Forbidden Union: A Paranormal Romance (Harem of The Mindslayer Book 3)

by Willa Hart

  “We are here because the safety of our pack is at risk,” Arianna says.

  I’m permissive of my Alpha, but it’s not her place to lead the pack. My gaze narrows upon her. My wolf’s growl breaks through my silence. She pauses and her green eyes slide toward Eregos. And with that one look, by my Alpha to my prodigal brother, I know. My brother does return with more in his mind than to simply help the Dregs find the Wolveskin lair.

  “It’s foolish to involve the pack in human affairs,” Arianna continues. “I’m shocked you’re even considering it. Putting Wolveskin forces at risk for humans?”

  Irritation tightens my chest. My incisors sharpen. I control my feelings—my beast. “My father faced a similar decision. He began the private envoys between Wolveskin and the Roya Kingdom with the assent of this Leadership Counsel and the Roya Queen and her—”

  “Yes,” Arianna interrupts me, “it was your father, King Dryse, that put us in this position.” Her gaze leaves mine, and she looks at each member of the counsel. “When he allowed his Beta to break the Wolveskin law and marry a human”—she lasers her green eyes upon me—“when the traitor should’ve had his throat ripped from his body for bedding a human.”

  I sit back in my chair. Rage tugs at my insides.

  “Do not interrupt me again, Arianna.” My voice is calm. Every counsel member looks at me and lowers their eyes. Anger rages in my chest and my beast snarls. “As for my father’s decisions, be careful where you tread. It was that union that created my bound-mate.”

  A low grumble, deep and felt within my bones, sounds around the table. Me being bound to a human has divided my counsel.

  Arianna leans forward and places her palms flat on the table. “A bound-mate that can’t shift? You expect this pack to follow a Queen that has so little Wolveskin blood that she can’t shift from human to wolf?”

  “I expect my pack to acknowledge the Queen I choose,” I say. “And to follow the Wolveskin tradition of the bound-mate as decreed by the King before the one in power. Let’s be clear, Meela is the Queen chosen for this pack by King Dryse. She shall be afforded the respect of a bound-mate. Anyone”—I lower my chin and direct my gaze to Arianna—“and I do mean anyone that disrespects her shall suffer the full consequence.”

  Half of the counsel nods in agreement, while several glance at Arianna.

  “Is she to be considered a visiting dignitary since she is the fated-mate for the Roya Princes as well?” Arianna asks. Her smirk informs me that she and the counsel have discussed Meela’s relationship with the Roya Princes, and that I, King Rex, will share my Queen, which before now was an unheard-of proposition with the human Princes of the Roya Kingdom.

  “It’s true,” I say. “Our history predicts a unifying Queen, much like the human prophesy. It is beyond my power to understand what the White Wolf and Luna demand of me and our pack, but my bound-mate has the ability to bring peace to a multitude of Kingdoms. Meela shall fulfill all that Luna has promised.”

  “Will she abide by pack rules to become female Alpha?” Arianna asks.

  My gaze hardens. Anger thrills though my chest. Arianna now challenges my authority and my choice and…the safety of my mate. If Meela cannot shift, there is little chance that she could fight off an attack by Arianna.

  “She will do as I command,” I say. My gaze lingers on each member of the counsel until each lowers their gaze in admission of their subservience. “I’ve been permissive. Perhaps too permissive.” I lock my gaze onto Arianna. “I’ve listened to your concerns. You will do as I command. This meeting is completed.”

  One by one in order of rank, each member stands and exits the chamber. My gaze slides to my elder brother, Eregos. I lock eyes with him and wait. Finally he lowers his eyes and stands, for he too knows the consequence of failing to admit his subservience to the King. It is submit or challenge. There is no other way, and while Eregos may be strong, he is not stronger than I am.

  Arianna’s green eyes land on me; rage tumults through them. Anger scents the room.

  “You smell of jealousy and rage,” I say.

  Rarely in our interactions have we taken our human form. She’s bared our cubs as a wolf and will leave soon after. She has little desire to be bound to our lair and to the pack. While not a rogue or lone wolf, she takes her freedom as far as it can go; now perhaps, I’ve allowed her to take her freedom too far. Our beasts are more aligned when we are in Wolveskin form, not at all as humans.

  “I am unwilling to yield to the human,” Arianna says. Her words no longer carry a harsh tone. “She is not strong enough to lead this pack.”

  “She is my bound-mate, she is not just a human.”

  “For political reasons, your father bound you to her, but the politics of being Queen are not the same as being female Alpha.”

  While I don’t like her words, I acknowledge their truth.

  Arianna is not only my Alpha because as a young Wolveskin I was desperately attracted to her, she is also my Alpha because she is a leader and she is physically strong.

  “I will not acquiesce,” she says, her voice low.

  A growl rumbles through my chest. My beast seeks to force her to submit to my rule and to my choice to protect my bound-mate. “You know what you’re asking for.”

  “I know what is owed to me as female Alpha. If she seeks to lead, then let her fight her way to the position as any other female within our pack must do.”

  I swallow, because while I’m drawn to Meela and know that she is destined to be my Queen, I see no way that she can best Arianna in a physical fight.

  “Your hesitation and doubt about her ability tells me more than your words. How could you expect her to lead us, Rex, if she will not even abide by our oldest rituals and customs?”

  “She will abide,” I say.

  Arianna’s eyes draw into slants. “Really? Then I await her challenge.” Arianna stands and so do I. No longer on the same side, we are now in opposition with Meela between us, and either Arianna shall acquiesce, or she shall die.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Meela

  The Wolveskin bares her teeth and growls. I step back. My shoulders flatten against the cool stone wall. Nowhere to run. No way to flee. She prowls forward—a predator with her teeth bared. Spittle drops from her razor-sharp canines. She lowers her body. Crouched and ready to leap. She lunges! I raise my arms to block her teeth from tearing into my flesh.

  “Noo!” I bolt upright. Sweat rolls between my breasts. My chest heaves up and down and I gulp air. My heart beats hard against my ribs. I’ve tossed my blankets on my bed as though struggling for my life. Above me, moonlight streams through the window. That dream. Again. I close my eyes and shake my head.

  Meela? Are you okay? Rex’s thoughts come to me through the darkness.

  I…it was a dream, I think.

  Really it was a nightmare, the same nightmare that I’ve endured each night since Arianna tried to kill me. I don’t want to be the Wolveskin Queen, but that is the role Luna showed me in the Room of Knowledge. Is this my path? To battle? With a Wolveskin? For the Alpha title? My Goddess, such a battle seems extreme. I’m not a warrior. I’m unsure what I really am. I was a Dreg, a laundress, an orphan—but now? Now, I’m an Eliterrati, a fated-mate, a Wolveskin, a Queen, and perhaps if I’m to listen to all those around me, the promised Unifier.

  “I won’t allow her to harm you.” Rex fills the door of my room. Dark as the onyx in the Room of Knowledge, the reflection of the firelight dances over the muscles of his chest. His pecs are well-formed and match the perfection of his abs.

  My heart beats fast in my chest. I’m wet between my legs.

  His eyes widen and the silver circle around the iris in each eye pulses. The scent of my arousal—he smells that I want him.

  “May I enter?”

  “Of course.” I pull my blankets around me. This tiny bit of fabric can’t protect me from the fierce desire that flows through me. His scent of woods and rivers and mountain air waft
s into my room. Even in this state of protectiveness a wild ferocity rolls off him—this powerful intensity accompanies Rex wherever he goes; much like his beast is always part of him.

  He sits on the edge of my bed. Deep breath, inhaling his scent and also attempting to center myself. I’ve been with my two-fated mates and been aroused by each but this…this desire for Rex is completely different.

  “I feel the desire too,” Rex says. His dark brown eyes with the silver ring around his pupil stare into mine. “We were bound, and whether it’s tonight or a different night, we shall be together, Princess.”

  My nipples tighten beneath my nightgown. Want coils deep in my belly.

  “What does it mean when Wolveskin are bound?” I ask.

  Rex’s lips curl up into a smile. His elongated canine teeth peek from behind his lips. I shudder. A mix of desire and fear.

  “When we were bound, our families declared to the pack and the Goddess that we’d be mates.”

  I pull up my knees and circle my arms around my legs. “And are Wolveskin ever un-bound? Does anyone ever…change their mind?” I ask.

  Rex’s brows pull together, “Why, Princess? Are you reconsidering who your parents determined would be the best match for their oldest daughter?” He leans back and playfully tilts his head to the side. “I mean, I am a King.”

  I smile with his joke. “No, I just wondered if…well…what if you wanted to change your mind?” I glance away from Rex, toward the fire. “I mean, surely it would be easier for you if you were to marry Arianna? You already have cubs, she’s a full Wolveskin who can change into a wolf, the pack knows her—no problem with her leading or her strength.” I meet his gaze. Even after all my words of worry, a smile remains on Rex’s face, and there is a softness in his eyes.

  “While all those statements are true,” Rex says, “I’ve never experienced the desire to be with another nor the fierce need to protect and care for another like I have from the moment I saw you.”

  He leans forward and his breath, scented with cinnamon, caresses my face. “I have all my memories of our brief times together as children. I always knew that you were in the world, I simply did not know where.” He reaches out and presses a lock of my hair behind my ear. “And now you are here. Returned to me, and I have every intention to do anything that is necessary, and I do mean anything, Princess, to prove to you—and the entire pack, should I need to—that you are in fact bound to me, and that you are the Queen that the Goddess intended for my pack and for me.”

  My heart warms with Rex’s words. Such a huge risk. Worry pulses through me, worry that Arianna or his brother Eregos or his pack could undermine his authority because of his devotion to me.

  He leans close to me. “You worry too much, Princess.”

  “I can’t explain the connection I feel with you,” I say, and look into King Rex’s eyes.

  “Why explain it, Princess, why not feel it.”

  His gorgeous full lips are on mine with a heat and a ferocity I don’t ever want tamed. No, my only desire is to experience this moment. His tongue moves along the seam of my lips, and I open to him.

  “Oh Rex,” I moan. This moment has been in my mind and in my dreams since I arrived.

  “My Princess,” he says. His tongue winds with mine, and my legs press away from my body. He pulls my nightgown over my head. I’m naked before him, and his hand presses along my jaw and down my neck. He presses me back, his hand skimming down to my breast. He pulls my nipple between his fingertips and gently presses the tight bud.

  His mouth consumes me. I open to his wanting, needing his kiss. He pulls away and stares at my body.

  “Princess, I’ve dreamed of your flesh.”

  I reach out and press my hand to the short pants he wears. His cock is thick and hard. How will I take all of him? I slip my hand beneath the waistband and grasp his sex. I run my thumb across the tip, smoothing the pre-cum across his flesh.

  He moans.

  I pull his shorts down and over his hips. His flesh is magnificent, with giant muscled biceps. My sex clenches. My gaze travels over his pecs. I reach out and touch my fingertip to his skin. Smooth beneath my touch, I press my lips to his nipple and flick my tongue over the nub.

  “Fuck yes, sweet Princess.” His hand grasps my ass. He slides one hand down the front of my body and presses his fingertip to my nub. My body tightens with his touch.

  A growl rumbles through his body. He circles the tight nub of flesh between my thighs. I can barely move with the pleasure and my head drops back. His mouth is on my neck and his lips trail down to my nipple which he slips into his mouth and sucks, rolling the flesh around. My slick wet flesh slips out of his mouth, and he sucks on the other nipple.

  I grasp his cock. Hard and thick I slide my hand up and down his shaft. He shifts to his side and I roll to mine. I continue to press my hand up and down his shaft, and his finger presses and circles my clit. Slowly he pulls away and his lips drift down over my belly. His tongue kisses the crest of my hip and then trails along my thigh. He is over me, spreading my thighs with his hands.

  “Princess, your pussy is perfection,” he says.

  My sex clenches. I’m hot and wet. He presses his lips to my sex and pulls my nub into his mouth. His tongue circles and licks while he sucks my sex. He presses two fingers deep into me. My hips rock upward, and he presses his palm to my hip to quell my bucking.

  “Oh Rex, oh my god, Rex, I am going to come,” I moan.

  He continues sucking, and I plunge into pleasure. My body shivers and tightens through the orgasm. He pulls his lips from my sex and his gaze locks to mine. The silver circle around his pupils vibrates. He is more wolf than human.

  Fear clutches my belly.

  “Don’t be afraid, Princess.” The sounds from his mouth are more growl than words. “I’m bound to you. You are always safe with me.”

  I swallow and know his words are true. My sex clenches, empty and wanting him. His giant cock is engorged and ready for me.

  “I want you,” I say.

  You shall have me, he thinks. His canines lengthen and his eyes glow silver.

  He’s over me. The head of his enormous cock presses against the tight ring of my sex.

  “I’ll be gentle, Princess,” he says.

  How gentle can a Wolveskin be? His giant flesh presses into the wet warmth of me, slowly, slowly, as my body stretches to take him. He pauses. Pure bliss. My sex squeezes his cock, wanting, needing, all of him. My hips shift upward. A fierce desire for him to thrust hard and fast into me.

  “Open your eyes, Meela,” he growls.

  I do. I look into the silver pupils of my Wolveskin King. My heart pounds in my chest with a deep warmth and knowing.

  “You are mine.” He thrusts slowly but deeply, then pulls back until his giant cock is out of my body and once again I long for him—need him.

  “Rex, please, please,” I moan

  A smile crosses his face. His teeth long and sharp as razors. His head falls forward and he presses deep into me. Filling me.

  “Faster, harder, please.” I clutch the muscles of his arms. My nails rake his flesh.

  He thrusts hard and deep. He pulls back and thrusts again and again and a roar comes from his mouth. His control is lost. My sex clenches around him. The orgasm building and rolling up through my body. I grasp the edge of pleasure.

  “Make me your Queen,” I say.

  He looks deep into my eyes and his head dips to my face. His breath mixes with mine and then he plunges his canines into my shoulder. The pain fused with the sweetness of our orgasm. We both fall over the edge together, into the bliss of our pleasure.

  “Will I be able to shift now?” I ask.

  “Perhaps.” Rex presses his lips to the mark on my shoulder. His tongue strokes over the nearly healed flesh.

  I shiver.

  “We shall know soon enough. You’ll feel your beast within your body. She’ll grow and become stronger. She’ll be an inner voice that guides yo
u and challenges you. She’ll be you and yet…there’ll be something very different about her, she’ll be wild and free and forever untamable.”

  “She sounds like someone I’ll like.”

  He presses his nose to the side of my face and kisses me gently. “Most days you’ll enjoy her. As will I. I imagine that she is already in there since you’re half-Wolveskin. She simply needs to be awakened.”

  What Rex says is true. The presence of something other than my human self stirs within me. An inner knowing when I’m in the woods. A wildness and sense of being connected. The ability to communicate with animals.

  Yes, Rex thinks. That is her.

  I smile and press my lips to his. We lounge in my bed; it’s still night and we’re alone. The fire burns. I want this moment to remain. To soak in the luxury of being alone and pretend that I’m carefree, when actually that is the least of what I am right now. It would be bliss to pretend that Rex is only mine, that there is no Arianna, or revolt, or not knowing if Huali and my parents are living or dead, or that my fated-mates could be walking into a trap that might end their lives.

  No, I want to have Rex all to myself and peace too. I slide to my side and look into the face of my Wolveskin King. His skin dark as the deepest night, his amber eyes with their pupils lined with silver. His immense body that makes me feel so protected and strong.

  “I’ve never done that before,” Rex says. He toys with a ringlet of my hair.

  “What do you mean? You have cubs, so I know you’ve had sex.”

  “In my human form,” he says. His gaze drops down, and I wouldn’t think it would be even possible for my confident King to look so…so unsure of himself. “I…I saved that part of myself for you, Meela, knowing that one day you’d be mine. I wanted this, the human part of me, to be only yours.”

  I press my fingertips to my mouth. My heart is full. I’m touched by the gift that Rex has given me.