MARKING HIS VIRGIN MATE

Deline dinner.

*Kai pov*

Crystal chandeliers of Deline Hall sparkled like frozen constellations, casting fractured light over polished items. A rare and heavenly sight one could dream about.

Each guest dressed not for the occasion but obviously to impress. Most of their wear custom made which reeked of wealth and ambiance.

Every word was calculated. Every smile hid teeth. This was no party. It was a court of predators.

“Gather around,” my father called, striking his glass with a silver spoon. “The Alpha wishes to speak.”

Conversations died. Chairs scraped. Wolves and the few trembling humans brought for entertainment turned toward the dais.

“That announcement was very necessary, Father,” I muttered as I stepped forward. “If they ignore me again, I’ll take their heads.”

And they knew I meant it.

Silence thickened like fog. A hundred eyes fixed on me Kai Deline, Alpha of the Wolf Kingdom. As usual, I stood as the best dressed in the room, my reign sending shivers down spines and that was exactly how I loved it. I held authority and even my father’s eyes said so.

“My territory, my pack, my very own people,” I started, my voice low but commanding filled with pride and honor. Our ancestors carved this kingdom with their claws, their teeth, their courage. And still, outsiders test our borders. Tonight we celebrate dominance, but also vigilance. Do not grow soft. Do not forget who we are.”

I ended.

That speech was made only for my pack, a subtle reminder to the others that they were below us.

A ripple of nods. Raised glasses. Then, from the center of the hall, a young man from a middle clan who was clearly angered that my speech only praised my pack. He rose too naïve or too bold.

“Alpha,” he asked, voice cracking but loud enough to carry, “when will the Wolf Kingdom have a Luna?”

The question sliced the room open. My jaw tightened. Candlelight caught on my canines.

“When the gods are ready,” I said softly, each syllable dipped in frost.

The room froze. Even the music faltered. Silence swallowed everything.

Later that night, that man would regret speaking at all.

I dismissed him with a glance. “Eat and drink,” I ordered. “Until forever.” Music and laughter limped back into the hall.

That was when she arrived.

The doors swung wide. A silver glass shattered. Every head turned.

Alexia.

Her murmured apologies were a performance; the sly flash of her smile as she collected the shards gave her away. She wasn’t supposed to be here. A Few days earlier we’d f****d in the back of my car. She must have seen the invitation. Now her human scent a beacon of weakness drifted into a hall full of wolves.

Before the clan registered her fully and noticed she was not among the humans brought for amusement, I crossed the floor, seized her wrist, and hauled her away. Her pulse jumped beneath my fingers.

“Walk,” I ordered, dragging her out before any of them caught her scent under the wine and smoke.

The pathway was cool and silent. I pulled her into my chambers quite a distance from the hall.

Then I shut the door.

“You’re lucky,” I hissed, pinning her to the wall. “The scent of wine hides you tonight. If the others smelled what you are, you’d already be meat.”

The slow wit clearly didn't even understand what I meant, she would never for once think of me as a wolf and not just any kind of wolf the Alpha.

Her only answer was a slow, sinful smile, her eye only calling for s*x.

“Argh… Kai,” she whispered when I crushed my mouth to hers and my d**k into her cunt. “Your body’s …fuck”

Her nails scored my stripped ass; her thighs locked around my waist. My fangs threatened to pierce her neck. But the mark is for my mate alone. Reckless. Intoxicating.

Her moan grew louder with every thrust in her cunt.

She was so wet, and I could tell that this b***h has been dying to have my d**k.

Then the switch flipped. Control returned. I tore myself away, dragging a palm down my face to smooth the monster back inside. And as usual not satisfied.

“How did you even find your way here?”

She only smiled, sly and unrepentant. “Anything for you.”

Disgust coiled in my gut not at her, but at myself.

“Get out,” I said, voice like iron.

Her eyes widened, but she didn’t argue. I called my driver, threading a compulsion into his mind to deliver her back to the city unharmed. At least for the sake of her p***y, if any of the thousands of women I have slept with was close to satisfying my beast then it was Alexia. I didn’t want her dead not until I found my mate.

I returned to the shadowed edge of the hall. The young man from the middle clan that had threatened my authority smoked alone.

I moved behind him like a ghost. “Do you know what happens to those who question the Alpha?”

He stiffened but didn’t turn. Fear spiced the air.

In a flash my claws unsheathed. I ripped his ear off before he could scream. His cry came in as a satisfying sound. My claws dug out his heart, hot, slick, before bursting it in my hand.

He immediately dropped dead.

Then…

That scent again.

Pale but undeniable. Cutting through blood and wine. The same scent from the night of the full moon: weak, human… forbidden.

A low and soft rasp came from the far wall.

I swirled immediately, senses flaring, hairs rising on my neck. Someone was here who shouldn’t be.

Step by step, I approached the alcove, claws still wet with blood. My shadow swallowed the stone.

“Come out,” I murmured. “Or I’ll drag you out.”

No answer only a sharp intake of breath.

I lunged.

She stood pressed against the stone, trembling. Not Alexia. Someone else. Younger.

Her hair fell in tender waves around her meek face, eyes wide as the moon.

For a heartbeat, the world narrowed to us.

My sharp claws were very close to her throat. I could hear her pulse race, but she didn't run.

You,” I exhaled softly without taking my eyes off her, recognition unsteady, it was just at the edge of my memory. “The oak tree.”

Her lips parted. “I—”

I stepped closer, body blocking her from any watching eyes, the beast inside me shifting uneasily.

She’d seen me kill a man. It wasn't remorse, it was guilt, perception also, as if I didn't want her to see me as that kind of being. Unlike the real me who didn't care what people thought of me.

She moved her body, her eyes as bright as the stars and at the same time fear lurked in between.

I took in her scent again, trying to be certain it was the same one from before, and one thing is certain my senses never deceived me. She was the one. The weak human that hovered in my mind for days.

And for the first time in my 1000 years of existence, I hesitated.