The Control

LORELAI

I gasped, shrinking back against the wall as Kai roared, shaking the room before launching at Derik.

He caught him by the throat, throwing him through the doors onto the balcony, leaping up onto the bed, his eyes red and wild, his claws out as my heart raced.

Derik and Brax had barely brushed their canines against my skin and it had set Kai off. I hadn’t been ready for it, and I shook as I saw the savageness that hid beneath his skin.

I knew he was doing it for me, because of the mating, but I loved Brax and Derik. I didn’t want them hurt as much as I didn’t want Kai to be.

Derik jumped back up, his eyes flashing red as he challenged Kai.

“Mine,” Kai snapped.

Brax hovered in front of me, pressing me into the wall. Kai snapped his eyes to him, a snarl ripping from his throat.

“Fuck,” Brax bit before turning and shoving me into the wardrobe.

I squealed as he yanked it shut right before Kai threw him through it. I jumped out of the way with a yelp before rushing to Brax, who let his own growl out and got to his feet, shaking off bits of wood from the door.

I fought the urge to cry as I watched Kai try to rip his brothers apart. I couldn’t stand it.

“Brax,” I said, gripping his hand.

He gave me a small smile. “Don’t worry, Spitfire, we needed this.”

“Him to try and kill you both?” I cried as Kai and Derik broke the bed, throwing each other into it, baring their teeth, slashing at each other’s skin.

“We needed to know his limit. Admittedly we weren’t trying to find it during the heat when we could be fucking instead, but at least we know it now.”

He shrugged, then kissed my hand and ran into the room to throw Kai off Derik. They shoved him back, edging him out of the room onto the balcony.

I stepped back into the room, my heart hammering in my chest as I tried to take in the sheer beast he was. It made my stomach tighten, my core throb, like the idea that he could go so out of control for me was everything.

My eyes roamed over the way Derik and Brax had their backs to me, a protective barricade against Kai, and my mouth went dry. I licked my lips and walked forward again, but I was too late.

In my next blink, Derik and Brax charged. They threw Kai off the balcony.

“Kai!” I screamed, and raced to the balcony, shoving past them to look over the edge.

Kai had shifted midfall and landed on the grass below in his wolf form. He glared back up at all three of us before letting out a roar and running away.

I spun to Brax and Derik. “What the hell did you do that for?” I demanded, but they ignored me.

They dragged me into the room and tore through my clothes, letting the shreds fall to the floor. I sucked in a breath, my body hot and still feeling the heat pulsing in every throb.

“We’re going to be right next door, but we can’t be in here when he comes back. He needs to know there are no threats, that you are safe. Wait here. When he comes in, distract him,” Derik urged, giving me a quick kiss on my lips, then smirking at me.

Brax stood behind me, kissed my neck, and pulled my hair to the side.

“Once you have him back to himself, we’ll go find a bath that we can all enjoy,” he breathed in my ear, and I shuddered, my body glowing in heat as a chorus of howls ripped through the air.

“You’re sure he’ll go back to normal?” I asked.

“As normal as Kai can be. As long as we don’t bite you, he should be able to control it,” Derik breathed, his eyes dipping to my neck, licking his lips before shaking his head.

“Lucky motherfucker,” he breathed, then walked away as Brax’s touch left me too.

They disappeared out the door and I waited, not sure what to do while I stood there naked, my thighs still sticky, lust still prickling at every part of me.

I waited for what felt like ages before finding my connection with Kai. It was a private one, a mated one. I felt him running, the rage, the fear, the guilt, the lust. I met his mind.

~“Kai,”~ I said.

He ignored me, but I knew he had heard me.

~“Come here. I need you,”~ I said, but he ignored me again, still running.

Anger flared in my blood. I was too suffocated by the heat to deal with him running farther away. I needed him to run toward me.

“~Kai, I know you feel like shit for what just happened. I know you didn’t mean it; so do Derik and Brax.~

~“But it is the heat, and if you don’t get your werewolf ass back here to take care of that for me, then I am going to be one pissy little mate when you get back,”~ I snapped at him.

I felt that lighten his chest, the smirk tugging at his mouth, the rage dissipating.

~“Is that an agreement? What part of the city are you in? I’ll meet you,”~ I said, and I felt his instant anger at that comment.

~“No. Not safe. Too many males.”~

~“Then I’ll bring Derik and Brax with me,”~ I bit, already going to the smashed wardrobe and pulling on a light underdress again.

I walked out, and Derik peered out the door, frowning as he saw me leave. I nodded, waiting for him to follow.

Brax came out first, not needing any more convincing, but Derik questioned me with his eyes.

~“No.”~

~“They won’t bite me, Kai. But I do need more toxin, so meet me,”~ I said, running down the stairs.

I got to the bottom step, a sense of urgency creeping up on me. The heat was much more potent the closer I got to other wolves.

The pack link was so saturated in lust and need that it was a sucker punch when it hit. I gasped, a moan escaping as I clutched Brax, who came forward, his eyes hooded.

My pussy throbbed, and I clenched my thighs shut, my eyes too.

Derik growled from low in his chest and looked around for a solution, but the only one was that they helped me handle my heat. But I wanted Kai to be a part of that.

~“I feel you. I’m coming. I’m fucking sorry, Little Human.”~

~“Tell those other two fuckers to hurry up and make you cum before I have to kill them for letting you go through this,”~ Kai breathed in my head, and I whimpered, the need burning so fucking hot.

My skin felt seared, too tight, suffocating me as another round of howls came and my knees almost buckled.

Brax held me up against him, and I brushed my face against his.

“We’ll take care of you, Spitfire,” he said, his voice low and gravelly, his blond hair tickling along my cheek.

I couldn’t wait—I needed them.

I reached up and dragged Brax’s mouth to mine, kissing him fiercely as my body flared at the contact. His mouth crashed against my lips, his tongue sliding along mine, and I moaned as the immediate relief spilled through me.

But I needed more.

Derik knew that too and pressed up against my back, kissing down my neck, his hands gripping my hips as he ground his hard cock against my ass.

I shuddered against the pleasure that rolled through me, moaning into Brax’s kiss before reaching between us and undoing his pants.

I didn’t want to wait, I couldn’t, I was desperate, and this fucking heat was going to be the death of me.

Derik pushed us then, shoving Brax against the wall, pressing me between them. I gasped as he lifted me up against Brax, who shoved my dress out of the way.

The fact that Derik was holding my thighs apart as Brax got himself out made everything in me melt just a little bit faster.

They were so in sync, ready to give me the pleasure I was dying for. Literally.

I gripped Brax’s shoulder as I met his mouth again. My head fell back and my lips tore from his as I cried out as Derik lowered me onto him at a delicious pace that had me tensing and shuddering, my nails biting through his skin.

He growled, kissing me harshly as Derik’s mouth covered my neck, their lips sending pleasure straight to my core.

My pussy clutched Brax’s cock inside me and I thrust, Derik’s hands digging into my thighs, still holding me up.

I met Brax’s thrusts, holding him to me so tightly, my mind lost in the sensations of the heat crippling my body and mind, corrupting my soul, so the only thing I cared about was the fix.

I needed it, desperate for the explosion my alphas promised.

Brax fucked me harder, sinking inside me so deep, his cock hitting that spot so far in that I cried out, my skin prickling with sweat as the pleasure threatened to overwhelm me.

But the heat wouldn’t let me go.

The fire licked along my flesh, and I shuddered, bucking faster. Derik’s kisses pressed against my skin, his hard length brushing against my ass, and I looked over my shoulder.

“You too,” I breathed, and he smirked.

Brax took over the hold on my thighs, slowing his strokes as Derik used his saliva to wet his dick and my backside.

I panted, my breath harsh and heavy as I got ready to take them both, excitement tugging at my core.

Derik made sure I was ready, then pressed his head against me. I moaned as his tip created more pressure.

And then he was entering my ass as Brax stroked my pussy.

I whimpered, my breath catching as they both filled me. I was sure I was going to burst, there was no way I could keep them both in me. But by some miracle I did.

“Oh my god,” I breathed, gasping as Brax slammed into me at the same time as Derik, both of them finding a rhythm that only took me seconds to be consumed by.

I cried out, my hips under their control as they fucked me together, and the explosion swept me away.

I came so hard, my whole body shattering around them, sucking them in, their fullness making me throb with the high.

And they kept going. Their groans and grunts filled my ears as I met their thrusts, falling back against Derik’s bare chest.

He kissed along my neck, his teeth scraping the skin there before he pulled back and fucked me harder, demanding an inhuman pace from my body.

His mouth found mine and stole the scream I almost released. I kissed him back, my head turned to him as Brax cupped my breast, his mouth moving down to cover my nipple.

I arched into the feeling, the shocks it sent to my core making my body climb fast again.

I gripped his waist with my knees. His hands held my thighs, using them as leverage to yank me onto his dick as Derik thrust inside me at the same time.

It was enough to make my head spin, and I moaned, the high almost snapping within me.

Derik’s tongue slid along mine, his arm reaching around in front of me to tease my clit at the same time Brax’s teeth stroked over my nipple and I snapped, coming undone around them again, my throat hoarse as I used it, my noises echoing around us, drowning out the howls of the females.

My pussy clamped, my ass tightened, and I shook, pleasure flooding every part of me, the high so intense and deep.

Derik and Brax came with me a second later, their cocks hardening, their pace racing to the finish line before they stilled their hips in sharp thrusts that caught me between them.

I moaned as they filled me so damn well, their caresses so sensitive along my skin. Derik growled in my ear as Brax roared out his own release.

And then it rang silent around us, the only sounds coming from our heavy breathing. I slumped against Derik as he held me up, Brax still holding me on his waist.

He leaned his head against the wall, his eyes fluttering closed. “Your heat is so fucking intense,” he breathed, his shadows curling around mine, the residual taste of our pleasure prickling inside me with them.

I moistened my lips, my pussy throbbing around them as the fire that licked me settled enough for me to process anything. I knew it wouldn’t stay that way for long though.

“It’s not that intense with a wolf?” I asked as they slowly lowered me.

I kept hold of Derik’s arm, not trusting my strength yet, especially since I still hadn’t had the bite, and he held me against him.

“Not that I’ve ever experienced,” Brax said, and I grinned.

“Good,” I teased, and he smirked, moving away from the wall, kissing my swollen lips.

“Bath, Spitfire,” he ordered, and I nodded.

I let them lead me toward the stairs again, but the door opened and Kai strode in. He looked calmer and he smirked, coming in for his own kiss.

“Kai,” I breathed, my body reacting instantly to his presence.

“My insatiable Little Human. It seems you are not the only brave Valarian in your family.” He smirked, and I gasped, assuming my dad had done something dumb again.

“What’d he do this time?” I demanded, but he grinned and shook his head.

“Not him. Your mother,” he said, and started walking up the stairs.

I followed quickly. “What about her?” I huffed, trying to keep up.

He led me toward a door I’d never seen and opened it. Inside was another plain bedroom, with a four-poster bed with purple coverings.

He ignored the bed and led me into the bathroom.

“You need to bathe, then meet me in the gardens. She’s here,” he said, and I sucked in a breath.

“In the city?” I asked as Brax and Derik set about filling the bath.

Kai nodded.

“You let her in?” Derik scolded.

“She said it was important.” Kai shrugged.

“It’s the fucking heat! Any of these wolves could have decided she smelled good enough to claim,” Derik growled, and I had to agree.

I couldn’t wait to see my mom, but the idea of her being anywhere near here during the heat was terrifying.

“I stayed with her. I did warn you I was bringing her in and that I was setting her up in the gardens with Anetta and some tea until you were finished, but all three of you were a little distracted.”

He smirked, and I blushed. Yeah, the heat was kind of a one-track train.

I climbed in the bath and washed myself of sweat and sex. Brax knelt down beside me to help me scrub, his fingers moving closer to the tender spot between my legs.

I sucked in a breath as he washed over my breasts next, my head leaning back against the back of the tub, that fire in my stomach starting to escape along my skin.

“Brax,” Derik snapped, and Brax grinned.

“Just getting a little touch in before she is unavailable,” he breathed, his shadows falling against mine, pleasure tumbling in with them.

I arched against his touch, my breaths harsher already as my thighs tingled in response.

“You’re going to make it harder on her,” Derik bit, and hauled Brax away.

I pouted a little, then tried to redirect my brain. My mother was here. I had to see her. I had to stop thinking about the burn in my flesh that created such a desperate desire within me.

It was almost impossible.

Brax looked over me with hungry eyes before he blew out a breath.

“Unless you need me down there, I’m going to go for a run. I don’t know how long I can wait before it gets bad again,” he admitted.

I sympathized. The heat was always a lot, and if it was anyone but my mother, I would be saying fuck it, and then fuck me. But it was her. I had to see why she was risking her life by visiting.

“Let us know when you need her and we’ll distract her mother,” Derik said, and I raised a brow.

This was going to be a shitshow.

I gave myself a final clean, then got out of the tub and dressed properly, corset and all.

Derik left to go stay with Mom, the human-in-the-city thing freaking him out.

I was pretty sure that ounce of control he had lost was going to make him snap before Brax, but either way, trying to fight the heat while talking to my mother was going to be a challenge.

One I wasn’t sure I was ready for.

Kai kissed me softly, then stepped back. I wanted more of him, more of his touch, but he smirked.

“Not a good idea, Little Human. I am not very good at control, and I am having to exercise quite a lot of it to avoid ravaging you in front of your mother, so let’s get down to the gardens before that changes,” he said, and I nodded, smiling as I followed behind him.

The heat was still there, making me ache and throb, my skin hot and my chest tight, but I fought back against it and went with Kai to see Mom.

She was out by the herbs for the kitchen, her tea on the small table set up there.

“Mom.”

I grinned, and she spun to me. She gasped as she looked over me before she enclosed me in her arms.

I held her so fucking tightly, hating how long it’d been since I had seen her and that in that time, I knew she had lost weight.

She pulled back and wiped a stray tear from my cheek, her own pooling in her eyes.

“Sweetie. I missed you.” She smiled, and I held her hand to my face.

“I missed you too.”

Her eyes went to my stomach then, her other hand rubbing over the swell of it. It was still growing fast, and I felt our baby in there moving to meet her.

Her eyes lit up, and her tears spilled over.

“Wow,” she breathed out. “You’re growing so well.”

“Yeah, he’s strong.” I rubbed my stomach, and she nodded, a sad smile covering her features.

“What’s wrong, Mom? Why are you here?”

She nodded toward the tea, and I followed her to sit down.

Anetta had already been told to leave, but Derik and Kai hovered. Not too close, in case the heat flared, but close enough in case I needed them.

I checked on Brax, but he pushed me back out softly, like he was trying not to hurt my feelings but couldn’t have me that close yet without being able to do something about it.

I pulled away from the link, then turned to Mom, waiting for her to answer. She sipped her tea and avoided it, playing with the silk napkin next to her cup.

“Mom. You came to the city despite being terrified of the werewolves. I know that means it is bad, just tell me,” I said, and she let out a shaky breath.

“Your father…” She tensed, laying out the napkin before meeting my eye. “He has taken over the villages. He has implemented so many rules and consequences. The women are suffering, and it is much more than I could ever explain.”

“Try,” I bit through a clenched jaw, his face flaring in my vision.

A target. An enemy.

Kai tensed from behind me, and I knew he was feeding from my rage. I tried to pull it back, but it was just as hard as trying to control the heat within my body.

“He has made the women his personal servants. We must serve our men in all ways,” she said, her voice breaking as tears fell.

I clenched my fists under the table.

“We must cook for them, clean for them, and if our husbands wish it, pleasure them.

“We are not allowed to speak unless spoken to, and every chore has fallen on us. We are barely given the food we need to survive, and we are punished for every infraction we incur. It is hell, Lorelai.” She trembled.

“I didn’t know he was this kind of man,” she muttered before sniffling back her tears and dabbing her face with the napkin.

Rage consumed my blood, and with it, the heat, flaring underneath my skin until I was digging my nails into my thigh to stop from lashing out.

“How did you get here?” Derik asked with a frown.

My head snapped to him with a glare as I felt the accusation in his tone. I did not appreciate it, and by my mother’s matching glare, neither did she.

“You wonder how I escaped if he is so controlling?” she assumed, and Derik nodded.

“I would like to know,” he said, holding his arms around his body.

Kai was silent, but he wanted to know too, so I waited for Mom’s answer with them.

“I used my body, Alphas. I seduced him, then used some herbs, the same ones he used on Lorelai, to keep him incoherent. Then, with Vaughn’s help, I made it to the city.

“I must get back soon though. Vaughn can’t cover for me forever.

“I am currently meant to be helping with the children at the widows’ hut—which, if you must know, has recently been converted into a brothel of sorts,” she explained, then turned to me.

“Your father has decreed that all widows are to pay their dues through sexual favors, otherwise their burden on the villages and resources may become too much.”

My heart twisted at her words. It was hell, and my father was the devil.

I let out a shaky breath that was too hot. My skin clammed up as I tried to process what she was saying, but it was too much.

I wanted to kill him, hurt him, and make him pay, but with the heat writhing beneath my skin, that was the only emotion that pierced my control, like all the others were so strong it forced out the only one I could do anything about.

I took deep breaths, clenched my thighs together as my core throbbed, begging me to sate it.

I eyed Kai and Derik out of the corner of my eye just as Brax came to the edge of the clearing in the gardens, his eyes wild, his top off, his bare torso glistening with sweat.

“He needs to be stopped then,” I answered Mom breathily, and she frowned.

“Yes…he does. Sweetie, are you all right? You’re awfully flushed,” she noted, taking a sip of her tea.

I nodded tightly and swallowed hard against the flaring heat. It was getting hotter.

Howls broke through the quiet of the gardens and I shuddered, the pack’s pleasure leaking into me—like I wasn’t struggling enough with my own body.

“Yeah, I, uh, Derik and Kai are just going to keep you company for a moment, I need to use the bathroom,” I said, and stood from the chair.

She nodded as if that was totally normal.

I gave my alphas an eye and they nodded, closing in to occupy her while I made my way to Brax behind her. He needed me and I needed him.

He curled us around the corner of the mansion where the gardens were less dense as he kissed me. I met his mouth, grabbing for his ties as he lifted my skirts with the same desperate movements.

He fucked me against the estate, covering my mouth with his hand as his growls fell on my neck. His teeth scraped the flesh, and I sucked in a breath, my head spinning.

“I need the bite,” I breathed, and he growled.

“I can’t. Kai will know.” He shuddered.

I met his hips with my own, my body climbing as I gripped the wall with my fingertips. “I need it,” I urged.

~“Bite her. Not on the neck. Not in front of me. I can control it while my body burns with the feel of her filled with you. I will need her soon. Real soon,”~ Kai interrupted our thoughts, and I moaned.

Brax stole the sound as he kissed me again, his teeth pressing against my lip before he dropped me to the ground, spun me, and bent me over.

I splayed my hands on the mansion wall, hidden by gardens and the towering building. Brax ran a finger down my spine before filling me again.

I went to cry out, but his hand clamped on my mouth and his canines sank into my shoulder. I squeezed my eyes shut as his toxin made my orgasm instant, his cock pulsing inside me until I was a sated, shuddering, panting mess, high on his toxin and his cum.

When he finally let me come down, his own climax hitting him just as hard, I felt a thousand times better, more in control, and like I had at least another conversation with my mom in me before the urge would hit again.

He grabbed my hand and walked me back to the gardens where Derik was pouring Mom some more tea, talking animatedly with her like the heat barely affected him.

But I knew the truth. He was just as desperate to cure his. He hid it better than Kai though, who was standing farther away, his fists clenched as he gritted his jaw.

I didn’t meet his eyes and sat back down in my chair.

“Better?” She smiled, and I nodded.

For now.

I knew it wasn’t going to last long, and it started to get harder and harder to come up with excuses as the day wore on.

The heat got stronger, the urges, the stages starting to become harder to ignore. I knew the initial fuck every five minutes was just the initial part, and I had no idea how I was going to cover for it when the second stage hit.

I talked with Mom for as long as I could. Her fear for the women in the villages was so fucking important to me because it meant so much to her, but I just couldn’t breathe.

I needed to be ravaged, like putting it aside for short bursts was making it more determined to consume me.

“Sweetheart, I don’t mean to put you on the spot, but are you sure you’re okay? You’ve needed the bathroom more times than any pregnant woman I know.” She chuckled.

I sagged my shoulders, giving up on covering everything up. I had to spend the night with my wolves; I couldn’t put it off even though I wanted to spend it with my mother.

I sighed. My hand clutched around my teacup as a flare burned my core.

“I, uh… Mom, you didn’t come at the best time,” I breathed, the desire getting worse. I winced as she frowned, putting her teacup down.

“Oh. I assumed you’d want to know—”

“I do. ~We~ do, and I want you to stay at least for the night, until I can think straight,” I said, looking anywhere but at my alphas.

I could feel it getting worse for them too. Even the howls were becoming constant.

“Oh no, why can’t you think? Are you in pain? I have herbs…” She went to reach into her satchel, but I grabbed her hand and stopped her.

I shook my head and met her gaze. “No, Mom, you’ve arrived during the heat,” I let out, straining the words from my throat instead of the moan I wanted to release.

She gasped and snatched her hand back, her eyes going wide as she looked at me and then the alphas with a blush.

“Oh.” She patted her chest. “I didn’t…I didn’t realize,” she said, flustered. She stood, trying to put herself together to leave.

“No, stay. Please? Father can do nothing to you here, just let me get through this and then I’m all yours,” I pleaded.

She looked bewildered as she stared before a chuckle broke through her lips. “Well. I must say I never thought being with the wolves would lead you to beg me to wait while you have sex with them.”

She chuckled, and I laughed too, the awkwardness falling away as she got a little fire in her own eyes.

“Neither did I, but I am, Mom. I want you here, safe,” I said, and she looked hesitant.

“You’re sure I am safe here? Even during this—the heat?”

She blushed, and I didn’t blame her. The stories we were told of the heat were not tame. Nothing about the wolves were though, so I wasn’t worried.

I had already survived one, and I could this one too. Even then, her question was aimed at the alphas.

“You will not be harmed.” Derik nodded, and he relayed it to the pack.

As far as I could tell by their emotions, they didn’t even care, too lost in the blaze, which was exactly where I burned to be.

“Well then, I daresay I am safer here than the village.” She smiled. “And as for your father, he’ll be lucky to remember we were even together at any point with the amount of herbs I fed him in his tea.”

She grinned, and I laughed, leading her inside.

My alphas led the way, taking her into the purple room. I said goodbye and they locked the door behind us as we left, reassuring me the mansion would be off-limits until she was gone.

With Mom safe and waiting, my body let go of the tight control it had on the desperation inside me.

I pulled off my dress, then climbed on the bed and lay down, my alphas all staring hungrily before stalking toward the bed, each one of them devouring me with their eyes before destroying me with their bodies.