Evil Allure

by Wilde, Rhea

  I nodded my head to her as she and Irvine continued to comfort me. I turned to the side and the werewolf I had seen as Shadow this entire time had disappeared, replaced by a familiar blonde man.

  “I’m glad you’re well, Ariel,” he said.

  “Thanks to you.”

  “This is… It’s all my fault.”

  “Vaughn…”

  “No, Ariel. I knew what was happening. I knew what Thorne had planned for my clan. I came here to put a stop to it. I couldn’t allow it, even if I was by myself. I’ve stopped them. You’re okay.”

  “And it’s over,” I said. “The murders will stop.”

  “It’s not over, Ariel.”

  “Vaughn, what are you saying?”

  He leaned in close to me and kissed me tenderly on the cheek. Then he took a step back from me and picked something up off of the ground.

  “You left this back at the cabin,” he said to Irvine. “I brought it with me.”

  He handed it to Irvine, who took it. It was Irvine’s sheathed blade.

  “You have a reputation among my people, Gold,” Vaughn said to him. “When you’ve got someone in your sights, it’s a death sentence. You’ve never missed your target.”

  “Never,” Irvine said to him.

  “And your target was the entire Rucai. We all knew. I’m still Rucai, Gold. Do what you must do.”

  Irvine started to unsheathe his blade and I immediately jumped between the two of them.

  “Wait a minute!” I shouted. “You can’t do this! Are you crazy?”

  “I’m sorry, Ariel,” Vaughn said to me. “It must be done.”

  “Why?” I pleaded with him. “You can’t just let him kill you! You’re not the one responsible for the murders! It was the rest of them! Please!”

  “Look around you, Ariel. These are the remnants of my clan laying here by my own hand. I am a traitor to my own kind. There is nothing left for me. A lone wolf who betrays the word of his own chief must die.”

  “No!” I cried. “You can’t do this! Irvine! Please! Don’t kill him! He doesn’t know what he’s saying.”

  “Gold, finish your job,” Vaughn said to him. “And you can finally end this.”

  I looked at Irvine and I could see a bit of resignation in his eyes. But he still raised his blade up and pointed it at Vaughn. I felt the desperation rush through my body as I put my hands upon his chest.

  “You still have something, Vaughn. You have me. What about us?”

  “It doesn’t matter. It is the laws of our people. I betrayed my entire clan. I must be put to death.”

  “You betrayed your own people when you fell in love with me. And I know that you have these feelings for me. You spoke those words to me and I didn’t believe you but now I do. I felt it. It was real. You can’t just throw what we have away. You have something to live for now! Be with me!”

  “Ariel, I can’t—”

  “You speak of laws. You speak of words that you must obey because of the instincts you can’t control. You are the alpha of this clan now. Your word is law.”

  “A lone wolf has no clan, Ariel.”

  “Please!” I begged him with the tears now streaming from my eyes. “Your instincts… You have no control over them. But tell them they’re stronger than what you feel for me. Tell me that the love I have for you isn’t greater than any law you must obey or any instinct you must follow. Tell me that you don’t love me, Vaughn!”

  I stared at him. I could see the hesitation on his face and the tears beginning to well in his eyes.

  “W-what would you have me do, Ariel?” he asked me. “I am alone.”

  “No, you’re not.”

  I wrapped my arms around him and started to sob into his chest. I couldn’t take it anymore. I poured my heart and soul out to him. There was nothing else I could do.

  “Mr. Gold…”

  I pulled away from him as he stared at Irvine.

  “Your reputation cannot suffer for this,” Vaughn said to him. “Tell your ‘agency’ that the Rucai are finished. To the best of my instincts, I will cause no more trouble. I will disappear and runaway. But only if you will allow it.”

  I turned to Irvine and looked at him pleadingly. He still held the blade steady and Vaughn was doing nothing to stop him.

  “Irvine, please…” I whispered to him.

  It felt like an eternity as I stood there, waiting for Irvine to agree to Vaughn’s terms. Irvine took a deep breath and exhaled before finally putting his blade back into its sheath.

  “You didn’t get away,” Irvine smirked at him. “I let you go.”

  “I see it no other way,” Vaughn replied.

  I breathed a sigh of relief. Now that the tension had left the room, I finally had a moment to look upon the devastation that had been caused.

  “We have to start cleaning up these bodies,” Sasha said. “I can feel myself getting sick already. I trust that one of you can make sure that Ariel makes it back home safe.”

  She looked at both Irvine and Vaughn, who looked at each other.

  “I will stay and finish the job I was sent out for,” Irvine said. “Keep your word.”

  “I will.”

  They nodded to one another then Vaughn took his hand in mine. I saw a slight smile on his face when he looked at me.

  “Let’s go home, Ariel.”

  Chapter 24

  Everything returned to normal. Well, as normal as it could be. You could never get used to watching so much death in front of you. You could never get used to knowing that there were werewolves lurking out there. And you could never get used to knowing that you were in love with one of them.

  Work wasn’t quite the same when I finally got back. Summer was gone for good but she would always be in my memories. Sasha returned to The Agency. I was grateful that my other coworkers like May and Zoe were still there.

  The murders had ceased. The city didn’t shake its negative reputation for being the slums they were but I no longer had the watch the news and wonder when I would see the latest macabre murder.

  I didn’t get a chance to say goodbye to Irvine. He disappeared without a trace. I didn’t know where I would be without him. But wherever he was, I knew that he was safe because he could take care of himself and that put my heart at ease.

  It was another rowdy night at The Arrested Bar. The people were shouting at one another in drunk but pleasant conversation. The band was there as well after another failed attempt at trying to get a real gig. Frank had finally adjusted to life without his best waitress and there were some new girls who all of the patron seemed to welcome with open arms. It wasn’t perfect but after everything I’d been through, I accepted it.

  When the night was over, May’s boyfriend drunkenly started to harass her. I knew that it was another night of me walking home by myself. I didn’t mind though. I had a better bodyguard than money could buy.

  As I walked down the sidewalk, I passed by a dark alley and paused in front of it. I felt something rush through my body when I stared into the darkness. Something had come over me. There was something I couldn’t see. I could sense it. So I just stood there and waited.

  “You have a natural instinct,” a voice said from the darkness. “Much better than a normal human.”

  “Who says I’m a normal human?” I replied.

  Through the darkness, I saw a figure beginning to emerge. The first thing I saw was the blueness of his eyes. Finally, the rest of his face came into view. And when he moved out of the darkness completely, I saw all of him, completely naked.

  “Vaughn!” I shouted to him. “Where are your clothes?”

  “I knew I forgot something,” he smiled at me.

  “Are you trying to get arrested?”

  “What? For being naked? The people in this city have done a lot worse.”

  I turned away from him and started to blush even though the moonlight cast shadows all over the muscles of his body. It was hard not to stare at a man so perfectly built as h
im. It didn’t help that the lower half of his body was even better than anything my imagination could come up with.

  “This is who I am,” he said. “But how about this…”

  He took a step back into the darkness and disappeared. I heard the sound of struggling but couldn’t see anything. After a few seconds and primal howl aimed toward the sky, Vaughn stepped out of the darkness and the beast known as Shadow replaced him. Though he maintained his humanoid form, he looked far from any ordinary man with the way the fur covered his body.

  “Is this better?” he asked me, his voice now lower than it was before.

  “What are you doing?” I asked him. “Somebody’s going to see.”

  “Then let them. I don’t care.”

  “Vaughn…”

  I stepped into the alley and pushed him back into the darkness so that nobody would see. I felt him nuzzle my neck, his mouth extended so that he could reach me easier. I closed my eyes and sighed as I felt the fur on his body brush against me.

  “It’s a full moon tonight,” he growled. “I’d like to show you something.”

  He turned around and I hopped onto his back, wrapping my arms around his back and my legs around his waist. He leaped up into the sky and while riding his back, he moved from rooftop to rooftop.

  It was an exhilarating feeling. The swiftness of his movement forced the wind through my hair. He leapt so high that we almost reached the clouds. It was like I was flying right with him. It was just one of the many benefits of dating this particular man.

  “Where are you taking me?” I asked him.

  “You’ll see.”

  He continued to jump from one building to the next. We were on the edge of the city but he didn’t stop. He galloped through the plains while I held on tightly to him. We then moved into the forest. Vaughn jumped from branch to branch, making his way through the trees with a swiftness that would dizzy any normal man. Eventually, we came upon a familiar forest clearing.

  The last time I had been here, I saw nothing but chaos and destruction. Bodies of Vaughn’s brethren were strewn across the battlefield in a mess of blood and steel. All of that was gone though. The only thing that stood there was the dilapidated cabin that Irvine had built so long ago.

  I got off of Vaughn’s back as I looked around at the trees. While he reverted to his original form, I felt something rush over me. It was the same calmness I felt back when I first started spending time out here. I closed my eyes and turned my head to the sky to enjoy the peace and serenity of it all.

  “That feeling,” Vaughn said to me. “That’s something that not every person gets. Only those who are truly one with nature can feel it. Most of my people can feel it. And I know that you’re experiencing it now.”

  I took a deep breath and sighed as I continued to listen to Vaughn speak to me.

  “There’s a reason I found you so easily, Ariel. The city… wreaks. It has a stench and decay that will never go away until the people change their ways.”

  He placed his hands upon my shoulders. He gently started to turn me around and when I opened my eyes, he was staring at me and hypnotizing me like he always did.

  “You were different though. You smelled sweet. You were like a rose that somehow managed to grow in the middle of a cesspool. And that’s when I knew that there had to be something between us. That’s when I knew I had no choice but to fall for you.”

  I leaned in close to him and closed my eyes as he kissed me gently. Despite his best efforts, he still couldn’t change who he was. The venom from his lips seeped into my mouth and the coolness pulsed through my body in a pleasurable but debilitating numbness.

  “The way you talk to me,” I started. “You speak of me like I’m someone special. It makes me worry what would happen if I weren’t here.”

  “Don’t say that, Ariel. My love for you is like breathing. Nothing else matters to me.”

  He wrapped his arms around me and we hugged one another underneath the stars. I pulled away from him and started to walk away, looking around at the trees and the forest in front of me.

  “I love you,” I said to him. “I… I can’t imagine my life without you.”

  I turned back around to him and he stood there, listening to me say what I wanted to say to him.

  “I know that you’re alone now,” I said to him. “But you have me. You are the alpha of your clan. Make me like you. Make me your queen. You can be whole again. We can breed until the clan is repopulated. Together we can restore the honor of the Rucai.”

  I walked forward and took his hands into mine, trying to convince him that I wanted to be with him forever.

  “Is that what you want, Ariel?”

  “Yes…”

  There was a sadness in his eyes, almost like he was beginning to cry, but he held the tears back as he started to shake his head.

  “You’re not like any human I’ve ever met, Ariel. But you’re still human. And I love you just the way you are. I wouldn’t have you any other way.”

  He leaned back into me and kissed me softly upon the lips. I inhaled the intoxicating fumes from him while we made out and began to feel myself losing control.

  “And I love you just the way you are,” I said to him. “Let me have that you. The real you… Shadow.”

  He nodded his head slowly and I saw him beginning to change before my eyes. His mouth extended outward, his teeth doing the same. His ears worked their way up on top of his head into furry pink triangles and his blue eyes fell behind narrow slits. The rest of his body grew a silver fur. I pressed my hand against the hardness of his chest and felt the softness of his hair growing around my skin. Even though he had taken the form of a werewolf and now towered over me, he was still the shape of a man and we could enjoy one another.

  He leaned back into me and I worked my mouth around his so that I could kiss him entirely. He growled as his tongue lashed out in search of mine and I felt the venom begin to numb my body. Instinctively, I raised my arms up and rather than rip it off of me, Vaughn gently raised my shirt up over my head to let me know that he was still in control of his animal cravings. We both wanted one another but not enough to let our passions consume us in a rage of orgasmic violence.

  He worked the rest of my clothes off of me and tossed them in a pile on the side of the grass. He nuzzled my neck once again and I felt a surge rush through my body. The venom was beginning to take over and I was losing control of my senses. When that happened, after so many times practicing, I learned to let him have his way with me.

  I felt the firmness of his cock press against my body as it started to rise. It was one of the few parts of his body that wasn’t completely covered in fur and for that I was grateful. Nothing could replace the feel of just his flesh inside of me.

  “I want you come inside of me tonight,” I begged him. “Tonight, I want it.”

  The venom had taken control of me. We both knew that his semen would transform me only this time, Irvine wasn’t there to inject me with the antidote. But Vaughn wouldn’t allow it. He knew that it was just the venom talking. He didn’t want me to be like him.

  He reached down through my clothing and searched the jeans I was wearing. He made me carry condoms exactly for moments like this. When he found one, I looked down as he placed the latex over his shaft, protecting me from so much more than any man could ever infect me with.

  With our lips tied together, I slowly worked myself down to the ground.

  “At least… take me like an animal,” I said. “Take me like an alpha takes his queen. Take me, Shadow…”

  He tried to lay me on my back but I rolled over onto my stomach and propped myself up on all fours. I was breathing hard, the sexual instincts now taking over me completely. There would be a condom in the way but I still wanted him to come inside of me. I poked my ass out and offered it to him. I turned back and stared at him, my eyes no doubt swirling from the poison rushing through my veins. It was like candy to werewolves like him. I knew that he couldn’t res
ist.

  “Mount your queen,” I groaned to him. "In front of the eyes of nature, stand on top of me and show them your dominance. Show them your strength, my chief. Mount me and take what is yours, alpha.”

  Even he couldn’t fight his instincts. My pussy was dripping wet, aching for him to come closer. I felt the heat of his cock nearing me and that was enough to elicit a groan from me. He locked his blue eyes onto me and we stared at one another. He grabbed my hips tightly between his massive paws and slowly started to push his member inside of me.

  “Mmm, yes, Shadow…”

  I moaned his name as his cock forced my eyes closed. I bit down hard on my bottom lip as his thickness started to fill me up. I fell down closer to the ground, unable to sustain myself from the pleasure rushing through my body. My arms dropped down and I fell down onto my elbows, presenting my ass even higher while he drove himself into me.

  Over and over, he pounded me, fulfilling the only desire that I had at the moment. I felt his fur press against my ass as he drove his complete length inside of me. As he started to work even harder, the flesh just below his cock bounced off of my pussy, extracting even more pleasure from my body.

  I did my best to give him what he wanted. When he pushed himself into me, I opened my pussy wide to let him in. Then when he pulled out, I tightened myself around his shaft so that I could feel every inch of him rubbing against my walls.

  Even underneath the cold moonlight, my body started to grow warm. I was sweating from the way Vaughn was working me over. Using every ounce of my strength, I worked myself back up to my hands and turned around. There was a focused determination in his blue eyes as he pulverized me.

  I worked myself up on my knees and sat up, wrapping my arms around his neck. My body against his, he started thrusting his cock upward and impaled me. I had lost complete control and I was no longer myself.

  “Come inside of me, Shadow,” I whispered into his ear while I continued to groan. “Your queen orders it of you. Your audience is watching… Mmm… The forest… The creatures… The night… Show them… Mmm… Show them you are… Uhh… The master and alpha I proclaimed you to be.”