The mont she spoke to his wolf, he knew. He knew he would keep her. Not just as a concubine, not as so temporary indulgence, but as sothing more. His sothing more.
Manic had never been completely ruthless, not at first. Losing his mate had done that to him.
Mara had turned her back on him the mont their eyes locked, right after the Moon Goddess herself declared them fated mates. Lucas, young and untested as Alpha, had felt whole for the first ti in his life. He had visited the Crimson Pack at the invitation of their forr Alpha, a routine gesture of goodwill and dominance between packs. And there she was.
She had been across the room, helping ogas set up the tables, her fingers adjusting silverware, her lips curving into a patient smile as she worked. She had been breathtaking, radiating a quiet strength that made Manic roar his claim inside Lucas's head. Mate. He had been so loud that half the wolves in the room had instinctively bowed their heads in submission.
And yet, Mara had belonged to another. She had already bonded with soone else.
Lucas had spent weeks, months, pleading with her, trying to make her see reason, trying to make her understand that the Moon Goddess didn't make mistakes. That they were supposed to be together.
And then, the night she rejected him, Manic lost himself.
After that, everything had crumbled. He went on a blood rage. His brother had turned against him. His pack feared him. He had earned the infamous title-The Butcher of the Silver Pack. No one dared defy him.
Until Ava.
The woman writhing beneath him in a fevered state of desire, moaning his wolf's na.
He needed control. Not because he feared hurting her. No, she could take everything he gave. She had proven that but because for the first ti in a long ti, he wanted to savor. He wanted to rember every gasp, every whimper, every hitch in her breath. He wanted to drag this out. He wanted it to last forever.
He ran his fingers along the inside of her thighs, teasing her, making her body tremble with the sheer anticipation. Slow. He needed to go slow.
Ava, however, had absolutely no patience for that.
"You're killing ," she groaned, arching against him, her body radiating heat like a furnace.
He smirked, letting his fingers dance over her skin, barely making contact. "You'll live."
"Not if you keep torturing ."
Lucas leaned down, brushing his lips along her jaw, kissing her breasts, her nipples, her neck his breath hot against her ear. "You should have thought about that before you drove insane."
Ava tilted her head back, exposing the delicate line of her throat, an unintentional act of submission that made sothing deep inside him tighten. Manic rumbled in approval, but Lucas ignored him. This mont was his.
When he finally pressed his lips against hers, it wasn't just a kiss, it was a war. A claiming. A promise.
She t him with the sa fire, the sa recklessness that always got her into trouble. Her fingers tangled in his hair, nails scraping against his scalp as she tried to pull him closer, deeper, faster.
Lucas grinned against her mouth. "You want to lose control?"
"I want you to stop acting like we have all the ti in the world," she shot back, breathless.
He chuckled, dragging his lips down her neck, across her collarbone. "We do." He let himself linger in that sweet spot, wondering what it would feel like when he finally marked her. A feeling he had been deprived of.
She shivered beneath him, but whether from his words or his touch, he wasn't sure.
And then he slid himself into her, shuddering at the feeling.
"Manic!" she scread.
Manic may have handed the reins over to him, but with every scream of his na, he fought to get back. The way the sound escaped her lips, it was heavenly.
"You feel so good." Lucas whispered, moving, feeling. "Fuck!" he wasn't fast, he wasn't slow. It was just the right kind of movent.
Just movent.
Just feeling.
Closer.
Everything about her burned into his mory, the way her body molded to his, the way she gasped, the way her fingers clawed at his back like she was holding on for dear life.
And when they finally reached orgasm together, it wasn't just physical, at least for Lucas, it was everything.
For a mont, neither of them moved. Their ragged breaths were the only sound in the room.
Ava was the first to break the silence.
"So..." she murmured against his chest. "That was...beautiful."
Lucas chuckled, brushing a hand through her hair. "I think I broke you."
She groaned, turning her face into the pillow.
He let out a full, rumbling laugh, his body still buzzing from everything she had made him feel.
Believe it or not, Alpha Lucas Raventhorn was happy.
*****
Ava surfaced from what felt like a coma induced by pleasure and exhaustion. Her body still ached in places she didn't want to think about, but her mind was sharp. On her way back to the concubines' quarters, she found Kade, arms crossed with an expression of exasperation mixed with concern plastered across his face.
"I would hug you if I wouldn't lose my head." He deadpanned.
Ava smiled weakly, her voice still hoarse from all the screaming she had been doing for the past few days. "I worried you, didn't I?"
Kade scoffed. "You have no idea. It took less than a day to drive to the human territory to find Lanaya."
"So I actually owe my recovery to you."
Kade narrowed his eyes. "What were you thinking, Ava?"
She sighed. "Kade, you knew I was going to do this."
Kade ran a hand down his face. "Yeah, but knowing and watching you die are two different things."
Ava raised a brow. "Technically, I didn't die."
Kade groaned. "Not the point, Ava."
"Then what is?"
"So what's your plan now? You had sex with the Alpha. What next?"
Ava let a lazy smirk form on her lips. "Beco Luna."
Kade actually laughed. Scoffed, choked, and laughed.
"Oh, you're serious? Ava, Alpha Lucas made it clear he doesn't want a Luna. Why do you think he keeps concubines?"
"I am different, Kade."
Kade's expression shifted from amusent to sothing softer, almost desperate. He stepped closer. "Ava, you don't have to do this. You can leave this suicide mission behind. Let's run away together. We can start over, hide out in the human territory—"
Ava's expression turned to stone.
"Kade, you need to stop talking."
The mont the words left her lips, she felt a twinge of guilt. Guilt was a weakness but it was there. Kade had served his purpose, teaching her the art of seduction, but that was all. Nothing more, nothing less.
Or was there?
Before she could dwell on it, she turned away and left him standing there.
Ava barely had ti to take in a full breath before Zari launched at her like an overexcited puppy.
"You're alive! Thank the Moon Goddess!" Zari squealed, wrapping her arms around Ava in a tight hug.
Ava chuckled, genuinely surprised. "You're actually happy to see ?"
Zari pulled back, hands on her hips. "Why wouldn't I be? You scared ! The only updates I got were from Nelly, and trust , that wasn't enough. I warned you, Ava."
Ava smiled, touched despite herself. "I'm fine. See?" She gestured dramatically at herself. "Though I would kill for so breakfast. The Alpha has this weird love for at, and I am sick of it."
Zari gasped in mock horror. "Blasphemy! Who gets tired of at?"
". I need bread. And sothing that wasn't bleeding five minutes before it landed on my plate."
Just as Zari was about to respond, a voice like nails on a chalkboard interrupted.
"I see the weakling is back from the dead."
Ava barely turned before Sarah, the Queen of Pettiness and the Self-Proclaid Leader of the Concubines, slinked out from the shadows.
"Good to see you too, Sarah." Ava rolled her eyes, already exhausted.
Sarah crossed her arms, her lips curling. "You're a desperate bitch, you know that? You really think warming the Alpha's bed will make you his favorite concubine?"
Ava shrugged. "At least I'm not a forgotten one."
A pin-drop silence followed. The ogas watching the scene sucked in a collective breath. Even Zari, who had been ready to throw herself between them, froze. It was truly an oh snap mont.
Sarah's face twisted with rage.
Slap.
The sound echoed across the room. Ava's head barely moved.
Zari gasped. "Sarah!" She rushed to step in, but Ava lifted a hand, stopping her.
Ava let a slow smirk spread across her lips. Her gaze casually swept the room, noting the silent audience, ogas, servants. They had seen it. Perfect.
She turned back to Sarah, eyes gleaming. "You're going to regret that."
Sarah let out a mocking scoff. "Oh, please. You can't do anything to ."
Ava tilted her head, stepping forward until she was nearly chest-to-chest with Sarah. Her voice lowered to sothing dangerous, silky, and sharp-edged.
"Maybe. But the Alpha can."
Sarah blanched.
Ava leaned in, whispering just loud enough for only Sarah to hear. "And last I checked... he does whatever I want."
Checkmate.
Sarah took a step back, her confidence cracking, her fists clenching at her sides. She opened her mouth, no doubt ready to spit so weak insult, but Ava had already turned away.
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