been dead in an instant. Instead, I’d aimed for her sleeping point.
Marrok gave me a nod. “You can end her now. She’s your kill. It’s your right.”
“I came to see you,” I said. “I’m not in the mood to kill anyone today.”
A light swam in Marrok’s eyes before he turned to Antonio. “I won’t allow any threat to my mate to exist. Because of Lady Nightshades’ grace, Daciana gets to live, though she doesn’t deserve it. As soon as she’s awake, banish her from the Keep.”
“She won’t survive if you throw her out,” Antonio said.
“That’s her problem,” Marrok said, his voice hard. “She should have thought of it when she came after what’s mine. She’ll never be allowed to return to the Keep, or she’ll be killed on sight. If she joins our enemies and fights our kind, she’ll be terminated as well.”
It would be a mercy for me to kill Daciana.
One of Daciana’s friends whimpered, and Marrok swept his gaze over them. “All of you are welcome to leave with Daciana. But if you choose to stay, you’ll respect my mate. Any malicious intent against her will suffer the worst retaliation.” He scanned the crowd. “Spread the word. If anyone tries to harm a hair on Lady Nightshades’ head, I’ll tear their fucking throats out with my bare hands.”
Not claws? You should also add ‘violet’ to that statement about hair.
Marrok gave me a resigned look.
He ruled his pack with iron fists. But I would have to remind him that if he wanted things to work out between us, he’d have to respect that I was my own woman and would always be, mate or not. And my business in the witch’s coven remained mine alone.
“Antonio, you allowed Daciana to challenge my mate with the intention of hurting her during my absence,” Marrok said. “If my mate hadn’t proved to be magnificent, harm could have come to her and I’d have lost the only woman I love. Matehood is a rare thing. It’s a one in a million chance that I found mine on Pandemonium. You failed to protect your future queen. For that failure, I could have killed you. But you served me and the pack well in the past, so I’ll let it slide this once. However, I’ll never forget that you let me down. I now strip you of your rank. Until you can earn back my trust, you are not my beta anymore.”
Marrok pulled me up.
Someone handed him his trench coat, and he pulled it around me.
I shrugged it off. “It’s for you, Marrok. You’re naked.”
“You’ll get used to seei
ng me naked. I’m a shifter.”
But he waved at his men to bring him his clothing and put on his trousers for my sake. Then he swept me off my feet and scooped me into his strong arms.
“Antonio, clean up your mess,” Marrok ordered. “Lou, take care of Lady Nightshades’ guards. Give them whatever they want.”
“Anything we want?” Pattern grinned from ear to ear.
“Why do you always have to clarify?” Otsana snapped at him. “The king might change his mind!”
“Marrok, put me down,” I said, my face flaming with embarrassment. “I can walk well enough and I like to walk.”
Marrok ignored me.
I’d have to show him I was my own woman when we were alone.
“At least let me make an announcement,” I said.
He waited.
“Today, I,” I pronounced, “Kaara Nightshades of the noble Nightshades House in the Lithuaria Empire, on the planet of Nesnurn, in the Icearth galaxy, claim you, Marrok the wolf king.”
Marrok blinked, a little stunned, and waited for more. As did everyone in the bar.
No one had ever laid claim on him, had they? This was a new experience then.
“That’s it,” I said. No more grandeur.
Warmth, satisfaction, and amusement pooled in Marrok’s sapphire eyes.
“We’re done,” he said, carrying me toward the door.
“Wait, there’s more,” I said.
Marrok sighed, but halted, though he really wanted to get out of here.
“Anyone who objects to that can challenge me now,” I shouted. “I’m up to it. Welcome it.”
Marrok glared down at me.
“But next time, I’ll aim for a torturous kill instead of a sweet sleep,” I added.
Everyone stepped back from me.
Nice! No one wanted to challenge me now.
Marrok laughed. “Torturous kill?”
I glowered at him and said to no one particularly, “And if anyone changes their mind about challenging, you know where to find me. I love a duel. I was Lithuaria’s favorite duelist.”
Marrok frowned. “We won’t leave room for that. But I dare them to challenge me first.”
He gave his pack another potent glare before carrying me out of the bar and leaving them gawking amid the broken glasses and shattered tables.
Piano notes flowed out of the music box and the ballerinas twirled.
Chapter 16
“Abducting me to your lair, bad wolf?” I asked, my hands clasped behind his neck. My heart was beating so fucking hard.
His heart pounded equally fierce and his urgent need for me was drowning me.
This bad wolf’s cock is so hard for you, he said, so I’m taking you to my lair to ease its ache.
I let out a gasp and coiled my arms tighter around him. My breasts pressed against his chest, and I didn’t appreciate the fabric between us. I was burning hot and slick between my thighs. If only we could be in his bed already—
“That’s my sweet thorn. I’ll give you what you want soon,” Marrok said, his voice thick and rough, and he quickened his pace.
I wanted him to use his super speed to spring to his bedroom, but that might make him look like a horny teenager rather than a king, since we were in the courtyard with curious eyes on us.
Marrok caught my mouth in a fierce, raw kiss. When his lips left mine, I protested, but he’d started sprinting, not caring what his subjects thought.
Who gave a fuck about manners on Pandemonium anyway? But Marrok had taught his pack there was more to life than merely surviving. The wolf clan hadn’t shattered in the darkest hours because they had a strong leader who had a vision.
And he was my mate.
And we were going to mate properly and wildly.
Near the house, instead of pushing the main door open and carrying me through the threshold, Marrok leapt into the air.
I soared with him and a girlish giggle flew from my lips.
I was dying to try every new thing with him, but I would keep my cool and show him I wasn’t easily impressed.
He landed on the roof in a crouch, with me on his lap.
“You jump well, grey wolf,” I said.
He grinned. “That’s the benefit of being the strongest wolf.”
I arched an eyebrow. “And clearly the humblest.”
“And the hottest,” he said. “Your body told me that.”
I rolled my eyes. “Do you want me to cool your ass if you’re that hot?”
“Think you can handle it?”
“Any place, any—” I eyed the ground.
Marrok laughed. “I’m not the savage king you thought I was. As much as I want to take you now, I’ll lay you on my soft bed.”
The roof was a nice spot with a stone statue of a massive wolf atop a staircase and a few plants with black blossoms—the only plants that could survive in the City of Nine.
In a flash, Marrok moved, sweeping me down the stairs and throwing me down on his four-poster bed.
The room was painted a pale violet and had a chest, a desk, and a closet.
“This will be your room as well, when you’re ready to come to live with me,” he said.
That wouldn’t happen.
Marrok’s face dimmed at the flash of thought in my mind. I’d denied him over and over. Quietly, he perched beside me, watching me.
“Pandemonium won’t last more than five months,” I said. “And that is my optimistic estimate.”
“All the more reason you should stay with me.”
“I made a vow, Marrok.”
His eyes sharpened. “To the witch? She absolved you. I made her absolve you.”
“I do not absolve myself. I’ll stick to it to the end.”
“Vows or not, they don’t matter anymore, Kaara. Our days are limited. You should spend every second with me, as my mate.”
“They matter. Honor is in my blood, as fineness is in yours despite your rough exterior.”
“Rough exterior?” He didn’t sound pleased.
“Who said: ‘Even when the fire and ashes swallow this planet and us, we’ll still go down with our best selves’?”
His eyes sparkled. “They told you that?”
“So don’t tempt my honor by forcing me to choose,” I said.
I had never thought I would have a divided mind and heart until I met Marrok. The guilt was still eating at me for failing Fia.
Marrok gathered me onto his lap.
“Duties, loyalty, and desire,” he said. “I get it. I won’t force you to do anything you don’t want to do. I know this planet is going to blow up. I just hope my mate will be with me when the day comes. I want to spend as much time with you as possible.”
“You can have me all to yourself after we leave Pandemonium.”
“Kaara, we can’t leave here,” he said, sadness darkening his eyes. “I’ll do anything to get you off this planet if there’s any chance in hell. I’ve been here much longer than you. We’ve tried everything and thought of every scenario. For as long as Pandemonium started rotating in space, no one has succeeded in departing. Ships fall but they don’t leave.”
“We’ll leave, Marrok, if you help me.”
Sorrow and vulnerability etched on his face. I couldn’t bear to see that, and he couldn’t stand breaking my heart. “Kaara—”
“I want you to trust me, Marrok. You know I have secrets. I can’t reveal them to you. Not yet. The First Seer in the universe bound my tongue with the strongest magic before I came here.”
“My ancestors recorded the First Seer in my family chronicle,” Marrok said quietly, his eyes as deep as the ocean in Nesnurn, my home planet. His lust for me still burned ablaze, yet he contained it for the moment. “I thought the Seer was a myth. How could you have met her?”
“She summoned me, not for my sake, but for the one I came for.”
Understanding glinted in Marrok’s eyes. He was piecing things together. “The Seer’s potent magic guards your secret, ev
en from your fated mate. I can hear your thoughts when they concern us and feel your mood, but I can’t see beyond that. I was wondering why. Now I know.”
When he’d first heard my thoughts, I’d panicked. I’d worried he would retrieve the forbidden secret about Fia.
“After I mark you, our bond will be stronger than anything,” Marrok warned. “And I might breach the Seer’s fortress in your mind.”
“You won’t,” I said. I was certain now. “But I’ll tell you what I can tell you. I’ve learned to trust you, not only because you’re my mate. You have principles and honor. But you’ll take what you learn from me to the grave.”
“You can always trust me, sweet thorn,” he said and tugged me closer to him, his bulging erection pricking against my butt, distracting me.
I knew how much Marrok wanted to thrust inside me, but he still held back.
“I would rather cut my heart out than betray you, my mate,” he whispered in my ear.
I believed him. And it felt so good that I could finally share something with someone, even if I couldn’t share the whole secret.
“I volunteered to come to Pandemonium to guard Princess Athena Faya, my exiled future queen, and bring her home one day.”
“The Wickedest Witch?”
“She calls herself Fiammetta on this planet,” I said. “I came three days after she was banished, but the vortex above the planet’s atmosphere messed up my timeline. When I landed, it was three months after her.” I peered into his clear, turquoise eyes. I could gaze at them and lose myself in their depths forever. No man had ever wanted and cherished me as much as Marrok did.
“Why did they exile her? Was that why she became so wicked, or did they cast her out because she was too wicked?”
“None of that. The true reason of Princess Athena Faya’s exile is veiled, even from me.”
“You shouldn’t have thrown your life away for her or for anyone,” Marrok said, brushing aside a strand of my violet hair from my forehead. “I hoped you hadn’t come so you could have a better life, but the selfish part of me is glad you came.”
“I’m her Captain of Guards. My house is the most privileged noble house, next only to the Lithuaria royal family. It’s been our tradition and honor for centuries—since my ancestors aided Fia’s to become the ruling class—that the second born in the Nightshades house would serve as the great king’s or queen’s captain. Every chosen captain would swear a blood vow to the throne. But I was more than Fia’s guard. We’ve been close friends since childhood.”