The Alpha's Naughty Christmas

17: The Cold That Doesn’t Cool

Cassian’s POV

“Get my message to Ronan,” I ordered my subordinate, voice low and edged with frost. “Tell him not to cause trouble in my territory. Next time he crosses a line with what’s mine, I won’t send a warning. I’ll send his head.”

The young wolf bowed low, eyes averted, and slipped out of the study without a sound.

The door closed with a soft click.

Silence returned, thick, heavy, and broken only by the howl of wind outside and the crackle of the dying fire in the hearth.

It was snowing harder now, white sheets whipping against the tall windows, visibility down to nothing. The cold penetrated the stone walls, seeping into the room like a living thing, but it wasn’t cold enough.

Nothing was cold enough.

Not the blizzard.

Not the ice in my veins.

Not the centuries of discipline I’d spent building.

Because the need still burned.

Her.

Zolani.

I had gone on a long drive after she left the driveway, hours of black roads and whiteout snow, engine roaring, wolf clawing at the inside of my skull. I’d told myself it was to clear my head. To cool the fire she’d ignited with one reckless kiss, one desperate grind, one whispered “protect me.”

It hadn’t worked.

All my thoughts were still about her.

The taste of her mouth, sweet, hesitant, and then hungry.

The way her thighs had trembled when she straddled me.

The slick heat of her cunt soaking through my trousers, marking me as much as I’d wanted to mark her.

I wanted more.

Needed more.

The second study was supposed to be my refuge, two floors below the guest wing, thick stone walls, soundproofed doors, the kind of room where even the pack’s loudest howls couldn’t reach me.

Tonight it felt like a trap, the fire had died down to embers, casting weak orange flickers across the dark wood paneling. I sat in the high-backed chair, elbows on the desk, fingers steepled so tight the knuckles had gone white.

My c**k was still half-hard and aching, trapped behind the zipper like a caged animal.

Every time I closed my eyes, I saw her again and again, like it had become a loop, thighs spread across my lap, hips rolling in slow, desperate circles, slick heat soaking through my trousers, her whimper of my name. The memory looped, relentless, vicious, and my wolf paced behind my eyes, claws scraping, teeth bared, and voice a low, unending growl.

“You know you can still protect her and have your c**k buried in her,” he snarled, pacing faster, voice thick with feral hunger. “That girl’s a leaking faucet. She’s starving. She’s starving for us. Just take her. To hell with the damn consequences. To hell with the rules. Take. Claim and f*****g breed her.”

I exhaled through my nose slowly, and controlled, trying to force reason past the red haze.

“She’s Aradia’s best friend,” I said aloud, voice low and rough, the words tasting like ash in my mouth. “And yeah, I’m a lot older than her. So keep your bullshit ideas to yourself.”

My wolf laughed, dark, mocking, and cruel, the sound echoing inside my skull.

“Age means nothing to wolves. Territory means everything. And she’s in yours. Dripping. Begging. Marked by your scent now. You think she’ll go back to her soft little human boy after tasting you? After feeling how hard you get for her? After she almost came apart on your lap like a b***h in heat?”

I clenched my jaw so hard my teeth ached.

“I investigated her,” I said, forcing calm into my voice even though my pulse was thundering. “She’s pure Catholic. Obedient. Church every Sunday. No scandals. No exes. No experience. She’s… good. Too good. Soft. She deserves better than this. Better than a man who’s killed more people than she’s had birthdays. Better than me.”

My wolf snarled louder, claws raking the inside of my mind until it felt like bleeding.

“Too good? She’s a f*****g volcano wrapped in silk. You saw it. You felt it. That kiss wasn’t soft. That grind wasn’t obedient. She’s wild under all that holy bullshit. She’s ready. She’s teachable and you know it.”

I dragged a hand down my face, fingers trembling with the effort of holding back.

“She deserves better,” I repeated, quieter this time, almost pleading. “A safe life. A gentle man. Someone who won’t break her. Someone who won’t mark her. Someone who won’t make her scream so loud the whole pack hears.”

My wolf laughed again, this time vicious, delighted, and cruel.

“She’s already breaking. For you. She kissed you. She begged. She ground on your c**k like she was trying to climb inside you. That’s not fragility. That’s hunger. And you’re starving her worse than anyone ever has. Teach her. Break her open. Bring out the wild in her. She’s the only woman since her who’s made you feel this...fire, need, madness. She’s special. She’s burning for us. f**k everything. Take what’s yours.”

I stood up abruptly, chair scraping back, pacing the length of the study like a trapped animal.

“She’s human,” I growled. “Fragile. Breakable. I’d ruin her.”

“Good,” he purred, voice dripping with dark satisfaction. “Ruin her. Mold her. She’s starving for it. She’s dripping for it. She’ll learn. She’ll scream. She’ll beg. And when she’s done, she’ll be ours. Completely. Irrevocably. She’s the first in decades who’s made our blood sing. The first who’s made you feel. Don’t you dare waste that.”

I stopped, stared at the fire and the flames danced red, hungry, and endless.

“She’s the only one,” I admitted, voice low, almost broken. “Since she died . The only one who’s made me feel… alive. Like I’m burning from the inside out. Like I could tear the world apart just to keep her safe. Or keep her mine.”

My wolf went quiet for a beat which was rare, and reverent.

“Then take her,” he said softly. “She’s yours. She’s always been yours. Stop fighting. Stop pretending. Let her burn. Let her learn. Let her feel you for real this time”

I exhaled, shaky and ragged and then.. the scent hit me.

Sweet.

Ripe.

And Unmistakable.

Arousal.

Hers... only hers was this strong and thick and wild enough to draw me

It was flooding the hallway, seeping under the door, reaching me two floors below.

I cursed, vicious, and guttural, the word ripping out of me.

“What kind of human is she?” I snarled to the empty room. “How the f**k is her scent this strong? That blocker I gave her seemed useless. She’s burning through it like it’s water.”

My c**k went from half-hard to painful in seconds, throbbing, straining, and demanding.

I paced faster, two steps, three, trying to outrun it.

Impossible.

The scent wrapped around me, sank into my lungs, and lit every nerve on fire.

I stopped, breathing hard and my wolf clawing, my Storm who’s ever so calm around females was losing his s**t over Zolani, that fragile little human.

My own reason was crumbling.

I was supposed to protect her.

Instead, I was two seconds from storming her room, ripping the door off its hinges, and burying myself so deep she’d forget her own name.

I cussed again, louder this time, maybe at myself for having zero control and then I moved, fast and, silent and hard enough to cut.

Up the stairs, two at a time, my wolf driving, man barely holding on.

Her scent grew stronger with every step, sweet, desperate and needy until it was choking me and getting me feral. I sped things up and soon I reached her door.

And froze because through the wood, soft but unmistakable.. I heard her moaning my name.

“Cassian…”

It was low, breathless and aching and my control snapped like dry twig.

I shoved the door open.

She was on the bed, robe open, hand between her thighs, fingers working slow, desperate circles over her c**t. Eyes closed. Lips parted. Back arched.

She didn’t hear the door and definitely didn’t see me.

She just kept moving, slow, and needy, whispering my name again and again..

“Cassian… please… help me... take me...”

I stood in the doorway, frozen, feral, c**k throbbing so hard it hurt and for the first time in decades… I didn’t know what to do.

Protect her good girl image?

Claim her and show her that I'll burn with her?

Or walk away and let her burn alone?

Storm snarled inside me

"Claim.”