My breath hitched, and I backed away.
Moon slouched to his feet to the horrified gasps of the Alphas, even as I willed him to at least drop his gaze. But instead, he smirked. “Oh, look at that, I failed at being the perfect Omega again.”
He winked at the kneeling Omegas, who gazed at him with such joy, admiration, and hope, whilst they wiped away their tears that I almost didn’t want to spank his sweet ass for probably killing us. Then I saw the way that the king cradled his bruised cheek, whilst grinning and I didn’t want to spank Moon at all, I wanted to hug him.
Until Rhona yanked two fangs from her hair, throwing them at her feet. The sudden hush was startling. “The Wolf Charmer has shown herself unworthy of the sacrifice.”
Then it was my turn to tilt my chin. “Yeah, but you should taste my cocktails. I can mix the most fabulous—"
“Silence, or you shall be flayed.”
I whistled. “Dude, that’s overkill.”
Morag snarled, pointing at the fangs. “By ancient law, the Alpha has one last chance to unite with her Omega and prove her worthiness, or he’ll be taken back by the pack.”
I froze. A couple of days ago, I hadn’t even wanted to choose a werewolf, but now my pulse pounded so hard in my throat that I could hardly swallow at the thought that he’d be taken away from me and given to one of these assholes. When I met Lyall’s gaze, she sneered.
Yeah, like I’d let Moon’s childhood ex who’d tried and failed to dominate him get her hands on him again.
“I take it that we’re not talking promise rings or hickeys?” I sidled closer to Moon.
Rhona’s teeth gleamed in the dark, as she smiled. “We’re talking a witch and wolf Hunt.”
I shifted from foot to foot, pulling my cape more closely around myself, before eying the edge of the woods. “Seriously? I mean, ancient law in the twenty-first century? I’d say that if he’s a gift, I shouldn’t have to legally return him anyway. Why don’t we—"
Moon snatched my hand. His palm was sweating. “Fur and fangs, run!”
Then he yanked me after him, as he dived through the Alphas who parted for us and made for the inky line of the oaks, even while behind us the wolves howled ready for the hunt.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
I stumbled through the woods in the dark, catching my feet on logs and scratching my cheeks on the rough bark of the trees, whilst my heart thundered. Being hunted by werewolves was everything that I’d always dreaded about coming back to England, let alone into Wolf Kingdom.
This was my nightmare.
My crimson licked out in thin trails to light a path… Yeah, Moon had had been right, they did look like fairy tentacles… I missed my footing on a steep bank and overbalanced. Moon caught me with his shoulder before I could fall onto my face, tumbling us both against a tree trunk. His eyes glowed in the gloom, and although he held the cool air of a prince out for a stroll, I could feel his heart pounding just as hard through his naked chest as mine was.
“We can’t stop,” he whispered, licking my cheek in reassurance. “They like to make Hunts fun but don’t mistake that for fair.”
I glanced down at his bare feet, which were gashed and bloody, although it hadn’t slowed his stealthy sprint through the woods: it’d been me who’d done that.
I tilted my head to listen for whoops and howls, but the woods were still silent. “Hmm, I still don’t hear your asshole pack.”
“If you could hear them,” Moon raised his eyebrow, “what type of hunters would they be?”
“You know, ones like in the movies?” I huffed. Moon still didn’t lower his unimpressed eyebrow. “I take it when they catch us, they don’t shout, “You’re It”, and then it’s our turn?”
“Nay, when they catch us, your throat is ripped out for being unworthy and I’m violently Claimed by another Alpha.”
I hissed in a breath. “You don’t dick around with the sugarcoating, do you?” When Moon nuzzled against my neck, I wanted to hold him there, whilst his dick hardened against my leg. Instead, I pushed him away long enough to study his face. “Did you know that this would happen?”
Moon’s expression darkened, and I shrank back. “Aye, because being Claimed against their will in front of their family is every prince’s dream.”
He hovered his lips over mine like he was about to kiss me, and suddenly it was all that I craved. We might be enemies but the curve of Moon’s soft mouth had been all that I’d been able to think about, since I’d seen him sleeping on the floor of his cell. At the last moment, however, he pulled back with a laugh that punched me in the gut.
I frowned. “I didn’t take you for a prick tease.”
“Do you want something, Crimson?” Moon’s lips touched mine on each word.
I tried to press closer, but instead of accepting the kiss, he nibbled at my lip, and I bit back at his lower lip on instinct — hard.
Moon gasped, but didn’t try and pull away. I sucked on his sweet blood, whilst he bucked, pushing up into my savage bite. If I couldn’t have his kiss, then I’d take his blood.
Was it meant to electrify me with such force?
I licked my tongue across Moon’s brutalized lip. His eyelids fluttered, whilst he pushed his knee between my legs.
At last, I pulled away, studying him. “I’m not the virgin here. Maybe you should be clearer about what you want.”
“Will you not see that it’ll be Lyall who’ll Wolf Bite me?” Moon clung to my shoulders. There was so much in his gaze that he was willing me to understand. “That bitch has been after my behind since I was…for a long time. Just do whatever you need to stop her.”
“I thought that I’d be ripped to pieces by then?”
Moon growled, shoving past me down the bank. “Do you always give up this easily?”
“I don’t know because this is the first time that I’ve been hunted by freaking wolves.”
“Nay, it’s not, and if you could survive last time, then you can do it again.”
Zetta had shown Moon my most painful personal memory of my parents’ murder, and now he was using that to…what? Piss me off?
I shook with rage, whilst the shadows curled around my fists, but when I met Moon’s gaze, his expression was knowing and…triumphant.
He was trying to bring out the Wolf Charmer in me…?
Moon shrugged one slender shoulder, whilst smiling wickedly. “It’s your turn to put on the show. There’s only one way to stop this Hunt, and that’s if there’s no Omega left to Claim. How did my blood taste?” I jolted, not even aware that I’d been licking my lips like a cat chasing the cream on its whiskers. Then his eyes became half-lidded, as he taunted, “Bite me, witch, I’m the crimson tide.”
I stiffened in shock.
What the holy hell…?
Then Moon dashed away into the black faster than I’d ever seen him run, and I’d thought him quick before. My red reached out after him in snaking trails; I didn’t need the tracker to sense him. Overwhelmed with the sudden thrill of my hunt of Moon, I followed the ghost path of the red between the trees.
The Alphas thought that they could get rid of both Wolf Charmer and rebel prince in one night, but maybe this way I could prove to all of them that I was strong enough to wear my mom’s cape, to have survived, and to have Moon at my side.
I grinned at the sudden excitement surging through me. Now that I’d tasted Moon’s blood, I thirsted for it. Moon knew more about this connection between us than I did, and if his blood was how I made him officially my Charm for the Wilds, then that’s what I’d take. He’d become my Wolf Bitten because no way in the witching heavens would he ever belong to these wolves who’d force him in front of his family, just like the other Omegas that I’d seen, held down and screwed like part of the entertainment.
The warm night air was fresh and heady. I didn’t flinch at the branches’ scratches to my arms. The wolves planned to hunt me, but now it was me hunting one of theirs. If I could only follow through on this rite, th
en maybe Moon and I could survive tonight.
Up ahead, I could sense Moon tingling through my shadows. I pushed aside low hanging branches. Moon was crouched in a clearing beside a stream, patting water over his cut lip. I winced. I must’ve bitten him harder than I’d thought.
Still, my advantage.
I grinned, readying to jump him.
Suddenly, a clawed hand on my shoulder slammed me around, cracking me onto the tree trunk. I scrambled at the fingers that were choking me, as Lyall leaned closer into my face.
Lyall’s eyes burned with a hatred so bright that it shocked me to silence. “The prince is my Wolf Bitten. He doesn’t belong to someone who chose him like a puppy.”
“More like a pair of heels…” I rasped.
Lyall rammed me against the tree again. “Silence, cub. I’m elder to both you and the prince. He was promised to me as a mere cub. I taught and trained him. He should’ve been—”
“Hey, I get it now,” I squirmed against her hold, “he was your trophy husband. I saw a lot of them in East Hampton. You planned to have a perfect prince on your arm…”
“Under me,” Lyall sneered, “you keep your Omega under you. Om truly has played you.” Her nail scored across my neck, and I winced. “You’re not worthy to have his sacrifice. When he was a wee kid, I held back on dominating him like the queen wished. But now he’s older, I can tame and free him from the shame that you’ve brought down. He’ll warm my bed and lie at my feet.”
I shook at the thought of her touching, Claiming, and dominating Moon. This is why he’d incited me with his blood — to save him from Lyall.
I gripped her wrists, twisting, and she became ashen. “It must burn that he doesn’t love you.” I twisted harder, and she let go of my neck with a gasp. “I mean, totally wreck you that he hates you, when you love him.”
Just for a moment, Lyall’s expression crumpled to reveal her devastation, then she howled with fury, launching herself towards me. My shadows exploded, catching her and spinning her backwards. Her forehead hit against a tree with a gunshot loud crack, before she slumped to the ground.
Holy hell, had I just murdered Moon’s ex?
I crept closer, crouching down to Lyall’s motionless body, before standing again with relief. She was still breathing, and if she had the mother of all headaches when she woke up, then she deserved it.
When I stalked into the clearing, Moon was poised on the stream’s edge like he was Bambi’s mom. He must’ve heard the struggle in the trees. He didn’t relax when he saw that it was me, however, only backed further into the water, shivering as his bare feet and ankles were swallowed.
“Your eyes are silver again,” he whispered. “Is that truly you…?”
“You’re the crimson tide.” I gripped him by the shoulders, shoving him backwards into the stream with a splash. He yelped. “I thought that you wanted to be bitten?”
Then I dived on top of him, pinning him down. The water was cold, soaking his clothes transparent to his body. I hardly noticed its freeze or Moon’s panicked gasps, as I rubbed my thumb down his neck. There was a spot just to the right of the hollow of his throat, which made Moon buck wildly, searching for more, whilst I straddled him and pressed him between my thighs. Then my red wove out, wrapping around to hold him still, as he attempted to wriggle out from underneath me.
“Crimson,” he whispered, “please…”
I blinked, staring down at him trembling beneath me.
Then I smiled, running my hand down his chest. “Duh, of course it’s me. It’s lucky that you’re so hot, since you ask such stupid questions.”
“You think I’m hot?” Moon’s breathing slowed, as he relaxed into the red’s hold.
“You won’t crack any mirrors. I mean, I’ll let you out with me in public without a bag on your head. I suppose you won’t scare little kids…”
Moon growled, and I snickered.
Water trickled over the dip in his collarbone that earlier I’d wanted to lick after Lyall had ripped open his shirt.
Wait, what was stopping me now?
I leaned forward and licked the tears of water off Moon’s chest. His breath hitched. When I looked up at him, his eyes were wide. He opened his mouth as if he intended to say something but then hesitated.
“Do you want me to stop?” I arched my brow. “Because I seriously don’t want to.”
Moon tongued the gash in his lip where earlier I’d bitten him. He vibrated with tension but he still shook his head. “Nay, I’m ready. Willing and seriously enthusiastic.”
I swiped his hip, but circled his nipple with my tongue, which had already peaked in the cold.
Had Moon ever been touched like this?
I glanced down at his silky dick. Had he ever been touched there? I edged backwards, kissing and biting down his chest, as he writhed underneath me like in my dream, only this real Moon didn’t beg or offer himself. He only watched me with a type of wonder. Then I gripped the base of his dick, and just for a moment, his hand rested on my hair, and I thought that he was going to push me away. Then he relaxed, and I sucked on his dick’s soft head, swirling my tongue.
Moon keened and arched. When his hand tangled in my hair again, my shadows whipped around his wrists, pinning them beside his head, then stroked him, so that he quivered from the stimulation. It felt like I was touching him everywhere at once, and we were joined in the pleasure through the Charm. I thrummed, high on it, but I needed more. I gave his dick one final lick from root to tip, and he moaned, before I slunk back to rub my lips against his.
When Moon turned his head, however, denying the kiss, I flushed. The crimson stopped its stroking at the pain of the reminder that despite everything, we were still enemies, and Moon whined. I fought back tears, kissing his cheeks, nose, and forehead instead, coaxing him back to facing me. Then I pressed my lips down his wet jaw to his neck and the fluttering pulse of his neck.
I inched my hand back, circling his dick that pulsed between my teasing fingers.
Moon’s eyes pressed shut, as he chanted. “Aye, please, bite me, bite me, bite me.”
I bit into his throat above his collar, claiming him as my Omega, just as he came in pearly lines across his stomach, bucking beneath me at the joined pain and pleasure of being Wolf Bitten. His blood exploded through me like delicious popping candy. I clung to him, craving even more to devour him.
Moon was now my Charm and Wolf Bitten. He tried to open his eyes, but they fluttered closed again, as he lost consciousness under the force of the Claiming.
I’d won Moon in the Hunt as the first of my three princes. But I’d also tasted blood and the thrill of dominance over a wolf who wouldn’t even return my kiss.
Was I now becoming a true Wolf Charmer?
CHAPTER TWELVE
I shifted on the oak bench as my ass went numb, resting my elbows on the head table of Wild Hall, which was a great feasting hall made of wood and straw. The walls were painted with murals of savage wolf hunts that made my insides too queasy to even enjoy the tankards of beer and platters of bread or the aroma of suckling pig, which was being turned over a vast fire in the center of the benches of wolves.
At this feast in honor of my Claiming of the Wilds’ prince, I hoped that the pack who were chatting and relaxed now that I’d proved myself couldn’t tell that I was the type of Wolf Charmer who was still savoring the taste of their prince in her mouth.
Because I was…although, not in the way that sounded.
I chased the last of Moon’s tingling popping candy blood with my tongue, whilst wishing that I wasn’t still tingling with the feel of him beneath me.
I chose a wolf, stuffed him in a wardrobe, stripped him naked, and then bit him… Forget about the houseplant, I was miserable at wolf care.
Still, Moon kept throwing me these secret sly smiles as he rubbed his cheek against my knee from his position kneeling on the straw floor. Perhaps he hadn’t hated the biting part that much, after all? Hey, maybe it was a kink that I
could get into like Okami…?
The queen sat beside me with the possessiveness of the new mother-in-law. She cast proud glances at the purple bite on Moon’s neck above his collar, whilst he traced its outline like it soothed him as he peeked up at me.
Lyall wasn’t here as she was still recovering from the blow to the head, so there wasn’t the awkward old girlfriend moment. Maybe I should’ve always dealt with the bitch ex by knocking them unconscious.
I reached out to run my thumb over the jagged bite, and Moon whined, pushing into my touch and quivering as he flushed. It must be sensitive then. I smiled as I wove my shadows towards the bite, whilst I innocently returned to my meal.
Moon wouldn’t kiss me, but two could play the teasing game.
Moon threw me a mock scowl, whilst melting into the caress of my crimson across the bite.
It turned out that a Claiming was like a marriage ceremony. Who knew? I clasped my hands around my tankard to hide their shaking. From Miss Uncommitted to Mrs Werewolf in less than a week. I’d hesitated to take Aquilo as my betrothed because arranged marriages were seriously not my style but taking the Wilds’ prince as a Charm hadn’t been enough for Queen Rhona.
Had Stella known that I’d also have to marry Moon?
Oh, and the second prince would be served up tonight as my wedding gift. So, I’d soon be Mrs Werewolves.
I’d prepared for the ceremony in the cozy log cabin, which Moon and I had been led to after the rest of the Alphas had surrounded us, whilst we’d still been curled around each other in the stream. I hadn’t wanted to take my teeth out of Moon’s neck in case one of them would drag him from me. Rhona had only laughed, pronouncing me worthy. It looked like I’d even won brownie points with the pack by taking out their strongest warrior first.
I’d slept for most of the next day cuddled in bed with Moon, who never got less adorable each time I saw him sleeping, because I’d been more exhausted than I could ever remember feeling. Then, I’d whooped at the sight of the marble bath. Moonlit screws in the woods sound romantic but they leave you needing a serious clean. Moon, however, had only shuddered.
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