by Lexi C. Foss
Her words heated my blood with the memory of Edon saying those exact same words to me for an entirely different reason.
I swallowed thickly, unable to deny her despite the sickness I knew would follow.
Because I wanted to give in to her, to experience, just for a few moments, what it might feel like to be taken care of by another. Especially one as beautiful as Luna.
No, she wasn’t mine.
But just for a moment, I allowed myself to pretend and parted my lips for her.
13
Edon
Silas’s satisfaction warmed the sire bond. What are you doing? I wondered.
Eating a pancake, he replied. And it’s fucking decadent.
You made pancakes?
Luna made pancakes.
I grinned. She cooks? That news caused my lips to quirk up at the corners.
“Silas?” my grandfather asked, his gaze knowing.
“Luna made him pancakes.” It should have bothered me that she cooked for him and not for me, but oddly, it didn’t. I actually liked the idea of them taking care of each other.
“Claudette probably taught her,” my grandfather mused, smiling. “She used to be a wicked chef before, well, everything.”
“And now she’s a mentor in Ernest Clan,” I replied, recalling the details my grandfather had just given me. “Whose primary purpose is to train and ready the future leadership for an uprising.” Only, according to my grandfather, Claudette’s primary objective was Luna’s brother, Logan. But it seemed she’d educated them both. “And your job is to mentor me,” I added, arching a brow. “That about sum it up?”
“It’s not like I provided all those history lessons for fun, kid,” he said, smiling.
“I never thought you did,” I admitted. I just hadn’t realized the full extent of it until now. He provided me with historical contexts to persuade me to the revolutionary side. To enlighten me about another way of life. To recruit me into a new alliance among those who desired change. “You were just waiting for me to ascend before you explained every detail.”
“And I still am,” he admitted. “We’ve only just begun, but the plans have been in the making for over a century.”
“Why wait so long? Why not rebel at the beginning?”
“Several did. And they all died.” He paused to let that sink in. “We suspect those in power now planned their takeover for many, many years.”
“And now you’re doing the same.” Through the art of “mentoring” the incoming leadership, at least in select clans. That wouldn’t be as easy to accomplish in vampire society since they didn’t procreate or die. Lycans, however, required regime changes because we constantly aged. I was on the rise as the new alpha, and my future son would replace me in a few hundred years.
“Yes. We’re moving all the pieces into play but still have at least another decade before we truly begin.”
I whistled low, shaking my head. “What about the vampires?” I wondered out loud.
“There are those in power today on our side.”
“Which ones?”
He smiled. “Can’t give you that information just yet, son.”
I narrowed my gaze. “Don’t trust me, old man?” I knew he did, or he wouldn’t have spent the last two decades advising me in this way. I just enjoyed ribbing him.
“Nah, just not my place to elaborate. But you’ll find out soon enough.” He crossed one ankle over his opposite knee. “There will always be diversity in the class systems amongst vampires and lycans, but I’m not alone in my belief that our superiority also comes with great responsibility. We have a duty to protect those beneath us.”
“You mean humans.”
“I mean everyone. Take your Luna, for example. You protected her against your father, and you’re doing so again now by having Silas stand sentry at your home.”
“That’s different.” And I highly doubted Luna would appreciate my grandfather claiming her to be beneath me, even if it was true.
“Is it? She’s in your care as your mate, and you’ve chosen to fulfill your duty of offering protection. Without it, she’d probably be in a bed somewhere having her dignity and alpha tendencies fucked right out of her.”
The stark words caused me to flinch.
Which resulted in a smile from my grandfather. “You’re the alpha this clan needs, Edon. Your reaction just now proves it. Because your father? He’d have smirked with enthusiasm at the very idea of breaking that girl’s pride. You grimaced.”
“Because it’s wrong.”
“Exactly. Alpha females are a prized species and very rare. Without them, alpha males can’t be conceived. But rather than respect what few remain, lycans like your father have chosen to destroy their morale and disrespect the sanctity of the mating bond. You’ve seen what that does to a wolf, Edon. Your mother is Luna’s future, if you choose to follow in your father’s footsteps.”
Just the idea of it turned my stomach. “I won’t do that to Luna.” Oh, I’d bring her to heel, yes. But not like that. Never like that.
“I know. But others will try to demand you do it anyway because that’s the world we live in now.” His smile was sad. “Your grandmother was one love of my existence. What we had was very special. Unique, too. And deeply revered. Something we’ll talk more about someday soon. But I’ll tell you now, if another wolf even looked at me the wrong way, your grandmama would have dealt with the problem swiftly and efficiently.”
“Like Luna did with Bianca,” I mused.
“Yes. Alpha females are as possessive as their males, or they used to be.”
“I don’t understand why that changed.” Or why males would want to break such pride in their females. Luna’s fire was what drew me to her, what made her irresistible to my wolf. Her defiance resembled foreplay.
My grandfather rubbed the silver stubble dotting his jaw. “Breaking the sacred mating bonds essentially disrupts wolf loyalty and restructures all the pack dynamics. If the alpha isn’t being true to his mate, then the betas feel they need to follow suit with their own mates, and so on.”
“Right, but why?” I interjected. “Why would lycans choose to do that to begin with?”
“They didn’t choose to, Silas. Those in power did. The alphas making up the Blood Alliance today—or the majority, anyway—created this new way of life to stir dissension among the packs. To break the loyalties that used to be part of our core foundation.”
“Okay, but why the hell would anyone want that?” I pressed, flabbergasted.
“Control,” he answered simply. “We’re pack animals. We fight for our own. But if you disable that mentality, destroy the bonds that tie us together, we begin to fight for ourselves, not as a unit. So you give the wolves someone to protect and cherish—an alpha—and that alpha reaps all the rewards and benefits. But to maintain that absolute power? He has to ensure that he always remains on top, number one, with no ties or loyalties to anyone else. Otherwise, what happens?”
“Events like the other day happen,” I said, following his train of thought.
“Yes. You chose your mate over the orders of the current pack alpha.”
“So he’s probably furious.” Which I’d felt, of course. I just didn’t give a shit. Luna had been my only concern. “I failed his loyalty trial.”
“In his eyes? Absolutely. In mine? You passed with flying colors.”
“Except it’s not you I need to be impressing,” I pointed out, running my fingers through my hair. The more I pissed off my father, the harder my trials were going to be. “He’s definitely going to use Luna against me.”
“Which is why you need to bring that girl to your side sooner rather than later.”
I snorted. “Easier said than done.”
“Stubborn?”
“You have no idea.” But I adored that trait about her.
“Well, you better figure her out soon because your father is definitely not going by the book with his tests, and I wouldn’t put anything past him
at this point. Including potentially having you killed just so he can remain in power for another century or so.”
I scoffed at that. “Not even he is that stupid.” It would be a clear violation of lycan politics. “The pack would riot.”
“Would they?” he countered. “Because from what I’ve seen, he’s created an heir and isolated him from everyone else, thereby ensuring that pack loyalty falls in his favor.” He shrugged, the gesture far too nonchalant. “Just an observation.”
His words sounded more like a warning, one underlined in a bad omen.
Because he was right.
My father had always treated me as an outsider, pretty much scaring off anyone and everyone who thought to ally with me.
Which meant Silas was in far more danger than I originally realized because our sire bond practically guaranteed his loyalty.
And I’d left him at my house with my only other liability—Luna.
I stood. “I have to go.”
“You’re a good man, Edon,” my grandfather called after me.
“We’ll see,” I muttered, jogging down the stairs.
Tapping into my link to Silas, I asked, Everything okay?
Yeah, he replied, but his voice sounded off.
What are you two doing? I wondered, taking off at a sprint toward my house.
She’s, uh, cutting my hair.
My eyebrows rose. Luna had already fed him, and now she was grooming him? Who knew the alpha female could be so maternal? I’m on my way back.
Okay.
Don’t let your guard down.
His sardonic snort came back at me, the male essentially telling me to fuck off. Because yeah, he’d probably spent his entire life on alert. Humans were not treated well in this world. However, my grandfather said it wasn’t always this way.
The more I learned from him, the more I questioned our ridiculous customs. Particularly surrounding the Alpha Trials. It was clear to everyone, including my father, that I was the strongest wolf in the clan. Why the fuck did I need to prove myself?
I entered the village, seeing it with a fresh perspective. The luxury of the cabins, the males lounging about like kings rather than hardworking lycans, and wondered what the peripheries of my region looked like right now. Oh, I’d visited them, but only with my father’s entourage. And something told me the outsiders put on a show for him.
A show I wanted to see through.
A show I wanted to end.
My time was nearing. I just had to survive the next few weeks, then I could enact change. I would start by replacing everyone in this village. These lycans weren’t my friends or allies; they belonged to my father’s pack. And he had made it clear from the beginning that I didn’t belong. Had killed the only male strong enough to befriend me. Then the others gave me a wide berth, afraid to contradict the alpha incumbent.
That was a mistake.
One I would rectify very, very soon.
14
Luna
“Sit still,” I demanded, my scissors poised far too close to Silas’s forehead for him to be squirming like that.
“I can shave myself,” he muttered.
“Yeah?” His caveman look said otherwise. “Your haircut and facial scruff remind me of a shaggy dog, Silas.”
He scoffed low in his throat. “I just trimmed them.”
“I know.” I could see the frayed, uneven ends all over his damn head. “Stop moving.” I straddled his thigh, needing to get a closer look at his “trim.”
“Do you even know what you’re doing?” he demanded.
“Better than you do, apparently.” I’d already lathered his hair with water from the bathroom sink. Now I just needed him to sit on the stool beside it like a good little wolf and let me work.
However, he wasn’t very little.
No, Silas was all man at well over six feet with a muscular build that dwarfed most purebred wolves. Except maybe Edon. I suspected they were close to even, with Edon having just a little more bulk on him due to his upbringing. But Silas would catch up to him if he ate properly.
And wouldn’t that be a sight to behold? Two sexy-as-fuck males with alpha tendencies.
Silas might be the youngest, the newbie, but I smelled the dominance in him. It was almost as strong as Edon’s.
“Look at me,” I said softly, needing to judge the hair length on either side of his head.
Bright blue eyes met mine. So beautiful, I thought, lost for a moment in his stare.
I cleared my throat, forcing myself to refocus on the task at hand.
Admiring Silas’s physique and handsome face could only earn me trouble, and we’d already gotten into enough together. Not that I wouldn’t turn down a repeat if our situation was different. Because that wolf’s tongue…
My thighs threatened to clench, which was a problem given my position.
Stop thinking about it.
Only, I couldn’t. It was all I had thought about since finding him in the kitchen. Pancakes didn’t help, and neither, it seemed, did this distraction.
If anything, I’d only made it worse.
“Luna,” he murmured, arching a brow.
“Uh…” I licked my lips. “Yeah, looks even.” Or at least I hoped it did, because my focus was shot.
Fix the chin scruff next, I told myself. That’ll help.
It didn’t.
If anything, being that close to his mouth only heightened my arousal, something he had to smell. He was a wolf, after all, and my legs were spread not two feet away from his face.
Fortunately, he didn’t tease me. He just sat ramrod straight with his hands fisted at his sides.
But I felt the heat coming off him.
He wasn’t completely immune either.
Maybe we both should have put on more clothes—him a shirt, and me, well, I should have put on some pants. Because I was bare under Edon’s shirt, something Silas had to know since I was straddling his jean-clad thigh.
Just finish it, I coached myself. Quickly.
I turned to grab one of the blades I had found in Edon’s bathroom, my balance wavering. Silas caught my hips, holding me steady as I righted myself. “Sorry,” I said. “Sink was farther away than I thought.”
“No problem.” He sounded gruff, if a bit hoarse. No sign of the teasing male from the kitchen. This one was holding on to his control with everything he owned, and my nearness only made it worse.
“I’m almost done,” I said in an effort to console us both. His jaw didn’t need much, just a subtle smoothing. He must have been using a jagged knife to do this before, because it left his chin fuzz rather uneven.
“Sure.” He released me, his touch leaving behind a burn I wanted to explore but couldn’t.
The forbidden nature of touching him was almost like a drug, my fingers moving to places they shouldn’t, all under the guise of fixing his hair and scruff. He knew, too. I could see it in his eyes, the irises turning to liquid fire, and in the way his muscles seemed to clench and tense beneath every stroke.
“What was that the other day?” he finally asked, a touch of hesitation in his voice. “I know we shouldn’t talk about it, but…”
I need to know were the final words of that statement. I understood because I felt the same way.
“My wolf was in fight-or-flight mode. You won her over. She submitted.” Pretty standard in the lycan community, but it had never happened to me before. None of the males in Ernest Clan desired me, my fate promised to another at birth. The only reason Volk had done the deed when I asked was because of our friendship, but neither of us had enjoyed it.
My experience with Silas was different.
He actually made me come.
And would have again had Edon not interfered.
“Is it always like that?” Silas cleared his throat. “I mean, the submission and wanting-to-fuck thing.”
At least he’d stopped claiming I begged him. But I almost preferred the prior teasing to this serious discussion.
&nb
sp; Because thinking about it clearly, without humor, stirred a craving inside me to do it again. To finish what we started.
“It happens,” I replied, referring to his submission and fucking clarification. “But the wolves have to be mutually attracted to one another.”
He frowned, making it difficult for me to shave around the edges of his full lips. Not that talking helped all that much either.
“But our wolves had just met,” he said, those bright eyes lifting to mine.
“We’ve been sniffing around each other quite a bit, Silas.” I pressed a thumb to his mouth to keep him from replying and focused on trimming the hairs just above and below his lips. “I know you followed me around. I could smell your curiosity.” It hadn’t bothered me, just put a damper on my escape plans. “I knew we would fight. Actually, I chose you as the weak link because of your newbie status.” My eyes found his once more. “Obviously, I underestimated you.”
An understatement.
He’d defeated me without breaking a sweat. And all while taking care not to harm me.
“You impressed me,” I admitted softly, finishing the job along his jaw and releasing his mouth. “You impressed my wolf.”
“It… it was intense.”
“Yes.” I smiled. “That part is normal, from what I hear. But you were the first to ever, well, taste me like that.” I grimaced a little at how innocent I sounded. It wasn’t like orgasms were unfamiliar territory for me. Just the whole receiving-one-from-someone-else thing—that was new. “You’re, uh, talented.”
He chuckled, the sound low and tempting. “Talented, huh?”
I swallowed. “Yeah. You, uh, yeah.” I shook my head, my skin heating. “We shouldn’t talk about it anymore.” Or I was going to give in to the urge to experience it all over again, and wouldn’t that be a catastrophe in the making.
“Oh, I don’t know; I find it a fascinating conversation,” a male voice drawled from the hallway. “Please continue, little mate. Tell us all about how Silas made you feel beneath his tongue.”