Warning: chapter contains mature content of a s****l nature
The rest of dinner was spent in an uncomfortable silence as everyone was occupied in their own thoughts. I for one was trying hard to concentrate on putting together a plan for the few days that my husband would be away but try as I might, unsolicited pop-ups of all the ways that I could be touching Levi wouldn’t stop appearing in my brain.
As the Omegas came to clear our last plates, my husband locked eyes with me and the familiar hunger in them made my heart sink. For the first time since our marriage, I dreaded having to serve him in bed, even if it was just a means to an end.
Doing my best to avert my gaze from Levi, I followed my husband’s lead as we left behind a dining room of jealous concubines and headed to my quarters. Like any dutiful Smith bonebreaker, Nessa had already instructed the female buttonmen to prepare my quarters for my husband’s visit tonight.
Soft music played in the background as I closed the door behind us and I proceeded to remove my husband’s jacket and shoes with the help of a female buttonman. I was reaching up to undo his shirt to prepare for a bath when his hands covered mine, stopping me in my tracks.
“Leave us, all of you,” he commanded my female buttonmen.
When we were finally alone, he took my hand with a gentleness that I had never known from him and led me to the armchair by my window. As the moon light flooded my bedroom, I saw a tiredness in my husband’s eyes that I had never seen before.
The steel in his gaze was gone and replacing it was unmistakable fatigue, as if a wall had crumbled to reveal what was truly behind it.
“Rosalee, it has been 200 years since I’ve met someone like you, a worthy female that I could consider calling my equal. My wolf hates me for it but I know that as long as I live in this world, my fated mate is lost to me, and I’ll take what I can have.”
My heart pounded as I tried to discern the truth in my husband’s words but from his even breathing to his unguarded gaze, there was not a single physical sign that he was lying. Either he was a really good sociopath or he was really pouring his heart out to me.
“This new business opportunity offered by your uncle is my one chance at getting our pack’s finances in order again, and this time, I’d manage everything myself so that the Beta and Gamma families can’t take a big chunk out of the profits again. I know that it was your brother who suggested to your uncle to extend this opportunity to me, no doubt due to your influence. I know also that you’ve been trying to get to know the ranked families better and you’re interested in our mines. Yet, you’ve never tried to exert any control over any of my personal affairs or the pack’s financial affairs.”
Summoning all the submissiveness within me, I smiled gently at my husband before leaning my head onto his chest.
“I’m just a woman, a human one too, Jesse. I know my place, and it’s right beside you. We’re on the same boat and I’d do everything in my power to ensure that our boat doesn’t sink but how our boat should be steered is your decision. I’m glad that you didn’t think I was overstepping and I’ve never asked my brother for favors. I didn’t want you to think that I was trying to make use of my Clan to hold something over your head, but he's my only brother, and I know he’d do anything to make sure that my husband is doing well and able to provide for me.”
A wet kiss grazed my forehead before a large hand tilted my chin up and a pair of lips pressed themselves against mine. Gently, Jesse bit my lower lip before his tongue began to explore my mouth. His thumb left a trail of goosebumps on my body as it slowly made its way down my neck and onto the swell of my breast.
It was a gentleness that he had never shown to me in our marriage and under other circumstances, I would be jumping up and down, celebrating my victory over the man that I was forced to marry. Yet, in this moment, there was nothing sweet about this victory.
The only feeling blossoming in my heart now was a bitter disdain for myself and a longing for Levi. A gnawing feeling chewed away at me, making me question myself if in a bid to avenge Papa, I had become the very people that I hated, people who would resort to any means to achieve their goals. I began to question if my ends were so great that they could justify any means.
“It’s going to be a treacherous trip for me, Rosalee,” my husband whispered huskily as he nipped and kissed my neck while his hands worked on unzipping my dress. “If all goes well, I’ll come back as a stronger Alpha but if things go south, I need you to be a real Luna, just like a she-wolf. Avenge me and cut down those who have betrayed me.”
As if a bolt of lightning had hit me, my mind lit up even as reckoning gripped me. No matter what the truth was, my husband had really planned to use this trip to wipe threats against him off of the face of Earth, and if there were any doubts in my mind earlier about his plans for Chadron, there were no longer any now.
“I don’t understand,” I whimpered fearfully as I gently cupped my husband’s face and brought them to me. Tears glistened in my eyes and I allowed them to trickle down my face, hoping that my pitiful state would draw more information out of my husband.
“It’s nothing for you to trouble your head over, Rosalee,” he sighed as his wandering hands stopped at my unclothed waist. “Levi and the Theta werewolves will ensure your safety as per my Alpha command this morning. If the Betas try anything funny, they are outnumbered and I’m sure your girls are well-trained to fight too. Carry on like you don’t know anything. Get closer to the niece of the Gamma and win her over to our side. That’s all that you need to know, my little rose.”
Without any more explanation, Jesse began attacking my neck and chest with kisses again while his hands pulled my dress off me. I shivered a little as the cold air caressed my skin but the cold was quickly chased away as Jesse spun me around to sit on his now naked laps. The contact of his warm body against mine made me sigh in relief even as disgust filled my body.
His lips continued to kiss the nape of my neck while an arm held me in place as his fingers started to play with my wet entrance in ways that he had never done before. While massaging my c**t in painfully slow circles, Jesse sucked hard on my neck as his other hand squeezed my breast with the same rhythm.
My arms were locked by my side within his tight hold and for the first time in our marriage, I was the center of attention, and I hated absolutely every minute of it. I hated how my body was reacting to the external stimulants and I hated the moans that were escaping my mouth.
Yet, I knew that I had to do this, not only for myself but also to protect Levi. If Jesse ever suspected anything, there was no doubt in my mind that he’d kill us in a heartbeat. As the moon light lit up the night sky, I could see the punishment block beneath my window from where we were. Images of the dying Omegas played in my mind in an endless loop again even as the muscles in my legs tensed and my body gave in to the waves of pleasure throbbing through my core.
My mind detached from the hungry wolf taking me over and over again that night as a new realization began to dawn on me. In the 200 year long alliance between this pack and my Clan, too much blood had been shed and too many innocent lives had been lost. The authoritarian rule of this Alpha and the Skippers of my Clans made it impossible for any change from within.
Papa was a great example of that, and the time had come to change that. It was no longer simply about revenge for Papa or fulfilling his final wish of leading the life that he wanted for us. It was time to end this madness once and for all, and if sacrifices were needed to end this alliance, to end the terror of the Smith Clan and the Tiger’s Eye Pack, then sacrifices would simply have to be made.
Pushing all thoughts of Levi and the fathom thought of betraying him out of my mind, I moaned louder and with more lust as I grinded harder against my husband’s hips.
Jesse was right.
It was time for me to become a real Luna.