Page 62 of The Red Moon

The wolf’s eyes start to fade into something recognizable. Gold bands glow around deep black pools in their usual effect. He doesn’t bite at the air anymore, nor does he writhe against the ground like some wounded animal. This beast only stares up at me, sniffing at the air near my neck. He bares his teeth, the skin of his snout crinkling up to a menacing gaze. This was a mistake. This was a huge fucking mistake. We need to sto⁠—

Both claws piercing the skin at my shoulders, the wolf plunges his length the rest of the way in, tunneling inside me so deep the entire forest becomes a blinding white landscape. My breath catches in my throat and what comes out is a scream unlike anything I’ve ever heard before. It’s tight. Unbearably tight but what comes with it is a warmth ravaging through my center and spreading throughout each limb like lightning.

His grip loosens enough for me to push off of him to the head of his cock. Then, the monster beneath me waits, as if he’s curious whether or not I’d dare to take all of him again. Nik’s eyes might peer through my soul, but this beast seems to be peeking into my past lives. There’s hesitation from the both of us. I could get off him right now. After a few minutes he might be able to compose himself and transform back into the Nikolai Vostik I recognize.

But do I want to?

My chest heaves and the wildfire filling my belly dwindles to a small flame. The wolf doesn’t move. Doesn’t snarl. It’s quiet. Well, quiet enough to hear the muffled voices of the guards at the castle a mile away. Maybe farther. Nik is in there somewhere, and I don’t need him to say it to feel his presence in this form. He’s giving me the choice. One a wolf without control might not be able to give. I will still be me, he promised. And as he scans my face for signs of discomfort, I believe it.

He inhales strongly when I slide down his cock, a low rumble emanating from his chest. I draw my own breath, wincing as I take him in fully. More white lights. More pain. And an upscale of pleasure I could never have fathomed. My pussy throbs uncontrollably as my center feels like it’s splitting in two, but then a fire erupts inside of me like lava flowing through every inch of my body.

Small, erratic moans flee my mouth the moment I’m engorged. I can’t breathe. No, I can’t even utter a single word other than, “Fuck. Oh, fuck.”

Nik digs his claws into the ground again, patiently awaiting my next move. And to his surprise, I lift myself above him, move my hips in a circular motion while keeping the head of his cock connected, and invite all of him in again. Now the beast howls. The sound is nothing short of a lustful cry to me, the moon, and no one else.

I rock back onto him. Once. Twice. Three deep plunges with our bodies gaining momentum. Each gasp ripping out of me more uncontrolled than the last. I too howl out everything I can while I run my fingers through the fur of his torso and feel his length become the catalyst of my undoing. Harder. Deeper. Faster. I take this man. This monster. This cock for all its worth. The earth feels like it’s shattering beneath us, dragging us under to a hell nearly as hot as my body becomes with every thrust.

He growls, the sound reminiscent of his human form but much lower and far more feral.

“Fuck!” I scream between pants. “Fuck, I’m going to—” The air flees my lungs and becomes only whisps in the subtle moonlight.

The beast keeps the rhythm, pounding into me and bumping my voice off chorus.

“I’m going to,” I screech out, an unimaginable wetness dripping down my inner thighs.

Nik cranes his head and large snout, eyes flickering between gold and bright red. There’s something carnivorous in his gaze. A starving predator rearing its jaws as if to attack. And he does. He clamps both sets of teeth around my shoulder, slicing through too much skin for my nerve endings to keep up with. It doesn’t hurt. No, the pain doesn’t hold a candle to the unbridled pleasure rippling throughout my body. Everything goes numb as he holds me in place, his cock pressed deep within me, and his claws carving lines in my back. Each contraction of his swollen cock brings a new flood of warmth dribbling down his base at my core. We sit like this for minutes. Hours, it seems. Intertwined in the most intimate way possible. I do nothing else but catch my breath, and the monster latched onto my shoulder does the same.

There we sit in the strangled moonlight, hidden under the hood of trees where the stars are only a distant memory. I love this man. This monster. And I can only pray when I transform tomorrow during the blood moon … I don’t forget that.

THIRTY-EIGHT

NIK

“Careful!” Alexey shouts as Dimitri tosses another wooden crate onto the bed of the truck parked near the castle gates. “There are explosives in there!”

Dimitri takes a few apprehensive steps back and points his ear at the tailgate. He listens. Waits patiently for what seems like minutes. And when nothing happens, Dimitri scoffs, hoists up the next crate, and gives it the same treatment. It lands between the two large boxes of armor I asked Alexey to forge. There won’t be a single Duval wolf left defenseless thanks to him, and although Clément might not realize it yet, this contribution could save most of his pack. His pups at the very least. The same newly turned wolves I watch march nervously to the vans with panic in their wide eyes, and a heartbeat mirroring the rough engines of our transport.

“I spent two days making those!” Alexey stomps toward Dimitri, eyebrows knitting at the bridge of his crooked nose. “Do you have any idea how hard it would be to replace six motherboards in the—” He pauses and checks his watch. “Nine hours we have until the blood moon? Fucking oaf!”

Dimitri drops the next crate at his feet and moves toward the soldier with balled fists, but I force myself between them and save Alexey’s head from needing a new motherboard.

“Easy, moy brat. He’s just … tense,” I say, bringing my palm to his shoulder.

His nostrils flare as he stares through me to Alexey taking a mental inventory of the crates still waiting to be loaded. “He will be the next thing I toss into that fucking truck if he says another word.”

A smirk tugs at my lips, and I have to tilt my head to hide it. “We need him, brother. Trust me. He’s the best at what he does.”

Dimitri growls and crosses his large arms, gaze fixed on him. “He’s still an asshole.”

My friend isn’t wrong. But what Alexey lacks in social skills he more than makes up for with a prowess only a special forces soldier could provide. Our first attack on my father’s property was a miracle, one made possible by his effective and timed attacks at different parts of the Vostik fortress. Diversionary tactics and a successful extraction of my Natalia even if it cost me a few new scars. The lines Viktor carved on my chest are nothing compared to what could’ve happened had Alexey refused to help. But he didn’t. He agreed to fight the same way he does now, and for his sacrifice, the least I can do is keep Dimitri from twisting him up like a balloon animal.

“Take a break. I’ll handle the rest,” I say, patting him on the back and turning towards the pile of crates stacked near the front doors of the castle.

“There’s more silver,” Dimitri says, his voice both concerned and skeptical.

I know there is. I can feel it. Feel the way every bone in my body wishes to run in the other direction like we’re the same sides of a magnet. But if it will keep my pack from strangling each other, I will handle these crates with a smile on my face. “Don’t worry about me. It’s a long flight. Go get something to eat while I finish up.”

The mountain of a man I’ve known my entire life opens his mouth as if he wants to say more and ultimately slams it shut, retreating into Duval foyer until his large back is only a shadow fading from view.