Page 15 of The Wolf Moon

“Are you claiming to be of the oracles?” He asked me, his voice low with growing impatience. Something told me this was both the wrong and right answer. I shook my head and then also nodded hesitantly. “The Goddesses wish me dead, now? Is this what you’re telling me?”

I didn’t answer this question. A chuckled rumbled through him, demented, angry, and at the same time amused. Something in my soul liked his laugh, despite the darkness of it. It pulled at that wildness inside me, drawing it to the surface until the King Alpha froze against me. He inhaled briefly before holding his breath determinedly.

“You’re tempting my wolf, Milena,” He growled at me dangerously.

“I don’t mean to,” I whispered, my voice strained under such an unusual feeling.

“There might have been a time when I asked the Goddesses for a mate several… several years ago,” He continued, shifting forward to breathe in my scent deeply. After a moment, he lifted the blade from my side and I whimpered, afraid he would turn it on me. Instead, he abruptly turned it on himself, driving it squarely into his heart with an angry grunt. I gasped at the sight.

When he didn’t drop dead above me, I felt like I truly had fallen into insanity. He ripped it from his chest as he had done my arrows, my blade now bloody and his chest healing before me.

“When they refused a mate, I instead asked the Goddesses to kill me,” He dropped the useless blade on the ground and pulled one of my hands from under me roughly. I whimpered as he pressed my palm against his healing wound determinedly, a look of anger enveloping him. “It’s been centuries, do you understand? It’s been centuries and the Crone refuses my life. She’ll take everyone around me. She’ll take you, even. But never me.”

I was staring at him with disbelief and horror, my initial thoughts stuck on the fact that Cynthia had sent me on a suicide mission. But then I truly took in his words and my eyes trailed from his to my hand on his chest. I stared at it for a moment and then began to move my touch over his other scars. They were wounds, caused by centuries of life. An immortal werewolf; it was a nightmare if I had ever heard one, both for him and for the humans.

“The challenge… everything was pointless,” I whispered, wanting to be disgruntled but distracted by his body so close to mine. That wild power flared within me, recalling the challenge and the feel of that thing within me. I was surrounded by the King Alpha’s empowering scent, untamed and dangerous yet… desirable. Aware of my own thoughts this time, I fought the urge to pull him to me and breathe him in as I had before.

“You smell of human in one moment and wolf in another,” the King Alpha said suspiciously, narrowing his eyes as he huffed above me with restraint. “Why would they grant me a mate now? And one which was among the humans… they must have stolen you from us. Or perhaps you were thrown out; a defected wolf.”

He released his grip on my remaining pinned hand and planted both of his on the ground on either side of me. He lowered himself further until his lips were over my chest carefully. It would have been a perfect time to attack him, but I remained frozen under him. I was afraid if I moved, I would throw myself to him as I had before.

“I’m not a wolf,” I managed painfully.

“We could find out for certain if you’d just… shift,” He growled the order dominatingly. I whimpered immediately, feeling that unfamiliar touch of something crawling under my skin. Yet no bones snapped and nothing changed on the surface. His scent became even more addictive around me, as though the closer I got to whatever connection was between me and the werewolves, the more drawn to him I was.

“What’s happening to me?” I asked him fearfully as that power thrilled throughout me.

He was still as a statue above me, his muscled tensed and poised as he watched me.

“A normal lycan would have shifted even if they didn’t want to. You’ve rejected me three times now,” He stated simply, as though I had a choice in the matter. “What should I do with you, Milena?”

I wanted to demand him to let me go home. But still Cynthia’s warning ran through my head; that I needed to stop this Alpha before the Hunter’s Moon. I obviously couldn’t just kill him, as he proved tonight. There had to be something else I was missing.

“Let me stay,” I abruptly requested, an expression of surprise gracing my features before his.

“No,” He growled angrily in response. His hands tensed into fists against the ground. “If you’re an oracle wolf or even a defect wolf, I should banish you immediately.”

“I’m not a defect,” I snapped in irritation, “What does that even mean?”

“It means you were born with deformity that would render you useless to the pack. Missing legs perhaps or-” He was peering at me, his focus beginning to fade. He shook his head firmly.

“I’m not missing anything!” I gasped, offended. “And that’s just barbaric!”

“You’re not staying. I would-” He stopped himself from continuing, struggling with his own thoughts.

I hesitated, thinking over everything I had learned about the lycans so far. And then I lifted my chin, revealing my neck to the King Alpha on impulse. He growled lowly, the sound vibrating along my body and reaching into that wild power within me. I wanted to crawl away, but I held still submissively.

“Let me stay,” I requested once again, swallowing with difficulty. “I’ll be… I’ll be your mate or… whatever that is.”

“Is that what the Goddesses requested of you, then?” He asked me with frustration, his hatred of his deities thick in his words. I wondered if it would be the right answer to deny this or to say it was true. The Goddesses hadn’t requested anything, really. I hadn’t received any visions, but I couldn’t very well admit that and keep Cynthia safe at the same time.

“Then let’s make them regret it,” The King Alpha suddenly growled, grasping me firmly before lifting me to him roughly. I gasped in surprise and then cried out when he bit me viciously. His fangs buried into the curve into my shoulder, but it felt as though they went even deeper.

I grasped at his arms tightly, whimpering against him as his bite bled into my soul possessively. That wild part of me was drawn out, thriving under his powerful bond. I could feel it just under my skin, settling and stretching over the length of me as if making my flesh its home. For just a moment, I wondered if perhaps I was something else; something untamed and of nature itself. Yet my body remained human in the King Alpha’s embrace.

He ripped his bite from my flesh none-too-gently, panting with exhilaration.

“You may be mine now, Milena,” He snarled at me dangerously, “But make no mistake; I won’t ever be yours.”

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