Chapter 32

I stroke her soft skin, her bright blue eyes scanning my face, and I wonder exactly how we got here and where my patience went.

My plan was to wait, to make sure she was ready for this—that I was ready for this. But when she ran from me, something snapped. I had to claim my wife, my mate.

My cock is still deep inside of her, and I regretfully have to slide out. I wince at the loss of her wrapped around me, but don’t stop staring at her.

She’s beautiful. Perfect. Usually, nothing in our lives is ever done the right way. But this felt right, the only thing that would have made it more perfect is slipping my knot deep inside of her. But I know, the moment I do that my teeth will be deep inside of her neck marking her as mine.

I push some sweaty hair off her face and press my lips against the warm skin of her cheek, taking in her scent, the soft touch of her fingers on my shoulders, how small she feels beneath me. I don’t want to move or face reality.

Can’t Violet and I live in this moment forever? Where nothing is weighing over our heads and it’s just us? I kiss her one last time before looking into her eyes, needing to know that this moment was just as salient for her as it was for me.

“Okay?” I ask her and she nods.

“Yeah, more than okay,” she replies and I stroke her cheekbone with my thumb.

“You’re sure?”

“More than sure, Silas. It was amazing,” she says, her bright eyes sparkling back at me as I lick my lips and consider where we go from here.

“What were you doing out here naked, anyway?” I ask, glancing over at the fire that’s still going on.

She laughs and shakes her head. “It was supposed to be a spell in virtue, in not giving into physical desires.”

I laugh and smile at her, which is contagious. “Didn’t go so well for you.”

She uses her nails to scratch through my beard. “I think it went the way it was supposed to.”

“Stay my wife,” I blurt out, more as a statement than a question. Maybe I’m feeling vulnerable and needy at this moment, but I need more assurance that she isn’t going to up and leave me again. I can’t lose her, I can’t give her this piece of me and have her walk away again. I need Violet tied to me every fucking way imaginable.

“What?” she says, blinking.

“If you need to break this spell, even if it is a real thing, then so be it. But stay my wife. Stay mine.”

She licks her pouty, soft lips and all I want to do is kiss her and fuck her again.

“There’s a lot more that needs to be figured out,” she says and I sigh, feeling overwhelmed.

“When the dust settles. After your coven is sorted and you decide what you want your role in the pack to be, I still want you as my wife.”

“And if I don’t want a role in your pack?” she questions.

“I don’t really care. If you want to keep your wolf a secret between us forever but work on pack and witch relations, I don’t care. I just need you to be mine.”

“Are all wolves this possessive?” she asks, resting her wrists behind my neck as her fingers toy with my hair. The sensation is soothing and I realize now how rarely anyone ever touches me, not that I would want them to. I only want Violet to ever touch me again.

“I don’t care about anyone else besides us. Me and you, we’re going to make peace in this town and you’re going to stay my wife, because you know you want to. Nothing has ever felt as good as this, nothing has ever felt more right.”

“Okay,” she whispers, tugging me closer to her body.

I have to use my elbows to keep some weight off of her. The fire crackles behind us as the frogs in the distance bellow and the lightning bugs around us sparkle.

“It’s you and me against the world,” I tell her, and she kisses my neck and holds me closer.

“It’s you and me, Silas,” she says, and for just a moment, I let myself believe her. Right now, everything is perfect, a world where no outside factors are controlling us. “I’m on a potion, by the way,” she says, and it takes me a moment to realize she’s talking about pregnancy.

“Unfortunate,” Thorin purrs, and for once I share the sentiment.

At this moment, I feel a happiness that has always evaded me. An emptiness that has always consumed me seems to be disappearing. The anger I’ve held on to for years is so far gone, all I can think about is the way she feels in my arms.

“Should we get out of the grass?” I ask her, and she shakes her head.

“Just a few more minutes,” she says, and I fall to my side so we’re both staring at each other.

“I’m not going anywhere,” she promises.

I can’t decide if I’m stupid for believing her or not.

What they don’t tell you about finally having sex, it’s like lighting a field of tires on fire, the burning sensation of need never stops. Now it’s all I can think about and all I want.

Considering I’m in a continuous rotation of meetings with different wolves makes this fact rather annoying.

“Oh, poor Alpha Silas,” Thorin whines to me.

I sigh. He’s been slightly insufferable, begging me to convince Violet to put the necklace on and let Azure out. As much as I understand his frustration and want, Violet needs to come to terms with her wolf on her own time.

“I’m going to rip out the throat of the person who tied her wolf to that necklace,” Thorin says, and I rub the bridge of my nose.

“Silas?” The man in front of me says my name, trying to get my attention.

“Sorry, where were we?” I ask, and he hands me a stack of businesses that need more attention than others.

“We need to decide what should potentially close and if we should reopen something else.”

“Close the beauty shop, everyone goes to Goddess Apothecary in town, only the wolves shop there. We should add a laundromat downtown. The tattoo shop needs a rebrand. I went there the other day, and it was disgusting.”

“Yes, Alpha,” the man I know as Bruce, says.

“Bruce?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Do we have a list of all the births in the last three decades?” I ask.

“Of course,” he says, standing up and opening what appears to be an ancient filing cabinet and pulling out multiple files. “Here you go.”

I specifically pull the year Jonas and I were born, wondering if Violet is also listed, but I’m met with confusion.

“It says no males were born this year,” I say, pointing it out, and Bruce puts on his glasses and nods.

“Yes, no males.” His brows furrow and he clears his throat. “I believe a few pregnant women left that year. Their children must not have been cataloged.”

“What was the climate with the witches back then?”

“Oh, that was a terrible year. Atticus Collins was a great Alpha, his son, Oberyn was set to take over, but he disappeared. That year was when the witches started really eating up downtown and pushing us out. We had shitty leadership after that, no one fit to lead. You can see the way births have gone down since then.”

“Do you have Oberyn Collins’ family chart?”

The older wolf scrubs his beard and looks around at the massive stacks of files and cabinets.

“I’ll have to search around for it. Though I don’t think you’re in his line.”

“Thank you Bruce. If anyone has any issues with my ideas, please feel free to send them my way.”

The old man smiles, his eyes crinkling. “You’re a lot like your grandfather, but better in the ways he lacked,” he says and I tilt my head.

None of the other elders have freely mentioned him, and I didn’t want to push it.

“Hans was too hard. Some joked about how he didn’t have a heart. He led the wolves into a strong era. We avoided the witches, and I’ll give him credit. He handed the torch to Atticus when he was getting too old. But you’re not self serving. You’re strong, but you still have a heart.”

I’m not sure how to take the compliment, and I nod at Bruce instead of saying thank you or letting his words go to my head.

“We are an excellent Alpha,” Thorin says, having no issue at all with the compliment.

“Also, I have a few granddaughters your age, all unmated, beautiful. Well, maybe not Seline, but the other three are.”

“Thanks for your help, Bruce,” I say, ignoring that he just called one of his granddaughters ugly. I scoot my chair back and wonder if Jonas and I were the only males cast out of the pack at birth.

What had everyone so scared thirty years ago?

When I arrive at Violet’s home later that evening, she’s in the black nightgown, the silk clinging to her body like it loves her, as she eats a bowl of noodles at the table. She has two ancient looking books open in front of her, magic turning the pages while she reads.

“Hi,” she says, putting the chopsticks down and standing up.

The dress tightens against her chest and I lose it, grabbing her by the hips and tossing her over my shoulder.

She laughs and wiggles as I slap her ass and carry her into the bedroom. I plop her down on her massive bed, loving the way her hair splays against her soft purple sheets.

“Long day, honey?” she jokes and I nod.

“Been thinking about how I’d come home and fuck my wife,” I tell her.

A coy smile takes over her mouth as her nightstand drawer flings open. Her vibrator floats in the air, until it lands in her hand.

“What if I already took care of that itch?” she asks.

“We both know that you need more than one, little witch.”

“Hmm, do I need a man for that?” She spreads her legs, toying with me.

She’s wearing no panties and her scent fills me as I look down at her pretty pink cunt.

“I don’t know, do you?” I ask, unlatching my belt, and sliding it through the belt loops, dropping it on the floor, before taking off my shirt and pulling out my length and stroking it.

“How does that”—she points to my knot—“work?”

“It swells when I come,” I tell her easily.

“Why?” I shrug and she frowns at me. “Has it always been there?”

“No,” I reply quickly, climbing onto the bed built for a king. “Now, are you going to fuck yourself and let me watch, or are you going to let me make you feel good?”

She tosses the vibrator on the bed, and I pick it up.

“Something you should know about me, wife? I don’t take threats lightly,” I tell her before flipping her easily onto her knees and pushing the silk to bunch around her hips.

I fist the material with one hand as I slide the vibrator over her clit with the other. Her shoulders and face are pressed against the mattress while she moans and fists the sheets.

“Hm, how many times can I make you come before you’re begging for my cock?” I ask her.

She grumbles something against the sheets, and I smirk, shifting the toy to a higher setting, making her jolt. I rein her back in with my hand on her nightdress.

“Always teasing me with these dresses, and how sweet you smell when you’re turned on,” I tell her.

Her breath hitches and her thighs shake as her first orgasm hits her. I don’t move the toy and she tries to get away from me.

“What have I told you about running? Oh, are you trying to get me to fuck you? But you wanted to tease me with the toy.”

“Fuck, please. It’s too much,” she says and I smile, holding it tighter against her clit. Wetness is sliding over my fingers and I have the urge to take a moment and lick them clean, but resist.

She moans, and attempts to shut her thighs and push away from me, but I hold steady, keeping the toy on her pussy, making her writhe and whine in pleasure. Violet quickly breaks apart again, shaking and arching her back as she comes.

“Has my poor baby had enough?” I ask.

“Please, Alpha, please,” she says.

Any resemblance of control I have breaks as I fist my cock and shove it into her roughly. Her perky ass bounces with each thrust as she moans into the bed, taking me so beautifully.

I need her closer. I need the feel of her skin against mine.

My hips snap against her ass one more time before I wrap an arm around her chest and tug her back against my front, kissing the side of her throat.

One day…one fucking day, I’ll claim her there.

Her nails dig into my forearm as I slide in and out of her. Violet’s head tilts back, resting on my shoulder, and all I think about is how I want all of her, and to give her all of me.

But she’s not ready.

She’s given me her body, her promises, but she’s not ready to embrace everything that comes with her wolf. If this is all I can have right now, I’ll take it greedily.

“So good. Fuck, give me one more,” I tell her, balancing her with one arm as my hand slides between her legs, feeling where we’re connected and the way her pussy coats my cock in her essence.

“I…I…Silas,” she whines, as I toy with her pussy while still filling her up.

Her body is so over stimulated she rests most of her weight on me as I fuck her to release.

“Nothing feels better than coming inside of you,” I tell her as I come deep inside of her, satisfaction flooding me completely.

We both collapse onto the bed, and her head rests on my shoulder, my arm wrapped around her as she traces a few scars on my stomach.

“Feeling good?” she says, and I grunt, kissing her head. “Good, because I’ve got to go to New Orleans tomorrow.”

“Um, what?” I say, and she kisses me to shut me up before sliding down the bed and licking my cock. That’s already getting hard again. “Violet?” I say her name and she shushes me by sliding her lips around me and sucking.

For the first time in my life, I forget everything and let this tiny yet powerful moment silence me.