Rise of the Forbidden Luna

Chapter 13: The Crimson Lair

The armored SUV tore through the midnight forest back toward the Citadel, the mechanical hum of the engine completely swallowed by the roaring, deafening silence inside the cabin.

I sat frozen in the passenger seat, my chest heaving rapidly as a violent storm of raw grief and lethal rage collided inside my chest. The horrific truth of Samuel’s words echoed in my mind like a physical blow. The people I had grown up to call parents—Richard and Eleanor—were completely fake. They were the cold-blooded monsters who had massacred my mother, betrayed my real father, and stolen my birthright. My whole life was a lie.

A sudden, volatile spike of emotion fractured my control. Before I could stop it, the raw, ancient Lycan energy deep within my veins snapped its leash.

Crackling sparks of brilliant, dark violet lightning began to ripple across the skin of my arms, snapping violently against the leather dashboard. The air inside the small cabin plummeted to a freezing ice, thick with the suffocating weight of my awakening royal pressure.

Ethan didn't flinch. His large hands remained steady on the steering wheel, but his obsidian eyes ignited with a dark, heavy intensity as his own dominant male pheromones flared to meet my power. The rich, intoxicating scent of his rain-soaked cedar and burning woodsmoke flooded the tight space, generating a sudden, sharp rush of heat that made my core throb erratically.

The vehicle came to a screeching halt inside the private, high-walled imperial courtyard. Before the guards could even step forward, Ethan threw his door open, marched around to my side, and yanked my door back.

He didn't speak. He simply reached his massive, seven-foot frame into the car, his large, warm hands wrapping securely under my thighs and across my back as he swept me up effortlessly into his arms. I gasped, my fingers instantly clawing into the hard muscle of his bare shoulders as he carried me past the bowing servants, straight through the grand corridors, and slammed the heavy oak double doors of his private royal master bedroom shut behind us.

The room was vast, a luxurious sanctuary draped in deep crimson velvet and dark obsidian stone. He lowered my boots to the floor at the edge of his massive king-sized bed, but the moment my feet hit the marble, my raw grief triggered another explosive surge of violet lightning.

The shockwave rattled the glass chandeliers above us, the violet current crackling fiercely through the air. "Ethan, stay back!" I gasped, my voice shaking as the power threatened to consume me. "I can't control it..."

"I don't want you to control it, little tiger," Ethan murmured, his deep, gravelly baritone vibrating right against my nerves.

With a single, unhurried stride, the Lycan King stepped straight into the blinding blast of my violet lightning, completely unbothered by the static stinging his skin. He caught my wrists in his massive, leather-gloved hands, lifting them over my head and pinning them firmly against the dark silk sheets of the bed as he trapped my body beneath his. The sheer scale of his broad shoulders eclipsed the room, his heavy, primitive heat pressing against my front like a sudden summer storm.

"Let it out," Ethan whispered, his lips hovering mere inches from mine, his hot breath fanning across my neck, sending a sharp, breathless ache shooting straight down to my stomach. "Burn it all down on me. I can take it."

The fated-mate pull between a purebred Lycan King and a reborn Lycan Princess snapped completely, shattering the last remaining walls of our restraint. The electric current passing between our wolves became a blinding, deafening hunger.

Ethan reached down, his large, heavily scarred hands mapping out the contours of my waist with a fierce, terrifying possession. With a single, powerful tug, his fingers ripped away the heavy leather training tunic, tearing the structured fabric down to expose my bare skin to the cool air of the room. A low, ragged growl ripped from his chest as his dark eyes locked onto the distinct, dark crescent-shaped birthmark etched flawlessly into my right hip.

"My beautiful, royal monster," Ethan rasped, his velvet voice dripping with a dangerous, intoxicating devotion that left my senses completely overwhelmed.

He stripped away his remaining clothes, his sculpted, bronzed muscles glistening under the flickering candlelight as he moved over me. When his bare chest came into direct, skin-to-skin contact with my breasts, a jolt of pure fire ignited beneath my skin. I let out a breathless moan, my legs parting of their own accord, my core weeping with a sudden, molten heat as the heavy, primitive weight of his absolute dominance settled between my thighs.

He didn't ask for permission, and I didn't demand gentleness.

Ethan drove into me with a raw, powerful stroke that made my entire world spin into absolute chaos. I cried out, my nails digging deep into the thick muscles of his back, drawing blood as he claimed me with a fierce, unyielding rhythm. Every single touch left my skin burning like liquid fire. The fated bond was an agonizing, delicious madness, a savage current that bound our souls together in the dark. I didn't submit to his strength; I matched his raw power throw for throw, arching my hips to meet him, demanding he consume me completely until the violet lightning dancing across our skin turned into pure static heat.

Hours melted away in a fierce, passionate blur of tangled sheets, deep, gravelly groans, and a desperate, breath-catching ecstasy that left my body completely marked and sealed in his intoxicating scent.

When the pale gold light of dawn finally cut through the crimson curtains, the storm inside the room had completely calmed.

I lay flush against Ethan's bare, heavily muscled chest, the slow, steady rhythm of his heartbeat vibrating beneath my cheek. His massive arm was wrapped tightly around my waist, his possessive, heavy grip anchoring me against him even in his sleep. I slowly opened my eyes, a profound, chilling realization settling deep in my soul as I felt the energy humming beneath my ribs.

My inner wolf, Luna, wasn't resting. She was awake, her silver eyes glowing with a terrifyingly majestic power that was twice as strong as before. The fated consumption had unlocked the final, dormant seals of my royal bloodline.

I looked down at the sleeping Lycan King, a dangerous, deadly smile slowly curving my lips. I had my king. I had my raw, ultimate power. And the very moment the sun rose over the mountains today, we were going to to plan how to get my sweet revenge.