by Lexi C. Foss
I lifted a shoulder. “I’m saying it’s probably not wise to provoke an alpha female in the middle of a mating moon. The same could be said about a mating alpha male.” Except I seemed rather at ease in sharing my intended with Silas. But that was a matter for another day.
Some of the pack members growled. I ignored them, feigning nonchalance.
“That said, I suppose I need to have a word with Luna.” I folded my arms. “Unless you question my ability to punish my mate?”
“Considering you interrupted my last one? Yes, son. Yes, I do.” My father looked around at his buddies, who all grunted in agreement. “You’ll punish her publicly or I’ll kill her myself.”
I snorted. “You can’t kill my mate.”
“Can’t I?” he countered. “It’ll delay your ascension by a decade or two, but I’m sure more alpha females will be available soon. We can always ask Ernest Clan to produce another as well. I’m certain Niko would happily oblige after we inform him of his daughter’s shortcomings.”
Yeah, and he would most certainly take out his frustrations on his wife in the interim as well. No, thanks. “I’m not interested in waiting, old man.” I chose the words with care, making sure he heard my growl on the final two. His time was at an end whether he acknowledged it or not.
“We don’t need to rush this, Edon. I’m more than fit to continue running things,” he replied, sounding as nonchalant as I had moments ago. “Pretty sure the pack would agree, too.”
Of course they would. Because he’d made sure of it.
Which meant I had no choice.
I either punished Luna publicly or risked her death and my standing in the pack. Neither consequence was negotiable on my part.
The sooner I took over this hell, the sooner I improved it.
And Luna didn’t deserve to die for something she’d clearly not done.
But looking at the lycans surrounding Bianca, I knew with all my being that no one would believe her innocence. Not even if Silas vouched for her whereabouts as well. If anything, it’d probably result in his death in addition to Luna’s.
I fucking hate you, I told my father with a glance. It was too brief for anyone else to see, but his lips quirked up in response.
This was another of his damn trials.
A test.
And I only had one option.
“Fine.” It took considerable effort not to growl that single word. “Prepare the ring. I’ll find Luna.”
I didn’t give my father a chance to argue, my feet already moving. Silas, I need you for another task…
18
Silas
“Absolutely not,” I growled, the second Edon appeared. He’d thrown on a pair of jeans, leaving me and Luna stark naked before him. Not that I cared. I was too focused on the insane plan he’d spoke into my head not even ten minutes ago.
“It wasn’t a request, Silas.” He didn’t even look at me, his dark gaze on Luna. “They’re calling for your blood.”
“I know,” she replied, her arms wrapped around herself. She hadn’t stopped shaking since the howls began, her mind already processing what the pack wanted before I even had a chance to speak.
Still, I’d relayed every word from Edon, including the task he’d given me. A task I’d snorted at in my head and refused, but the alpha chose not to hear me.
“I won’t do it,” I said again, standing my ground. I could handle a lot. Not this.
Edon turned on me then, his palm around my throat in a flash as he shoved me up against a tree. “The alternative is far worse, Silas. If you care about her at all, you’ll do as I say.”
“Bullshit,” I retorted, livid and not at all frightened by the stronger wolf before me. “She’s innocent. I’m not going to fucking—”
“It’s fine,” Luna cut in, her breath shuddering out of her in defeat. “I accept the punishment.” She captured Edon’s gaze, a hint of a fighter lurking in her caramel-colored depths. “But I am innocent.”
“I know,” he replied, his grip on my throat lessening in severity without releasing me. “But I still have to do this.”
She nodded, her arms still tightly folded around herself as though she were cold.
I gaped back and forth between them. “Why the hell are you just accepting this?” Lycans and vampires were supposed to have rights. They were the superior species. This punishment shit was for humans and humans alone.
“There’s still so much about our society you need to learn.” Edon’s palm flexed, his expression intensifying. “You will do what I say, Silas, or things will get very bad for you both.”
I scoffed at the threat. “I can take a punishment.” Or several. I’d more than held my own in my twenty-two years of life. This would be no different.
“Perhaps you can, but what about Luna?” Edon snapped. “If you refuse, someone else will take your place. Perhaps more. And then how will you feel, Silas? Because they’ll make you watch as they shred her apart, and you’ll know all along that you could have helped prevent her mutilation by completing this one fucking task.”
“What you’re asking me to do—”
“No, what I’m telling you to do, Silas. This isn’t a fucking request. I need you to help me protect what dignity Luna will have left after this.” He released me with a shove. “This is happening. Otherwise, she dies.”
Luna shuddered visibly.
And Edon grabbed her arm. “Let’s go.”
I stared after them, my jaw on the ground.
For two decades, I learned all about the glamorous lives of lycans and vampires. Especially those of the alphas and royals. Yet never once did anyone talk about this—the thirst for punishments, for keeping fellow lycans in line, for brutalizing each other into submission.
Because that was what this was at the core: a way to break Luna’s psyche and force her to bow to her male betters.
The alpha heir didn’t want to do this.
However, he was going to anyway.
Because his world required it.
There is no better life, I realized, gazing up at the trees above me. It was all a lie.
We have a chance to change it, Edon said softly. But I can’t do anything until I ascend.
Which required him to have a proper mate—Luna.
And it seemed his father was hell-bent on removing that requirement, leading me to wonder, Do you think he orchestrated Bianca’s death and framed Luna?
Of course he did, he replied. This is all a fucked-up test, and if I don’t punish Luna, he’ll kill her and delay my trials. I need to beat him at his own game.
I swallowed, my fists clenching at my sides. So you need me.
Yes.
No elaboration. Just that single-word reply. It served as a concession of sorts. Edon could command me all he wanted, but at the end of the day, he required my acquiescence for this to work. Denying his demands only made his job harder. It would also end up hurting Luna even more.
“Fuck,” I muttered, running my fingers through my hair. “Fuck.” It would be so easy to run, to hide from what was about to happen, but I couldn’t. Some stupid part of me felt an obligation to stay, not just for Edon but also for Luna.
Loyalty. A dangerous emotion. Which was crazy because I barely knew them, yet some inherent part of me felt indebted to them both. No, not necessarily indebted, but something else. Something stronger.
It reminded me of how I regarded Rae and Willow, only even more intense.
My wolf. I blinked. It’s my wolf.
You have less than five minutes to make a decision, Edon warned. As soon as we reach the ring, I’m calling for you.
He didn’t mean mentally, but in a howl. And if I ignored that command, I’d be hunted. That much I understood. Running, I supposed, was never truly an option. To ignore the call of an alpha went against the grain, something I felt deep inside. My wolf would never allow it.
And Edon knew it.
I sensed it through our bond, his assurance that I wouldn’t l
et him down.
Whatever this was between us seemed to grow by the second, leashing me to him in a way I both craved and loathed. I fought him because I could, but some part of me would always enjoy submitting, too.
It confused me.
Enthralled me.
Anchored me.
There was never a choice.
I would do as he demanded because he commanded it. And what I hated most of all was that I’d probably enjoy it because my compliance would please him.
“So fucked up,” I grumbled to myself, my feet already moving toward the main camp. I could feel Edon’s tug, his need for me to obey, to do what he required, and my body responded in kind.
But it wasn’t just about Edon.
I felt Luna, too.
She’d somehow found a link to my veins, heating my blood in a way no one else ever had. I shook my head, refusing the connection. Except it fired again, drawing me nearer, forcing me to submit to them both.
Two alphas.
And me—a mutt.
I didn’t know what we were doing, had just sort of gone along for the run earlier when Edon chased Luna. Not because he told me to, but because I wanted to. And that only baffled me more. It was as if my inner wolf, not my mind, drove my instincts, leaving me with no alternative but to follow along.
A howl pierced the night.
Not from Edon, but from Luna. It was agonized and sounded all wrong. Pained. Destroyed. Followed by cries of approval and excitement. The pack.
Chaos thrived through the sire bond.
What’s wrong? I demanded.
No response.
My walk turned into a sprint as I pounded barefoot over the earth, unfazed by the rocks and dirt beneath my heels. Branches scratched my arms, my sides, my exposed thighs—I had left my jeans at Edon’s house before our little run through the woods.
What’s happening? I asked again, running as fast as my legs allowed. I was just outside of the main village, the snarls of the pack growing louder with each step. They were near the location where the initial mating ceremony took place. That seemed to be where all official pack matters happened, right in the heart of the territory, surrounded by the cabins owned by Clemente Clan elite.
Edon, I said as I neared one of the larger lodges.
No response.
I ignored the call from my wolf, suppressing the urge to shift. It would take too much time and energy, and I needed to be ready for—
I froze just outside the punishment ring.
Luna lay curled in a ball in the middle of violence, while Edon stood just off to the side and watched as the pack descended upon her. He didn’t pay me a glance, his expression bored, his body language nonchalant. But I felt his anger through the bond.
Why aren’t you stopping them? They’re going to kill her!
She’s fine, he replied, his mental voice a low growl. But he held up his hand, causing a few of the wolves to still. A warning rumble from his throat caught the attention of the others and earned him a death glare from his father.
“You prefer her death?” Walter asked from across the crowd. “Because I’ll happily arrange it.” He took a step forward, only for Edon to shake his head.
“No. I merely wish to propose an alternative.” There wasn’t a hint of anger or annoyance in his tone, even though I felt it raging through our connection. If Edon could, I suspected he’d kill his father right now. Instead, he said, “One of Luna’s biggest flaws is her inability to heel.”
“A flaw I attempted to remedy the other night before you stopped me,” his father replied. “One your pack is willing to solve for you right now if you allow them to continue.” He gestured to the salivating males, their lewd stares on Luna’s petite frame.
Walter must have orchestrated this harsh reception at the main camp. Because it hadn’t been part of Edon’s preliminary plan at all, a fact I somehow just understood as if I were connected to my sire’s mind.
He hadn’t stopped the initial attack, because he knew it would make him appear weak. He also knew his wolves needed to expunge some of their anger to feel satisfied. Which would allow him to better recommend and facilitate Luna’s punishment.
I blinked, startled by all that knowledge. Whether he pushed it into me or if I’d stumbled upon it in error, I didn’t know. But I felt the veracity of it in my bones.
Edon had a plan.
Everything he did was done with a purpose in mind. Just like this.
“I don’t think your method will break her penchant for dominance,” Edon said, tucking his hands into his pockets. “But I have one that might.” He let that hang in the air, piquing the curiosity of his pack as they glanced between the alpha incumbent and the alpha heir.
Walter folded his burly arms over his bare chest and smiled. “And what, Alpha Heir, do you suggest?” he asked, the incredulity in his tone a clear insult.
“Make the mutt fuck her.” Edon waved a hand in my direction. “I can’t imagine anything more degrading than allowing a mutt’s cock inside me. Wouldn’t you agree, Father?”
It took significant strength to force my gaze to lower as the focus of the pack fell upon me. I wanted to stare them all down in challenge, to dare them to consider me beneath them, but my defiance would only make this worse. And I understood what Edon was doing. He wanted to belittle Luna’s position in the pack by having a newbie defile her.
“Are you sure he can even perform?” Walter drawled.
The hairs along the back of my neck sprung up as the urge to attack hit me square in the gut.
Easy, Edon whispered into my mind. They assume you’re weak. I want them to hold on to that assumption until the time is right.
I fought the urge to frown, his words not at all what I expected to hear.
“There’s only one way to find out,” he said out loud, addressing his father’s concerns regarding my ability to fuck. “Even if he can’t, I imagine submitting to the mutt will put Luna firmly in her place.”
His father stroked his chin, a movement I caught in my periphery, as I hadn’t yet lifted my gaze from the ground out of fear that I might accidentally challenge one of these jackasses with a glower. The pack collectively would be impossible to beat. But some of these idiots without backup? Yeah, I’d hold my own just fine. And I’d enjoy it, too.
“I can smell her fear,” one of the lycans said, a grin in his voice. “I say we make the mutt put on a show, see what he can do.”
“I bet he can’t last more than ten seconds in that pussy,” another said.
Someone snorted. “Nah, I’d give it at least thirty.”
“Really? I’m going for a minute. He’s not even hard yet.”
And then the betting began.
The need for blood had morphed into a pit of ribbing and lecherous expectations surrounding my sexual prowess.
“Don’t the humans study this shit, though?” an intelligent male questioned. “What were his scores?”
“Fuck if I know” was the response.
Edon remained silent, but I felt his relief through the connection. A relief I did not share. He wasn’t the one who had to perform for these assholes. They weren’t just asking me to fuck, but to essentially rape Luna. She knew, of course. Had already told me it would be fine.
“I mean, it’s not like we weren’t going to… you know…” had been her quiet statement shortly before Edon arrived.
That didn’t make it right.
That didn’t make it okay either.
She remained tucked in her little ball, her body trembling, her face hidden. There were scratches along her back from where some of the pack had clawed her and a few marks on her sides that likely came from shoes or maybe fists.
This is so fucking wrong, I thought, not for the first time.
There’s no alternative was Edon’s reply.
The conversation continued to flow around me, the pack growing more eager by the second as they entertained themselves with the thought of my taking Luna. Most voted
in the low minutes. Others in the seconds.
If I was going to do this, I’d go long just so none of those assholes won.
Except then I’d be prolonging Luna’s torment.
I resisted the urge to grab my hair and tug on it, my attention still fixed on the ground. The lycans had started circling me, taking my measure, weighing my abilities based on my appearance.
It was ludicrous.
I couldn’t believe I’d fought in the Immortal Cup just to endure such treatment. They considered me a lesser being solely because I was not born a lycan. But the trials of my life placed me far above them all. And one day, I’d prove it.
“All right, son. We’ll try it your way,” Walter said, his tone holding a begrudging lilt.
It was then that I realized why Edon had chosen this method—he knew the pack would approve. He essentially used his father’s techniques against him by exploiting the clan’s thirst for degradation.
Because it wasn’t just Luna they were embarrassing, but also me.
“But I want him to fuck her ass,” Walter added, causing the world to still around me. “He doesn’t deserve to experience alpha pussy.”
Luna seemed to freeze, her tension palpable.
What Walter demanded was even more invasive somehow; it was also something I’d never done. And I suspected Luna was the same.
“No,” Edon growled, the sound charging the energy in the air. “I’ve not taken her ass yet. It’s mine. He’ll take her pussy instead.”
His father smiled. “Taking her virgin ass would be an even better punishment.”
“As I stated the other day, she’s my mate and I decide how best to punish her, and this is my decision.” His attention fell to me. “If you touch her ass, I’ll kill you.”
“Noted,” I whispered, my throat dry from the war of wills happening before me.
How Edon expected me to perform under these conditions was beyond me. And the resulting snickers from the crowd said they all agreed. Some even went as far as to comment on my lack of arousal. Apparently, they didn’t understand why raping a female might not appeal to me.
Luna will prefer you to anyone else in this pack, Edon murmured, his mental voice different from the harsh tone he’d used only seconds ago when threatening my life. Remember that when you slide inside her sweet heat. Remember the chase, how she drew us down to that stream with the intent to have us both. The way she submitted to you in the field. Her wolf desires you, Silas.