10- The Curse of the Bond
POV Lunara Grimwald:
He kept pounding into me, driving his cock deep before pulling out and repeating the motion.
My blood tasted like honey on his tongue, and when mixed with his, it vibrated. He could feel it too—I knew it—because he moaned louder against me and clutched me tighter. I felt the swell of his knot at the tip before he finally gave in, exploding in a deep orgasm, spilling himself inside me.
For a few seconds, we didn’t move at all. We just stared at each other. The rough bark of the tree scratched my bare back, and the cold breeze tugged at my hair, tangled with dry leaves and dirt.
I stared at Edric, watching the way the silver glow of moonlight lit his face. His eyes were still golden but fading with each second. His hair was a beautiful mess, broken twigs caught in his brown curls.
The forest had fallen into a sepulchral silence, as if every animal had fled far away from us.
He blinked once, twice, three times, as his eyes shifted back, the gold of his dilated pupils giving way to deep blue, speckled with silver. His brow furrowed, confusion clouding his face. He looked at my face, at the mark on my neck, and then stepped back, setting me down on the ground. He staggered back two steps, hand flying to his neck, touching the mark of my bite before his eyes widened, filled with raw, palpable hatred as he glared at me.
The feeling was so real, so deep, I could sense it in every pore.
"What did you do?" he hissed, veins bulging on his neck, twisting his handsome face into a furious mask.
I gasped, as confused as he was.
"What?" I whispered, shivering for the first time since my heat had begun.
I didn’t know if it was from the way he looked at me, or guilt for fucking in the middle of the forest with a male I barely knew. Shame, sadness, and... all of his anger weighed on me.
"We’re mated, fuck!" he shouted, yanking at his hair in despair. "What are you?" he growled.
I crossed my arms over my breasts, covering myself from the male who had just fucked me and... marked me.
Only then did the realization of what it meant hit me. I gasped, choking back the scream lodged in my chest.
...
I couldn’t breathe. It was as if all the air had thinned out. I couldn’t move or react. I couldn’t even think.
Had we... mated?
I didn’t know much about the act, because the wolves in my pack despised it. Mated wolves became one. Everything one felt, the other also felt. And if one died, the other would die too.
To my father and Alpha Kellan, it was a despicable act, since it would place their lives in the hands of their females, and they didn’t consider any female worthy of such privilege.
It was an ancient ritual and represented countless things. Among them, the purest devotion. It often happened when wolves were fated partners—souls born to be together, to complete each other. But it was rare to find one’s destined mate, at least in my pack, where I knew of only three couples.
Since it was a banned custom, it wasn’t much spoken of, to avoid stirring the curiosity of young couples. Everything I knew was from whispers and overheard conversations.
It was a blood exchange. The male bit the female, and the female bit the male, making them one and forever carrying the mark of mutual domination.
I was supposed to be marked by Alessio after our wedding, but I wouldn’t mark him. He would do it to flaunt his dominance over me to the others in the pack. It was very common, in fact. All the married females paraded with their husbands’ fang marks on their necks, along with carrying their scent.
"I... I..." I whispered, feeling terror creep over me little by little.
This was... a disaster. I was mated to Edric. A wolf about whom I knew nothing beyond his first name. We were bound, my life to his and his to mine.
I lifted my face to him.
At that moment, it was obvious to me why I could feel his rage so vividly.
Gods.
He stepped forward and stopped in front of me, leaning down to align our faces.
"I asked you what the fuck you are..." he hissed, his breath ghosting across my face.
He trembled, fists clenched tight at his sides. He was at his limit, about to lose control and give in to his most savage instinct. He didn’t realize it, but he was exuding the pheromone of fear, which somehow didn’t affect me. Maybe because we were mated—since whenever my father released it, I would instantly kneel, submitting. It was instinctive.
I should have felt terrified, utterly panicked by what I was experiencing, but instead I felt only... confused and devastated by the entire situation.
"I’m an omega."
He shook his head.
"You’re not!" he snarled in accusation. "I’ve been near many omegas in heat, and I never lost control with any of them."
Alphas were the only ones affected by an omega’s heat. They could smell the pheromone from afar. That’s why we used herbs to suppress the cycle when we weren’t married. Heat was only for reproduction—nothing more.
I wanted to back away, but there was nowhere to run, trapped between him and the tree trunk. His presence, so close, near enough for me to distinguish the silver flecks in his irises, overwhelmed me.
"I don’t know what happened," I finally managed to say. "This is my first heat without the suppressant. I’ve never gone through this before."
He stared at me for so long I thought he’d rip my head off. But then he stepped back and began pacing, rubbing the back of his neck.
My gaze ran over him—his torn shirt, his bare legs. His cock was beginning to harden again, though he seemed not to notice. Heat crept through me at the sight, making me gasp.
Edric stopped, turning to me.
"You’re releasing the pheromone again," he accused through clenched teeth.
I shouldn’t have looked—I knew that—but I couldn’t stop myself. I looked. He was hard again, completely ready, as affected by my heat as I was.
I sucked in a breath of icy air, trying to calm myself.
"I can’t control it," I admitted, feeling my cheeks burn. "It’s involuntary."
He growled, rubbing his face.
"Fuck, what the hell just happened?" He looked me over from head to toe, his nose wrinkling in disgust. "I can’t believe I mated with you. That hit me in a way I didn’t want to admit. A deep, sharp tug straight to my stupid heart."