Chapter Twenty-Four
Armando DeWitt sat in a comfortable recliner, across from Victor Bonvalet. The living room was relatively empty, with only four werewolves from the two packs present, it made for a less uncomfortable meeting for all those involved. Both alphas were accompanied by two elders. And all four of them stared at each other, their expressions completely unreadable.
A problem back home required his full attention, so in an attempt to get the mating over with and have his entire focus on his alpha duties, Armando had arrived early, much to Victor’s surprise and displeasure.
“Are you going to tell me why my bride-to-be wasn’t present at the moment of my arrival, or do I have to guess?” Armando’s tone was low, but very grim.
Victor lifted his chin, discomforted by Armando’s obvious hostility. He had a feeling things wouldn’t go as well as he had hoped, but he hadn’t anticipated that Armando would notice Victoria’s absence right away.
“I’m not going to lie, Armando. Victoria isn’t here. For the past few days we have led a massive search for her but we have not been able to find her.”
“She abandoned the pack?” The man jerked into a standing position so fast that Victor thought he’d only imagined Armando had been sitting. “How long has she been gone?”
“Five days.”
“And you said nothing of this to me before?” Armando barked.
“I didn’t think it was necessary since I envisioned we would be able find her before your arrival, but the Trackers have been unable to locate her whereabouts and you are a week early. She’s a lot swifter than I gave her credit for; either that or she’s had some help.”
“What is that supposed to mean? You think someone from the pack is aiding her?” Armando roared, anger visible in his angered locked face.
“I don’t think anyone would dare defy me, but outside help is always a possibility,” Victor added.
“Who would be stupid enough to cross you?”
Victor shrugged. “A complete and utter idiot.”
“Be honest with me, Victor.” Armando cocked an eyebrow. “Do you think she took another mate?”
“NO! Of course not! No pack members are missing and there isn’t another pack around these parts,” he added quickly.
“Then why did she leave?” Armando spun to face the elder of his pack and frowned.
“You don’t know my daughter. She is wild at heart. Mating and settling down is not something she was looking forward to.”
“This isn’t a matter of whether or not she wanted it. You and I made a pact. We had an agreement. I would take Victoria as my mate and if you were to pass away, I was to take over your pack. With your daughter gone, our agreement is forfeit.”
Victor quickly scampered to his feet. “We can still find her.”
“No one makes a fool out of me, Victor,” Armando threatened, his back still facing the other alpha.
“I have made a fool of no one!” Victor jerked up and glared at Armando’s back. “I had no idea my daughter would disobey a direct order like that.”
“My comment was not in reference to you.”
Victor swallowed hard when Armando finally faced him again, his eyes were glowing a deep shade of amber.
“I want this resolved.”
“My trackers are waiting by the cabin we think she’s been using as a substitute home,” Victor commented. “She’s bound to return for her belongings at any moment and when she does, we’ll be ready for her.”
“My trackers will assist in the search and when she is found, the mating will continue as planned, her loyalty to me will have to be repaid in blood.”
Victor had to stop himself from gasping out in surprise. “You mean…?”
“Yes.” Armando sauntered over to him, eyes blazing. “I want her to wear the Mark of Honor.”
Victor couldn’t envision his only daughter going through such a practice. Even he thought The Mark of Honor was cruel and he was no softy. The act was born several hundred years back when a female werewolf refused to mate with the male her father had chosen for her. Instead of obeying her parents and the elders by going along with the mating ritual, she opted to run away with her lover. The female princess and the male beta she fell in love with abandoned the pack and started a new life together. Two years after their escape, they were found. The male was killed and by doing so, the bond between them was broken. The female however, suffered a worst fate. Once she was brought to the council, the werewolf who had been dishonored agreed to mate with her if she restored his family’s honor by wearing their crest on her neck. And thus, a flaming rod which contained the insignia at the very bottom of it was inserted into her neck, marking her like humans mark their cattle. Many pints of blood carpeted the floor before her wounds healed. She lived for many years with the ugly scar of her betrayal outlined on her otherwise flawless skin. It served to remind her, and all other females, that disobedience and betrayal was not easily forgiven or forgotten.
“I see.” Victor dictated his pack the way his father before him did. He had been raised into a man some four hundred years in the past and because of that, he lived his life according to the old ways and accommodated modern customs only when needed. “I shall rectify our pact and agreement by making sure that your family’s honor is restored.” Even as he uttered the last words, his throat constricted and a sharp pang of discomfort rushed through his chest.
“I ask no less of you.”
Victor nodded, feeling numbness nearly consume his body. For the first time in his life he would commit an act of cruelty upon his daughter. But by leaving, she had sealed her own fate. She had dishonored the Bonvalet and DeWitt names and only having her blood spilled, and the offended family’s crest on her skin, would restore both their honors.
“Now let’s track down my mate,” Armando commanded with a sneer.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Victoria felt the coolness of two big hands caressing her back, deliberately stroking in between her legs and kneading her round buttocks. Apparently, that was Tristan’s way of waking her up. Enjoying the massage he was giving her, she stayed in her current position, lying on her stomach with her head comfortably resting on both her hands, and pretended to sleep. He had to know he had succeeded in waking her but she didn’t want to move, his hands on her body felt too good.
She waited to see how far he would go, secretly hoping he would do with her whatever he wanted as long as the results were the same as their encounters from the previous night. After losing her virginity in the best imaginable way she could think of, she fell asleep only to be awakened a couple of hours later by her eager mate, who was in the mood for some more loving. Two animated and explicitly sexual lovemaking sessions later, she fell into an exhausted sleep again.
He let her rest for a few more hours and then woke her up again. That time, it was fast but intense, which proved to be equally as good. Of course, by then she was a little sore and needed to recover so that she could make love with him later on, so he didn’t prolong lovemaking for longer than necessary.
After a couple hours of sleep, he was looking to resume their foreplay. The man was insatiable, his stamina lasting a lot longer than she would have ever given him credit for. Then again, he was a vampire who never got tired. How could he? He was quite literally dead.
Victoria sucked in her breath when Tristan separated her legs and inserted two fingers into her still tight canal. She gasped in surprise then moaned when he started moving them in and out of her. It took just a few seconds for her to get completely wet and even less time for her to practically beg for him to fill her. Impatient, she started to turn so that they could face each other but a firm hand on her lower back stopped her.
“No, I want you like this,” he whispered in her ear.
Tristan kissed a path down her spine, nibbling gently on her skin as he used his hands to further inflame Victoria’s body by stroking in between her legs. His expert fingers teased the very heart of her wom
anly flesh, pinching and tugging softly at the sensitive button until her hips began to thrust upwards on their own accord, silently inviting him to fill her once more. Moaning out loud as he inserted a single digit and rotated it inside of her, Victoria had a small taste of heaven, for the man’s touch was pure bliss.
After a few minutes, Victoria couldn’t take any more of Tristan’s games; she wanted all of him, not just his fingers. As good as those felt when they were going in and out of her, they paled in comparison to his cock. She wiggled her hips, thrusting them back into his hand, hoping the sight of her rising buttocks would ignite him enough so that he would want to mount her.
It worked.
Without uttering a word, he grabbed her hips and pulled her back toward him. He positioned her on her hands and knees before him, her bare bum exposed for his hungry gaze to feast upon. Using one knee, he parted her legs wide, leaving her completely exposed and very open. This particular position made her feel completely vulnerable and unreservedly wicked, which she didn’t mind at all. It was impossible to lie in bed with Tristan and not feel wicked to a certain extent.
She tried looking over her shoulder at him to see what he was doing, but he gave her a playful shove and ordered her to keep her eyes forward, commanding her to feel and not think. All she was able to see before turning her attention back to the nightstand in front of her was Tristan positioning himself behind her, his erect penis pointing straight toward her. Smiling, she waited patiently for him to finally enter her moist core.
Victoria squirmed in delight when he rubbed her labia with the tip of his cock, spreading her juices all over her inner and outer folds. The now all too familiar sensations coursed through her in rapid succession, forcing her desire to heighten several notches. Her sensitive clit swelled and ached from his touch, intensifying her lust. When he showed no sign of entering her, Victoria pushed herself back, hoping to impale herself with his hard penis. He predicted her move and pulled back just in time to prevent that from happening.
“Aren’t you an eager puppy,” he chuckled.
“Tristan…” She hated begging but she didn’t want to wait any longer.
“What do you want?” he asked, his voice heavy with lust.
“Tristan—”
“Say it, Victoria. What do you want?”
“You!” she cried.
As soon as the word left her mouth, he entered her, stretching her to maximum capacity with one quick jerk of his hips. She cried out in open fascination, the feel of his manhood driving her wild with desire.
“Oh God!” Her voice sounded high-pitched and hoarse, even to her.
Her hands clamped onto the sheets as Tristan clasped his on her hips and started to pound into her. There wasn’t any tenderness now, just hot and hard plunges that sent her rapidly cascading into a mind-blowing orgasm that reduced her arms to puddles. Unable to hold herself up, Victoria dropped the top half of her body down onto the bed and closed her eyes. She rode the wave of climax while Tristan continued to pummel his shaft into her, grinding his hips as he did so. The friction alone ripped another spectacular orgasm from within her.
The force of her latest climax nearly propelled the beast forward and she had to fight hard to keep it in check. When she opened her eyes and saw how her claws had ripped the sheets to shreds, she realized the beast had almost succeeded in making a surprise appearance. Tristan didn’t seem to notice, for he continued to pummel his manhood into her for several more minutes before he finally stiffened, let out a growl full of passion, and emptied his seed inside of her.
After what seemed an eternity rather than a few seconds, Tristan let go of her hips and slumped down on the bed, panting heavily as he stared into her eyes. Victoria shifted so that she lay on her side, facing him.
“I think we’re going to traumatize the help.” She giggled in mischievous delight. “They must think you’ve been torturing me to death up here.”
Tristan chuckled. “Emelina was married once to a man she loved, so she knows how it is.”
“Still, our screams might have scared them out of their minds.”
“Then maybe you shouldn’t be so loud,” he teased.
“Me?” Victoria lifted herself up on one elbow. “You weren’t exactly quiet. You moaned and groaned just as loud as I did.” She laughed at the look on his face. “Maybe even louder.”
“I did not.” He sat up in bed, displaying a smirk the size of Mount Everest. “How would you even know? You were too busy screaming your head off.”
“I did not scream, you overconfident fool.” She gave him a playful shove then scrambled off the bed. “Not as loud as you did, anyway.” She laughed when he made to grab her and missed. “If there is one person in this room who should practice self-control, it’s you.” She watched as he rose from the bed and started for her. “I can control my urges quite well.”
Victoria tried not to stumble on any furniture as she headed for the bathroom, the fact that she walked backwards made her commute more difficult, but she wasn’t about to turn her back to him, she wanted to win this argument.
“It sure didn’t sound as if you had any self-control at all.” In a gesture best suited for a chemistry professor than for a vampire, he tapped his chin with his index finger and frowned. “I recall our encounters well.” He tossed his long white hair over his right shoulder and took on the posture of a bewildered nerd when in the presence of a hot naked woman for the first time in his life. His comical stance caused her to giggle in response. “I even recall you begging me for it.”
His words stopped her burlesque cackle.
“Oh.” Her eyes narrowed. “I most certainly did not beg. I never uttered those words out loud, so you can stop overinflating your ego now. I wouldn’t beg for it even if my life depended on it.”
Tristan’s eyebrows shot up. “How much do you want to bet on that, wolf-girl?” His tone sounded dangerous and that turned her on even more.
“I…don’t know…what you mean.” She feigned innocence, pouting as she gazed at her handsome Adonis.
“Name your price. What do you want if you win?”
“What? This is a competition now?” She placed one hand on her hip and scoffed.
“Yes. Name your price or I’ll do it for you.”
“I…” Was he serious? The look in his eyes told her he was. “I don’t know what I want yet.”
“Fine, let’s get on with the bet and figure out what we want later.”
She stared at him. “You’re crazy.”
Tristan lifted his chin and flashed his pearly white fangs. “Quite the contrary, I am very much sane.” He dashed forward with his arms outstretched in front of him, but she was halfway to the bathroom already so she turned around and bolted inside before he could reach her, closing the door and then locking it.
Leaning against the wooden frame, she squeezed her eyes shut, and waited to see what trick he would use to get to her. What was she thinking, provoking him like that? She smiled as she recalled the lust in his eyes. No doubt he was thinking of ways to sexually torture her until she begged to be filled by his big, thick, magnificent looking cock.
“That was the worst escape attempt I’ve ever seen.”
Startled, she opened her eyes to find Tristan standing right in front of her.
“Didn’t you forget something?” His lips parted into a mischievous looking smile that caused her knees to wobble.
“Tristan—”
“Don’t back off now.” He grabbed her wrist and pulled her to the walk-in shower. “I have a bet to win and we start right now.”
“Haven’t you had enough?” Victoria faked resistance for the sake of argument.
He spun around to face her and asked, “Have you?”
She tried to hide her smile from him by turning her head away, but he saw it anyway.
“I’ll take that as a no.”
In little less than a second he had her body pinned to the shower wall, warm water rushing out of the shower h
ead raining down on them, as they quietly stared at each other. Her eyes widened at the feel of his naked body touching her equally nude figure. She never got tired of his exquisite form and the more he made love to her, the more she wanted him.
She had nowhere to go with Tristan pinning her to the wall, his hands plastered on either side of her face and with one of his legs crammed in between both of hers, she was completely powerless to resist. Well, powerless was a big understatement. She wasn’t powerless in the true sense of the word; she was just unwilling to fight him off. Not that she would want to. Why fight when she could give herself up to the many wondrous sensations he could evoke with just a few light caresses?
Ever so watchful, Tristan carefully planted soft kisses down her neck and to her shoulder, where he cautiously nipped at the skin. Fully aroused by the feel of his male perfection pressed against her figure, she ran her fingernails down his broad back, drawing blood as they scratched the surface of his skin. The rawness of her move wrenched a moan out of Tristan that vibrated inside her body, sending her blood flowing to areas she hadn’t been aware of until she met him.
He slid his hand up over her abdomen and didn’t stop until his fingers grazed the tip of her left nipple. She jerked at the contact but didn’t move away. Reassured by the fact that she stayed put, Tristan used his thumb and index finger to pinch the tiny pebble until she squirmed and gasped, her hands desperately clutching his forearms as he continued to squeeze her nipple until it was hard and aching from his touch.
Victoria thought she would blackout from the powerful sensations Tristan was provoking with the leisureliness of his expert ministrations over her inexperienced body. It was all she could do to restrain the beast from pushing herself to the surface. It seemed that arousal was a powerful incentive that motivated the beast within and demanded for her to be unleashed. Victoria was not aware that such a powerful stimulation could trigger a change. Yes, she knew that anger could lurch her into a rapid transformation, but lust? That was most definitely new to her.
Fierce Awakenings Page 19
