Heat

AURELIA

When Aurelia woke up, the king wasn’t there. She was busy in her wardrobe, laying out a new dress on her dresser. It seemed like there was always a new dress waiting for her, as if the king cared about such things.

After she bathed and dressed, she drifted down to the banquet hall, her stomach growling. The people there were staring at her more intensely than usual, and she didn’t know why.

She could understand the tension if the king was there, but he seemed to be busy elsewhere.

“Is something wrong?” Aurelia asked Henri and Laurent.

The servers brought the food, saw the scowls on the two wolves’ faces, and quickly left, leaving Aurelia alone with them.

The wolves kept glaring at her, and Laurent’s stare made her squirm in her seat.

She could have ignored it, finished her meal, and left. But she was curious, and maybe it would help her bring down the king.

“Tell me,” she commanded, using her gift on both of them.

“Your sister has been released,” Henri said, immediately getting her attention. “The king let her go without telling you.”

“Why the scowls? An innocent wolf isn’t rotting in a silver cell anymore,” she said, hiding her shock behind a smirk.

The king had let her sister go home, and he didn’t want her to know. He wanted to keep threatening her with her sister’s safety, but he let her go. Why would he do that?

She could think of one reason. It boosted her ego and made her more confident in her plans. The kiss. It had to be because of that.

“He shouldn’t be doing you any favors. You’ll start thinking he has feelings for you,” Laurent said, even though he couldn’t help himself.

“But he does. Otherwise, why would he do me a favor? I warned you to watch how you talk to me. One day, I might have more power than you’d like.

“Now, you’re both going to forget this conversation.”

And they did. They went back to their silent anger, and Aurelia happily ate her food with a small smile on her face.

The day was quiet, like the gods had finally decided to give her a break from the constant torment of her new life.

But it wasn’t meant to be. This was the calm before the storm. A storm that raged through her.

It wasn’t the king. No. She needed the king to stop it. She was in heat.

She slammed the doors to her room shut as soon as she got inside. Any unmated wolves would be able to smell her and her heat. It drove male wolves crazy, or so she’d been told.

“My queen, is something wrong?” Kenna asked.

“Make me a cold bath. Now!” she ordered, gritting her teeth. She held her breath as the painful heat attacked every part of her body.

She fell to the floor, her legs feeling like they were being pricked by a million needles.

“What the hell is happening?! I can—” the king started as he burst through the door, stopping when he saw his mate and smelled her scent.

Alastair didn’t know what had drawn him back to his room, but he should have known. It was only a matter of time.

He picked up the delirious girl from the cold floor, planning to resist her tempting body. But as he gently laid her on the bed, his resolve crumbled when her hands grabbed his shirt.

“Please... p-please make it stop. I want you...”

Her words were enough for the king. He wanted to end her pain. Not that he would admit that was why. He also wanted her. All of her. She was his, after all.

She tore at the silk material on her body, ripping it easily and exposing herself to him without a care.

He’d seen her naked before, but he’d never really looked at her, knowing he wouldn’t be able to control himself.

He undressed and climbed on top of her.

He wasn’t gentle. He was anything but. He’d wanted to be inside her since he found her, and as king, he was used to getting what he wanted.

But she wasn’t just some girl, and she hadn’t wanted him. Now, she was begging. And it fed his ego.

His hand tightened around her neck as he spread her legs. Her gasp was swallowed by his mouth as he kissed her.

He rubbed himself against her, coating himself with her wetness, holding back from taking her all at once.

“Please...” she breathed out. Her skin was burning, even more so with his touch, but he was giving her pleasure she’d never imagined.

He pushed into her. She squealed, but his hand covered her mouth. It was wild. Direct. Unromantic. Rough.

She hadn’t fantasized about her first time, about losing her virginity. But she’d wanted it to be special. But this was all controlled by the king.

As everything in his life usually was.

He moved in and out of her with a fierce rhythm. Pleasure surged through her, but something was missing. Their connection was missing.

A thick wall of secrets stood between them. They didn’t know each other, and they probably never would.

Somehow, the pressure built inside her, as if the secrets were adding to the tension in her body. His grunts became more animalistic, the wolf coming through. He was close to finishing too.

She couldn’t hold back any longer and with a held breath, she let go. She tightened around him, feeling his release inside her.

Aurelia knew it would happen, but to give up her virginity without a second thought... she didn’t know how to feel. He laid next to her, his chest rising and falling slowly as he caught his breath.

Her body hurt. The sex had been half pleasure, half pain, and she wasn’t sure if she liked it.

The attraction from the mate bond had made her imagine what it would be like, but he was incredibly distant from her.

She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye, admiring him despite herself. She would never be loved. She would never be cared for the way she wanted.

Olympia and Lochlan had shown her what it was like to be loved unconditionally. She had hoped she would find that too.

But the man next to her was a stranger. A stranger she knew was a monster.

“Don’t think everything’s going to change,” he mumbled, eyes shut tight. “I can see that’s what you want.”

“I do.”

His eyes snapped open and in a heartbeat, he was on top of her, his arousal pressing into her.

“I’m not changing,” he spat out.

“I didn’t ask you to,” she answered, her voice steady. She reached up to touch his cheek, trying to soothe him. “I know you won’t. I just want to understand you.”

“I’m the guy who haunts your nightmares, the monster in your dreams. I’m the one who turns you on when you see me being violent. I’m the guy you want to fuck because of my toxic masculinity.

“I’m the guy you sleep with, the one you obey, the one you fucking belong to. I think you know me pretty well,” he growled, shutting down the conversation. Aurelia was used to this.

He lay back down next to her.

A single tear escaped, slipping past the walls she’d built since she arrived at the castle.

He had stripped her bare, made her vulnerable, and now she lay naked next to him, having slept with a man who saw her as nothing more than an object. She’d never felt so alone.

“I know you let Olympia go,” she said.

She wasn’t sure why she told him. She shouldn’t have. It gave her a small upper hand.

But she needed something, some kind of answer, a glimmer of hope that her life wouldn’t always feel so... hollow.

She heard him pause. Keeping his cool. Holding back his anger.

“Who told you?” he asked, his voice icy.

“Laurent and Henri were acting weird. I asked a few questions they dodged but I had a hunch. And you just confirmed it.” A low growl rumbled from him.

Fear and suspicion filled her, and the emotions confused her.

That’s when she finally understood: the loneliness, the emptiness, the fear, the suspicion.

She was feeling these things, but they were amplified by him. He was feeling them too. And since they’d completed the mating process, they were now fully linked.

It was tearing her apart, killing her slowly. It felt like she was floating on a cloud, all alone in the sky. It felt like she was lost.

“My king, whatever your reasons, and I know it wasn’t for me, thank you,” she said, rolling towards him and resting her hand on his chest. She knew he’d done it for her.

There was no hiding now. No hiding their feelings from each other. Which made Aurelia even more wary of her situation.

Morning came and they were still tangled up in each other. She’d never woken up with him there before.

Caught in their unfamiliar embrace, her fingers traced the scars on his bare chest.

Many were deep and severe. She didn’t need to ask to know they’d caused him a lot of pain.

How did he get them?

“The silent monks,” he said. Her eyes darted to his face but his eyes were still closed. He’d somehow read her thoughts. If he could do that, it wouldn’t be good.

“I felt your question, little wolf.”

He seemed so peaceful in the morning, off guard. Maybe that’s why he rarely spent the morning with her.

“Why? Why did they do it?”

“To make me stronger,” he said, his voice relaxed. She was still uneasy around him, but right now, he seemed willing to satisfy her curiosity.

“My father wanted his heir to be the strongest wolf ever.”

“How did you become immortal?”

“The underworld,” he mumbled. She waited for him to explain, but he’d already fallen back asleep. He probably wouldn’t remember telling her.

He became immortal because he went to the underworld? Or maybe Hades himself had come to him?

It wouldn’t surprise Aurelia. She suspected they’d have a lot in common. They’d probably be the best of friends.