Chapter 10: The Fall

I turned, prepared to land on my back with the hope of surviving when I saw Dorian swinging through the air on a vine, coming straight for me.

He got to me just in time, flicking off the end of his rope toward me.

He shifted mid-air with a deafening roar, dove for me, and caught me a second before I landed.

He grunted, rolling me into him as we smashed into the ground.

Dirt and shrubbery went flying around us as he protected me, curling me in as he took the impact.

I gasped as he rolled, clenching my eyes shut in his fur.

His wolf was so big, I felt nothing but him.

He slowed us, holding me to him as he finally caught himself, digging his paws in, one still clutching me.

He slid to a stop before placing me gently on the ground. He nudged me, whimpering, panting as his eyes stared into mine.

I blinked a couple of times, surprised I was still alive, the rush dissipating fast.

Holy shit. I had almost died. But Dorian—he had saved me.

I looked up at him and gripped the sides of his furry face.

“Thank you,” I whispered.

He whined, his wolf body shaking a second before he collapsed his wolf into his human form.

I sucked in a breath, watching. It was a crazy kind of magic that let him hide a wolf inside of him, and I wasn’t sure I’d ever get used to it.

Dorian cupped my face, checking over me again, his body lying over mine.

“Are you okay? Were you hurt?”

I shook my head. “No. Were you?” I asked.

“I’ll heal.” He hung his head, leaning it on mine. “I didn’t think I would get to you in time,” Dorian whispered.

“But you did,” I said, pulling his face to look at me. “I’m sorry I insisted on going on my own.”

Dorian looked over my face like he couldn’t believe I was apologizing. But I was human enough to know when I had fucked up. I wasn’t a wolf. I couldn’t heal. Something I had been told and had been human enough to ignore.

Dorian didn’t say anything. Instead, he grabbed my face and crashed his lips down on mine.

He silenced my apologies with a kiss so fierce I couldn’t form any more words.

The mossy ground beneath me was soft as his hard body pressed me into it.

My leg came up against his waist as he drove his hips against me.

His hard cock teased the apex between my thighs, and I sighed.

His tongue slipped into my mouth, dancing with mine as I lifted my hips to meet his.

I was pretty sure I was meant to be doing other things that didn’t involve fucking, but with Dorian’s mouth and body on mine, I couldn’t remember why the hell I would say such a thing.

I had been punished enough in my lifetime. Denying myself the pleasure Dorian promised me with his touch seemed unnecessary.

“If the pack weren’t in the trees racing the other alphas down here right now, I would already be inside you, Sweet Siren.”

Dorian’s words pierced my core with a pang of pleasure that had me moaning.

I shuddered against him and kissed his full lips, running my hands through his long, thick brown hair.

“I want that,” I panted.

Dorian groaned and kissed me again.

I succumbed to the kiss, the pleasure taking me to a place where I didn’t care who else was there.

“Alpha Dorian,” a voice interrupted.

We both looked up to where it had come from.

A man of the same bulk that most of the pack had stood there, his body only covered by a green cloth.

He was panting and sweating as he pushed his dark hair back.

“Speak quickly,” Dorian said gruffly, not letting me out from under him, keeping us pinned to the ground, his cock still pulsing against my center with only the protection of my leather pants.

I had on a dark green corset that would be so easy to take off. A small tug of the string at the front and it would all come undone. But first, we had to get rid of the company.

“I bet your time on the course,” the newcomer said, his eyes narrowing on Dorian like he was filth.

Dorian’s eyes narrowed on him. “I’ll beat it in the morn.”

“See that you do.”

The guy walked away like he hadn’t just been a dick. Dorian grunted and then kissed me harshly again.

I let myself lean into the kiss for a moment before pulling back. “Is that how they all talk to you? Not just Callian?”

Dorian grimaced. “Yes.”

“Why do you let them?”

He shrugged, leaning on his elbow over me. “It’s survival of the fittest here. If I am not the fittest, I will not be alpha.”

Dorian acted like that was normal, but I did not get that sense from the other two alphas.

“How would they treat a human Luna?” I asked softly. If I was to be Dorian’s, I had to know what that would mean. I definitely wouldn’t enjoy being spoken to like that every day. And I had just failed my first attempt at vine swinging—would that be allowed? Or was failure not an option for even me?

Dorian kissed me softly on the lips, the nose—“I would kill any of them who dared to treat you as less than.”

“But I am less than, Dorian. I’m human. Would they accept that?”

“I would make them. That’s the point, Sweet Siren. As the strongest alpha, they will accept whatever I tell them to.”

“Until you are no longer the strongest,” I whispered.

“That day will never come. Especially with you at my side. My dying breath will never happen while you still breathe, Sweet Siren. Even if you choose another alpha.”

I smiled at that and pushed back his long hair so I could see his face better.

“I don’t know how I am meant to choose,” I admitted, my voice quiet.

“I’m quietly confident,” Dorian grinned, “I have a few more things from my territory to win you over with.” He kissed me before I could answer, and I smiled, melting into the kiss.

I kissed him back, loving the way he made me feel when he held me.

So safe, so desired. It was more than I had dared to hope for before.

But I felt something tug inside my chest.

It felt like Dorian was distracting me from my questions—like there was something he wasn’t saying.

I would find out; I had to.

But for now, I enjoyed our moment, kissing him back, falling back into the place between us where heat and pleasure existed over everything else.

Dorian gripped my thigh, his kisses growing deeper as he slipped his tongue along mine.

I rocked against him, wrapping my arms around him, my skin growing damper with the fever that set in for him.

Two thuds landed next to us, and Dorian groaned, turning to the intrusion as I panted, trying to catch my breath.

“Dori is taking all our girl’s time up, Zachy Boy. What are we going to do about that, hmm?” Atticus said, circling us with a hungry glint in his eyes.

I smiled up at him as Dorian refused to get off me.

“My territory, my turn,” Dorian shrugged.

“You let her fall.” Zachariah scowled.

“I caught her.” Dorian’s argument was valid, but Zachariah didn’t think so.

He scowled and looked away, his chest moving faster and deeper than I had ever seen.

His eyes flashed red as he gritted his teeth.

“Woah, calm down, Zachy. You’re going to frighten her if you let your wolf out right now,” Atticus said in a patronizing tone that I thought would wind up Zachariah even more.

Instead, he turned his head to me, his eyes meeting mine like they so often did.

He took three long, deep breaths. “Apologies, Little Red.”

I smiled up at him. “I’m okay.”

I pushed against Dorian and he let me up as far as sitting on his lap.

I snuggled back into him, my body still burning since his cock was still against me.

Atticus put his hands on his hips. “Well. That was an awful experience I don’t want to repeat. Shall we have some fun that doesn’t involve heights or the assholes in this pack?”

Dorian growled, “Careful.”

Atticus just grinned and winked at me.

He wound them all up on purpose and I laughed. But deep down, I hoped he had another side—a soft side that I could bury myself in and exist without worrying that everything I felt or said would get turned into his next quip.

One look in the big alpha’s eyes and I knew it was there.

That inkling of softening in his gaze when he looked at me. I wanted to see that Atticus. I turned to Zachariah, who was staring back at me.

He walked over to two of the vines that they had dropped down on. He rolled them over his hands with a smirk.

“I think we should treat our Little Red to some more exciting things we can do with vines.”

I gulped as he pulled one taut around his hand.

“Like what?” I dared to ask.

Dorian’s breath tickled my ear as he moved his lips to them.

“We’re going to have some fun with your body—and we’re going to use the vines to do it,” he whispered.

I swallowed deeply, my stomach tightening. “Okay.”

~

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