Chapter 17: The Door

“That door is out of bounds. Even for you, Fox.”

I folded my arms across my chest and sneered at that order. “I thought there were no rules?”

He narrowed his eyes on me. “One rule. Under no circumstances do you open this door. Do you understand?”

I swallowed hard and nodded. I wasn’t used to seeing him scowl at me. Sometimes at Zachariah, sometimes Dorian, but not me.

And over a padlocked door that I wasn’t allowed to enter. It made me nervous. What was he hiding?

I was going to drop it, but I didn’t like being nervous or left in the dark when it came to the wolves. Especially when this was potentially going to be my home.

“What’s behind there?” I asked, trying my luck with honesty.

Atticus’s eyes narrowed and his lips turned into a sly smirk. He edged towards me. I stepped back, backing into the door I wasn’t allowed behind.

He pressed me against it, his body up against mine as he put his arms on either side of me.

“Nothing you need to worry about, Fox.” His voice was husky, distracting me as he leaned down to kiss me.

I took the kiss, sighing into it. But my mind was still on the door and what was behind it.

Atticus moved his mouth over mine, one arm leaning above me on the door, one hand skimming down my body.

I moaned as his tongue pushed along mine, my pussy clenching.

I held onto my mind, though. I pulled my face away, intent on asking him more, but he distracted me further, kissing down my jaw, then my neck.

He caressed the skin with his mouth, and it took so much more concentration to keep my thoughts.

“Why don’t you want me to know what it is?” I asked, trying to speak with conviction so he knew it meant something to me that he was already hiding things, but he was a master at seduction.

His hand moved my body, his fingers skimming my skin with feather-light touches that brought it to life.

His tongue stroked over a hidden nerve behind my ear.

His lips pressed on the hollow of my throat.

It all made it harder to breathe, to think, to speak. I wanted to know, but every time the word stop came to my mind, my body stole it away because stopping was the last thing I wanted to do.

“You don’t need to know.”

I sighed as he found my mouth and silenced me with his tongue.

He pulled up my dress and slipped his fingers between my legs, stroking my center with a skilled touch that almost brought me to my knees.

He was an expert and knew exactly where I needed his touch.

I almost sagged against him, leaning back against the wood, my body shuddering.

I tried to resist; I held out as long as I could, but it made no difference. My willpower was non-existent, and he was too good with my body.

I gave in, wrapping my arms around his shoulder and kissing him as his fingers entered me.

I moaned against his mouth, pressing my body into his, begging for more friction.

He gave it to me, pumping his fingers into me faster, adding a second finger while making sure his palm hit the top bone that built the pressure inside me.

I burned for him, my core in flames as I let myself go and immersed myself in him completely. He was what I wanted.

I didn’t care enough about the room to turn down the feelings he gave me. Not when I had potent magic constantly writhing beneath my veins, demanding an outlet.

It was the perfect distraction.

Atticus gave me a few more strokes, enough to have me writhing and clinging to him. Then he picked me up on his waist and slammed me against the door.

He was quick as he pulled himself from his pants, pulled my thighs wider, and entered me in a swift stroke that had me crying out. He caught my sounds with his kiss, smothering them, sending the pleasure straight to my core.

It burned even brighter, and I moaned against him, closing my eyes, reveling in the feelings of being filled so completely.

With the tension and heat, the pleasure and pure ecstasy came a relief that was so addictive, I couldn’t stop giving in.

I met his thrusts, my arms around his shoulders, cupping the back of his neck as he moved his tongue with mine. It was a perfect rhythm with his hips, a symphony of movements and pleasure that spoke to my core directly.

Like our bodies were whispering to each other, telling each other exactly what they needed to get to the end as fast as possible.

I whimpered as the heat got so hot, the tightness grew into an ache. He was so good, filling me so well.

And the sounds he made.

They were just as addictive. I would never tire of hearing how my pussy made him feel. He cursed under his breath, groaned deeply, growled, and his chest rumbled. It made it so much better.

He slammed me into the door again and again with his cock driving inside me, stretching me every time.

I locked my legs as tight as I could around him, his hands on my ass, bringing me to him so he could hit even deeper inside me.

When the flames inside got too much and the tightening would go any further, my body let go, exploding in a wave of blinding fireworks that burned through every other thought I might have had.

I trembled against him, my pussy throbbing with the swell of pleasure. It clamped down on him, and he let out a guttural sound that shook his entire body a second before he came with me.

He fucked me harder for a few deep, life-altering thrusts before stilling, spilling all of himself inside.

I clutched him, panting and shivering through my own orgasm with him.

The water around us made it seem so much more surreal—like I was in some dream. But I didn’t want to wake up.

Atticus leaned into me, his own breaths harsh as he growled, kissing me roughly.

“You feel so fucking good, Fox. You take me so well.”

I moaned against his kiss, waiting for him to carry me to his room for another round, but instead, his bedroom door opened.

Zachariah and Dorian came out. They both looked unimpressed by our state against the door, still connected.

“We’re meant to be showing her what our realms are like, not filling her every other minute,” Zachariah muttered.

Atticus kissed me again, then put me down. I straightened myself out and he grinned, tucking himself back in. “Wrong, Zachy Boy. I’m meant to be showing her what life will be like when she chooses me. I was showing her.”

Atticus’ grin was infectious and I mimicked him. The other two just rolled their eyes. Dorian nodded to the stairs at the end. “Let’s take her up to the markets.”

I tensed. “Where the vampires are?”

“They have been removed,” Atticus promised.

I let out a grateful breath, then followed the alphas back up through the tunnel of water to the top of the white palace.

Atticus led us back through where we had come and back outside. He went down to the sandy bank and looked over his shoulder at me. “Want to see me walk on water?”

My eyes widened. “You can do that?”

He laughed and stepped onto the water. He was a foot deep and strode across the canal between the palace land on the lake to where the villages and markets were thriving.

It was like it had been in the forest pack, full of life and people going about their daily tasks.

I looked back to Atticus, who was striding confidently across the water, his hands tucked into his pockets.

“How?” I asked, still shocked.

Dorian leaned in. “Underneath is the system of underwater rooms and tunnels. The rooftops act as a walkway.”

Oh. I smiled at that and stepped into the water with a wary foot. It touched the walkway beneath the water, and I grinned.

So cool.

I followed Atticus, and the other two followed me.

We went up to the markets, the entire left side of the land covered in docks and fishing from the lake. People moved in and out of boats holding baskets, fishing nets, and ropes. Atticus led us over to the stalls on the sandy terrain where people were bustling about.

He led me through the columns of stalls, and I smiled, looking at all.

It was a lot to take in, but I loved it.

The water village had its own preferences—people on the ground making wooden carvings, some smoking fish to sell, some painting with oils—all trying to trade and sell for things.

There were so many trinket stalls—ones with handmade beaded jewelry.

Atticus stopped us there and grinned at the vendor.

An elderly woman was sitting on a stool with a huge pile of brown hair on her head. I wasn’t sure how it was sitting there; it looked knotted with beads and fraying strands everywhere.

She had so many beaded necklaces and bracelets on that she jingled when she moved.

Her earrings were huge, making her ears droop.

“Alpha Atticus. You honor me,” she smiled.

“No, you honor us with your presence, Catori,” Atticus grabbed her hand and kissed the back of it. She was an elderly woman—a lot older than most of the people at the market.

And she was the most dressed one, too. She wore a cloth of deep, rich colors and a thin texture.

“Something for the Luna today, Alpha?” Catori smiled, looking at me.

Atticus nodded and looked over the trinkets. They were all stunning. So many colors in such a beautiful array of craft.

Atticus looked over them all, then finally sighed and looked back at Catori. “Will you choose? I bow to your wisdom,” he grinned.

She smiled widely, and her deep, dark eyes turned to me.

I smiled. “Hi,” I said, not sure what else to greet her with.

“Luna,” she bowed her head, “please, think of what trinket calls to you. Don’t say it out loud, just keep it in your heart.”

I frowned and tried to do what she asked. I scoured the trinkets until one stood out more than the rest.

It took a minute, but finally, a braided leather piece with blue fabric and a bead at the end caught my eye. The blue reminded me of the water of the lake. And Atticus.

I looked back at Catori, who had her eyes closed.

“I found one,” I said, not sure where this was going. I looked at Atticus, who grinned.

“Trust her process.”

I trusted him, and that was enough. I waited until Catori opened her eyes slowly. She smiled and looked over the table.

“Hmmm. Something to aid in a hard decision coming to you. Pressure rests on your shoulders—something to relieve that. Hmmm,” she murmured under her breath.

I was tense, the way she read me made me nervous. Was she a witch?

“Intuition is a powerful thing, deary. I am observant, listen to my instincts, and sometimes the water whispers to me. This time it tells me that you are going to need something to help you grow, be courageous.” She kept looking at her trinkets, running her fingers over them.

Then she smiled wide and picked up the exact piece I had looked at.

She held it out to me.

“This was the one,” I whispered, accepting the dangling trinket.

“I know,” she smiled, then looked to Atticus. He nodded once and opened his hand to her. She placed her palm in it and took a deep breath.

When she did, her eyes flung open and she yanked her arm back. “Powerful magic follows you, Alpha Atticus. Please be careful,” she warned in a darker tone.

Atticus nodded once and I swallowed.

Atticus led us away then, and I tried to hesitate, but he pulled me along anyway.

“What was she talking about? What was she?” I asked.

“She is one of our elders and stopped shifting a long time ago. Once she did, the realm took to her, offering her magic to stay and be a guide for me and the wolves.”

“And she didn’t want us to pay for her trinket?” I wondered, looking over my shoulder. Zachariah and Dorian followed lazily behind. They watched the rest of the stalls, looking over everything. But I knew they were listening.

“She takes another form of payment. Skin-to-skin with an alpha lends her body power. So her aging slows now that she has stopped shifting. A trinket like that, direct skin to skin, would have given her another year at least.”

I frowned, trying to process that. “And she sensed a dark power?”

He nodded. “Usually I get warned that two of my lovers are going to meet and cause me a headache,” he snickered, then sobered when I gave him an unimpressed look. “It could be that the witches are watching, waiting for the decision.”

“Or it could be Silas,” I sighed, realizing without him saying it. He didn’t confirm it.

Instead, he pulled me against him and walked with his arm in mine. He took me along the sandy paths, some with wooden planks where water ran through the township.

He showed me the werewolf homes that were made of clay and wood. Some stone. He showed me where the kids attended school, learning to read and write so they could scribe their own parchments.

He showed me the infirmary building, refusing to take me in.

“But werewolves heal, how bad can it be?”

He scoffed. “Werewolves can heal. But there are a lot of exceptions. That’s where they are sent.”

“Give me an example,” I begged, striding along well into the afternoon, taking everything in, loving the serenity of the place he called home.

“One of the werewolves got a hook stuck in his foot. He can’t heal until it is removed, but he was in wolf form. He can’t shift back with it in his foot, so he keeps attacking the healers who try to take the hook out. They are trying out some sleeping agents to keep him out long enough. It’s not going very well,” Atticus explained.

Hmm. That didn’t sound like something I wanted to see after all. I didn’t admit that, though. I kept walking until we came back to the markets at the front of the lake. We strode down the other aisles we had missed, and I soaked it all in.

The smells of warm baked bread, hot tea—an apothecary stall was at the end and sold a range of oils and scents.

I smiled and went over.

“Oils?” Atticus asked.

“They smell nice, and maybe we can use them for later,” I grinned up at him so he knew I meant that in a dirty way.

He smirked and pulled some coin out of his pocket. He dumped three gold coins into the vendor’s hand. The vendor grinned and nodded. “Very gracious, Alpha Atticus.”

He smirked and turned to Zachariah and Dorian. “Pick the scent you want to lather the Fox in, Alphas.”

They did, moving fast. After smelling them all, we walked away with vanilla, berry, cinnamon, and mint.

I wasn’t putting that one anywhere near my pussy—much to their chagrin.

We stayed in the markets until the sun was setting. I filled my stomach with all the delicacies—fish, bread, and stew—before sighing contentedly.

“Ready to return to the palace, Fox?” Atticus asked.

“Uh-huh. My feet are killing me,” I said, leaning against him.

“Then you should’ve said,” he grinned, then lifted me into his arms.

“Oh my god, Atticus, put me down—no, I don’t need to be carried,” I whispered harshly, mortified that he was carrying me in front of everyone. Zachariah stood on one side of us, Dorian on the other.

“You said your feet hurt,” he frowned, looking genuinely confused.

“Yeah, but this seems excessive,” I said, knowing how flushed my cheeks were by now.

“Not to me,” he shrugged.

I didn’t argue—just buried my face in his neck and hid the rest of the way to the palace.

When we got there, Atticus didn’t take us downstairs like I expected.

He led us to another room around a slight bend and into a sitting area.

It looked out on the entire expanse of the lake over to where the stone villages on the other side sat. They looked much less lively, but the smoke from their huts was already billowing as the glow of sunset beamed on the horizon.

Atticus sat me down on one of the two couches. He sat next to me and brought my foot up to massage it, leaving the other two to sit in the other chair.

Both seats faced the view—the lake in its beauty.

I sighed and relaxed as tea was brought in by a woman. She nodded to Atticus, putting the board down on the small table in front of us.

But it wasn’t the fact that she was a woman that had me tensing right back up. It was the fact that she was naked, her long hair covering her breasts but not much else.

Atticus growled and the girl jumped.

“Dress yourself from now on, Petra,” he said gruffly.

She frowned for a moment before looking at me. Then she nodded once and left.

“She was the owner of the panties, wasn’t she?” I guessed, teasing him with a smile.

He shrugged. “I had a life before the blood moon, Fox. I’m not ashamed of it, but I am not sad to lose it.”

I smiled at that, then turned to the other two, looking over my shoulder as Atticus kept my feet, rubbing them.

“You two have been so quiet,” I said, not sure whether that was normal or not.

“We’re giving you the time with Atticus while we are in his territory,” Dorian said tightly, as if the idea pissed him off.

But I appreciated it.

“Thank you,” I smiled. That seemed to make it better.

“Have you enjoyed your afternoon, Little Red?” Zach asked, picking up one of the cups and sipping the tea.

I nodded quickly. “Very much. The territories are more beautiful than I thought. Especially this side of them, not the human one,” I admitted. It was a sad division between races, but one that kept everyone safe.

I hoped that was still true once Silas got done doing whatever he had planned.

“I am trying to picture my life here. Or even in the Forest Territory, but I struggle. Wolves know their place; they have hobbies and things to keep them busy. I can’t imagine what I would do with myself with such freedoms,” I admitted, not sure how long it would take to feel comfortable in any place that wasn’t my old mountain.

The reality of it was that I didn’t know the alphas that well. I knew them on the surface, and I was getting to know them bit by bit. But there were three of them, and I had such a short span of time to decide.

What if I made the wrong decision and resented where I ended up? After spending time with Dorian in his territory and now Atticus, it did worry me.

Dorian had to be the best—he was always training. Would he have time for me? Would he want time with me once we were settled into his life? Would his pack even follow my lead? Did I want to lead?

And then Atticus. He had secrets—a door I wasn’t allowed behind. Women that knew him as intimately as I did. A lifestyle of getting what he wanted. What if I wasn’t enough to keep him satisfied? What if I couldn’t do any of the things that his people could? And what if whatever was behind that secret door was a deal breaker?

Atticus patted my thigh then and brought me back from my thoughts. I glanced at him.

“C’mon, Fox. I’ve got something else to show you to help you get out of your head,” Atticus grinned and stood up.

“You can’t keep showing her your cock and expecting to win, Atticus,” Zach shook his head.

Atticus’ grin widened. “Yes, I can. You’ve seen it. But this time, I have another idea,” he said, then scooped me up before I could walk.

“Atticus. Please put me down. Being carried is for children, and that is not the precedent I want to set. I’m already human—weaker than you all. Not walking on my own shows everyone I am even weaker than that.”

Atticus glanced down at me, hesitating before nodding. He put me down, and I leaned against him, kissing him. “Thank you.”

He pulled my face to his. “Not a single wolf in my pack would dare think that. I promise you.”

I believed that. They trusted Atticus not to choose that. But he wasn’t choosing. I was.

When that came out, I had to make sure they knew I had chosen them too.

“Where are we going?” Dorian asked, frowning as Atticus led us to the far ends of the palace through hall after hall and up into the top of the palace.

We went up to one of the square towers, and he opened a thick wooden door. When we stepped onto the rooftop, my mouth dropped.

There was a huge bathing pool. The steam of it wafted into the sky, which was darkening as the moon rose.

There were candles lit, and soft vanilla and berry scents in the air.

“Want to take a bath, Fox?” he asked, already stripping off his clothes. I nodded eagerly, the hot water calling to me.

The trinket fell out of my dress when I took it off.

I climbed into the hot water with it, sighing as my muscles instantly relaxed. Even Zachariah let out a sigh. Dorian’s usually serious demeanor changed too. It was magic.

“Would you like me to put it in?” Atticus asked, sitting on the stone bench on the inside of the bathing pool. It was the perfect size to fit us all in.

Atticus’ words rang in my ears. “Put it in where?” I demanded. Atticus laughed at what I had guessed he meant.

“It is not for your pussy, Fox. It is for your hair. A blue braid to represent our pack.” He grabbed the trinket and turned me to face the stone wall barricade that made up the tower. He started weaving the blue leather around my red hair.

“I have one similar; I will wear it with you while we are here,” he smiled, finishing the braid and kissing my shoulder.

I smiled back at him and then kissed him. He groaned and pulled me straight onto his waist.

As soon as I was there, Zachariah and Dorian stood, coming in close behind me.

Zachariah leaned in, kissing over my neck. Dorian leaned in next, his lips by my ear. “We’re sharing you tonight, Sweet Siren.”

I shivered, the words alone doing something to my body that made me desperate for them.

~

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