by Emilia Rose
Dad always joked that I had too many in my room, but since I was a girl I loved watching them glow brighter and brighter when the full moon approached each month. And—besides—Dad had no room to talk. He had a whole garden of them out back. They glowed especially bright near my birthday, but never like this. Lately they’ve been glowing with such intensity that they could suffice as the moon herself.
There was a small Moonflower keychain that Luna Raya—Roman’s mother—had given me before she died. She had told me to never give up on my dreams, no matter how hard they might become. And I wasn’t going to.
After reminiscing on better days when Luna Raya was still alive and inviting me over to play with eight-year-old Roman, I climbed into bed. Trying to shake the stress of try-outs tomorrow and… maybe wanting to make Roman a bit angry again tonight.
Since he pulled me out of class, I couldn’t stop thinking about him. His strong arms wrapped around me, his cock pressed against my ass, his fingers so damn close to my pussy, the way he made my heart race faster than it ever had.
I pushed a hand between my legs, rubbed my clit, and pictured one of his rough, calloused hands wrapped around his cock, stroking it back and forth as he watched me from the forest.
Was it wrong? Yes. I didn’t even know if we were mates yet; I would find out when I turned eighteen.
Though sex between two werewolves who weren’t mated was frowned upon and werewolves were expected to be virgins prior to mating, alphas tended to stray from that rule. They were notoriously known to sleep with a handful of women before finding their mates.
I didn’t know about Roman’s sex-life. All I knew was that I couldn’t keep it together with him. Every time I saw him training, his thick muscle glistening under the sun, I just wanted him to push me against the nearest tree and fuck me until I could barely move.
A wave of pleasure rushed through my body. I continued to rub my clit in small quick circles, thinking about him. His hand around my neck, pulling me to him with each thrust. Pumping in and out and in and out.
Oh, Moon Goddess. I grasped the bedsheets and moaned softly.
His minty scent filled my nostrils, yet I didn’t see him in the woods. He smelt like he was closer.
Someone knocked on the front door, and I ignored it, deciding to sink further into my silky black sheets instead. Mom and Dad always told me never to answer the door for strangers, so for once in my life I was planning on listening to their advice.
Heat warmed my core, making my whole body tingle. I was so close to cumming; I wasn’t about to stop.
My door was suddenly slammed open. I pulled my hand away from my panties, sat up, and yanked the sheets over my body, my heart racing. Roman stood in the doorway, golden eyes ravishing me. I gulped and pulled the sheets closer as he walked to the bed.
Sure, having him watch me from deep in the forest was fine. But now he was here. So close and so fucking angry.
He growled. “What did I fucking tell you?” His jaw twitched. “You don’t listen.”
Why was he here? It wasn’t even dark out yet. He should be at the packhouse, doing alpha stuff, training people, yelling through his phone at someone, giving orders to his guards. Not in my bedroom, not stalking closer and closer to me like I was his prey, not staring at my body like he wanted to destroy it.
He yanked the blanket off me, his gaze lingering on my nipples poking through my thin white t-shirt. “Here I was thinking you were some sweet innocent girl.” He sat on the bed, making it dip, and pulled me over his knee. He rubbed his large, calloused hand over my bare ass. “I’m going to show you how I treat people in my pack who don’t follow orders.”
One of his fingers hooked under my panties, and he pulled them down my thighs. After rubbing my ass gently one more time, he smacked it hard. I bit my lip, trying to hold back a moan. Then he did it again. And again. And again. Until my pussy was dripping wet. I crossed one leg over the other, so he couldn’t see just how much this was turning me on.
“Are you going to be a good girl from now on?” he asked. His cock was hard against my stomach. I paused, my core clenching. “Answer me, Isabella,” he said, his hand gripping my ass.
“No,” I whispered.
“No?” He pulled some hair out of my face and roughly forced it back. “No?”
“No.”
He gripped onto my thighs, forcing my legs apart, and pushed two fingers against my folds. “Does disobeying me make you this fucking wet?” he asked, fingers sliding up to my clit. He rubbed small circles around it and inhaled my scent deeply.
“Yes.” I moaned.
“Look at me when you’re talking.”
I gazed up at his golden eyes and furrowed my brows together. “Yes, Alpha.”
His fingers moved faster, and I squeezed my eyes shut. This had to be a dream. This had to be a fucking dream. Here I was... lying over my alpha’s knee, letting him touch my pussy like he owned it, while my core pulsed with pure pleasure.
The pressure built higher inside of me, so high that I could feel myself about to explode. But he slowed down his fingers and the pressure disappeared slightly. He glanced down at my parted lips, and started back up again, fingers moving faster than they had before. My brows furrowed, and his lip curled into a smirk.
I didn’t know how many times he stopped and started again. My pussy was aching for a release, and I wanted to cum for him.
“Please, Alpha. Please let me cum,” I said, digging my nails into one of his muscular thighs.
“Is that what you want? To cum?” he asked. I nodded my head, and he tilted his, smirk widening. “Only good girls get to cum.”
I stared up at him, brows creased. “I’ll be a good girl, I-I promise.”
His fingers sped up one last time, and I clenched. I was… I was going to…
He pulled his hand away from my pussy and tossed me onto the bed. “We’ll see about that.” He grasped my chin in his hand, his lips brushing against mine. “If you can prove to me that you can be good, I’ll reward you, my dear Isabella.”
My breath caught in my throat, and I vaguely nodded my head—feeling as if I was in a daze. I didn’t know how he did it. It was wrong. So wrong. Yet it felt so right.
I leaned against the headboard, wanting him to leave so I could finish what he had started, but he stayed in my bedroom with me, lingering for longer than he should have. Staring at my Moonflowers. Looking over at the journals and textbooks about fighting. Glancing my way a few times.
He stood up and walked around the room. “So, this is what the self-proclaimed warrior’s bedroom looks like.” He cracked a smile at the manual. “I didn’t expect any less.”
“Watch what you’re doing,” I said, covering my body with the blanket. “I don’t need you messing anything up. I have the exact page open to where I need to study after you leave.”
“Still the same old Isabella.” He flipped through it, doing exactly what I told him not to do. “Always training to be the best.”
“Still the same old Roman. Always trying to annoy me.”
He walked around the bed and sat down next to me, resting his forearms on his knees and looking back at me. He didn’t say anything for a long time, and my pussy continued to pulse. I closed my eyes, just enjoying his scent.
Moonlight flooded into the room from my window, and a chilly summer breeze rolled in. I listened to him rub his palms together and sunk further into my bed, staring at the muscles in his back ripple against his shirt. He looked back at me with eyes so soft that I felt those tingles again.
“You remember when we used to stay out all night long?” he asked, smiling softly to himself.
I played with my fingers. “When your mom used to invite me over so we could play-fight until midnight, then she’d make you walk me home?”
His smile faltered for a fraction of a second, then his eyes lit up with excitement. “Remember that one time you bit me?”
“I did not bite you.”
He inche
d closer to me, resting his thigh on the bed and letting his knee brush against mine. “Yes, you did, Isabella.” He shook his head and brushed his finger against one of his abs. “I still have the scar to prove it.”
“No, you don’t.”
“You want proof?”
“You just want to take your shirt off for me, so I can see just how ripped my alpha really is. If you’re so inclined to show me this scar, then…” My heart raced. “I guess so.”
He raised a sharp brow, pulled up his shirt, revealing his toned abdomen, and brushed a finger against one of his abs—as if he had done it so many times before. “If you’re so inclined not to believe me, what’s this then?”
The small scar glistened under the moonlight, and I rolled my eyes. “That’s just…”
He cracked a smirk and inched closer to me. “A what?”
“Just a… line.”
He shook his head, his eyes dropping to my lips for a quick moment. I sucked in a breath. That look. That same look he had given me at the lockers earlier. That look that made my lips tingle, that made me feel this weird feeling that all she-wolves being pursued by alphas must feel.
After another moment, he pulled down his shirt and stood. “Still up to no good, Isabella.”
“Always up to no good, Roman.”
Roman
Sunlight flooded in through the windows behind my desk, hitting one of the hundred used pages in my journal. My pencil glided across a piece. Each line I drew imitated Isabella’s curves almost perfectly. I had sketched her so many times, but nothing like this.
Nothing with her naked. Nothing with her fingers in her pussy. Nothing with her eyes closed in utter bliss. Nothing like what I had seen last night.
Her vanilla scent still lingered on my clothes, and I could feel her fingers curled into my chest. I loved the way she had stared at me with those big blue eyes when I walked into her room, but I loved the way she had smiled at me when I teased her about the little childhood love-bite she left on me more.
I couldn’t control myself last night. I needed to have a taste of her, needed to see how she felt in my hands. She had been driving me crazy for months. I put myself through pure torture watching her touch herself and listening to her moan. I knew that I shouldn’t. I knew that it was wrong.
Someone knocked on my door, and I scrambled to close my journal. My beta, Cayden, peeked his head into the room. “Ryker’s here to see you.”
I stood up, clenched my jaw, and nodded. Ryker, the asshole leader of the Lycans, was here to talk my ear off for the next hour about rogues and about how he needed more people to join his team of warriors to fend them off.
“Listen,” I said, locking the maroon leather journal in my desk. “Whatever he says, do not bring up Isabella.”
Cayden furrowed his eyebrows. “But—”
“Do you understand me, Cayden? No mentioning her name,” I said, hardening my stare.
He bowed his head and disappeared into the hallway. A few moments later, Cayden and Ryker appeared at my door.
I plastered a fake smile on my face and shook his hand. “Ryker, what brings you here?”
“Roman,” Ryker said, sitting across from me. “It’s always a pleasure to see you.” I bet it was. He leaned back in his seat. “Rogues are more rampant than ever. I’m here to recruit the strongest warriors from every pack in the area to join the Lycans.”
“I thought I already told you that the group of trainees coming out of high school doesn’t have as much potential as my previous years.” I gazed into the thin file on my desk that had the name of every senior graduating this year, except Isabella’s and handed it to him. “You can look through it… but I doubt there will be anyone that suits your needs.”
Lie.
Ryker took the file, sat back, and crossed his arms over his chest. Tattoos of Moonflowers, the official flower of our Moon Goddess, covered his forearms. Each one represented a rogue he killed to help keep the werewolf packs safe. Each one was a reason that I didn’t want him to know about Isabella’s superior abilities.
“All of our wolves are average,” I said.
Lie. Lie to protect her from joining a group of Lycans who fought against blood-thirsty, handsy, filthy rogues every day. Lie to protect her from him.
After placing the file back down on my mahogany desk, Ryker kicked one ankle onto his knee and locked his hands together. “Which one is the most skilled fighter?”
I gazed at Cayden and shook my head. “Derek, probably.”
Another lie.
My sister Jane walked into the room. “Derek? Hell no. Isabella kicks his ass every day in gym class.”
“Why aren’t you at school, Jane?” I asked through clenched teeth. She was going to ruin everything for me. Everything that I worked so hard to hide for the past three years.
Ryker gazed at her, his eyes lingering on her hips. I growled under my breath. What a fucking pig. It disgusted me the way he looked at any women, especially after the rumors of what he did to Michelle—his supposed mate.
I stood up from my desk and hurried to her, snatching her by the elbow. “What would Mom and Dad think about you skipping school?” I asked, trying to talk some sense into her.
“Don’t use that card on me,” she said, ripping her arm out of my grip. “I’m leaving now. Just wanted to give you this… you left it on the kitchen table.” She handed me a sketch that I wanted to give to Isabella last night but was too scared and too horny to remember to bring. Hell, I was too drawn in to think about anything when she sat right on that bed of hers and thought she could just disobey me by touching herself.
Jane crossed her arms over her chest. “You know that it looks awfully like Isabell—”
“School. Now.”
She stomped down the hall, and I slammed the door. She had to ruin everything for me, like usual.
Ryker cocked a brow at me. “Isabella? You haven’t mentioned her.”
Of course, I hadn’t mentioned her. She wasn’t even eighteen yet, wasn’t legal age to be considered as a Lycan. Ryker didn’t need to know about her. Not now. Not ever.
“I’ve seen her fight,” I said. “She’s good…” I hated lying about her. I wanted everyone to know how great she was. “But… not great. She has a lot to learn.”
Ryker nodded his head and stood. “I can be the judge of that.” He grabbed the file from off my desk. “You’re hosting try-outs for your warriors this week, aren’t you?”
I clenched my jaw. If I didn’t have a pack to take care of, I would kill him right here for even putting the idea on the table of recruiting Isabella. “Yes,” I said.
He slapped me hard on the back, squeezing my shoulder like we were friends. “I’ll be by to see her sometime this week.” And with that he walked out of the room.
I just stood there, staring at the empty doorway. No. No, he would not take Isabella away from me. I wouldn’t let him. I had to do something—anything—to keep her safe. Even if it meant hurting her.
Isabella
“Are you coming?” Derek asked, leaning against his Chrysler. I groaned and tossed my backpack into his backseat, still frustrated from last night. How could Roman leave me so desperate?
“Hello?” Derek said, waving his hand in front of my face. “Earth to Izzy…”
I shook my head, pushing my dirty thoughts to the back of my mind, and clasped Luna Raya’s keychain onto my gym bag. I had to focus on one thing and one thing only today: winning over the warriors and securing a spot on the team. Although there were more people trying out compared to last year, I wasn’t nervous.
I trained thirteen years for this week.
And Roman knew that I was one of the best recruits. Before he left me last night, he told me he expected to see me here today.
Vanessa jogged past me to her car in a small hot pink sports bra, her boobs nearly bouncing out of it each time she ran, and in a pair of spandex shorts. “You guys are trying out for the warriors?”
“Y
ou are?” Derek asked, brow raised.
She smiled widely at me, batting her lashes. “I think I have what it takes.” She opened the driver’s side door and waved at us. “See you at Roman’s.”
I rubbed my temples. This would be a long afternoon if she was going. All I could imagine was that she would flirt with Roman the whole time, getting so close to him, running her fingers up his chest and smirking at me.
“You’re basically naked, Vanessa,” Derek said.
She placed a yellow manicured finger on her lip. “Am I?” She looked down at herself, then shrugged. “Oh, well. I’m sure Roman won’t mind.” She winked at me, then jumped in her car and raced out of the school parking lot.
I clenched my jaw. She didn’t even want to be a warrior. All she wanted was to get on my nerves. That had been her goal ever since middle school.
“If she gets a spot just by rubbing her tits all over them, I will lose it,” Derek said, his hand clenched into a fist, and turned to me. “But, if you do it, I won’t mind.”
“I don’t have to flirt with him to get a spot.”
It was arrogant to say, but it was true. Everyone, including Roman, knew that I had the most potential out of everyone trying out. Hell, even Mr. Beck—who thought he was the best warrior to ever live—believed in me.
Derek bumped his shoulder into mine, the sun hitting his brown skin and making it glow. “I’m just kidding.”
Nearly twenty students from my senior class were waiting on the packhouse lawn when we arrived. I bounced up and down on my toes and looked over at Vanessa who was sitting on the ground with her legs spread, stretching.
Dear Moon Goddess.
The warrior wolves walked out of the packhouse, sizing up the possible new recruits. Some of the women and men had necklaces with pendants shaped like the moon on their chests—a cultural symbol of being mated to someone that they loved. Along with a bite mark on the neck, it was the tradition in our pack and surrounding packs to give someone a necklace. It showed love between one’s wolf side and love between his or her human side.