Chapter 4
1408 Words
MALLO
The effects of the full moon could be seen in the snapped responses of the kindest worker and felt by the excess pheromones in the air.
I hated this time of the month.
The time when Liam's instinct ran rampant and a run through the grounds couldn't satisfy what he was looking for. When the moon's energy led me to pound the extra energy into the future luna.
It was a debilitating lack of control.
I finished the long run but Liam was still excited and the moon's rays left my skin vibrating. It wasn't enough. I knew Monica would be waiting in her room to help rid me of it, but the flowers of the courtyard called me.
I walked along the paved path of the botanical garden, winding deeper to where the low bushes grew into tall hedges leading back to the forest grounds. Liam was unnaturally quiet, but I could feel his excitement running through me. Was he pushing us for another run to avoid Monica?
My feet crunched softly on the fresh snow and a flash of red spun around to meet me as I rounded a corner. Warm brown ones, set into large almond eyes stared at me and I cursed. It was winter, yet the smell of flowers had been so strong—the smell of gardenias that bloomed in the summer.
The smell of that woman.
We stood locked in a gaze and the energy running under my skin grew taunt. Liam was ecstatic and begging to be free but I needed to find my calm and get away from her. I inhaled deeply but it only added to the itch under my skin.
I had seen mother lose herself to anger and Father called her weak for that. Father was a man of peace that hid his emotions well. Mother called him weak for that.
I had mastered my emotions, finding the line between both, making mother and father proud, but now, staring down at the fire headed woman I wondered if that were true.
Everything in her called out to Liam and her beauty stole all rationality from me. My heart took up a quick tempo as I stepped towards her.
My hand brushed over the rosy curve of her cheek before cupping it firmly. Her skin was warm. She closed her eyes, leaning into my hand and cupping it with her own.
I was well past the age to find a mate and I'd seen how mother and fathers marriage had taken a toll on them but still, they were better than the actions of many love-stricken wolves. It convinced me that there could be nothing so great about this 'love' people went crazy for. Marriage was a duty and I was the prince of this kingdom. So what was this adrenaline pumping through my veins? The heavy thrum of my heart.
Electricity sparked where our skin met and I found my eyes drawn to her lush lips as a content sigh snuck past them.
Her eyes were dark as they opened and found my own. I had no control left today. My emotions, usually tightly locked away, were wild tonight. The moon goddess herself couldn't have stopped me as I lowered myself down to her and captured her lips with my own.
My lips tingled and I knew I would never taste anything as delicious as her mouth but the feelings running through me would not allow me to slowly savor the taste of her lips. A growl left my throat as I dominated her mouth with my tongue and grabbed her waist, crushing her body closer to mine. She let out a seductive mewling sound and wrapped her arms around me. The sound shot straight to my groin and I dug my hands further into her soft skin.
The heat was building up in my body as Liam's instinct urged me for more.
I lifted her from the ground in one movement and she wrapped her legs around me as I maneuvered us to a nearby bench. She broke the kiss with a gasp as I sat with her on my lap, evidence of my arousal pushing against her core. My lips traveled down the long column of her neck, nipping and laving at the sensitive skin as my hand roamed under her shirt.
Her breasts were perfect. The exposed skin was flushed and she shivered as I exposed her full breasts to the night air.
I palmed one in my hand, running a thumb over its sensitive peak and she arched into me as my mouth closed over a hardened n****e.
Her hands slid into my hair, the nails scratching lightly against my scalp as she made the mewling sounds I was quickly beginning to want more of.
She ground down on my erection and I groaned.
Once I sank into her, it would be quick the smell of her surrounding me wouldn't allow anything else. But I’ll make it up to her.
There would be rounds and rounds of—
The woman was ripped from my lap with a snarl and my body reacted instantly. Gripping the wrist of the offender with bone snapping intensity, I removed their clawed hands from my mate's arm. The offender left long red scratches on her arm and anger clouded my eyes as I moved her behind me.
I turned to the other, canines bared and Liam roared in my mind for blood but all of the rage left me as I took in my fiance's face. Monica's blonde hair was windswept as if she had run here from her room in the palace. The long silk robe definitely suggested it. Her green eyes glared behind my back to the woman pressed against me with a malicious intensity that kept a shift rippling under the surface of my skin. Protect. Attack. The instinct was warring inside me even as I tried to come to terms with what I'd done.
"What's this?" Monica demanded. "I've been waiting in the room and you decided to rut with a servant instead?" She snarled.
A growl rumbled in my throat as I tossed her wrist aside.
"Go back, I'll be there shortly." I told her.
Her eyes looked at me now as she rubbed her wrist tenderly. They narrowed in anger as she took in my tense posture.
Monica took a step to go around me, towards the woman. I moved as she moved, blocking her path and a warning growl left me. She tried again and I, again, moved in her path.
'Cut off the hand she dared to claw our mate with!' Liam snarled.
The thought was tempting but no, I needed to resist the pull of the wolf. I needed to go with Monica back to the palace and leave the woman behind. But Monica was too close. I couldn't walk away and leave the woman exposed.
I needed to get her to a safe area.
Her hand stroked soothing lines down my back and I could feel the calm she was trying to work into me but Monica was still there, with venom in her eyes and Liam wouldn't let us back down until the threat was gone.
Monica continued studying my posture.
How I would growl if she took a step too close and I cursed as I saw the realization strike her eyes.
She sucked in a gasp. "You're mated." Her voice was shrill, grating on my ears but I shook my head. I hadn't bitten her.
'Not yet.' Liam said.
"Reject her!" She snarled, taking a step towards the woman again, as if she wanted to administer a permanent rejection in the form of her death.
I blocked her again and bared my teeth at her in a snarl. “Continue to challenge me in my home and mother will need to find me a new bride."
Monica's eyes widened at my implication even as her face filled with a rush of blood. She looked away from my eyes but it wasn't submission. Her anger emanated from her, stronger than the scent of gardenias.
"We are engaged! You will reject her." She spat
I watched as she stormed off, the tension leaving me as the woman continued rubbing soothing circles at my back.
With Monica gone, I couldn't fight the calming balm but I knew with a dreaded certainty that my fiance was right.
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