I jerked away from her touch, whilst my pulse pounded.
To hell with them. They were the monsters who scared their kid with stories of a bogeyman Wolf Charmer as a warped attitude adjustment. No wonder Moon had rather that I’d left him to die in his REJECT room than chosen him as my Charm.
I tightened my arms around Moon. I wasn’t their monster myth, just like these wolves weren’t the myths from my nightmares. I was going to show him that, just as soon as I got through dominating him…somehow.
“Nay, she’s not a monster,” Moon said, softly, “She’s the thing that monsters should fear.”
He lifted his head, meeting his sister’s eye.
Morag snarled, snatching Moon by the collar and hauling him out into the clearing, before even my crimson could stop her. The Betas scattered, whilst their trays of venison upturned. I leapt up, as Morag straddled Moon, pushing his face into the dirt. Neither of his parents had even moved, as if her bullying was so normal that it was boring.
As soon as I hauled on Morag’s arm, however, another Alpha gripped Morag by the hair and pulled her away, instead. Morag spat and fought, but then collapsed into the new Alpha’s arms. I studied her warily.
The Alpha was built like a warrior with her black hair wound tightly to her head with strips of leather, whilst her eyes were lighter than the other wolves’.
She nodded at me with an inscrutable expression. “You shouldn’t have allowed our prince to be hurt. Only you have the right to punish his daft self.”
I winced. Yeah, like I needed the scolding to feel bad about that. I hunkered down next to Moon, running my hand over his torn and muddied shirt. He groaned.
The warrior pushed Morag away, before taking a step forward. “He needs—”
“Woah, chill out.” I studied the way that she hungrily looked at Moon, even though she was trying to hide it. “What are you, like, his ex or something…?”
The warrior gritted her teeth. “Oh, more like he was promised to me. And that’s chill out, Countess. This prince here was to be my Wolf Bitten—”
“Goddess Moon, will you never remember that you were only wee kids when you were promised, Lyall? And Om forfeited his right to be Claimed by you…well, we all know that he deserved to be sent to the Training Center, and then…” Rhona swept towards us, waving at the other Alphas who reluctantly pulled away from their heated couplings, until they encircled us as well. Uneasily, I shifted from foot to foot. I was trapped. “…The Wolf Charmer here chose our prince to be the sacrifice.”
Dark mutterings. Huh, I’d never known what they sounded like before. I guess that I had interrupted the shifters’ sexy times.
I wet my dry lips, before glancing at what was pretty much Moon’s ex-fiancée (and did he also love her…?). “Just to be clear, I chose him to be my birthday present.”
Yeah, I’m not sure that helped my case.
Lyall scowled at me like she wanted to burn me alive with her look. If I’d been in her place, I would’ve done the same. “Do you think that wolves always come wrapped in a bow?”
I ran my hand down the side of Moon’s face, wiping away the dirt, and he caught my palm with a kiss. I gasped at the sudden intimacy of it.
“At least I don’t make him prance around with his dick out,” I replied. “And why’s it only the guys who are naked anyway…?”
I hadn’t expected the hoots of laughter.
Finally, Lyall patted me on the shoulder like we were suddenly buddies. “On my fangs, you can’t mean to say that Om has played you? Hasn’t he explained all of this?”
I bit the inside of my cheek, whilst my hands clenched at my side. If I’d been raised as a Wolf Charmer for the last decade, I’d have known all this. Yet my uncle in America had hated the legacy that had robbed him of his sister and had never wanted to talk about magic. Had he also hated being raised amongst witches like Aquilo clearly did?
I scowled, contenting myself with a curt shake of my head.
“The men are naked,” Rhona touched the tips of her fang crown, “because an Alpha wouldn’t be.”
My eyes widened. “Hold up, so only women are Alphas, and only men are Omegas?”
Morag snorted. “Are all single skins this daft?”
I glanced at the Beta Apprentices, as they tried to avoid the crowd of Alphas around me, instead washing the Omegas with cloths who’d been left sprawled on their backs, before helping them to their knees and hand feeding them. “Betas are only guys too?”
“Who cares about Betas?” Rhona sniffed.
I hated the way that the Betas flushed or hunched. What would it be like to hear your queen dismiss you like that? I think that I’d rather be hated, than mean nothing.
“They can choose either male or female form.” Lyall tilted her head. “Except, by at a joint royal decree across the kingdoms, they must remain in male form unless during…play. The female form is for Alphas.”
Boy, did I want to tell them just how much bullshit that was, but instead I gritted my teeth. “And there’s never a male Alpha?”
“Only Cursed males are born Alpha,” Morag hissed, like even the words were burning her with acid. “Fur and fangs, we kill those unnatural cubs as soon as they’re discovered.”
Infanticide: another one of those cozy traditions. But then, I couldn’t hold onto my witchy superiority complex, when my tradition was to claim the Wolf Kingdom’s princes like charms for a glittery bracelet as my property.
Lyall leaned down, touching the tips of her fingers to Om’s forehead in a greeting that made me ache with its intimacy but also want to dance in circles because he pulled back from her touch. She loved…or wanted to Wolf Bite…Moon, but it flooded me with relief that he didn’t love her.
How much of a jerk would I’ve felt for dragging him away from his childhood sweetheart? Instead, I had a feeling that I was saving him from her.
Lyall frowned as Moon turned away, crossing her arms. “It’s all about us following our true natures, Charmer. Om here,” she fixed him with a stern stare that he levelly returned, even though it would’ve made me quail, “never could accept his. And that weakens the pack.”
Moon’s expression darkened more dangerously than I’d ever seen it, and he growled. Instantly, Morag kicked him in the ribs.
“Time out,” I snarled, “will everyone stop hurting my Charm.”
Rhona shook her head with a sad smile. “As the Alpha speaks, do you think, madam, that we enjoy such a show of our prince? My son? Yet what you bring here to us is neither a princely nor a perfect Omega. Do you dress him as a humiliation for him or us?” Yeah, I should’ve known that would bite me in the ass. Rhona’s lips thinned. “Do you rule him, or does he rule you?”
My crimson wound out in fiery bursts at the insult, as well as soaking through my skin and bones, until I drowned in them.
The wolves of the Wilds didn’t know who the killer was or at least, they weren’t going to tell me. How could I stop the war and did I even want to now that I knew what these shifters were like?
I could light up this whole town in the woods with my red…let them drown in my shadows, until they saw just how easily I could control a wolf. I could finally revenge my parents, along with every witch and their families who’d been ripped apart by the wolves.
This is your crimson tide, the garnet ring whispered, your legacy.
I raised my hands to shoot out crimson death.
CHAPTER TEN
Crimson danced on my fingertips. I swayed, drunk on the power that surged through me and coiled in venomous licks from my mom’s garnet ring.
The campfire burned low, exploding in sharp cracks and pops. The smoke stung my eyes, whilst the rich scent of roasted meat wove around me. The Alpha’s eyes blazed golden in the dark, as they huddled around Moon and me, beckoning their naked Omegas to crawl and kneel at their feet like they were about to watch a show. Moon’s dad knelt with his head bowed at the queen’s feet.
Huh, they didn’t fear me at al
l or at least, they didn’t fear me…yet. Not like they had my mom’s cape.
I struggled to drag the red back inside, but it trembled for the first time with something more powerful: it raged on the power of the Wolf Charmer to prove my control over these wolves.
Yet why on earth was I going all White Witch with my desperate urge to turn the wolves into living statues who were unable to move, except by my command? Was that how the other Wolf Charmers had felt? The need to subdue? To conquer?
I shook, as the shadows crept out in eddies.
Then I howled at the agony of a sharp bite into my calf, and the red receded, dragging along with it the visions of carnage. I stared down at Moon in shock. His blunt teeth were sunk into my leg, and he blinked up at me with pretend innocence through his large golden eyes.
“Son of a bitch.” I shook my leg to get him to drop me like he was a dog with a bone. “Don’t tell me that you have a biting fetish like Okami?”
The bite had cleared my head again, however, like I was no longer drunk off my ass on the thirst to bleed my crimson over the Wilds and thank Jesus for that because I had no idea what I could or couldn’t do with my powers. What if they fizzled out like Mischief’s had after I’d controlled only the queen, leaving me stranded, alone, and having launched an unprovoked attack on wolf royalty?
Wasn’t that called treason?
Now the red had settled, I didn’t even understand why I’d become so furious. I’d known that this would be hard, but my job was to prevent a war and not to start one.
Except, then the ring had whispered to me…
At last, Moon let go of my leg. “Will you leave off fussing,” Moon whispered. “Your eyes went silver and scary there for a moment. So, I simply went for the classic snap yourself out of it wolf move.”
“Do you want to know the classic witch move?” My red whipped around me, but when I looked up, it shrank back inside. Oh yeah, the entire Alpha court were watching us. I smiled politely, smoothing down my dress. Diplomacy seriously wasn’t my thing. At least my shadows were invisible, unless you were my Charm or connected to me. I met Rhona’s gaze. “Maybe I’m not the witch that you were expecting but I still rule my Charm.”
Did the queen have any idea how close she’d come to finding out how I ruled?
When Rhona slunk closer, the other Alphas circled closer as well. I instantly felt too hot, trapped between them and my own deadly urges. “Because it was your teeth sunk into him right now?”
“Nope, I don’t play that way.”
She cocked her head. “Yet there’s the problem because you should. Either you’re the Alpha to finally put our prince in his place or…” Her eyes glittered dangerously, as she assessed me with a curl of her lip. “You’re no Wolf Charmer, just a cub dressing up in her ma’s clothes.”
I pulled my mom’s cape more tightly around my shoulders; my knuckles were white around its edges. “Don’t talk about her. You might not have killed her but you must know who did. So, don’t you dare—”
“Or what, little cub?” Rhona raised her long-nailed hands, whilst the princess bared her teeth. “You shouldn’t have come into our kingdom alone. We’re not the Alpha Kingdom or even the Gods. This is the Wilds here, Charmer, and we’re not the witches’ tamed slaves. Respect has to be earned and who would respect an Alpha who can’t tame their Omega?”
The Wilds: savages and outcasts. Stella had warned me in her text as Agony Aunt. I had to use and dominate Moon to earn their respect.
How messed-up was that?
When Lyall snatched Moon by the collar of his shirt and wrenched him forward, buttons popped off, revealing the pale curve of his collar bones. I couldn’t help quivering with how much I wanted to lick the spot between them.
“On my fur, what were you thinking to bring the prince back in such a state?” Lyall’s hands trembled. “Have you not taken enough from us that you must force…this?”
I yanked Moon away from her, sliding my hand under his shirt. “I’m not the one forcing anyone, Countess.”
Moon turned his head as he whispered, “Show them.” His lips were warm against my ear, and I shuddered. “I’ll hate it but I don’t hate you. I get it, you’re big on consent. So, I’m consenting for you to show them that I’m your Omega.”
He raised his branded palm, pulling my hand up to meet his. I tangled our fingers together and could’ve sworn that the WCH warmed against my skin.
Yeah, he was mine. Yet what I had to do now I’d never do to a guy that I cared about. It was weird that it no longer mattered that he was a wolf.
Moon’s curls rubbed across my face. They still smelled of strawberries and cream. How could I do this in front of his family and pack? What the witching hell did it matter that the dickhead Alphas wanted me to treat their returning prince in this way?
Moon raised his fingers to the remaining buttons on his shirt in anticipation. When I still hesitated, his look became steely and he began to strip off his shirt anyway. I blinked with surprise.
He smirked like there was only the two of us in the glade and not the entire pack circled around us. “What?” He whispered. “Would you like a lap dance this time?”
I snorted, before pushing myself up. If Moon could do this, then so could I.
So, I had to prove that he was tamed? I couldn’t risk using my red, not after I’d almost had a Falling Down moment. Yet there were other ways to hold someone still. When I’d picked out my werewolf like a pair of new heels, I’d promised to step on his loser ass.
Moon folded each piece of clothing with such efficient neatness that it made my heart ache at his practiced familiarity with being forced to strip.
At last, as naked as the other Omegas and not even trying to shield his dick but kneeling in the same position as his dad, with his head ducked and his hands behind his back, he waited for my orders.
I swallowed, whilst I studied the curve of his back. Even though he glowed under the moonlight with more wicked beauty than I thought possible to exist, I didn’t want him like this. He reminded me too much of the other pretty Omegas in the Training Center who’d been ranked, trembling, and terrified, for me to choose them. I hadn’t wanted them on their knees, but standing up against me: A sassy rebel.
Hey, I got what I wished for, only now I had to step on that rebel.
I forced my tone to become cold, “On your back.”
Without even looking at me, Moon lay on his back, spreading his legs and arms. I grimaced; the twigs and stones must be digging into his ass. When I glanced up at the heated, glazed expressions of the Alphas, whilst they gazed at their prince spread out before them, I realized that they weren’t worrying about how comfortable he was.
I was only glad that his dick was as little interested in this scene as I was.
When I noticed the Omegas, however, I was shocked by how distressed they were. Most had turned away or silently wept. A couple of the braver ones were even casting me death glares.
Perhaps Moon wasn’t the only Omega with balls, or maybe he was special as the prince, just as the Prince of the Omegas, more than the Wilds…?
I clenched my jaw, avoiding the eye of Moon’s dad, who despite his earlier smugness was one of the death stares brigade. Then I brought down my boot on Moon’s stomach.
Moon didn’t even squirm. Instead, he allowed me to push down. His face reddened and sweat glistened along his forehead, as I moved my heavy boot up onto his chest, even though I felt like one of those safari assholes standing on my wolf rug trophy.
Behind me, Morag and Rhona circled, nudging at Moon with their own boots. I fought as hard as Moon not to shove them away.
“Well, madam, I’m impressed. My son has never willingly submitted. Everyone thought that he couldn’t be dominated. You should’ve seen the fuss he made when the Countess tried it.” Lyall flinched, watching me with narrowed eyes. Another enemy, thanks Moon’s mom. “He gave all these speeches about changing the treatment of The Bitten, but he always failed even
at the simplest duty. Even after my punishments, he could never keep still. Always wanting to be hugged like he deserved it.”
I winced, battling not to drag Moon up into his favorite nuzzling position, and I refused to find it weird that it was already my favorite nuzzling position as well. Honestly, now I got Moon’s snuggling tendencies, and I was getting on board with them.
When the king whined, I was shocked at Rhona’s harsh backhand that knocked him to the floor. Moon almost sat up, before holding himself in place with such intense concentration that his muscles quivered.
“Silence on fear of silver, lest you take your place next to your son, and I show everyone how an Omega should truly be dominated.” Rhona gripped the king’s hair, and he froze, panting.
I met Moon’s eye, shaking my head.
Don’t spoil this, we’ve almost got them convinced that I’m truly in charge.
But then, something shifted in Moon’s eyes, and I could see the sudden rebellion.
Holy hell…
Moon gazed around at the other Omegas who were watching. The Omegas were anguished, defeated…and devastated. Moon tilted his chin with such regal defiance that I should’ve always known that he was a prince because there was no way that he was going to play along with this charade any longer, no matter that it’d risk our lives. Whatever was going on here in the Wilds and with the Omegas was more important than our survival alone to him.
I remembered the way that Moon had protected Aquilo because he’d thought that he was my fiancé, standing up to Stella even in the midst of his punishment and the warm flush of pride on the Ambassador’s face.
That pride had a cost, but Moon was willing to pay it for the other Omegas.
Only Perfect Omegas: A Reverse Harem Fantasy Romance Series (Rebel Werewolves Book 1) Page 11
