“You really think I’m naive, don’t you? You think I’ve never met one of your kind,” Tristan said. “I know a dragon’s tactics. I’ve seen my own brother use them on women. They won’t work on me, so you can stop with the bullshit right now.”
In a moment of rage, Elodie yanked her arm away, took a step back and let out a frigid laugh. “Oh, yes. Your brother Krane. What a man he turned out to be. He’s handsome like you, but so, so charming, and loyal as anything. He’s the reason I knew you’d be here, you know. He’s the reason for so many things…” With that, she spun around and faced the Marquis and his men, who were still standing close by, observing the proceedings. The look on the Marquis’ face made me want to scream and claw at his features. The bastard was loving this.
“Krane has served us very well, hasn’t he?” Elodie asked, and the Marquis nodded.
Tristan reached for me again, and I took his hand. For the first time since I’d met him, I could feel him shaking with pain and rage. Had his brother really told the Seven about our plans? Or had they followed him here to find us?
None of it made sense. He couldn’t be the one who’d destroyed our wedding day. He’d come to the house last night to warn us about this. He’d tried to help, for fuck’s sake.
The one thing he hadn’t done was tell us who the leader of the Seven was.
“Tell me what will make you leave us alone,” Tristan said.
Elodie twisted a finger through a long red curl, eyeing him coquettishly. “Nothing. Nothing will ever make me leave you alone, my love,” she said. “You do understand why the Seven threw the ‘curse’ at you ages ago, don’t you? The one that decreed that you couldn’t marry a mortal?”
“Like a naive idiot, I’d always thought it was a means to control me and keep me from settling into anything like a happy life,” Tristan growled.
Elodie shook her head. “Not at all. I want nothing more than your happiness. But I knew the only way you could truly be happy was to be with me, so I wanted to keep you unattached, you see. I’ve been waiting until the time was right to claim you for myself.”
“If you’d wanted to do that, you should have acted on it two hundred years ago, Elodie.”
She shook her head. “I couldn’t. The change was hard on me, Tristan. Very hard. My dragon is a strong beast, and I had to work for years just to tame her. After that, I needed time to come into my own. To take control over my dragon, then over the Seven. The funny thing is, I really had high hopes for us—at least, until recently. You were alone for so long, and I thought you were waiting for me. But here you are, breaking the rules with a fucking human.” She pulled her lower lip down into a pout. “So what am I supposed to do about you now? I still love you, but you defied us. You broke our rules.”
“I’ll make it simple for you, dragon lady. I will never want to be with you, rules or no rules. That’s a promise.”
“Well, that’s a shame, given what my friends and I are going to have to do now.” She pulled away for a second as though she was pondering something, then added, “I’ll tell you what, gorgeous. I’m going to make you an offer you can’t possibly refuse.” With that, she leaned forward and whispered something in his ear. I couldn’t hear the words. I could only feel the tightening clench of Tristan’s hand around my own, telling me she had nothing good to offer him.
“But Ariana has the blood of a Valkyrie running through her veins,” he protested when Elodie had pulled away. “She’s not entirely human. Not entirely mortal. You can’t do this.”
The dragon shifter waved a dismissive hand through the air. “Details, details. It doesn’t matter. I’ve come here to give you a choice. It’s yours to make. You have until tomorrow morning to come to a decision and let me know.”
“It’s no choice,” he snarled. “It’s pure cruelty.”
Elodie’s eyes flared bright gold as she threw him a shit-eating grin. “I live for pure cruelty,” she said.
“You’re truly your father’s daughter,” Tristan said. He looked like he wanted to kill her, the veins in his neck throbbing as his eyes glowed fiercely blue. His wolf, I knew, was close to bounding out through his chest and tearing her to pieces.
As I looked at him I felt myself weaken all over again. My heart had stopped beating; I was sure of it. Everything was spinning, the world going murky and dull, fading into a nonsensical oblivion.
“What choice did she ask you to make, Tristan?” I asked weakly. “What did she say?” But instead of replying, he kept his back to me. The only eyes that met mine were those of the redheaded woman. Her skin pulsed with veins of gold as she blew me a kiss.
Tristan squeezed my hand again, spinning around to pull me close as Elodie backed away, shifted and thrust her impossibly massive dragon skyward.
I turned my face away from the sight, cupping my free hand over my eyes. Her human form was the most beautiful, horrifying creature I’d ever seen. But her dragon, a golden monstrosity with fangs that looked like they could tear through steel like it was paper, was far worse.
Chapter 17
When Elodie’s wretched golden dragon had lifted off, Tristan tried to pull me back towards the path that led to the house, but I refused to budge. There was no way I was going anywhere until I understood what had just happened.
Trick moved towards the Marquis, who’d already signaled his men to make their way back towards the woods. “Get the fuck out of here,” he snarled. “If I see you on this property again, Marquis, I’ll kill you.”
The other man chuckled and threw him a menacing look before shifting into his wretched wolf form and loping into the depths of the lush forest that surrounded us.
“What did she say to you?” I asked Tristan again when they’d gone. “What is this choice Elodie was talking about?”
“Ariana…I can’t,” he began, but as the tears welled up in my eyes I ground my jaw, determined not to let him get away with avoiding a straight answer.
“Tell me,” I sobbed. “I deserve to know the truth.”
Tristan fixed his eyes on mine. His irises had gone icy cold now. The warrior of a beast inside him was still threatening to come out, to fight for what was his. But why? What choice had Elodie given him?
Instead of fighting, he swallowed hard and pulled his gaze towards the cypress trees in the distance. “She wants me to be with her,” he said softly. “She wants me back, after all these years…”
“Or?” I asked, my tone as frigid as his eyes. “She said it was a choice.”
“Or surrender some of my powers,” he said, “which is what I’ll do, of course. I have no intention of being with that woman, now or ever. You’re the only wife I’ve ever truly wanted. The only lover I’ve ever wanted.” He pulled his eyes back to mine, their brightness fading enough to let me know he’d regained control over his inner animal. “Do you hear me?”
My heart sprang back to life with a momentary dash of hope. If Elodie was willing to let him off that easy, maybe things weren’t so dire as they’d seemed. “What powers? What does she want you to give up?” I asked.
“My title,” Tristan said, looking from Trick to me and back again. “I will no longer be Alpha to the North.”
“But she can’t do that,” I said. “Can she?”
“She can do whatever she wants,” Tristan said. “She knows I’ll do anything to avoid a fight with the Seven, and she knows if I resist, my people will have no choice. The fact is that I am their Alpha, lover. I’m a leader, and leaders don’t put their own people at risk for their own selfish needs, not unless it’s utterly necessary.”
“You mean me,” I said miserably. “I’m your selfish need.”
He shook his head and cupped my chin in his hand. “I mean us. I mean the love I feel for you. If anyone here is selfish, it’s me. I’m not willing to give you up for anything. As long as you’re protected, I don’t care about anything else in this world. You need to understand that.”
A beautiful, fragile warmth filled me to look
into his eyes when he said those words. They were still bright, but this time it was tears that had brought out their iridescent blue. I could see his pain. I could feel his love surrounding me like an embrace. He meant every word, and I was so grateful for it.
“You’re sure about this?” I asked.
Again, Tristan looked at Trick for a second before nodding his head. “Completely sure,” he said with a strange, distant smile. “I would die for you, Ariana. Remember that. Nothing matters to me in this entire universe except for your life and your happiness.”
“I know,” I said. “You’ve told me before. I know.” But I felt so selfish. I was single-handedly tearing apart his New York pack. I would be taking their Alpha from them. But if I gave him up…if he left me for her…
No. I couldn’t even think of it.
“Let’s head back to the house,” he said. “I don’t really want to be out here anymore. This place reeks of her presence.”
“Of course,” I told him, trying my best to sound cheerful. “Maybe we can finally have our kiss and seal the deal. We’re married now, remember?”
“I remember,” he replied.
Preparing to hike back to the house, I hoisted up my gown’s skirt, which by now was damp and gray with splotches of mud, and looked around. “Wait—what happened to Marcus? He’s not here.”
Trick and Tristan exchanged a quick, mutually puzzled look before turning to me. “He’s gone,” Trick said. “I’m so sorry—I didn’t even see him leave.”
“Gone? Gone where?” I asked, panic overtaking me again. “He’s not well, he shouldn’t be alone.”
“Don’t worry,” Trick said, “he can’t have gone far. Maybe he’s back at the house. The fucking dragon lady may have given him a shock, like she did to the rest of us.”
I nodded, hoping he was right. I couldn’t take any more disasters today.
* * *
The Southern Alpha walked us back along the trail towards the house. I held tight to Tristan’s hand, telling myself over and over again that we’d be all right, things would work out. Losing his Alpha status wouldn’t be the end of the world; there were plenty of shifters who could take over from him. They could have a Trial like the one Trick had won, and name a new Alpha. It would be the simplest thing in the world…
But for some reason, Tristan didn’t look so hopeful. He’d grown tense, his face set in a hard scowl. “Are you okay?” I asked him as we made our way through the woods.
“I’ll be fine,” he assured me in a strained voice. “I just need a few minutes to process everything that’s happened.”
“Of course,” I said. “It had to be a shock to see her again after all these years…”
He spun around, grabbed me by the shoulders, and stared into my eyes, his irises so bright that they looked almost white. For a moment I was frightened that he’d shift right then and there, that his wolf would go on a rampage and make a victim of me. I’d never seen him look so frightening, so enraged…except for the night at the Midsummer Ball when I’d worried he was going to kill his brother.
“If you think for a second that I care about Elodie,” he snarled, his voice feral, “about the fact that she’s alive, you’re wrong. I hate that woman with every fiber of my being. I despise what she is. I despise what she’s done to us. She’s the fucking devil.”
With that, he turned away and stormed up the path towards the house.
Trick sidled up next to me and laid a gentle hand on my shoulder, calming my shaking body.
“I had no idea,” he said, “about Elodie. About any of this. I knew the head of the Seven was female, but none of us had ever met her. I’m really sorry this happened in my territory. I’d heard rumblings that she might show up, but none of my people warned me who she really was, which means they didn’t know either.”
“It’s not your fault,” I muttered. “It’s hers.” I turned to look at the Southern Alpha, tears streaking my cheeks. “What’s wrong with Tristan? I know this was a shock, but at the end of the day we still have each other. I thought that was good news, but…”
“He’ll be okay.” His jaw tightened, and I could see that he was holding something back.
“What is it?” I asked. “What are you thinking?”
“There’s something going on here that he’s not telling us. I can’t quite figure it out, but there’s something in him…something far darker than he’s letting on.”
“What do you mean?” I asked, my voice quivering.
“Not sure. But I think…I think you should keep an eye on him. Don’t let him out of your sight for a while at least. I may not know Elodie, but I know as well as you do that the Seven are manipulators. They play cruel games. They don’t let their subordinates off easy, which means she’s not going to let Tristan just walk away with a mere slap on the wrist.”
Trick’s words sent a shiver down my spine. “Of course I’ll stick by his side,” I said. “He’s my whole world. If I lost him…” But I couldn’t continue. My throat shut down, my lower lip trembled. “I can’t even say what would happen.” I bit my lip to steady it and put a hand on Trick’s arm. “You…you said once that if I found a way to become immortal, I could keep Tristan in my life in spite of the Seven’s curse.”
“It doesn’t matter. That ship has sailed, Ariana. You’ve already married him; the damage has been done. Tristan made his choice. He wanted you as you are.”
I nodded. “I just wish he’d changed me when he had the chance,” I said miserably. “I wish he’d done that for me.”
He shook his head. “It’s hard to do that to someone you love. I wouldn’t change my mate for anything, unless it came down to saving her life.”
“I understand,” I sighed. “I know he wants what’s best for me. I just wish he understood that he’s what’s best for me.”
“Listen,” Trick said. “Just…go to him. Be patient with him. And don’t mention that woman again, do you hear me? He doesn’t want to think about her. She’s toxic.”
I nodded and looked around, another worry setting itself into my bones. “Can you do me a favor and let me know if you hear anything about Marcus? I’m really worried about him, and something tells me he’s not back at the house.”
“Of course,” said Trick. “Now go. Enjoy your wedding night with your new husband. You two deserve this, at the very least.”
“Thanks.” I patted Trick’s hand and pulled away, then plodded my way inelegantly up to the house and let myself in through the back door, which was wide open.
When I’d locked it behind me, I found Tristan sitting on the living room couch, his face buried in his hands.
“Everything was perfect,” he said as I entered the room. “It was fucking perfect. For the first time in my life, everything was exactly as I wanted it.”
I pushed the large wooden coffee table out of the way and crouched in front of him, setting my hands on his knees. It was a reversal of our usual position. I was always the tormented one, and it was my lover who reassured me. He was my strength when I felt myself breaking. But now he needed me, and I’d stay by his side no matter what. I needed to help him heal from whatever sickness Elodie had inflicted on him.
“Everything can be perfect again,” I said. “We’ll make sure of it. Our lives will be amazing. We have control over what happens to us, believe it or not.”
“For now,” he said in an odd tone. “For now.”
“Sure, for now. Nothing’s ever certain, Tristan. That’s what makes life interesting. Though today it was a little more interesting than I’d like…” I let out a bitter chuckle, but he apparently didn’t see the humor in the situation.
“Tonight,” he said, ignoring my words and pulling his hands away from his eyes to stare at me. “Tonight will be perfect, even if nothing ever is again.”
I nodded and offered him the most reassuring smile I could manage. “Yes, of course it will. This is our wedding night, after all. I love you. You love me. We’re together now, forever
. No matter what.”
He took my hands and rose to his feet. When I rose to join him, he kissed me with a passion deeper, hungrier, than ever before, his tongue licking at mine in hungry strokes.
With his mouth still sealed over mine, he grabbed the front of my beautiful gown and tore it into two pieces, the dress floating to the ground like it was made of tissue paper. I nearly protested that I’d wanted to keep it as a memory, but all I could think was fuck it. Who could possibly want a keepsake of the insanity we’d just experienced?
Naked from the waist up, I kissed him back, my tongue lashing at his as he drove his hand down the front of my panties. In a flash he was on his knees, one hand slipping up to cup my breasts, teeth nipping at my flesh, tongue lashing, leaving a trail of flame in its wake as he turned my arousal up to one thousand.
With greedy fingers he kneaded my folds, searching for my wetness, a deep sigh escaping his lips as he discovered how tight I was for him. His voracious lips sucked my nipples, forcing my core to clench even tighter for him.
“I guess we’re starting the honeymoon early,” I said breathlessly, but instead of replying he grabbed me and spun me around. He ripped off my panties and pushed me back onto the couch, wrenching my thighs apart to bury his tongue deep inside me. He lifted my knees over his shoulders, lapping at me with a wildness that I’d never seen in him. My hands grabbed at the pillows surrounding my hips, looking to steady my body and mind in the wake of the feral pleasure that was slowly taking over my mind.
I rolled my hips forward, meeting his mouth in eager surges as he tormented me in beautiful, searing strokes of his expert tongue. He pulled away every few seconds to look into my eyes, his fingers replacing his mouth to slip aggressively over my knot of nerves.
Finally he lifted himself up, undoing his pants and letting them drop to the floor along with his boxers. His hard-on looked like it was about to burst, the beautiful crown swollen to an impossible size, exquisite veins lining his engorged shaft. He pressed down and, in one violent motion, rammed himself deep inside me. I cried out so loudly that I was sure I’d shatter the windows.
Alpha’s Hunger Box Set: Books 1-3 Page 45