Chapter - Richard

Santa Alaya hasn't changed a bit. But seeing it with my mate, my queen, by my side makes everything seem a little different. Big Daddy fled my mind the moment he could, sprinting into Lola's consciousness. He's fascinated by her wolf's ability to turn into anything. Even now as we head back toward the castle, he's poking her wolf to turn into something else in our shared consciousness.

I can't keep my hands off Lola, though, and every step we get closer to the castle reminds me of how we have hours of people greeting ahead of us before we can sink into bed and fuck. I need to worship her before we go back there.

And I'm in total awe of what she did tonight.

"Lola, stop," I murmur, pulling her to face me.

When she obeys, I drop to both knees in the middle of the street and bury my nose between her thighs. Her hands come to my head, a happy sigh ringing off the colorful buildings around us. The cobblestones beneath my knees aren't comfortable, but I can't find it in me to care too much as I pull the sheer fabric of her dress aside.

Her pussy lips glisten with slick.

"Just being around you has me in a damn constant state of need," she says playfully.

Big Daddy and Lola's wolf slink off into the darkness together, receding from the forefront of our thoughts.

I can't find words as I slip my tongue between her thighs and lick a soft, flat path over her clit.

Her answering jolt stokes my lust sky-high as I grip her ass cheeks and hold her to me. When I growl, she steps her legs out wide enough to give me better access. Snarling, I go wild, sucking and licking and biting as her cries ring louder and louder, surrounding us until it sounds like the whole of Santa Alaya will hear her pleasure.

When she comes with a choked scream, curling over my head and ripping my hair out by the roots, I groan and spurt into my pants. Goddess, I need to knot her before I die of lust.

Sensing my thoughts, she laughs. "I suspect this is the first of many times duty is going to get in the way of us making love. I'm sorry about that, but I promise we'll figure it out."

I rise from my spot at her feet and cover her mouth with mine, silencing her train of thought. Of course we'll figure it out. Together. Her people need her, and I'm determined to ensure that she gets what she wants out of life too. However I need to make that happen, I'll do it for her.

Our tongues tangle as she opens for me, hopping into my arms. We kiss under the fading evening light. We kiss for a long time before I'm willing to let her return to her duties. It feels like hours that we kiss under Santa Alaya's beautiful moon. But eventually, it's time to return to the castle.

Hours later, I've had my fill of politics. I don't know what our future state looks like—a lot has changed tonight, and she and I didn't get a chance to discuss any of it before it happened. That can't be helped, but I swear to the goddess, if one more wolf comes up to?—

"Mi reina, congratulations on your ascension! My name is?—"

Fuck. Yet another wolf now stands in front of Lola. This one is older, and he must see the look on my face because he stops mid sentence. "Ah. You know what? I'll come back another time. It's been a long night."

Lola shifts forward off the throne and lays a hand on the elderly male's forearm. "I would love that. Please do come back. It's been quite the evening, but that doesn't make our meeting any less important."

He smiles thoughtfully and nods, disappearing into the crowd. But even the crowd is beginning to dissipate now. Couples and throuples leave in droves, emptying the once full ballroom.

Dirk is nowhere to be seen. Marco hasn't emerged from his office.

Lola grabs my hand. "Come, mate."

I let her lead me through familiar halls to her room, but by the time she enters the door, I'm hard and aching. Our wolves are with her; my mind is quiet save for a seething, dark need to take my queen.

When we enter her room, I don't expect the blast of pink and turquoise coloring every inch of the place. But I laugh—she must have done this after I left Santa Alaya. As a pup her room was a neutral palette.

Lola slaps me playfully on the stomach. "I can hear you, you know. Don't laugh. It's still beautiful." She strokes the door frame as she smiles at the ceiling. "My perfect room, right?"

The pink-washed ceiling beams creak, the chandelier in the middle of the room swaying softly.

I take a moment to walk around the space and get insight into the woman who captured me so completely in such a short time. The corner boasts a mini concert stage with photos from what appear to be a dozen or more different concerts over the years. Lola's only in one or two of them.

I point to the collection of photos on the wall. "Are these all concerts you missed?"

She nods softly, sorrow filling our bond.

Gripping her throat, I press her to the wall against the pictures, hovering my mouth above hers. "No matter what happens, I will never let you give up this dream, do you understand?"

Lola laughs, the throaty sound seeming to echo in the high-ceilinged room. One beautifully dark brow slants upward. "Is that a command?"

I brush my lips over hers. "Command. Demand. Request. Plea. Promise. It's all of that, Luna. We will find a way to manage this, alright? Somehow, we'll take care of Santa Alaya and Ever and your dreams."

Her smile grows softer, but she nods. "I used to be scared of ruling like Papá does, scared of the wrong turn or the wrong connection or the wrong alliance. But I suspect you and I will do things a little differently. And we'll still have his guidance, of course."

I growl at that. I'd like to say we don't need it, but the reality is that I plan to push a shitload of responsibility onto Marco's shoulders so Lola gets the chance to travel. He was always a genius regarding alliances and contracts and the more technical things related to ruling Santa Alaya. He always liked that part of it best, I think.

Lola is going to be a queen of the people; I can feel it. She's not going to spend all of her time in boardrooms discussing trade. She's going to be down among her packmates helping, visiting, supporting. I know it.

"There's one thing I want to do before we leave," I murmur, sliding my hand down her exposed chest to the gauzy belt that holds her dress together.

"Rip this off me, I hope." She brings both arms around my neck.

"And deal with Eliel," I remind her. "Not only was he going to force you, but he attacked you."

"During a challenge," she reminds me. "It was fair game then."

It's my turn to raise a brow. "I hope you don't expect me to let him off the hook?" My fingers return to her throat and squeeze. "I don't think I can do that, mate."

"Well, I think I'm gonna let him stew for a little while, and then I'm going to have a little heart-to-heart with him."

I open my mouth to protest, to tell her that having a heart-to-heart won't change who Eliel is. The only thing we can do is banish him to somewhere he can't hurt others or brand him officially as a criminal. That brand will make him unwelcome in any pack in any haven.

Lola growls, pulling my attention back to her. "I believe you made me a promise about this dress, Alpha. It's time to make good on that promise."

My eyes drop to the see-through fabric. Dark nipples peak the front, and my mouth waters at my Luna's obvious need. Big Daddy stalks along the bond from her mind to mine, muscles tight as he focuses on?—

Hot damn, Luna. Lookin' good.

"Thank you, Big Daddy," she croons into our bond. "You're not lookin' bad yourself, sir."

He puffs his chest out as I roll my eyes and lean down to bury my nose just below her ear. I breathe in deeply, pulling her scent all the way into my lungs as I try to infuse her inside me. "Need you rough, Luna," I growl into her ear, dragging my lips and fangs down to her shoulder. When I lick over the now-healed marks from my bite, she jerks in my arms, head falling back against the wall.

Big Daddy urges me on as I bite a hard path down the front of her throat and along her collarbone. By the time I get to her shoulder, ragged snarls rip from my throat, Big Daddy's claws tipping my fingers. Continuing a trail with my teeth, I bring both hands to the gauze belt holding her dress together. Curling my fingers into the translucent fabric, I pull with both hands. The fabric rips and tears, Lola's body jerking with the force as I yank again, and again, and again, tearing the front of the dress in half. I shove the straps down her shoulders and slant my mouth over hers.

Hauling her hands over her head, I press both wrists to the wall. With the other, I reach through layers of torn fabric and slide two fingers between Lola's thighs. When they come away wet, I laugh and lift them to my mouth, sucking the taste of her off them.

Lola's dark eyes flash with her wolf's amber, her mouth dropped open, breathing fast. Her heartbeat is a rapid staccato against her chest as I suck and lick my fingers clean.

"You're wet," I growl, Big Daddy's deepest tones threaded through mine.

"Do something about it," she challenges, lifting her chin as she struggles to release herself from my grip.

Goddess, yes,Big Daddy groans. She wants to fight us. Absofuckinglutely, omega. Into our bond, he focuses on her and her wolf. Run, girls.

I drop her wrists long enough for her to slip out of my embrace, then I spin in a circle and hunch down to watch my prey. Her bedroom is big, but not that big. Lola darts with a shriek across the room, pausing on the other side of the bed with eyes wide and a big smile on her face.

"We need a bigger space for a chase." I slide both hands through my hair as I anticipate tackling her on the bed.

Her devious thoughts filter down our bond as I tsk, shaking my head at her. "No shifting into something tiny, Luna. Stay in this form."

She pouts, but I'm halfway across the room already, leaping across the space and landing with a crash in the middle of her bed. The frame creaks and cracks as Lola spins to run. Surging forward, I knock her to the carpet on her hands and knees, trapping one of her legs with mine so she can't escape.

When she snarls over her shoulder at me, I reach down with both hands and unzip my dress pants. Pulling my thick cock out, I slap her ass crack with it.

"Fight, woman," I command. "I love it when you get wild with me."

In a move I somehow didn't anticipate, she yanks her leg out of my hold and flips onto her back, kicking me square in the chest with both feet. The move shoots her backward, and she executes some kind of amazing ninja flip, landing upright like a godsdamned dancer.

Laughing, I rise and kick my pants off. When I rip my shirt over my head, she makes a move. I tense for an attack, but the sound of footsteps on stone echoes back.

She ran out of the damn room!

Snarling, I toss the shirt aside and glance to the patio that runs the length of her room. Her shadow flashes past a window.

I follow, pumping my arms as I slide onto the patio and scramble to catch her. She's nearly to the end, and if she gets there, I have no doubt she'll jump off it and do some crazy maneuver to get down into the street. And if she does that, she"ll have the whole of Santa Alaya to hide in and tease me from.

My strides eat up the distance between us, and, just as she leaps for the railing, I grab her by the waist. I haul her back against me so hard, it knocks the breath from us both as I use my hips to shove her against the elegant stone railing outside of her bedroom.

My dick slips between her thighs, seeking her heat as she throws her head against my chest and looks up at me.

"Goddess, that was fun. Let's fight all the time."

"Only as a prelude to fucking," I promise, reaching down to guide my cock between her sweet pussy lips.

She gasps when I enter with a quick punch of my hips. Wrapping my arm around her waist so she doesn't get hurt on the balcony, I fuck hard and deep and slow, curling the fingers of my left hand into her hair to give myself leverage. The rough treatment does nothing but amp her lust higher, orange and cream and jasmine exploding across my senses as her lust saturates the air around us.

I drag her head to the side so I can bury my mouth against the skin of her neck. "Mine. I godsdamn love you, Lola."

Her wet, hot heat clenches around me, milking me for all I'm worth as her lock begins to swell.

"Don't lock me yet, sweetheart," I grunt, pulling out and stepping back. I can't rip my eyes from the panting omega with both hands on the railing who spins in place and glares at me.

"You fucking stopped? Oh no. Oh, moons no. No, you did not."

I turn casually and head for the double doors back into her room. "I'm not done, sweetheart. But I want you to come and take it from me."

My woman lets out a battle cry and shifts into a giant eagle. I'm so shocked at seeing her in any other form that I don't react quickly enough, and she snatches me up in her talons, sailing through the large doors. She drops me onto the mattress and shifts back to human form, sinking down to straddle my chest, her pussy dangerously close to my face.

Her eyes flash with her wolf's intense amber, and that challenge calls mine to rise, my dominance and hers warring together in the most perfect of ways.

"And for that insolence, my king, you'll feast before you get to come."

"Get up here," I command, pointing to my face.

As she settles over my mouth, soaking me with need, I grin up at her. "Before we leave, I need to fuck you on the throne with just your crown on. Make it happen, my queen."

"If you're a good boy," she says with deviant, triumphant joy. "Now put that mouth to good use, Richard."