I grasped at the bloody wound, falling to my knees as my blood continued to gush down my chest, soaking my fur. I fell onto my side, my eyes wide as I stared up at the full moon. A part of me was lost in its tranquil beauty, how simple yet amazing it was. This thing in the sky that gave us a special gift. A shadow came over me and I looked over to see the glowing green eyes of the dragon who had sliced my throat open. He was going to finish me off and I had so much more I wanted to do with this life given to me. This was it… I would die beside my Alpha and I would do so with regrets.
“It is over, little wolf,” he said, his accent sounding Greek. Funny, the little things you noticed when you were about to die. He squatted down beside me, his eyes roaming over my body.
My wound was taking a bit longer to heal, because it had been made by his silver blade. I wouldn’t die from this alone. Only if he beheaded me or stabbed the blade into my chest. But I was in no condition to fight. He raised the dagger, aiming it at my heart that was beating so fast, I felt lightheaded.
“Cease, Darius,” another dragon called out.
Darius’ assault on me was halted and he turned his head slightly. “Cease?”
“The King has ordered an all-cease. The wolves have conceded their territory.”
Darius turned and looked back at me, a snarl on his lips. “These mangy beasts all deserve to die.”
“I do not disagree, but our King has given his command. Obey,” the other wolf said, then walked off.
Darius lowered his silver sword and sighed. “How fortunate you are that our King is so benevolent. I would have gladly plunged this blade into your heart. Many dragons lie dead in this forest. Your Alpha belongs among them for daring to wage war in our territory.”
I was fully healed now, and I forced my change to return to my human counterpart. It was a bit more difficult and took great skill to fight the magic of the moon when it was full. My nature decreed I should be a wolf now, but I needed to speak with this dragon.
Once I was in my human form, the dragon arched an eyebrow as if admiring what he saw. “Well, most wolves are an ugly sort. You pick your lot by what you can bring into the pack, one does not need to be pretty to make weapons, or fight, or build a house. But you, though not as pretty as any dragon in my King’s army, are pleasant to my eyes. Maybe I’ll ask my King if I can keep you… as a pet.”
I ignored the threat of slavery. “It was you dragons who proved to be the threat.”
He tilted his head and grinned. “Oh? How so?”
“You moved so close to our borders.”
“So? We were still within our own territory. We can move however we like.”
“It was a preemptive attack on us.”
“Yet, it was you wolves who breeched our territory.”
I turned to look at Connor’s corpse and I still couldn’t believe it. How could our Alpha be dead! What of my wife? Of Elliot and Royce? I had been taken out of the action for only a few minutes and the battle was already over. Had I been amongst the battle, would I also be one of the many wolves lying dead?
“Yes.”
I looked back at the dragon. “What?”
“The answer to your question is yes. You would be dead. I was going to kill you had I not been given the cease order from my King. Your pack was rather large, impressive. Unfortunately, it was filled with so many young wolves, yourself included.”
“I’m not young. I’m over two centuries,” I snapped.
He laughed. “A babe to me. For I am over two thousand years old. The youngest dragon here was thirty years old. He is dead, and the oldest that your pack was able to kill was fifteen centuries. It was a good fight,” he said, then rose to his full height. He offered me his hand. “Our battle is over and negotiations are being had with your remaining Alpha and my King. Decorum dictates that I show you hospitality.”
“Fuck your decorum,” I snapped.
Again, he laughed and retracted his hand. “A wolf who doesn’t know his place, I see.”
I snorted. “My place?”
“At my feet.”
“A dragon who thinks he’s worthy to have me at his feet is a foolish dragon indeed,” I replied.
He sighed then and gestured to the battlefield covered with blood, bodies, and body parts both inside and out. “I think you should join what remains of your pack before I am forced to take whatever punishment my King deems fair for disobeying his command by killing you.”
I may not have taken his hand when he offered it to help me to my feet. But I knew better to press my luck at this point. I stood up and made my way to where my pack had gathered to stand behind Julie. Most were still in their wolf forms, unable to take any other. Only a few were in their beast form and those who could, like me, were in their human forms. Julie, being an Alpha, even though she was bitten, was able to take her human form. That was the power of the Alpha mate bond. I stood behind her, offering my support in case this negotiation went the wrong way.
“I will need my husband’s body.”
“I do not wish to keep it,” said the dragon King. He was covered in blood, but his gold armor was immaculate and intricate with two dragons on each shoulder carved from gold and steel. His green and silver eyes looked over us and they were as cold as the silver blade of his carved sword. Like all dragons, he was stunning to behold. Blond hair, full lips, and a narrow nose. His jaw looked like it had been chiseled by Michelangelo himself. He was tall, too, at least six-four, and broad shouldered. I could smell Connor’s blood on him and I knew it was the dragon King who had killed our Alpha. If Connor did have to die, at least his killer was one so grand and not that thirty-year-old dragon I’d been told about.
“We will also need the remains of my pack members.”
The dragon king laughed and gestured behind him. “Take them, we will not stop you. But one thing, your London territory now belongs to me. You fought, you lost, what was once yours is now mine. Take only what you can carry on your backs when you leave. Nothing more, and you have one day to vacate my territory.”
Julie shook her head. “We need more time. I have to confirm our travel arrangements.”
“Then make them away from London. If you are still in my territory by this time tomorrow night, I will kill every last member of your pack. This is the one mercy I bequeath to you. You will get no more.” With that, he turned, flashing his red and gold cape behind him. He took to the sky, but the majority of his army stayed to watch over us, I supposed.
Julie’s knees buckled and I caught her before she fell to the ground. The last thing I wanted was for those dragons to see our Alpha so weakened. We’d been shamed enough. I lifted her in my arms and carried her to Royce, who had survived the battle, thank goodness. His jaw was tight with all the rage he felt, but he took his stepmother from my arms when I handed her over.
“Bring my father’s heart and his corpse back. We must complete the ceremony tonight,” Royce said. The fact that he was even able to give orders to the pack in the wake of what he’d lost was a testament to how conditioned and powerful he was. I admired Royce a great deal. I knew he must have been hurting so deeply inside, yet he stood tall as our leader, our Beta-Capo, in this moment.
I nodded. “How are we going to get the others back?”
“We will have to return for them. Come, we don’t have time to waste,” Royce said.
I walked over to Connor, and had to take a deep breath as I looked down at his corpse. It was almost as if I was looking down at my father’s corpse. His, too, had been cut into two pieces. Connor wasn’t my father, but I had respected him as our Alpha. Felt protected by him and even feared him. And now, he was no more, everything he was had been taken away with the slice of a sword. My stomach turned and twisted and I had to stumble away from his remains, less I befoul them. I made it to a tree before I spewed my diner all over the bark and grass. Two waves passed before I began to dry heave.
“Feeling better?”
I recognized the voice as bel
onging to the dragon who had nearly taken my life. I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand and turned to face him. His green eyes were regarding me with a mixture of lust and curiosity. “I will be fine.” I walked back over to Connor’s corpse and lifted his body up, tossing it over my shoulder. I then bent down to retrieve his head. More blood dripped from the open wound and he was still in his beast form. I would have to run fast back to his home, so no human could see what I carried.
“Fortunately for you, our King will let you all leave. There are so few of you left, he takes pity. However, if you are still here tomorrow night…” He stepped closer to me and grabbed me by the back of my head and kissed me.
I couldn’t push him away, as both of my hands were occupied, but I did yank my head back and I knew he let me. I was no match for him, strength for strength. “Filth!” I spat.
He smiled. “… I will have you. I will put a collar around your neck, little wolf, and fuck you in all of your forms. And you’ll love it too. A dragon’s cock is heaven to all we grace with it.”
“Keep your cock,” I snarled, then turned away. I ran and saw Elliot and Charlene were still in wolf form waiting on me. Thank god they had both survived. Once I caught up, we all ran together back to Connor’s mansion.
~*~
Julie was better composed at this point, but I could tell she’d been crying. The redness and puffiness of her eyes were a dead giveaway. Who could blame her? She’d lost her husband, the love of her life. I couldn’t imagine what that pain must have felt like, nor would I ever want to. To lose a mate, that was on a scale more than just a simple wife losing her husband. A connection created by the universe had been severed. There was an emptiness inside her that would never, ever be filled again. Perhaps death would had been a better fate.
Royce was carving out Connor’s heart for Julie to devour. The pack was surrounding her in a circle still in their forms as before. We had three thousand, nine-hundred and twenty wolves when this night began. As I looked around, I counted one-hundred and twenty-three of us remaining. We’d nearly been wiped out in a matter of minutes by the dragons. Had we underestimated our enemy? Or did we actually never have a chance?
Royce gave Julie his father’s heart. “To make us whole again.”
Julie took the bleeding heart with trembling hands. “To… to make us whole again.” She then put it to her lips and took a bite. With that, we all began to howl, giving her encouragement. We continued to howl until she had fully devoured Connor’s heart. The moment it was ingested, I could feel power flow into me. I finally realized what that sensation had been that I’d felt when I was still trying to recover from my injury in the forest. It was the moment when Connor had died. Having never lost an Alpha before, at least not when I was a full wolf, that feeling was alien to me. When my first Alpha died, I was human and didn’t have that connection. It all meant so much more now.
Julie took a deep breath, then spoke. “I am sorry that we have lost all that was ours. I cannot imagine what this means for some of you who have lost loved ones and must now lose your homes. But we will survive this. We will grow stronger. But we can only do this together and not here. Rest for now and in the morning, we must gather our dead, bury them, and prepare to leave.” She didn’t say anything else. Only walked into the mansion, I assumed to prepare. Connor had already made arrangements to leave in case we lost the war, to what extent, I hadn’t been completely made aware. Regardless, we still had our own personal arrangements to make.
“Let’s go home,” I said to Charlene and Elliot. If I could only take what I could carry on my back, I needed to make sure it was my most important belongings. I transformed back into my wolf form and the three of us returned to our home. For the first time in a long time, I didn’t want to fuck my wife or Elliot. Normally, on full moon nights, I was beside myself with lust. Now, all I wanted to do was curl up with them and sleep and thank the gods we were still alive. And that was what we did.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
New World, New Territory
The pain of my transformation woke me up and once it was complete, I shook myself all over. I heard gagging and turned to see Elliot fighting nausea. It was his first turning and the food he’d eaten was still digesting in his system. I walked over to him, patting and rubbing his back.
“Vomit if you must, don’t fight it. It’s all part of the transition process,” I told him, remembering my first full moon and the day after.
He held up a hand, then swallowed hard. “I think I’m all right,” he said.
“Better than me, then. I did purge after my first change. After last night, you should be well-adjusted to the transformation,” I said, then I walked over to my wife. I took her into my arms and kissed those lips I would have surely missed had she died. I loved Charlene and I didn’t want to think about what I would have done if I didn’t have her. “Are you all right?”
She nodded and stroked my face. “I was so afraid you had died. When I saw that dragon toss you, I felt so… so…” her words drifted off, but I knew what she wanted to say.
“You felt helpless.”
She looked up at me, tears in her eyes, and nodded. “Yes.”
“So did I,” I said with a slight smile.
“I cannot believe how catastrophic our loss was,” Charlene said.
I kissed her forehead and nodded. “I think I could live my eternal existence happy if I never have to come across another dragon ever again.”
“We were not ready,” Charlene said.
“They were more powerful and harder to kill,” Elliot said as he rose to his feet.
I nodded. “Their scales were impenetrable and their bones are damn near impossible to break. Our greatest weapon against them is our venom, but if we can’t bite them, we can’t use it.”
“We should not have attacked on the full moon,” Charlene said.
“I agree. With so many of us unable to change forms, we only had our wolves to rely on. Against dragons with weapons, fire, and venom, we were no match. There is no shame in admitting that. We went into battle with nearly four-thousand wolves and barely escaped with our lives with a little over a hundred and twenty.”
“One good thing,” Charlene began.
I frowned. “What good could have come from that?”
“Bernard is among the dead.”
As her words settled into my brain, I couldn’t help but smile. “Aye, and I hope he burns in hell.”
“Who is Bernard?” Elliot asked as he approached us.
I looked at him, then back to Charlene, and her expression let me know that she didn’t trust Elliot with such sensitive information yet. Perhaps, I’d heed her caution and take her lead. I looked at Elliot. “One day, if we are still good friends, I will tell you.”
“Why wouldn’t we be good friends?” Elliot asked.
“Your loyalty is still under scrutiny,” Charlene said.
“You think I would betray your husband?” he asked her.
“It wouldn’t be the first time he was betrayed by someone he trusted.” She looked at me. “He is also among the dead.” Her smile was full of wicked satisfaction. It matched my own, and it was one of the things I loved about her the most. She was my partner in all things and knew how much Elias had hurt me. And how deep my hatred went for the four men who’d stolen my innocence and murdered my family.
“Well, m’lady, I don’t betray my friends,” Elliot stated, and I could see that Charlene had insulted him on some level.
“You were once a pirate, your own men betrayed you when they did not rescue you from the gallows. Mutiny might be in your blood,” Charlene said.
Elliot snorted. “You’re bloody right. I was a pirate, took what I wanted. Murdered, raped, pillaged, and I didn’t care who liked me or not. And then I found myself alone, the people I trusted turned their backs on me. I am no scoundrel, m’lady. I would never bite the hand that feeds me or betray a trusted friend.” He looked at me. “Especially one I owe my life to. F
or that man is my brother.”
I could sense Elliot believed the words he was speaking. To him, I was already more than a friend. “So, you pledge your loyalty to me?”
Elliot nodded. “Always.”
Charlene huffed and brushed her dark hair from her eyes. “Are you certain it isn’t just because you favor my husband’s cock in your arse?”
“Charlene, really, darling. My cock, and this cannot be contested, is most pleasurable, but I doubt it could…” I stopped, because maybe she had a point. I looked at Elliot. “Well, is that it?”
Elliot laughed. “I enjoyed you fucking me, aye. But I’d much rather it be my bloody cock in your arse. I put no stock your cock. Your mouth, well, that’s a different issue,” he said, then rubbed his thumb along the width of my bottom lip. “I’ve yet to feel the pleasure of these lips and tongue.”
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