Addy’s POV
I’m going to introduce you to a world you could never even imagine in your wildest fantasies.
Elijah’s promise has been on my mind since he uttered those words, making me toss and turn with anticipation all night long.
Perhaps that’s why my heart has been racing for the past hour, and also why I feel so exhausted this morning. That must be why.
When Sayah brings the breakfast tray, I immediately down the entire pitcher of water. I seem to have developed this unquenchable thirst that no amount of water can help satisfy.
However, a day spent in bed seems to help me gather the strength I need to get ready for my dinner with Elijah. I chalk up my bizarre symptoms to a lack of sleep and nervous excitement, and as I head down the stairs to the dining room, the butterflies in my stomach grow with each step I take.
“Ah, Annabelle. Welcome.”
Elijah rises from his seat as I enter the dining room, his glacial blue gaze examining me up and down with obvious appreciation. I can’t help but smile as heat rises to my cheeks.
Elijah pulls my chair out for me before settling into his own, and almost immediately the servants bring out our first course: fish stew.
I wrinkle my nose at the smell, but I can’t deny the craving for the salty broth that my body responds to. Although a servant offers me wine, I refuse and decide to stick with water.
Elijah keeps glancing over at me with a mischievous smirk plastered on his face, but a long while passes without a word between us. Our silent exchange is flirtatious, full of promise for the night ahead, and the nervous excitement is building between my legs.
“Finding you once again has been a dream come true,” Elijah says, breaking the silence between us. “You have brought light back into a life that I believed to be destined for darkness.”
His candor takes me by surprise. Setting my spoon down, I reach across the table to place my hand in his, stroking my thumb across his rough, calloused palm. I’m not exactly sure what I’m trying to convey, but I want him to know that I’m glad to be here with him.
“However…”
His hesitant tone makes me pause, and I find myself glancing up at him with bated breath, feeling worried about what he’s about to say. It feels like he’s about to drop a bombshell on me, one that he’s been hiding for a while that could impact our future together.
“However, before we can truly move forward together, I must show you another side of me – one that I wasn’t sure you were prepared to see until now.”
“It can’t be that bad, can it?”
A nervous laugh escapes my throat, but I immediately feel my stomach churning uncomfortably as dread begins to set in.
“Honestly, I’m surprised you haven’t figured it out for yourself, Annabelle.”
“Figured out what, exactly?”
Elijah runs his free hand across his bearded jawline, inhaling a deep breath through his nose while he chooses his next words carefully.
“I think this is something you need to see with your own eyes. If you’re finished with your meal, all the preparations have been made.”
“Preparations?”
“I’ve put together a little gathering for tonight. Come, let’s head upstairs.”
Gathering? I thought it was just going to be the two of us tonight…did he forget his promise?
He rises to his feet and offers his hand to me – which I take in complete bewilderment – and he leads me out of the dining room. If he’s still nervous, I can’t tell because he walks with pure determination, and the excitement from him is almost palpable in the air between us.
His large, warm hand is firmly wrapped around mine as he leads me up the stairs. We head up to one of the floors that I’m not as familiar with, and it feels like he leads me down an endless maze of corridors, which are growing darker and narrower.
My legs are starting to grow tired and achy from our walk when he finally stops in front of a door, which seems indistinguishable from any other in the castle. There’s nothing special about it, but I get the feeling that what’s lying in wait behind it is anything but normal.
“Are you ready, Annabelle?” he asks with a low, deep voice. “You and I have only skimmed the surface, but once you step through that door, you and I will finally begin to explore the depths of our mate bond. Are you ready for that?”
Am I? As I stare up into those piercing blue eyes, there’s an intensity there that almost frightens me. I’m not sure what’s waiting for me in there, but I’m Elijah’s mate. Don’t I want to see how far and deep our love can go?
With a deep breath, I give him a nod, since I’m not sure I’m able to speak right now. I swallow hard, trying to push my fear as deep down as I can.
A roguish grin spreads across his face, and using his free hand, he pushes open the door.
As he leads me into the room, the first thing I notice is a four-poster bed standing tall in the middle of the space, which has intricate carving work etched into the dark wood. The torches on the walls illuminate the room in dim light, revealing about a dozen people seated in various upholstered chairs and sofas of different patterns and colors. Everyone is seated around the bed in a circle like some sort of upscale, eclectic theater.
However, there are no windows in this room. The stone floors are covered in exquisite rugs, while the walls have elegant oil paintings in gilded frames, but upon closer inspection, I realize the paintings are rather…erotic.
The people around the room are engaged in light conversation, and I even recognize a few of them as members of the Ice Moon Pack. As Elijah leads me to an empty loveseat with an unobstructed view of the bed, I lean over to whisper to him.
“What is this room? Some sort of s*x dungeon?”
“I’d hoped that it was much more welcoming than the dungeons,” he answers, pretending to be offended. “I spent a lot of money to make sure it was well-appointed and sophisticated.”
“Was this one of the first rooms in the castle you renovated?”
“Indeed. Werewolves are attuned to our most basic, primal instincts. I needed to dedicate a space for my pack to explore these instincts without judgment, especially after their hard-won battle to claim the castle.”
I find a s*x lounge to be an odd priority for a king, but if this is good for pack morale, who am I to question it?
Glancing around the room, the guests nod at us in greeting, acknowledging our arrival without engaging in conversation.
“So, what happens now?” I whisper.
“I alluded to my specific s****l proclivities last night, but now you’ll get to share them with me, Annabelle. Now that you are my mate, I know that you will find immense pleasure in sharing this world with me, just as before.”
“And what exactly is this world?” I ask, gesturing around the room. “I’m still not exactly sure what it is that we’re exploring here.”
Elijah leans down toward me, grazing his nose against my hair as he growls softly into my ear.
“Voyeurism, my darling. And exhibitionism.”
“What?!”
My voice comes out much louder than I meant, earning me several strange looks from the other pack members in the room.
“You and I have always shared this, Annabelle,” he whispers, wrapping his arm around my shoulders to pull me closer against him. “Watching others have s*x, and even being watched on occasion.”
The revelation makes me a little lightheaded, so I grip the armrest to steady myself. Are we about to watch others have s*x on the bed? Will he and I have s*x in front of all these people?
This doesn’t feel like me at all, and clearly, Elijah is picking up on that sentiment.
“Just keep an open mind, my darling. While it might come as a bit of a shock to you without your memory of your past life, I can assure you this is just as much a part of you as your need to eat and sleep.”
I stare at him for a long moment, and I can feel my eyebrows furrowed into a deep frown. Thinking back on our brief s****l encounters so far, it’s starting to make sense.
Here, where anyone could happen upon us? You really are her, aren’t you? Such a naughty little vixen…
Touch yourself, Annabelle. I want to watch you come...
You look so beautiful when you come undone...
Trust me. Watching you come is completely satisfying for me...
Suddenly, I realize that I had missed all the signs, and I actually feel a bit stupid for not realizing it earlier.
Elijah likes to watch.
To be honest, I’m not sure how I feel about that, but he seems so certain that I’ll enjoy this. He knows me better than anyone, right? If we are truly fated mates, then we must be sexually compatible.
I’m supposed to want this too. I’m supposed to want to please my mate, just as he wants to please me.
“Okay,” I whisper. “Let’s try it and see.”
“Oh, Annabelle,” he breathes, “you have no idea how happy this makes me.”
A servant appears beside us, handing us both goblets of wine to drink during the show. Elijah gives a telling nod to the servant, who quickly heads out of the room and disappears.
Moments later, the door opens again, except the sight that greets me makes my jaw drop to the floor. The other people around us grow silent as all gazes in the room fall on the newest guests.
In walks a beautiful woman with long, blonde hair – and she’s completely naked. She’s followed by two incredibly attractive men that are also completely disrobed, and my eyes can’t help but travel down between their legs. Both of them are completely ready to entertain us, their c***s standing at full attention.
A fourth person enters the room, but he is completely clothed. Clearly, he is a musician, since he carries a violin and a bow in his hands, and he takes a seat in a chair in the corner of the room.
When he begins to play his instrument, a slow, seductive melody fills the room around us, signaling the start of the show. The woman and her two men stand around the bed as she begins to run her hands over her bare body in a sensual way. All eyes in the room are on her, and even though I’m not sure about the situation I’ve found myself in, I can’t tear my eyes away from her mesmerizing performance.
One of the men steps up behind her, taking over by replacing her hands with his own and running them across her skin. He cups her breasts before trailing down to her ass, where he gives her a firm squeeze, and when she emits a soft moan of pleasure, the second man begins to crawl onto the bed, settling in against the pillows to watch her.
The first man moves a hand from her ass to her front, grazing her womanhood in slow, teasing movements across her skin. It’s clearly eliciting some sort of reaction from her, since she rolls her head back against his shoulder, her lips forming an “o” shape as she mewls with delight.
But it’s when he slips a finger inside of her that I begin to notice the other guests in the room visibly reacting to the performance. Some of the guests are beginning to cozy up with their partners, with some even touching each other sensually. Others are starting to run their hands over their own bodies, including Elijah.
My head turns just enough to see his hand slip down into his pants, his eyes glued to the scene before him. Am I supposed to touch him instead? Do I touch myself?
I’m not quite sure what I’m supposed to do, so I turn back to focus on the performance in front of me, and that’s when I realize that the woman is crawling on the bed, hovering over her second lover. She’s taking her time to explore his body with her lips, running a winding trail down his broad chest. Soon, she’s made her way down to the trail of hair beneath his belly button, and that’s when her mouth wraps around the tip of his erection.
A soft gasp of surprise escapes my throat, earning Elijah’s attention. While he strokes himself, he leans down close to my ear, his hot breath fanning my neck and sending a shiver down my spine.
“What do you think so far?”
“I, um…I’m not sure yet,” I answer honestly.
Turning my attention back onto the scene in front of me, I notice the other man has stepped up to the foot of the bed. As the woman’s head bobs up and down on her lover’s length, her ass is up in the air on clear display for everyone.
The second man reaches out to run his hands along her hips, holding her firmly in place as he steps behind her, positioning his erection to enter her p***y from behind.
Once he’s ready, he shoves himself inside of her, burying himself completely as the woman hums her pleasure with the other c**k inside her mouth. My eyes widen with awe as I realize all three of them are joined, connected in this salacious act by their mutual pleasure.
I can’t help but squirm in my seat, pressing my legs tightly together as a new feeling sets into my body.
“It’s okay to touch yourself, Annabelle,” Elijah whispers to me. “Or would you prefer me to touch you?”
Biting my lip, I consider his offer, but I still feel strange with all the other people in the room. However, they don’t seem to be paying any attention to me, and the sounds of their own pleasure mixing with the music and the performance are growing louder and more uninhibited.
With the smell of arousal lingering in the air, I reach over to snake my hand into Elijah’s pants, taking hold of his stiff c**k in my grasp. I can see a smile growing on his face as I begin to stroke, but my attention is focused solely on the scene in front of me.
As the woman’s head comes up for air, the man behind her withdraws himself too. She begins to crawl further onto the bed to straddle the man on his back, and the third partner follows behind her. Soon, all three of them are on the mattress, preparing for their new position as Elijah’s hand begins to pull my dress up over my knees.
I can feel myself growing wet in anticipation, but it’s not Elijah’s hand that excites me. Imagining his thick fingers are a d**k, I can’t help but pretend that I’m the woman on the bed, sandwiched between two lovers that both want me equally, living to please me sexually.
My eyes are kept firmly on the scene in front of me, wondering how they are planning to pull off their next position. When the woman sinks down on top of the man beneath her, Elijah slips his finger inside of me, filling me as my walls clench around him.
I’m starting to lose sight of what is real as I imagine myself on that bed, being filled with my lover’s c**k. It’s not necessarily Elijah who I envision beneath me, but a dark, handsome stranger with deep, brown eyes. I’m not sure where the image comes from, or why I’m not imagining myself with the man beside me, but I can’t help but lose myself completely within the fantasy.
A moan escapes my mouth as the third partner positions the tip of his manhood against her rear hole, and I suddenly realize that she’s about to take both of her lovers’ c***s inside of her at once. I’m both amazed and shocked at how this is going to work, my curiosity mixed with my mounting pleasure.
He waits for the woman to sink down and come back up before slamming into her. Her gasp echoes around the room as the three of them grow still, adjusting to the sensation of one another filling her together.
Fuck, how I envy her.
When she sinks back down, the man behind her withdraws slightly, and I realize the men are alternating back and forth inside of her in a rhythm. The finger that’s inside of me moves in sync with their movements as I stroke the thick, velvety erection in my hand, my senses overwhelmed with everything happening around me.
The swell of the music, the unbridled moans of ecstasy, the feeling of skin in my hand, of being filled by a man, the sight of the lovers’ mounting passion in front of me, rocking faster and faster on the bed as the mattress squeaks beneath them…it’s all creating a heady mixture of desire in my head as I chase my release.
Bucking my hips forward, I begin to grind into Elijah’s hand, but in my mind, it’s my handsome stranger’s c**k. I imagine another identical stranger behind me, taking me from behind as I’m ravished from head to toe.
My head rolls back as I fall over the edge, and I close my eyes to savor this euphoric sensation that washes over me.