Chapter 14

The morning dawned far too soon. He knew he should let her rest; he should have let her rest most of the night, but he hadn't been able to. How was he supposed to resist the one female he had waited on for so long?

The wait had been worth it. Zenya was every bit as responsive and yielding as he had dreamed she would be.

Several times, she awoke next to him, spooned with her back to his front, crying softly. He'd purred down the link and held her close, comforting her body and soul the best way he knew how. Inevitably, soothing had turned to seduction, and he'd made love to her repeatedly throughout the long night. It had surpassed even his wildest dreams.

Zenya was waking, becoming aware of his presence and what had happened. She began to try and withdraw, pushing at his chest when he rolled her towards him.

"Shh, Zenya, all will be well."

"No. No. No. Nothing will ever be right again."

"There, there, sweetheart. You had to have known it would always end this way. We are fated mates."

"That's fine and good for you to say, but then you're not the one who just had a chunk torn out of the nape of her neck and will never be allowed to be anything but the mother of your children and first lady of your clan."

"That's not true, sweetheart. You will also be my personal sex toy," he chuckled and kissed the tip of her nose.

Where the hell was Zaiden? During her first sleep, Zaiden had stuck his head in and grinned like the village idiot, seeing his sister being held in his alpha's arms. Lucian had mouthed the word ‘morning,' and then alternated between tending to and fucking his mate.

She tried to draw her balled fist back, but still couldn't get enough distance between them to make the hit meaningful. He caught her fist easily and twisted her arm behind her back so he could stroke the cleft of her backside as he drew her close to his already hardening cock. God, he couldn't get enough of her.

He needed Zaiden to ‘catch' them in bed so that they could spring the trap closed around her. She had made a bet with her brother, and she had failed spectacularly in avoiding him. She had yet to declare her feelings for him, but she had come close more than once—usually either as she climaxed or as she was drifting off to sleep.

His cock was beginning to throb. He needed to be buried deep inside her. He had yet to release his barbs, but he could wait. For now, all he wanted was for her to become as addicted to him as he was to her. She was exquisite, and he knew he could never get enough of her. He would need to make her understand that he meant for her to be available for his pleasure whenever, wherever, and however he wanted. Lucian meant to make up for lost time.

"Leave me alone," she murmured, her willpower already giving up the ghost.

"We both know you don't mean that," he whispered, drawing her close, allowing his hard cock to throb between them.

"Lucian!" Zaiden called.

Thank god!

"Lucian?" Zaiden said again as he opened the door to the alpha's chambers. He stopped short, feigning surprise. "Well, I can see that I won't have to go into the next room to wake my sister. Shall I tell the staff they should go ahead and get started on the wedding feast?" He glanced at his watch. "If they get started, we could have the formal bonding ceremony this evening."

He could feel Zenya stiffening as she caught sight of the look of glee on her brother's face and what he supposed was the look of triumph on his and sighed. He and Zaiden may have overplayed their hands.

"You bastards—both of you," she snarled, wrestling loose from him and managing to punch him in the nose before throwing the bedside lamp at her brother.

"Zaiden whatever it is you wanted, it can wait," said Lucian.

"He didn't want anything," growled Zenya. "You set me up, the both of you."

"I wouldn't say set you up," said Lucian, trying to calm her.

"Did my brother tell you about the bet we made?" she accused, looking between the two of them.

"It wasn't a bet," said Zaiden. "It was more of a bargain, or a deal. And yes, I told my alpha. But if you truly felt nothing, his knowing would not have made any difference."

"Zaiden, leave us and close the door," ordered Lucian.

"What about the bonding ceremony?" asked Zaiden, grinning at his sister.

"There's no need to rush. Your sister might want a hand in planning it, get a special dress for the ceremony…"

"All his sister wants is a knife so she can gut him and cut your balls off," she snarled.

"I think you could be wrong about a need to rush," quipped Zaiden.

Lucian shook his head. "No, she bears my mark. There will be none who will challenge my claim to her."

"I thought you were going to wait on marking her."

"What can I say? We'd made love, she was spooned up against me, the nape of neck was bare and staring me in the face. When I felt my fangs elongate, I decided that I'd waited long enough. So, I took what was mine."

"Does it bother you at all that your precious alpha raped me?"

"Rape?" Lucian chuckled. "Hardly."

"How many times did I tell you no?"

"Not nearly as many as you said yes, or fuck me, Lucian, or climaxed for me. Nay, mate, there are many things you can say about last night, but an accusation of rape is not one of them."

"I really can't even begin to tell you how very much I hate you," she snarled again, pushing at him and not managing to move him even a bit.

"Zaiden, out," Lucian ordered.

"Yes, Alpha," said Zaiden, closing the door.

"That is the last time you will snarl at me in front of others."

"I wouldn't count on that," she said spitefully.

"Zenya, stop. Continuing to deny what we both know to be truth is beneath you."

"You planned this—all of it—you and Zaiden."

"We did some preliminary work, but I am content to wait until, say, the end of the week for our bonding ceremony."

"I won't agree. I won't speak the words you want to hear—not then, not ever."

"As I said to your brother, you bear my mark. No one will offer you sanctuary."

"Colby Reynolds would," she challenged.

"And I would bring the weight of our clan to bear on Windsong. Many would be injured or killed, and I would still be able to drag you back here. You know there was a time that alphas could force their vows from their mates, either with said mate taking a trip over her alpha's knee or being fucked into submission and made to take them, kneeling at her mate's feet and dripping his cum from her pussy."

"It's a wonder that any of you survived," growled Zenya.

"I think it may have been a far easier time to be an alpha. You took what was yours, and no one said a word."

"How is that different from now?"

"We've gotten far better at pretending we are civilized. Personally, the idea of having you kneel naked at my feet, your pussy still spasming from being fucked and dripping my cum on the floor has some appeal."

She managed to get away from him, and grabbing one of the top sheets, she jerked it off the bed, wrapping it around her. He could tell her legs were unsteady as she seemed wobbly, which considering how many times he'd made her come was probably understandable.

"This," she said gesturing to the bed and pointedly ignoring the sheet that was tented from his erection. "None of this counts. You and Zaiden set me up. He told you about the bet. That wasn't fair."

"You know what they say, all is fair in love and war. Besides, nothing Zaiden told me changed anything. I had planned to seduce you and get you into my bed. I must say, I thought our night together would have left you in a far more agreeable mood."

"Agreeable mood? How did you figure that, you over-endowed jackass? I was a virgin until last night and instead of being gentle and letting my body recover, you fucked me repeatedly all night, making me come over and over again."

He gave her his best feral smile. "So many I lost count. You do know that you are exquisitely responsive? I decided you might as well get used to it from the beginning. I'm going to be on you two… three… four times a day. I have so many places where I've fantasized about fucking you."

She looked toward the nightstand. He was fairly sure if she hadn't chucked the bedside lamp at her brother already, she would have sent it flying in his direction.

"I hate you," she sobbed and turned from him. "Last night meant nothing."

Lucian's hope was that one day she would turn to him when she was upset or troubled. But that day would not be today. Still, he needed to find a way to soothe and comfort her, but he had no intention of allowing her to make rash statements and push him away any longer.

"Last night meant everything, and you know it. Should I have been a little less vigorous in my lovemaking? Perhaps. But you did enjoy it, and you did call for me to take you harder. Not once after the first time did you try and turn me away. How many years have I waited for you, Zenya?"

"You weren't a virgin last night, and I distinctly remember hearing ripe old tales about you and my brother wenching and whoring your way through Anchorage, Juneau, Seattle and other places."

"Is that what's bothering you? I won't deny that I sowed my wild oats in my youth, as did your brother. We are male tigers. We have needs."

"Seriously? And you think I don't?"

"You never tried to act on them."

"With you? I didn't want you then, and I don't want you now. When I was in school? Your watchdogs made it very plain to any guy that showed the slightest interest in me that I was off limits. I will tell you I didn't completely do without. I wore out several vibrators."

"Well, in your brother's defense…"

"I wouldn't worry about my brother, Lucian. He will answer for his own sins. You've got plenty enough of your own. So why isn't it that sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander?"

"Because it isn't, and to my credit…"

"You have no credit with me."

He chuckled. "Then in my own defense, I did at one point several years ago decide that my taking my pleasure with another woman wasn't what I wanted. For several years before that I only took a woman's mouth."

"Well, bravo for you. You got blow jobs and jerked yourself off."

"Zenya, you are trying to pick a fight with me…"

"In case you missed it buddy, we're having a fight and a knock down, drag out one at that."

"Are we?" he questioned as he rolled out of bed without bothering to put any clothes on. His cock was hard and was pointed at her like it was a magnetic compass and she was true north. "In that case, I'll put an end to it like I plan to put an end to any more of your foolishness. I'll just fuck you into submission until you're too tired to misbehave."

"Stay away from me."

"I don't think I will."

He could feel the smirk on his face. Zenya could see it, and from the look on her face, she didn't much care for it. But then, until he got her back underneath him, she wouldn't be agreeable about anything. Before she could dash away and lock the door between them, he reached and grabbed her hair.

"The door wouldn't have done you any good. I have the master key, although at the moment, I'd be inclined to kick it down. I'm afraid you have me feeling every bit the beast." Fisting her hair, he dragged her into what had been her room. It might not be too bad to keep two rooms. That way they could have cleaner sheets than if they just had one.

"Lucian, what are you doing?" she squealed as he dragged her behind him.

"I would think that was obvious from the state of my cock. I plan to fuck you in this bed. I want back inside of you, Zenya. You'd best decide to behave yourself, because if I decide the only way to keep you settled is to have you straddling my cock, I'm not above conducting business meetings with you in my lap, impaled on my dick."

She shrieked in protest, but there was more than just a hint of arousal in the sound. He tossed her onto the bed and pinned her to it with his own body as she scrambled backward. Not wasting time on preliminaries, he parted her thighs, lined up his cock and plowed deep into her, making her cry out as a quick and sudden climax hit her. She might talk about wanting equality but when it came to sex, she wanted an alpha male between her legs.

Lucian began to thrust in and out of her with a hard, pounding rhythm, spreading her wide and driving deep so as to stretch her walls with every single stroke. His eyes never left hers, and there wasn't a tear to be seen. He quickly found a rhythm that sent tremors of pleasure through her body. Zenya threw her head back and gripped the bedsheets, her nails digging in as he pounded into her relentlessly.

He picked up the pace, thrusting harder and faster, each stroke sending her response higher and higher. Her moans became louder, escalating into gasps and cries of pleasure until everything was too much and he sent her careening over the edge of ecstasy and into a freefall of bliss in a second intense orgasm that made her cling to him as he ground against her, releasing his cum in her as he stayed deep.

"Soon my beautiful mate, I will score your pussy with my barbs and settle the first of our children in your belly."