Chapter 91 Two Strands of Hair
Kira’s POV
Morning came too fast and too bright. Sunlight stabbed through the heavy curtains like it personally wanted to punish me for last night.
I sat on the edge of the bed, toes curled tight into the fluffy rug, hands clamped between my knees, eyes glued to the floor like a kid waiting for the principal to yell about the broken window.
Adrian had left an hour ago, all smirky and efficient, promising he’d set up everything for my “trip” to LA…the funeral story that got me a one-way ticket out of werewolf hell. But I didn’t say a word to him. Not one. I just stared at the sheets like they held the secrets to the universe, replaying how I’d caved again. Failed again. His scent still clung to everything, mocking me.
A knock echoed on the door…sharp, hesitant. “Princess Abby? It’s Liana.”
“Come in,” I mumbled, not lifting my head.
The door creaked open, and she slipped inside, hands clasped tight in front of her like she was holding back a tidal wave. She shut it with a soft click, locking it without asking, then padded across the room in her quiet maid shoes, stopping right in front of me. Up close, she smelled like herbs and soap, her dark hair pinned back neat as always.
She bowed slightly, just a dip of her head. “Good morning, Princess. I was told you wanted to see me?”
I cleared my throat, feeling like I had sandpaper for a tongue. “Yeah. It’s about the stuff you asked me to get ready. For the cleansing ritual. Or whatever you called it.”
Her face lit up in this eerie way…like she’d just won the lottery but the prize was a cursed doll. Her eyes went wide, lips stretching into a grin that was too sharp, too hungry.
It hit me wrong, made my stomach twist in a terrible way. I started second-guessing everything. This cleansing stuff… was it really gonna work? Hope no one will get hurt? Or was I handing her ammo to screw me over?
But no. Liana was Abby’s ally. Abby’s. That made her mine too. She wouldn’t hurt Abby. Right?
“Princess,” she breathed, voice dropping to a whisper like we were plotting a heist. “You mean… you got the strand of hair from the king’s head?”
I reached under the pillow, fingers brushing the crumpled paper towel I’d stashed there like contraband. Pulled it out and slapped it into her palm. “Here.”
She stared at it like I’d handed her the world wrapped in white tissue. Her hands trembled as she carefully unwrapped it, peeling back the layers slow as a bomb tech. Two long, dark strands lay there…Adrian’s, yanked fresh early this morning before he opened his eyes.
Her brows shot up high as she saw the content. And immediately, I sucked in a sharp breath, one hand flying to cover my face like I’d witnessed something shameful.
“Princess…” she started, tone all curious and probing, eyes flicking to mine. “I asked for a strand of hair. There are two here. Why?”
I cleared my throat again, dodging her eyes, staring at my curled toes instead. Heat crawled up my neck, not the sexy kind…the embarrassed, what-the-hell-is-wrong-with-me kind.
Last night. God, last night. I didn’t even know how we ended up in the bedroom. One minute we’re outside in the snow, me still buzzing from the funeral lie win, him all possessive and growly about “setting things up.”
Next thing, that heat hit again like a freight train…worse than before. I felt like I was gonna die if he didn’t fuck me. It was insane. My body turned into this desperate, clawing thing, ripping at his shirt, begging with my hips while my brain screamed stop, idiot, escape plan!
But nope. We went at it like animals. Full-on BDSM knotting shit…him tying my wrists with his belt, pinning me face-down, that thick wolf knot locking us together for what felt like hours while he pounded me raw, spanking my ass red, biting my shoulder till I screamed his name.
I came so hard I blacked out twice, my nails ruining the sheets, legs shaking like I’d run a marathon.
It was Crazy.
This was hilarious in a tragic way…me, Kira Summers, the girl who’d said no to dudes in my old life more times than I could count, suddenly a sex maniac with zero self-control?
It had to be this body. Abby’s body. In my real skin, back in LA, I’d ghost creeps for less. Here? I turn into a knot-slut begging Daddy Wolf to breed me. Self-sabotage queen. Weak. No willpower. Why can’t I resist? Because this heat or wolf bond or whatever hijacked my brain…and my pussy.
The images flooded back in waves…his hand fisting my hair, that final knot swelling… stretching me to breaking, hot seed flooding deep as I sobbed into the pillow.
It was not like the first time.
Thinking about last night, my whole body suddenly began to ache, sore in places I didn’t know could hurt. Thighs bruised, ass stinging, core throbbing like I’d lost a fight with a jackhammer. I’d been ignoring it all morning. Ignoring Adrian. Ignoring that I failed Abby again.
A gentle tap on my shoulder yanked me out. I looked up…and holy shit, for a split second, it wasn’t Liana I saw.
The face staring down was pale as a living corpse, like she’d dumped a whole bottle of white foundation on, hollow black eyes sinking into skull sockets, lips cracked and bloodless. A ghost…or was it a hallucination?
I blinked hard. And there she was…normal Liana, fair skin glowing, eyes warm and worried. What the fuck?
What was that? First, I wake up from that messed-up dream…me stumbling down an endless dark tunnel, hands scraping cold stone walls, a broken voice whispering come find me, come find me, come find me over and over, desperate and cracked like shattered glass.
I didn’t know what I was hunting, or who was calling, but it clawed at my chest till I jolted awake sweating.
And now this? Liana morphing into a low budget vampire for a flash? My head’s unraveling. Is it the sex? Did Adrian’s knotting jumble my brains? Or is this the sacrifice kicking in? The tainting…is it finally turning me into a crazy person already? Am I glitching out, body and soul?
Oh God, what if I’m losing it for real?
“Princess? Everything alright?” Liana’s voice cut through, soft, concerned.
I nodded quick, forcing a smile. “Yeah, just… headache. No biggie.”
“Should I brew some calming tea? It helps with the after-heats.”
“Nah, don’t worry about it.”
She cleared her throat, glancing at the hairs again. “About these two strands… I only need one for the binding. Do you need me to do anything else with the second one?”
I reached out, plucked one back like it was no deal. “Not really.”
Then I cleared my throat for the third time…might as well rip the Band-Aid.
“Look, I got two strands instead because… well, earlier, we had sex. That first time which made you ask for a strand to start the ritual. And last night? It happened again. I couldn’t find that substance you gave me to control myself… I tried to stop it, swear to heaven, but I was useless. Like, full-on lost my mind.”
Liana cut in, eyes bulging. “So you brought two strands of hair?”
I shrugged, face burning. “Yeah… one for the first fuck, one for round two. Figured better safe than sorry. Two strands of hair for two fucks… I mean… tainting.”
She burst out laughing…light, almost motherly, like I’d told the joke of the year. “Poor child!”
Then she froze, like she’d tripped an alarm or suddenly played out of character and slapped a hand over her mouth. Then she muttered a quick, “That’s… not how it works,” trying to backpedal, eyes darting like she’d spilled state secrets.
But I heard it.