375- Bound by Instinct and Fire
POV Viktor Averwyn:
I didn’t go home that night.
I stayed on duty at the office, even though it was Cezar’s turn. That way, I had more time to cool my head. I didn’t trust myself in bed with Seraphine, especially after what she had begged for. I needed to calm my wolf, to always keep some measure of control.
Which turned out to be a good thing, because the attacks intensified throughout the night, and I had to take several measures and make decisions until dawn began to break and the invaders retreated. I lost some traps and mines, but half of them were blown to pieces.
What I told her was serious: I knew I wouldn’t be able to stop them from climbing up to us forever, but I hoped to wipe out almost all of them before having to rely solely on brute force.
By morning, that part was resolved, the forests silent.
Florian and Ionut showed up, bringing breakfast. They insisted I go home, but I stayed, watching the surroundings through the cameras and anxious over the lack of news about my daughter. The longing I felt for her crushed me, along with the worry.
I knew I would still have to wait a few days. It wasn’t easy for Katarina to go in and out of Lucian’s territory. But that didn’t lessen my anxiety.
This time, one of the castle guards brought my lunch. That was what I wanted, having avoided Seraphine for more than twenty-four hours. Even so, I felt disappointed.
I worked through the afternoon, visiting the mines, solving small internal problems. By the end of the day, I felt tired. And I missed her.
I headed toward the castle, already aroused by the prospect of seeing her, smelling her up close. Looking, fucking, kissing. Everything. I just needed to stay alert.
I found Daciana at the entrance, giving me several reminders to eat properly and get a good night’s sleep. After she left, I went upstairs, sniffing the air. I realized she wasn’t in my suite, but in the guest room. That irritated me deeply.
I took a shower, pulled on loose sleep pants that hung low on my hips. I had no desire for dinner—my hunger was for something else.
I went to the window to feel the night’s chill, to look at the full moon. Telling myself it was better this way, not to get so addicted to each other. To have some time apart. But it only stressed me out.
I was already addicted. More and more.
I’ve had many females. In my centuries of life, countless she-wolves and women. Sometimes I took three at once, insatiable, wild. Especially during the Lust festivities, when they became heated in search of alphas, and I always had plenty available. I went there just to fuck.
And I had never been as fixated on any of them as I was on Seraphine. From the moment I caught her scent in the air, something inside me was shaken and kept trembling. It was intense, overwhelming. It bordered on need and grew stronger the more I had her.
It didn’t fade. It tore at me, demanded more.
I ran my fingers through my hair, nervous. I wanted to do the right thing, but I kept slipping into the wrong. First, by fucking her. Second, by not forgetting that I had almost marked her the day before. My beast and I clashed.
The energy inside me kept me wired, tense. I wanted to run through the woods surrounding the property, fully transformed into a wolf, free, until I felt exhausted. Or just wear myself out at top speed. But even that wouldn’t help.
I needed her.
I threw my door open and knocked on the one across from it. Almost instantly, it opened, and I found myself face to face with my greatest temptation.
Hair tousled, wearing one of my shirts she had taken, barefoot. Freckles and shining eyes.
“Why are you here?”
“I thought that’s what you wanted,” she said softly.
“I want you with me.”
I grabbed her arm and pulled her. She didn’t resist as I led her into my suite, looking at me, desire so obvious it was like staring at my own.
Part of my anger eased when I saw her there with me, in my space, so I let her go before I attacked her like a rutting wolf.
“Have you eaten?”
“I’m not hungry. And you?”
“Me neither.”
“Hard day?” She sat on the edge of the bed, her back against the headboard.
“Like all the last ones have been.”
I sat beside her. Amid her natural scent, I also caught the smell of her pussy, releasing that familiar aroma of her intimacy, of the lubrication I already recognized from afar.
She blinked, a bit shy, noticing my tension. She went straight to the point:
“Are you mad at me?”
“No.”
“Because I asked you to—”
“I won’t mark you, Seraphine. And that’s not up for debate. Don’t ask me again.”
“I have the right to want it.”
“And I have the right to refuse.”
“Do you think I’ll die? Turn into something unnameable, like a rabid bitch?” I frowned, and she continued: “Daciana said there have been cases like that. A human turns into a werewolf and goes insane. They even have to be put down.”
“A lot of things can happen. None of them good.”
She lowered her eyes to her hands, quiet. Silent.
I didn’t like seeing her like that. Immediately, I pulled her onto my lap, straddling me, facing me. I avoided letting her rub against my cock, or I’d be fucking her instead of talking. My control was already hanging by a thread.
Her green eyes locked onto mine while my hands rested on her hips. It was too hard to resist.
“Fuck, you’re beautiful…” I growled low, admiring her, an inexplicable wave of jealousy washing over me. “Did you have a boyfriend in Germany?”