Chapter 42 The Secret No One Knows About
Aurelia
Zhayad finished shifting mid-fall, his wolf form fully formed, enormous, his silver-white fur gleaming under the bright lights.
His fangs hovered one inch from my pulse, and I let out a shriek when his onyx fang grazed just a little too close.
One huge paw pressed flat against my chest, pinning me to the cold stone like I weighed nothing.
I screamed.
It took a full minute for me to realize the raw, terrified sound was coming from my own throat.
The room was frozen. Not one person was breathing or moving.
Zhayad’s wolf stared down at me, as if contemplating what part of me to devour first.
His breath was hot against my neck, and I could swear I could feel his heartbeat thundering through his paw into my ribs.
I couldn’t move or think, I could only feel the crushing weight, the heat of his fur, the bond screaming between us, pain, rage, protectiveness, fear, all of them tangled into one choking knot.
Then he did what no one expected.
He buried his nose in the crook of my neck, right over the claiming mark he’d given me, and inhaled deeply.
A low, rumbling sound rolled from his chest, not a growl this time.
A sound almost like relief.
His body sagged, and the paw on my chest eased, just enough to let me breathe.
His head dropped heavier against my shoulder, and his eyes drifted shut.
He fell asleep, right there on top of me. Eight hundred pounds of lethal white wolf curled over my body like I was the only safe place in the world.
My scream died in my throat, and I didn't know if to laugh or cry.
I literally couldn’t move my head, Zhayad’s massive wolf head was still buried in the crook of my neck, his warm breath puffing against the claiming mark, his body a heavy, furry blanket pinning me to the floor.
The room had gone eerily quiet after the initial shock. Not one soul dared breathe or move, including me.
I couldn’t watch Ravina, Lance, or any of the others leave. Eventually, I dozed off, because I hadn't a single clue what I was supposed to do.
When I opened my eyes… I wasn’t on the study floor anymore. I was in bed. As in, our bed.
My body was tangled around Zhayad’s human one,my legs hooked over his thighs, one arm slung across his bare chest, my cheek pressed to the warm hollow of his shoulder.
And I was wearing a soft white nightdress, silk, loose, nothing I remembered putting on.
Wait… what?
I blinked hard, trying to piece it together.
The last clear memory was him shifting, lunging, pinning me down, and then the sudden, impossible gentleness of him curling over me and falling asleep.
After that… nothing. Just pitch black.
I shifted my arm, carefully, trying to slide out from under him without waking the beast.
Big mistake.
He rolled instead, and suddenly I was on top, straddling the hard, chiseled-to-perfection planes of his body.
His chest rose and fell beneath me in slow, deep breaths. His arms came around my waist like they belonged there, like even while asleep he refused to let me go.
I froze. Then his eyes cracked open, sleepy ydark green, still a little wild around the edges.
“You’re so beautiful,” he murmured, his voice rough from sleep and whatever hell he’d walked through.
“Have I told you that before?” He blinked slowly as he asked the question.
“Scratch that. You’re fucking beautiful.”
I blinked back at him, my brain still lagging.
“Thanks…?”
His lips curved, just a tired, lopsided half-smile. “Is that a question?”
“You want a question?” I shot back, my voice cracking on the last word because, seriously, what the hell was happening?
This side of him was new. We’d never actually slept in bed together. .
He’d always left before dawn, or I’d woken up alone.
And now here we were, cuddling. And he was looking at me like I was the only thing that mattered in the world.
I tried to move off him gently, needing space to think.
Big mistake number two.
The friction of my thighs sliding against his hips roused him instantly.
His cock thickened beneath me,pressing up against my center through the thin silk.
I hissed out a sharp breath.
“Oh, Aurelia,” he rumbled, his voice dropping into that dark, dangerous growl that always made my stomach flip. “You just had to wake him up.”
He moved so fast I barely registered it.
One second I was straddling him, my heart pounding for no reason in my chest.
The next, he’d flipped us.
I was flat on my back, my wrists pinned above my head in one massive hand, his body caging mine, his thighs spreading mine wide.
The nightdress rode up to my hips; cool air kissed my bare skin. I felt dizzy, my head spinning from the sudden shift, from the heat rolling off him, from the way his erection now pressed right against my slick folds.
His eyes, still a little wild, locked on mine. A slow, wicked smile curled his lips.
“It’s alright,” he said, licking his lips and dragging his tongue over his lower lip. “We’ll make you pay.”
And then he rolled his hips, dragging that sweet, thick length through my wetness.
I gasped, my back arching off the bed.
He dipped his head, his lips brushing my ear.
“Feel that?” he whispered. “That’s what happens when you tease me, Aurelia.”
Another slow grind, this one slower, even more torturous than the first one.
“You woke him up… now you’re going to take every inch of him inside you. You must appease him, and there's no escape.”
I struggled to keep my eyes open, but damn, Zhayad was setting my body on fire.
“Zhayad—”
He kissed me then, swallowing my moan and groaning into my mouth when I kissed him back.
When he pulled back his eyes were half lidded, full of lust and desire.
“Say my name again,” he growled, his free hand teasing my breast, cupping, squeezing and pinching my nipple.
“Zhay…. Zhayad,” I whispered, rubbing my center against him, begging for more friction, for him to slide that glorious cock inside me because I was about to lose my mind.
“Louder.”
“Zhayad!” I screamed this time, because he leaned down and sucked my nipple, catching the pointed nub between his teeth.
He rewarded me by sliding home, slowly this time, inch by thick inch, stretching me open until I was trembling, gasping, my nails digging into his shoulders, moaning out his name in scattered syllables.
He fucked me like that, slowly, deeply, possessively, each stroke causing the mark on my chest to light up, illuminating our faces.
Then, without warning, he increased his pace, wrapping his fingers around my throat.
He pushed me up the bed with the front of his knees, and my legs fell open wider.
A minute later, he turned me over and lifted my hips in the air. I only had a second to brace myself before he thrust into my overstimulated pussy, pounding me with more ruthlessness than before.
We came at the same time, me crying out in shattered moans and mewling whimpers, him grunting under his breath, his hips stuttering as he flooded me with heat.
Pulse after thick pulse spilled inside me until I felt it leak out around his cock and drip down my thighs.
He stayed buried deep inside me, his chest heaving against my back, growling soft praises into my hair.
Then, still inside me, he leaned down, to whisper in my hair which he held in a fist.
“Now,” he murmured in a conspiratorial whispere, “Mace is going to smell my seed in you when we go to interrogate him.”
I stiffened. Post-orgasm clarity crashed over me like ice water.
“Mace?” I echoed in a hoarse voice.
“As in… we’re going to see him? How?”
Zhayad eased out slowly, then rolled me onto my back so he could look down at me.
His hand slid up to cup my cheek, his thumb brushing away the tear tracks from when I'd cried tears of pleasure.
“We captured the warlocks we saw in the footage,” he said quietly. “Mace included.
He’s in the lower cells. And he’s going to give me every answer I want.”
My heart kicked hard.
Mace was here, under this roof. I swallowed audibly.
“And… you’re taking me with you?”
“Yes.”
Oh, shit. Zhayad was going to discover the secret I'd buried for years before finally running away. This wasn't how I wanted it to be found out, because Mace was definitely going to tell. He knew too much, and he'd rub it in my face when we got down there.