64- The Weight of Instinct
POV Edric Eldoria:
I reviewed the reports from our last exported shipment, satisfied with the results. Our company grew stronger by the day, becoming a powerful force in the market.
The pack didn’t need that much money to survive—it was largely self-sufficient, and the supplies acquired in the city were insignificant compared to the number of members.
Because of our healing abilities, we rarely needed medicine, and when we did, Aldren provided it. All-natural, made from herbs. Human pharmaceuticals were toxic to us.
Still, everything had to be paid for. Anything a wolf bought—whether within or outside the pack—had to be paid for. That was how things ran smoothly, forcing everyone to work and earn their own salary at the end of the month.
I rubbed my face, trying to stay focused on the work ahead and ignore the guilt that insisted on surfacing every time I closed my eyes.
I should never have given in to desire. Not again—and especially not with Lunara. But most of all, not there. Not in that lake.
I was a failure. As a man and as an Alpha.
Over three hundred years old and still unable to control my hormones, letting myself be seduced by a twenty-two-year-old she-wolf. On top of all that, I had disrespected Catalina’s memory by fucking the little wolf in that damned place.
With a frustrated sigh, I lifted the papers in front of my face, forcing myself to read every line and push away any thoughts that weren’t business-related. I was finally focused when I caught the scent of a female approaching—invading my office.
She smelled good, but nothing compared to Lunara’s scent. Hers was deep, exotic, and intoxicatingly strong to me.
“Edric?” Thalira called from the doorway.
I looked up at her and lowered the reports, pulling my feet down from the desk and sitting properly. I noticed the exact moment she saw Lunara’s renewed mark on my neck—her pupils dilated, and she faltered for a heartbeat before advancing with confidence.
Her jaw tightened as she clenched her teeth.
“I have… something to tell you,” she muttered, unable to look away from the mark.
I couldn’t feel what she felt—not like I did with Lunara. That connection didn’t exist with anyone else. But her anger was obvious. Thalira was furious.
“Please,” I gestured toward the two chairs in front of my desk.
She ignored them, staying on her feet as she stepped closer, resting her hands on the back of one chair.
“At the assembly, you said anyone with information about Lunara or Alessio should report directly to you.”
I nodded in agreement, and she continued. “Well, I heard something…”
I narrowed my eyes and leaned forward. “What did you hear?”
She licked her lips and shrugged. “I heard Alessio regrets rejecting Lunara—and that he wants her back. He doesn’t care if she’s marked; he’ll force her to go through the ritual.”
My hands curled into fists, fury flooding my veins.
“And where did you hear all this?”
“In the city.”
They were forbidden from wandering through other wolves’ territories, but not from visiting the city for fun—as long as they stayed discreet and didn’t cause trouble.
“I think one of the wolves who visited us couldn’t keep his mouth shut while staying there,” she went on, removing her hands from the chair and crossing her arms.
“That’s not going to happen,” I hissed. “I’ll kill Alessio before he gets the chance to lay a paw on Lunara.”
Something flickered in her brown eyes.
“And what if she wants it?” she challenged. “Everyone knows she removed your mark from her neck. She might still love him. After all, they were engaged—they have a past, a history.”
I took a slow, deep breath, trying to calm my turbulent temper. The thought of Lunara with Alessio sent chaotic reactions through my wolf. She said she hated him with everything she had, but I couldn’t ignore that she’d once shown interest in the ritual.
“She might… you know… tell him our secrets. She’s a risk to us,” Thalira declared.
And as much as I hated her way of thinking, she wasn’t wrong.
Besides, Lunara sometimes looked upset, sad, as if mourning something. What if she still had feelings for him and was only pretending with me?
If she ran away, she could tell Alessio everything—our secrets, the borders of our territory, how our systems worked, even where our traps were. If Lunara betrayed us, we’d be ruined.
But above all, I would be ruined. What kind of Alpha would I be if I allowed something like that to happen? The elders raised and shaped us never to forgive traitors—but what happens when the traitor is bound to you?
I would never allow that. I shook my head, letting out a low growl.
It was an absurd thought. Alessio had slaughtered her entire family—why would she ever run back to the male who caused her ruin?
Then again, she was angry with me. Angry about my affair with Thalira. She hated her life in the pack. They didn’t like her, didn’t respect her, didn’t trust her. She had no happiness here, even if she was bound to me and forced to stay.
I rested my elbows on the desk and massaged my temples, trying to ease the sharp throbs brought on by stress.
“So, what are you going to do with this information?” Thalira asked.
“Nothing.”
She scoffed and walked around the desk, stopping beside me.
“You know,” she said in a velvety tone, “I was invited again to tonight’s party. We could repeat what we always do at those gatherings.”
Thalira was offering me sex—at a moment when all I wanted was to be alone and think.
“Uh-huh,” I replied flatly, not even looking at her.
Alessio was a son of a bitch—a bastard—but he seemed persuasive enough. Lunara had believed him all her life, never discovering his true intentions.
She’d trusted him once. Loved him. She’d told me herself she didn’t miss her family, didn’t care about her parents’ deaths. So what guaranteed she wouldn’t go back to that bastard?
Thalira gripped the sides of my leather chair and spun it to face her. She leaned over me, running her tongue across her lips in a deliberately seductive way.
“I’m talking to you,” she purred. “I miss you, Edric. You haven’t been giving me the attention I deserve.”
She pushed my hands aside and sat on my lap, fingers sliding into my hair as she gripped the strands.
“Thalira, I’m busy,” I sighed.
She shifted, grinding her round, soft ass against my cock, rocking back and forth—pleasuring me through the movement.
“I’m an unsatisfied wolf right now,” she murmured. “I just told you I was invited to the party again, and you didn’t even respond properly.”
She leaned close to my ear. “Last time, you loved how I sucked your cock,” she whispered, pulling back to meet my gaze.
I stared at her, my hands gripping her slender waist as a predatory smile curved my lips.