Claws and Councils

LUCIAN

Once I am sure Liana is out of sight, I turn back to the council and face Alexandre specifically.

“Is the council happy now?” I say with disgust.

“Very, Your Highness. Although…we were expecting someone of higher—~status~ to be claiming the queen’s crown.”

It takes everything in me not to bite his throat out. I have no idea what my face does in response, but it prompts Olivia to reframe Alexandre’s statement.

“I think what Councilman Alexandre means to say is…who is she, exactly?”

“I don’t know how you can get higher than a princess,” I spit, and they show various degrees of surprise and approval.

“That information is welcome, but…unexpected. You know, considering her…appearance,” Alexandre says with distaste.

I growl and launch myself at him, gripping him by the throat and smashing him into the wall. I pin him there, snarling, my teeth bared. My lycan comes through and holds the transition as my claws elongate and spike into his neck.

“How dare you! I am your king!” I snarl looking down at him.

“Your Majesty!” Olivia squeaks, but right now I don’t care. ~No one~ insults ~my~ mate!

“I should rip your fucking throat out! You smug, arrogant cunt!” I seethe, and my lycan growls a terrifying threat.

“Lucian…” Liana’s sweet, soft voice somehow penetrates through my rage, and I look over my heaving shoulders to the silhouette of my little mate calmly walking up to me. She puts a delicate hand on my lower back. “Leave him be, lover. His mind is too small to understand what we have.”

I relax slightly at her touch and drop Alexandre to the floor. The council members rush around to help him up. Liana holds my gaze although I know she’s scared. She lifts her hand to my muzzle, stroking it gently. My eyes close and I drop down to my knees at her feet.

“I’m sorry, he—”

“I know. Their opinions of me do not faze me, Lucian. It is only yours that matters.”

Her words and her touch bring me so much calmness that my shift stops and I retreat back to my human form. Shifting has never been physically painful, but the emotional pain it causes when I lose sight of my mate…hurts more than anything.

Her hand holds mine and I feel her straighten beside me. “Council, as you can see I am a healthy, ~worthy~ mate to our king,” she states calmly. “I do not require your approval and I do not take your disrespect lightly. Please leave my home at once. Your welcome has been revoked.”

All around us, the council members are gasping. Her tone of quiet authority takes even my breath away. “Let’s go, my love,” she says. “I’m sure they remember where the door is.”

With a savage grin at Alexandre, I follow her lead out of the room, toward the stairs.

I’m struck silent as we walk. I didn’t expect her to be able to take control so well. It takes me aback a little. Not in a bad way, at all…no, in a very good way.

Entering our room, she takes me by surprise once again, pushing me back against the door with considerable power and growling a little. My lycan mentally wags a tail in happiness.

“Fuck me! I want you! Now!” she demands and starts pulling off her clothes. I don’t make her ask me twice. I growl back and rip my own clothes off my body, pulling her soft flesh to mine, instantly aroused by her demands.

My mouth moves to her neck, nipping and pulling at the skin with my teeth. She moans loudly, throwing her head back to give me better access.

“Fuck!” she gasps when I bite a little harder. Venom leaks from my canines and runs down her chest. I need to bite her so badly.

“Baby…” I growl, lifting my head back to get some distance. I have to control myself, but it’s hard.

“Lucian. I’m ready.”

I stop breathing and look down at her. “Wh—Liana…the moon—”

“Lucian!” she says, snapping me back to the here and now, and my rambling stops. “I don’t care if the change takes a week. I don’t care about a fancy wedding. I’m ready; I want you.”

I can’t stop the feral snarl as I feel my body shifting with a will of its own. Everything grows as muscles pop and every vein is pushed to the surface. I look down at myself, and even I feel a sliver of fear at the way I look right now. The only word that springs to mind is ~deadly~.

The beautiful gems of her eyes twinkle in the light. She looks at me without an ounce of fear.

Stepping closer, she curls her soft hands over my talons and up over the lengthened hair on my arm. With me at this height, she can only reach my bicep before skimming her fingers across my chest and down my stomach, humming softly as she does.

She’s pushing me further and I can barely contain myself—but then she steps away. I watch as she gets onto the bed and drops to all fours. The way she holds her legs open, just letting that scent out, is killing me. Especially when she looks over her shoulder with a smile before laying herself out in the center of the bed, like a meal.

My excitement grows wild. She yips and howls softly from the bed, calling me to her, and my control snaps. Growling low in my gut, I stalk toward her—and she whimpers sweetly, rolling around a little with excitement.

“Ready?” I ask quietly and she nods, a soft sheen of sweat breaking out on her skin.

“Mmm, yes. I’m ready. Claim me, Alpha,” she pleads, writhing around on the sheets. I prowl onto the bed. It bends and groans under my weight as I move up to tower over my little wolf.

Her erratic panting reveals her thick canines, bared and ready in her soft, human mouth. My own tingle with the venom they are leaking. Reaching between us, she grabs my thick, pulsing length and spreads herself wide to accommodate the extra growth. Her eyes flick wide and meet mine before she quite literally stuffs me inside her. She cries out loudly and I almost buckle with the feeling. I’ve never fucked in this form before, and it’s wildly intense.

I pull back and thrust again, and she screams out at the fullness. Then I look down at those teeth and nod. She returns the nod, and I lower my head down to her, sighing as her teeth sink into my neck.

Heaven. She is pure heaven.