#humanwerewolf

I didn’t even have the strength to fight anymore. My body was drained. Only the soft, trembling tears at the corners of my eyes proved I was still desperate for some kind of mercy.

I knew that pleading wouldn’t change anything. He didn’t understand my words. To him, I was the unreasonable one, the fragile little human who didn’t know anything, who was confused, who needed to be guided.

But even knowing that, my mouth still moved. Some instinct inside me begged for a last chance.

“Please… please, I beg you…”

My voice came out broken, soft enough that even I could barely hear it. Speaking louder felt wrong, as if the sound itself would provoke him.

“Aleric… please… let me go.”

It was the first time I ever said his name.

His entire body froze like an animal that had just heard its prey make a sound it had been waiting for. His eyes snapped up to mine. The grip on my thighs tightened abruptly, enough to make a yelp escape me.

“...fuck…”

He leaned closer.

“So that’s how you say my name,” he whispered, voice full of a hunger so raw it was frightening. “You say it so good, little one.”

I expected the moment to soften him. To make him hesitate. To make him… think.

Instead, it had the opposite effect.

Something in him broke loose, as if the sound of his own name from my lips had fed something feral inside him.

“You shouldn’t have said my name,” he growled, though he sounded almost… grateful. “Now I won’t be able to stop.”

He looked down at my body, then back up to my eyes, as if torn between having patience and surrendering completely to instinct.

“I told myself,” he breathed, “be gentle… be slow… she’s small, she’s scared…”

His jaw clenched, teeth grinding.

“But gods—”

He stared at my lips like he wanted to devour the sound of his name again.

“When you say ‘Aleric’ like that…It makes me want to take you even harder just to hear you begging me more.”

I shook my head desperately. “Please—”

He cut me off with a brutal whisper. “You’re only going to remember my name by the end of tonight.”

His fingers dug into my skin, pulling me closer, breath shaking as he failed to calm the wild excitement racing through him.

“I’m impatient,” he admitted. “Too impatient for a human girl like you. I swear… I can’t stop myself.”

His hand circled under my waist, dragging me higher onto his lap. His grip locked around me like a band of iron. I couldn’t move, not even a twitch. His strength felt unreal, more than anything I could ever imagined.

He stroked himself once, twice, slow and heavy, all while staring down at my pussy like he couldn’t look anywhere else. He lowered his cock's angry tip, and when he touched me, skin against skin, lust against fear, he hissed through his teeth.

I thought I might faint. Or die.

“Aleric… please,” I said shakily, every breath a struggle. “You’ll hurt me...I can’t...I can’t take you...you’ll tear me—”

My voice broke, stuttering on the edges of panic. I didn’t even know if he could hear my words now. But I needed to say them. Needed to try. Needed him to pause, to think, to see me.

A dark chuckle vibrated through his chest, not mocking but hungry. He didn’t even lift his eyes. His entire focus was on where our bodies met.

“You will take me,” he murmured. “You just don’t know it yet.”

His thumb brushed over my hip. “The moon brought you to me, and if the moon says you’re mine… then you can take anything from me.”

I didn’t even have time to plead more.

His hips pressed forward.

My head snapped back as a sharp cry tore from my throat. A shock of pain bolted up my spine, stealing the air from my lungs. Only the tip of him was inside me, barely anything, and yet the stretch felt impossible.

“Fuck…”

His voice cracked.

“You’re so tight.”

His hands clamped down on my hips, almost trembling with how hard he was holding himself back from plunging deep inside me in one thrust.

He moved deeper, slowly, carefully for him, but still too much for me. As he went an inch deeper, my muscles constricted around him, trying to get his large offending cock out.

His fingers dug into my skin, gripping both sides of my hips as if they were the only things anchoring him to sanity.

“Little one…” he panted, forehead lowering toward mine, voice strained, “don’t fight me… let me in…”

The frustration, the desperation, and the raw hunger vibrating in him were frightening. He wanted patience, but he didn’t have it. He wanted gentleness, but instinct clawed at him from beneath his skin.

And I…I could only tremble beneath him, too full of fear and shock to speak, too overwhelmed to even cry properly.

His thumbs stroked my hips, almost soothing, almost apologizing.

“I need you,” he whispered hoarsely, “I need all of you—”

A sob scraped out of my throat as I tried to pull myself away from him. But his hold on my hips was immovable. I couldn’t shift even a millimeter. My legs trembled uselessly on either side of him, my bound hands numb behind my back, and all I could offer was a single, desperate whisper:

“Please…”

He didn’t answer. Instead, he dragged himself slightly out of me, causing a sharp sting to go through my body.

And then he snapped his hips forward forcefully.

A scream ripped out of me as something inside me tore open. My body arched violently in his grip, pain shooting up through my spine, robbing the air from my lungs. Tears spilled instantly, blurring everything.

He growled at the exact same moment. His arm around me tightened impossibly, almost crushing. His other hand slammed down beside my head, palm sinking into the furs as he stared down at where our bodies were joined.

“Aleric—” I gasped, my words dissolving into another sob.

He pulled back just enough to see.

Blood streaked him.

A shudder went through him, pleasure, awe, possession, his chest rising and falling like he was losing his mind.

I shook beneath him uncontrollably as the burning pain of him inside me spread through me like fire. His eyes lifted from our joining, glinting with pride as he met my tear-blurred gaze.

“Relax for me, little one,” he murmured, voice coaxing, as if my body would ever obey him. “Shhh… it will pass soon.”

He leaned down, brushing gentle kisses along my wet cheeks, but the tenderness didn’t reach his body.

He was shaking.

Not in sympathy,

but with impatience.

“Moon Goddess has blessed me,” he whispered against my skin. “An untouched mate… I am the luckiest werewolf alive.”

His forehead pressed against mine, his weight lowering onto his forearm. The closeness made the situation feel even more overwhelming; his breath on my lips, his scent everywhere, his body caging mine.

He slid his palm over my skull, fingers spreading through my hair... not caressing. But locking me in position. His grip around my waist tightened again. A low growl built in his chest; deep, warning, desperate.

“I’m sorry, my little mate…” he whispered. “But I can’t wait anymore.”

And then his hips shifted.

I barely had time to tense before he forced himself all the way inside. To the hilt.

The scream that tore out of me didn’t sound human.

My back arched off the floor, pressing my breasts to his chest from the esplosive pain. My lungs seized, and I couldn’t breathe. My vision blurred as his massive hot heavy cock filled me, so deep I could feel it in my lungs.

He roared.

A sound so loud, the whole tent seemed to tremble with it, as if the forest itself must have heard our joining. His entire body shuddered above mine, muscles locking tight as he buried himself to the very last inch, finally, completely inside his mate.

My vagina was trying hard to adjust to him, but it was almost impossible. Every nerve in me screamed that he was too much, that my body was not made for him.

My legs simply gave out, falling uselessly around his waist. It felt as though my lungs were trying to climb up my throat just to escape the pressure inside me. My mouth hung open, desperate for air, while tears streamed hotly down my cheeks. The weight of him pressed down from every direction, swallowing the space inside and around me.

I couldn’t even see properly. Just the blurred shape of him above me, massive and unmoving, like a mountain pinning me to the earth.

He dipped his head suddenly, capturing my mouth in a hungry kiss. His lips moved against mine, as though he was trying to soothe me even while his body betrayed both of us.

He dragged his cock back, leaving its tip only inside and a violent shudder went through my body. Even him dragging himself out was painful.

His forehead pressed against mine, damp with sweat. His breath came in harsh grunts.

“Look at me,” he rasped. “My little doll…" breathe. Just breathe for me.”

He bit out a curse, his voice cracking with pleasure he couldn’t hide as he started to move his hips.

A sharp jolt rocked through me, drawing a broken yelp out of my throat. My hands scrambled helplessly at the fur beneath my body, trying to cling to something, anything, as heat flashed through my abdomen.

“I’m trying,” he groaned, his voice thick with agony and need. “I swear to the Moon, I wanted to go slowly. I wanted to treat you like something fragile.” His forehead pressed harder to mine. “But I can’t. I can’t control myself around you.”

His hand slid to the back of my head, holding me still, as though if he let go, he would lose all the thin scraps of restraint he had left.

“You don’t understand,” he whispered harshly. “You feel… unbelievable. Too good. Too tight. Too perfect.”

My body trembled violently beneath him. Tears slipped down my temples. I didn’t understand what was happening inside me; why the pain was slowly giving way to something else, something warm and terrifying and utterly wrong.

He heard the squelching sounds as he pounded his hips into mine. He felt my slickness covering him, easing his movement inside me.

A low chuckle vibrated through his chest. “Your body is welcoming me even while you cry.”

“No—” My voice broke.

“She-wolves don’t make sounds like this,” he whisper-growled against my skin, his words filled with awe. “They don’t react like you. They don’t… offer themselves like your human body does.”

I tried to move my head away, but his hand held me in place.

“You are full of wonders. Every part of you… made for me.”

I clamped my teeth on my lower lip, desperate to stifle the sounds breaking out of me, but I failed instantly. Each time he moved, a helpless cry escaped me. The force of him and his pace only grew harsher in response.

A sound slipped out of me that didn’t even feel like mine. A loud moan as my pussy throbbed helplessly around him.

Aleric reacted like a wolf hearing prey stir in the grass. His eyes blazing as he looked down at me, drinking every reaction.

Another sound broke out of me; sharper and louder as Aleric’s thrusts became even faster, his hips slapping against mine with force.

I bit my lip trying to hold my sounds but his expression darkened in a way that made my stomach twist.

“No,” he rasped, pulling my lips away with his teeth gently. “Don’t hide from me. Don’t you dare hide any part of yourself.”

He released my waist without ever easing his rhythm. His hand trailed down between our bodies, seeking something he had only learned moments before.

“—don’t—”

His fingertips circled my clit, sending lightning through my spine. A broken cry ripping from my throat before I could swallow it as an orgasm tore from me unexpectedly. The world flashed white at the edges, my breath lost.

He let out a low, breathless laugh.

“Moon Goddess…” he whispered. “Humans… you feel pleasure so sharply. So beautifully.”

But then his laugh shattered into a groan as my muscles convulsed around him, tightening with a force neither of us expected.

“Ah—little one—” His forehead dropped to my shoulder. “You’re… you’re gripping me so—”

He had to stop. His body froze above mine, his breath stumbling out in ragged bursts. “What in the goddess’s name are you doing to me?”

I sobbed in half pleasure, half pain as my body finally came down.

“I never—” His voice shook. “I last longer. I am a damn Alpha.” His hands tightened around my waist. “But you—”

His words cut off in a deep groan.

“—you undo everything inside me.”

I barely heard him.

The aftershocks still trembled through me, my vision foggy, my breath broken. The orgasm he took from me was so strong and new to me that my brain was barely comprehending him.

“I need—gods, sweetness, I need—”

His body shifted. And I felt something change in him, something unmistakably werewolf. A new kind of pressure at his base. Growing.

And suddenly, I understood what he had meant.

“My body… is preparing my knot. For you. For my mate.”

Sweat dripped from his temple to my cheek. From his chest to my stomach. The strange markings carved into his skin blurred with the heat of him, fading with every breath he took.

I only tried to breathe.

That was all I could do.

Just breathe, one shaky, thin inhale after another.

But every time my lungs began to fill, another broken sound tore out of me.

Not even a moan anymore, just something sharp, the kind of sound your body makes when it has no idea how to handle what’s happening.

Aleric lowered himself, his chest pressing fully against my chest, his weight enveloping me from every direction until there was nowhere left for me to go, without ever stopping his thrusts inside my trembling pussy.

His voice was a breathless rasp against my mouth:

“It’s the time… the time I have waited all my life.”

His hips snapped into mine even faster if possible. My cum making squelching sounds around him.

“You’re—” he groaned hard, “you’re perfect… so warm… so tight… I could die a happy man right now.” he panted, nothing halting his fast hard rhythm, “ And now I will bind with you completely.”

His breath hitched.

“I will feel everything you feel,” he whispered fervently. “Every fear. Every joy. Every heartbeat. I will protect you. I’ll bring you happiness. I’ll—”

I heard his words. But they didn’t make sense. They reached my ears and slid right off, as if my mind couldn’t hold onto anything.

I didn’t understand what “bind” meant. I didn’t understand why he sounded reverent.

All I knew was the pressure at his base, growing, swelling, and pushing for more space than I had. My legs pressed against the ground, heels digging in as my body instinctively tried to retreat from the pressure.

“No—no, no—” My voice broke in panic.

His body jolted above me and he roared.

“It’s all yours,” he growled, nearly feral. “My love...it’s all yours.”

I didn’t understand anything, not until he put all his weight on his hips and forced his knot inside me.

A scream, raw and bloody, tore out of me as he pushed past that last impossible resistance. The pressure was overwhelming; an engulfing fullness I never imagined my body could hold.

Aleric let out a sound I had never heard before; not a groan, not a roar, something ancient.

And then—

He went still.

A heavy, pulsing presence locked us together inside. The head of his cock was pressed right against my cervix, pushing through it as if demanding entry to my poor womb. My muscles stretched so violently around his knot that I could feel the strain in them in a way that no one should.

The pressure and pain were too much for me to handle. I cried out in despair as he growled loudly before I felt his knot pulsing before his hot creamy cum filled me.

He was cummimg non-stopply. Filling me again and again with his hot cum as my vision was getting blurred at the pressure inside me. I was going to faint as he growled again, his head snapping back and filled me with another load of his cum.

"Pl... ple....s.?!” My voice was desperate and tired, I just wanted him out of me. I tried to pull away, but I couldn’t. I was held in place, trapped by him.

His face was twisted with a raw ecstasy that frightened me even more.

And then I heard his clan. A thunder of voices rose into the night: Cries of joy. Shouts. Stomping feet.

Celebration.

For this.

For him.

For whatever had just happened to me.

Aleric’s hand slid behind my back. The sound of fabric tearing filled the tent as he ripped open the leather, unbinding my wrists with a single swipe of his claw.

I didn’t even have the strength to move. My muscles burned from being held back for so long. I couldn’t lift them. Pins and needles raced down both arms in hot waves.

Aleric noticed.

His large hand slipped under my wrists, guiding them gently out and placing them beside my head. My limp fingers brushed the fur, numb and tingling, as if they didn’t belong to me.

Then he took my hands in his. He intertwined our fingers, pressing the backs of my hands to the ground, trapping them under his palms.

He lowered his mouth to mine, giving me a brief tender kiss as he whispered against my lips:

“Breathe slowly, little one… you’re breathing too fast.”

I didn’t feel like I was breathing at all.

My body was trembling uncontrollably, unable to process the pressure, the fullness, the shock, the intensity of everything that was happened.

He started kissing me again. Not the hungry, desperate way from before. But with small, soft kisses scattered across my cheeks, the corner of my mouth, my jaw, my temple.

Tender.

Gentle.

But even this tenderness I would expect to feel comforting, only made my panic spike higher.

I didn’t want his mouth on me anymore. I didn’t want the weight of him pressed along my body. I didn’t want the hot, humid rush of his breath across my face. I didn’t want to feel his skin sticking to mine. I didn’t want his knot pulsing inside me and him still cumming and filling me with his hot cum.

I felt myself slipping. The edges of my vision black and pulsing, my head light, my breath ragged and uneven. I might have fainted if not for the constant pulsing, insistent pressure still holding our bodies inseparably locked.

I don’t know how long it lasted.

Minutes.

Hours.

I couldn’t tell.

My body was shaking with exhaustion. His weight felt heavier and heavier by the second, even though he tried to hold himself up on his forearms.

And then, at some point, I felt something change. Aleric’s breathing slowed. His body softened against mine. His knot shifted, shrinking, loosening its hold on me. And with one deep, shuddering exhale, he dragged himself out of me.

Even without the binding hold that had kept us locked, he could have stayed inside easily. The size difference alone made my body locked into his.

As he pulled out, his cum spilled out of me in a warm rush. So much cum that I let a sound in pure discomfort.

I truly believed it was over now. My body had gone quiet, trembling only when a wave of his cum rolled out of me. Everything outside the tent had died into a silence. I thought he would finally let me slip into the heavy darkness my body begged for.

But then… he lowered his head and brushed his tongue along my cheek, slow and deliberate, tasting the dried marks of my tears.

“Look at me, my love.”

His voice was calmer now, but with a simmering heat beneath it. I forced my eyes open. The change in him after he knotted me was instant and terrifying.

He cupped my face with both hands as if I were fragile glass, leaned down, and kissed my lips. Then he kissed both of my eyes, the salt still on my lashes, before murmuring:

“Now I can feel everything that you feel. We’re bound.”

He let out a chest-deep laugh.

“My wolf… gods, he’s surging. Stronger than before. Stronger than ever.”

He pressed his forehead into my shoulder, laughing again, breathless, almost drunk on the sensation.

“I’m rising to a place I could never reach without you.”

I closed my eyes, trying to let myself fall... just fall into unconsciousness.

Suddenly the world flipped. My body rolled beneath him, landing on my stomach. The breath punched from my lungs. A sound, half moan, half whimper, escaped me. Every inch of me ached. My arms were useless. My legs barely responded.

I wasn’t ready.

I wasn’t ready for anything.

His hands traced my spine slowly, as if he were memorizing each bone. The contrast between his touch and the panic swelling in my throat made my eyes burn again.

Then his hands slid to my hips, and he lifted them. My knees dragged beneath me, my face pressed into the furs as he positioned me the way he wanted; the way his wolf demanded. I moaned softly, not in pleasure but in helpless protest, the sound cracking in my throat.

“Please…” My voice was barely there. “I’m tired. I’m so—”

He shushed me, leaning over my back, his chest molding to my spine.

“I will do the work,” he whispered, lips brushing the shell of my ear.

“You just feel.”

This time he slide into me easily, pushing his own cum out as his cock took its place between my trembling walls again. He pushed himself to the hilt and groaned, showing his pleasure shamelessly.

A helpless sound broke out of me; a sound torn between panic and something frighteningly close to surrender. My hands clutched at the furs beneath me without strength. My body shook, overwhelmed, overstimulated, unable to run, unable to think.

His hips started to move; this time with purpose. He dragged his heavy length inside me slowly at first, just letting me feel him everywhere inside me.

As my broken moans rised, his hips slapped into my butt faster, building a tempo that he was sure I would crumble beneath it.

His hand slid beneath me as his finger found my overstimulated clit and started to rub it furiously. I choked on a scream as I tried to bury my face the furs. Pleasure hit me like a shockwave, sharp and unwanted, my body betraying me again.

He growled behind me, a deep, animal sound that vibrated against my back.

“My wolf is… thrilled,” he rasped, his breath hot against my neck. “Thrilled to see you breaking under me.”

His fingers moved even faster as his hips thrust into me like he was rearranging my guts.

“I know you’re tired,” he murmured, voice almost soothing as his hips rolled against mine. “I can feel it through the bond.”

His lips brushed the nape of my neck.

“But your pleasure…”

He exhaled sharply, taking my scent in.

“is something else entirely.”

His grip tightened on my hips, drawing me back against him.

My hands flew forward to cover myself as a sob escaped my throat. But he caught both my wrists before I could even try to cover myself.

“Don’t,” a low command wrapped in something close to worship. His eyes lifted to mine with a heat that made my bones tremble. “You’re gorgeous. Every part of you must be worshipped by me.”

“Please…” The word left me somewhere between a sob and a whisper. I didn’t even know what I was begging for at this stage.

He lowered my wrists slowly, as if giving me time to pull back, though we both knew I couldn’t, and pressed them into the nest of soft furs beneath us. His grip never tightened, but the message was clear: stay still.

“I don’t want to bind you.” his stare trailed back to my breasts. “I don’t want to hurt you. So don’t make me. The choice is yours.”

My lips quivered. What choice? What choice I was given since he bit my neck leaving an ugly raw scar behind? Since he brought me here between all these crazy people claiming to be werewolves?

My body slackened without my permission as tears rolled down my cheeks. I had no choice in reality other than surrendering to him tonight and letting him take what he wanted, hoping I would stay alive to see tomorrow's sun and Kate's return to save me.

Outside the tent, the noise of the village had quieted. But the crackle of firewood and the shuffle of feet in the grass reminded me we were not alone and people were still out there, around the tent.

As if they were all waiting for something...

There was no running. No path through a forest, I didn’t know. No escaping a man like Aleric, let alone a whole clan loyal to him. And Aleric knew it. He knew I was his to do as he pleased.

"You sound scared, but..." his eyes were locked onto my breasts still as he took a deep breath. "I can't wait, little one. Not anymore." His voice came with a groan as if something else was overtaking his body.

His hands were suddenly on my breasts, squeezing them while groaning in his chest. He dragged his thumbs over my nipples in an almost experimental way and my nipples instantly hardened under his touch. I whimpered as his hands continued to group me hungrily like a teenage boy seeing boobs for the first time in his life.

His hands were too big compared to my breasts, but he seemed to even enjoy that fact. Without diverting his eyes from how I was fitting into his hands, he said,

"I can't imagine how much bigger these will get when you mother our children."

I sobbed at his words, clutching the furs beneath my fingers harshly. He pinched my nipples softly between his fingers and I gasped at the sharp sensation. His eyes trained into my face, smirking as he caught my reaction.

"Pl...please—"

He pinched both my nipples more harshly this time. A moan broke free from my lips before I could stop myself.

His back curved as he bent over me and his mouth wrapped around my nipple. He groaned, his voice vibrating over my skin as my back arched, my hands flying to the back of his head to push him away. He caught them in an instant with one hand.

Harder this time.

He lifted his head, just enough for our eyes to meet. The darkness in his gaze was growing heavier with a feral hunger I didn’t have a name for.

“Don’t make me warn you a third time,” he said, voice hoarse with desire. “There will be no warning after that. I will bind you.”

The meaning sank into me with a cold weight as I continued to cry ovar my fate. He released my wrists and I gripped the fur beneath me tightly, trying not to lose the useless privilege of having my arms free under him.

His hand went under my back as he lifted my torso slightly, closer to his lips. He took my aerola into his mouth as his tongue lapped all over it, teasing my nipple with the tip of his tongue.

My breath hitched. I bit down on my lip, trying, failing, to contain the noises rising in my throat as his touch grew even more frantic. His mouth went from one breast to the other as if he couldn’t decide which one he wanted more. I whimpered loudly as he sucked harshly on my breast, as if he wanted to force milk out of it.

He released my breasts and his hand left my back and let me rest on the furs again. He stared at my reddened hard nipples, wet with his saliva.

"Soon you'll have milk, and every night, after you feed our babies, I'll drink from you."

My body was shaking beneath him with my sobs or from terror, you couldn't know, but he didn’t seemed concerned about it at all. He seemed to be in a trance only wanting... no ...needing to continue.

Aleric’s hand closed around the leather skirt at my waist, and ripped it apart, down the middle as though it were nothing but thin paper. The sound alone made my heart drop into my stomach. I yelped, scrambling upward.

His eyes dropped entirely fixed, locked by my pussy, open wide to him as his knees were not allowing my legs to close. A look too primitive, too mesmerized, too feral to belong to anything human.

My pulse spiked so hard it made me dizzy. Adrenaline hit me in a violent wave, the kind of panicked survival instinct that comes too late.

I shoved at his shoulders hard. Hard enough that any normal man would have at least moved.

He didn’t move an inch.

I pushed myself backward with my palms resting behind me on the fur. The second I created a sliver of distance, barely an inch between our bodies, Aleric roared.

A sound that shook through the tent poles, like it belonged to a beast forced into a man’s skin.

I choked on a sob.

His eyes snapped up to mine, furious with a barely-controlled violence that made every hair on my body raise.

It wasn’t just impatience. It was the look of something ready to attack if I moved again.

Before I could even draw a full breath, he shoved me onto my back, an effortless push that toppled me like I weighed nothing. The furs cushioned the fall, but terror wrenched my chest tight.

I barely had time to gasp before he turned my upper body around and twisted my arms behind me. The torn strip of leather was wrapped around my wrists, the knot tightened, secure enough to keep me still, loose enough not to cut blood flow.

I writhed instinctively and uselessly, trying to free my arms.

He leaned over me as he turned me on my back again, his face close, his breath hot against my cheek. His pupils were blown wide, swallowing almost all the gold in his eyes.

“I told you, little one…” he whispered, voice low and dangerous, “How many times must I repeat myself?”

He tilted his head, studying my panic with hunger.

“When I speak,” he said softly, “every word is a promise. And I always,” he breathed, “keep my promises.”

He stared into my eyes for a moment, his breathing rough and uneven, as though he were holding back a storm.

“So stop resisting already,” His voice held no emotion this time. “Stop this unacceptable behavior.”

Unacceptable behavior.

The thought echoed inside my skull like a joke. I was reacting like any sane person would. Terrified, confused, and fighting to get out of here when everything around me was wrong.

And yet he spoke as though I were the one acting unreasonable. As though he were correcting a child throwing a tantrum. As though I was the problem here and they they were all victims…

I tried to move, just to shift the angle to relieve the pressure over my hands, but I couldn't. My fingers were already going numb, my shoulders cramped, my arms trembling from being forced so far back.

Aleric didn’t notice.

Or he didn’t care.

He settled back on his haunches and looked down at me. His gaze traveled over my body with a satisfaction that made my blood run cold as his tongue slid across his upper lip.

His hands came down on my hips, and he lifted my lower body to be in level with his head. My wrists pulled painfully against the binding behind me, my shoulders straining as my back arched upward without my control. Only my head and my shoulders remained on the nest beneath me.

A cry tore from me at the uncomfortable position. Aleric brought my legs higher, placing both of my knees over his broad shoulders with ease.

He stared at my pussy with hunger. He wasn’t just looking. He was memorizing. As if he wanted to carve every detail of me into his mind.

One of his hands slid over my middle, spanning almost the whole width. He held me effortlessly with that one arm alone, keeping my hips raised off the nest as if my entire body weighed nothing.

His other hand gripped my thigh, forcing my legs wider over his shoulders. He leaned down, his breath hitting my pussy lips, burning against my skin. I shuddered so violently that the binds dug deeper into my wrists.

When he spoke, the voice that came out of him was no longer human.

“You are an angel…”

His breath dragged closer along my center with each word.

“Every part of you… is just so beautiful.”

My stomach twisted at his words. I was quite moderate in terms of looking. Perhaps even compared to my friends, my weight was more than it should be and my skin glowed less.

He was delusional.

His mouth was on me so suddenly that I couldn't be prepared even if I was his willing partner. I yelped and jerked my hips, trying to get away from his tongue but failed as his hold tightened over my middle, pressing my pussy even more to his devouring mouth.

And by devouring,I mean... devouring.

His pulled my lips into his mouth, licking them and sucking on them messily. He groaned loudly, the sound vibrating right into me as his tongue licked my arousal, gathered there from his earlier manipulations on my nipples.

I cried out as his tongue forced itsef inside me to get more. My vagina clenced over his tongue, denying him entry. He growled angrily and instead flattened his tongue, licking from my butt hole upward as if to coax my little pussy to relax for him.

A loud, involuntary moan tore from me, my body tensing as his tongue touched my clit for the first time.

His reaction was instantaneous. He paused for a moment, eyes diverting from my pussy to my face. His pupils dilated even more if possible.

“That…” His eyes burned up my body, locking onto my face with feral satisfaction. “That sound. I want more of that.”

He dragged his hot tongue along my pussy again, exploring the same place with terrifying precision, as if he was studying me.

And when he found that same spot, my body jerked. I tried to pull back, arching away from him in pure instinct, a cry bursting out of me as if he’d struck lightning under my skin.

But Aleric merely tightened his grip around my hips. He looked at me… and smirked. With his fingers he pulled the hood over my clit upward, exposing the little hard nub. He dragged a finger over it lightly as if to test it, and I whined, biting the inside of my cheek, trying to stay silent.

His fingers dug into my thigh, as he murmured in that feral voice:

“There it is. Your weakness. And now that I’ve found it…”

His eyes darkened, pupils wide and inhuman.

“…you think I will ever forget?”

This time he wrapped his lips around my clit and teased it with the tip of his tongue. I breathed sharply, whimpering before my voice rose to sharp moans as he sucked over it, doubling his speed.

He had learned something about me. Something he wasn’t supposed to know. Something my body had given away before my mind could stop it.

And he liked it too much.

Heat kept building under my skin, and my arousal built up, leaking out of my vagina. I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to choke it down, smother it, kill it, but it only grew.

And Aleric noticed instantly.

His breath hitched, a sound too thrilled, as if every tiny shift in me was a wonder to him.

“Little one…” he rasped. “You feel good. Don’t you dare lie.”

I shook my head desperately, but he only let out a dark laugh.

He lips went back to my clitoris, now moving faster and relentless, as if he was tearing through every barrier between us without using a single ounce of force. Just instinct. Just heat. Just that terrifying pull of him discovering exactly how my body reacted.

My back arched without my permission, pushing my pussy to his face. My legs trembled over his shoulders. My bound wrists dug painfully into the fur beneath me, pinned and useless.

I didn’t want to make a sound.

I didn’t want to give him anything.

But my orgasm crashed through me anyway, ripping a broken moan from my throat as my whole body tensed at once.

Aleric growled, a triumphant growl that vibrated through his whole chest as his fingers dug into my thighs.

“Do you understand now? Your body knows me. Even if your mind refuses to accept it.”

I shook my head in denial, breath broken, vision blurred. But he only smiled and put his mouth over me again.

I cried out loudly, jerking in overstimulation, but he tightened his grip on me. He shamelessly gulped my cum down, groaning in delight as his tongue delved inside my vagina, this time sliping in easily. He gathered all my cum with his tongue, leaving no drop behind.

His breath was unsteady when he finally lifted his head, his lips and beard shining. He stared at me as if he had just witnessed a miracle.

“I can’t believe you,” he whispered, almost laughing in disbelief. “I didn’t even know something like this existed.”

He dragged his tongue across his lips, as though tasting every last trace of me. His pupils were blown wide, his expression starving.

“I want your sweet juice every night,” he said, “Every morning. Before every meal… after every meal…”

He leaned in, brushing his forehead against my pelvis.

“I’m not going a single day without it.”

He looked down at my core again. His voice dropped into a dark, fascinated whisper.

“And this little thing… this little pearl is what makes you give me that sweet juice, isn’t it?”

I shook my head, but the sound that came out of me wasn’t even a word, a cry that betrayed everything I was trying to hold back.

He didn’t hesitate. His mouth went back to my pussy with devotion. He knew exactly what he was doing now; he had learned my reactions, learned what made my breath stop, and what made my voice break.

He was faster this time. A little rougher. He would drag his mouth lower to catch whatever drop had escaped his mouth, then return to my clit again.

And because I was already undone from before, my body reacted almost instantly.

I came apart again. My legs shook over his shoulders, and he let out a growl of satisfaction like he was the one receiving pleasure instead of giving it.

He held me firmly, letting me tremble through the aftershocks as if they belonged to him, too. His mouth focused on taking all my cum inside his mouth, not letting a drop to trail down.

I lay there trying to drag air back into my lungs, each breath shuddering. I had never experienced anything close to this. I’d never shared intimacy with anyone. Not because I didn’t want to, but because it simply never reached that point with anyone.

This was too much for me, too much for my inexperience.

But I was wrong.

I didn’t know that what was coming next… would be far more than “too much.”

His whole beard glistened with proof of what he’d taken from me, and he didn’t hide his enjoyment. He licked his lips again, savoring it, and somehow looked even hungrier than before.

As exhausted as I was… he looked twice as eager.

“These sounds…” he growled, voice thick with obsession, “These sounds you make, little sweet thing… I would do anything to hear them all day.”

His eyes burned into mine.

“Our she-wolves don’t even gasp when they’re knotted. But you… look at you. Look how you tremble when you cum… how you cry out… and I haven’t even begun the real thing yet.”

I tried to calm my breathing as tears were long forgotten and dried on my face. My wrists dug painfully against the leather as he guided my weight back down. A wince escaped me, and I tried to speak, to ask him to loosen it, to give me a bit of relief. But before a single word left my mouth, he claimed my lips.

The taste of myself smeared across my lips and cheeks as he kissed me with impatient hunger. He didn’t even try to deepen the kiss this time. He tore away from it as quickly as he’d begun.

Then, impatient and breathing hard, he reached behind his waist, grabbed the strip of leather tied there, and ripped it off in one violent motion. His hard cock slammed against his lower abdomen. The motion and the force of it, made me jump, eyes flying open.

Aleric leaned back, sitting on his haunches, dragging my thighs up and settling my legs over his own. He forced me open with nothing but the width of his body.

And that’s when I saw him fully.

My breath simply… stopped.

It couldn't be considered normal. He was long and impossibly thick, looking furious and swollen with need, as if his own desire was painful. Its head was purple with precum already oozing out and landing on my abdomen, marking me before he even started.

I tried to wiggle free of my bindings with no avail, crying again in terror of what was gonna happen to me. I wouldn't survive. I couldn’t possibly be stretched by this thing and stay functioning.

“Little one,” he rasped, “you can barely handle my mouth…" he chuckled. " But now you'll learn to handle me fully.”

His hand wrapped around my thigh, holding me open. His expression was terrifying. Hungry beyond reason. Certain beyond doubt.

And I realized, trembling beneath him:

I had never known fear like this.

I had never known desire like this.

I frowned, trying to sit up. The motion made the pain in my neck spike again as I sucked in a breath through my teeth.

The bed beneath me was strange too, not soft and comfortable like a mattress should be. The blanket that covered me was heavy and warm with a coarse texture; It was real, thick animal fur, stitched crudely together.

There was a wide balcony opposite the bed, but there were no windows, no doors, not even glass. The wind drifted through freely, cool, and damp. Who built a house like this? What about rain? Snow?

My hand returned to my neck, and this time, my fingers brushed over something rough and raised. A scar?

That was when the memories crashed in.

The forest.

The beast pinning me, his breath burning against my skin. His teeth sinking into my flesh. The pain, the scream that died in my throat.

I gasped and stumbled to my feet, my boots scraping against the wooden floor. My clothes were still on: my jeans, my hoodie. Except for the pain in my neck, I was intact in other places.

But I was supposed to die. That’s what predators do; they tear your throat out and feed. That’s what every documentary said.

I stumbled toward the open balcony. The sunlight hit my eyes, and I squinted. Below me, a whole settlement spread out; small wooden houses scattered between trees. Smoke rose from fires. People moved about; men, women, children.

I backed away from the bed, clutching the side of my neck as I looked around frantically. The room was bare, just the bed, a small wooden table, and nothing else. No mirror, no door to a bathroom, no lamps even.

They were big. Broad shoulders, muscled arms, bodies that looked carved from stone. Even the women had strength in their posture. And yet they moved with quiet ease, carrying baskets, tending fires, and laughing together.

They looked… human. Almost.

The door, heavy wood, opened.

I pressed my palm to my neck, feeling the dull pulse of pain. This time, my fingers came away with a faint stain of red. My stomach lurched. Before I could think further, the sound of a creaking hinge behind me made me spin around.

He filled the doorway; a towering figure that made the room seem smaller instantly. His body was broad and heavy with muscle, but not in a sculpted, gym-made way. His strength looked natural, like something born from the earth itself. He wore only a dark leather hide around his waist, leaving his chest bare; thick and scarred. His skin was tanned, rough. His hair was long, black, swept back from his forehead. His beard was dark and untamed, shadowing his sharp jaw.

He closed the door behind him slowly, his gaze never leaving me. The sound of wood clicking against wood echoed in the quiet room.

He looked human. Yes, unnaturally large, and strange-looking, but maybe it was just genetics. Maybe he was born that way. Maybe all these people were. Maybe these people had saved me from that mutant animal.

But then his eyes met mine.

And I froze.

It was the same eyes.

The same fucking golden eyes.

My breath hitched as I instinctively took a step backward, inching toward the open balcony behind me. My legs trembled, but I didn’t care. If he came any closer, I’d jump.

He took a step forward, heavy and deliberate, his feet making dull thuds against the wooden floor. He wasn’t even wearing proper shoes, just something like rough leather sandals strapped around his feet. They looked as uncomfortable and primal as the rest of him.

His voice was low and rough, as if it hadn’t been used in years. His English carried a thick, broken accent; foreign, uneven.

“You shouldn’t be standing,” he said, his words halting. “You smell weak.”

I raised both hands in front of me.

“Go away—don’t step closer to me, or I’ll scream!”

He looked at me as if I’d just said something ridiculous.

“My love,” he murmured, “you can scream as much as you want. It will only please me.”

I stared at him, my pulse pounding in my ears. He was insane. Completely insane.

“The people outside will hear me!” I said, my voice trembling but louder now. “They’ll come and help me!”

His smirk deepened into something almost wolfish.

My heart slammed against my ribs. “Stay away from me!” I yelled, stumbling backward. “I swear to God—I’ll jump!”

“People? Those are my people, and your screams will be a delight to them. They will know we are only bonding.”

His expression didn’t even flicker. “Don’t hurt yourself,” he said quietly. “If you jump, my people will catch you before you touch the ground. And then I will have to bring you back here again.”

He said it so casually, like it was a simple truth.

But I wasn’t listening anymore. I turned sharply, my feet slamming against the wooden floor as I rushed toward the balcony. His footsteps were steady behind me but unhurried...like he knew he’d catch me.

I reached the railing, grabbed the wooden edge, and hauled myself up. My body trembled as I looked down; it wasn’t too high. I could survive this. Maybe break a leg, but at least I’d be away from him. Away from this madness.

My foot was already over the railing when he reached me. His large hand clamped around my upper arm, and in a single effortless motion, he lifted me away from the edge as if I weighed nothing.

“Let me go!” I screamed, thrashing in his grip. I slammed my free hand against his chest, over and over. “Get away from me! Let me go!”

He didn’t even flinch.

His grip around my arm was firm but not painful, and that frightened me even more. He was controlling his strength.

He dragged me back inside, ignoring my nails raking against his skin, my desperate kicks, my screams. My blows landed uselessly against his shoulders, his back, his chest.

When we reached the bed, he stopped, towering over me.

“Sit down, my love,” he said quietly. His tone was soft, but when I didn’t obey instantly, it deepened, sharp as thunder. “Sit. Down.”

The air in the room changed. His voice was heavy and commanding. The kind of voice that demanded obedience. That meant you'll do it willingly, or I'll make you sit myself.

I trembled and sat down at the edge of the bed, tears burning my eyes. I felt small—so small—like a fragile thing before a storm. He was huge. Twice my size in every way; height, build, presence. Even the air around him felt larger.

He lowered himself slightly, his shadow falling across me. Then his hand, broad and rough, with skin like sanded stone, came up to my face. His palm could easily cover the whole of my skull. He cupped my chin gently, his thumb brushing away a tear that had escaped down my cheek.

His touch was warm with real callouses, not the soft roughness of someone who lifted weights. These were the hands of someone who worked, who fought, and who lived in the wild.

“Shh,” he murmured, his tone softening as he wiped another tear. “Don’t cry, my life. Don’t cry. You are here with me now. It’s all right. I am here.”

My lips quivered as I sobbed, the words tumbling out of me between shaky breaths. “Please… let me go. I’ll give you whatever you want. I have money—I’ll give you money. I won’t tell anyone, I swear. Please…”

Before I could say more, he shushed me again. His other hand rose slowly up to the side of my neck. His rough fingertips traced the tender skin there, right over the scar that still throbbed.

He frowned as I continued to sob. “You’ve moved too much,” he muttered, “It’s opening again.”

He leaned closer, his expression creasing in confusion. “It shouldn’t. You should heal.” His tone was laced with genuine bewilderment, as though my wound’s refusal to close offended some natural order he believed in.

He bent his head down again toward my neck. My stomach dropped. The scene from last night flashed before my eyes, except this time he was in his human form, not the monstrous beast from the woods.

Panic surged. “Don’t—don’t...!” I stammered, trying to scoot backward across the bed. But he moved faster, catching the back of my neck with one massive hand, his fingers spreading almost from one side of my throat to the other. His other arm snaked around my waist, drawing me forward as he bent down until his face was buried against the skin of my neck.

“Stop!” I cried, shoving at his shoulders. My nails dug into his flesh, but he didn’t flinch. He didn’t even seem to notice. And then I felt a wet, rough drag over the scar.

He licked the scar slowly, tracing the mark from its base to its peak, leaving a slick trail of warmth behind. I thrashed, choking on my own sobs, convinced he was about to finish what he’d started: to kill me. But he only repeated the motion again and again, slow and rhythmic, almost… careful. His hand rubbed small circles into my side as though to soothe me while my entire body trembled.

When he finally lifted his head, his breath brushed hot against my tear-streaked cheek. His eyes met mine, but there was a strange softness there now, something frighteningly close to concern.

He reached up, his big, calloused hand sliding to the back of my head. His thumb brushed through my hair in a clumsy attempt to comfort me as he murmured, “Shhh… it’s closed now. You’re not bleeding anymore.” He exhaled a heavy sigh, his voice lowering to something almost gentle. “I closed it. But you shouldn’t move your neck so much, my love, okay?”

His words hit me like a slap. My love. He spoke as though this was all normal, as if I were fragile, reckless, in need of instruction.

“Please,” I whispered brokenly, unable to stop the tears spilling down my cheeks. “Please… just finish your job. Or just let me go.”

He frowned, confusion flashing across his face. “My job?”

My breath came sharp and uneven. “Just… just kill me.”

The word kill had barely left my lips before a roar exploded from him, the sound shaking the air itself. His eyes blazed with fury as his grip on me tightened.

His arm slid beneath my waist, dragging me higher onto the bed. The wooden frame creaked under his weight as one of his knees landed beside my hip. His hand, large and hot, slid beneath my head like a rough pillow as he leaned down, putting me flat over the bed and pressing his forehead against mine.

“Kill you?” His voice was a growl, a vow. “Don’t ever say that word again. You’re not going to be hurt. You’re not going to die. As long as I’m breathing, you will breathe beside me.”

I stared up at him, shaking, my voice cracking as I whispered, “But you… you bit me.”

“Not bit you,” he said firmly, interrupting me. “I marked you.”

My lips parted, confusion thick in my throat. “Marked me?” I whispered.

He nodded, his tone softening, even tender. “Marked you. My life… you are mine. You are my beloved mate that I’ve been waiting for. For decades.” His rough hand brushed my cheek. “Now every werewolf will know that you’re mine. You belong to the me, Alpha Aleric.”

I blinked through tears, staring at him, every word sinking in like a fever dream. Alpha? Werewolf? Mine?

He smiled then; a gentle, almost serene smile that didn’t belong on such a fearsome face. It was strange, unsettling, like a weapon sheathed in silk.

“You’ll know everything,” he said, “by the end of tonight.”

His eyes darkened, glinting faintly, that same flicker I’d seen in the beast’s gaze the night before. “And then,” he went on, the corner of his mouth twitching upward, "when you are mine in every way possible…”

I lowered myself into the water, the muscles in my back relaxing as the current flowed over me. Around me, the air hummed with laughter and low conversation. Men stood gathered along the riverbank. Each of them had been waiting for this day as long as I had, though not one of them could feel what I felt now.

Victor, my uncle, my father’s old Beta, and the eldest of the Elders, stepped closer, his bare feet silent against the grass. His long white hair caught the late sun like snow. He placed a hand on my shoulder as he crouched down beside me.

“I knew this day would come, son,” he said, his voice rough like bark. “But I never imagined your mate would not be... one of us.”

My jaw tightened. The river hissed around me as I flexed my hands beneath the surface. “She is one of us,” The words came out sharper than I intended. “Because she is mine.”

Victor’s eyes softened, but there was still worry behind them. “Of course, she will be ours by tomorrow morning when the bond is sealed. But…” He hesitated, glancing toward the sacred waterfall's direction where the women’s chants echoed faintly in the distance. “I fear what this means for the rest of us. We are all connected by our wolves. We feel each other’s joy and pain as one. But with her… she is not linked to that path. None of the pack will sense her except you. We won’t be able to protect her properly or understand her pain. Even her happiness will be hidden from us.”

He spoke with care, not challenge. But the words grated against something inside me.

“I am enough for her,” I said. “I am the Alpha. I am the strongest. If she needs something, I'll feel it. The rest of you will learn to understand her words, whatever language she uses. You will learn because I command it. And you'll learn to read her eyes and face and pay attention to her moods every second.”

Victor inclined his head, not arguing. “Of course, my Alpha. The Moon has blessed your union, and she does not make mistakes.”

He rose to his feet and stepped back toward the others, leaving me with the cold water and the weight of his words.

I stayed there, scrubbing my skin, letting the current carry away the remains of my old self; the years of waiting, of hollow nights and fading strength.

On the opposite site, Lucas was laying out my ceremonial leathers. Beside him, a clay bowl held the ink for the markings that would be painted over my chest and arms before I went to her.

My chest tightened at the thought of her.

My little mate.

The girl from the human world. Fragile, soft, trembling, and yet her scent had undone me. That first moment when her scent pierced the air, my wolf had gone mad inside me. There was no question. No doubt that the Moon had finally given her to me.

Her sweet scent alone could make me as hard as a rock (I was hard for hours when I brought her here in my arms). An erection that nothing could calm it down except herself. Even now sitting in the water, I was excited, my large cock slapping my stomach.

I groaned lowly, my hand wrapping around my cock to release some pressure. I was already a man with no sleep at nights and a fever always running in my body for forty years. I doubted I would let my darling have a wink of sleep tonight. And... other nights...and mornings...

I circled my sensitive head with my thumb as I hissed in my chest. In all these years, I never had a proper fucking because none of those she-wolves offering themselves to me were my mate. My wolf hated their scent, their eyes, and even their breathing near my ears, always making me mount them from behind with the least contact with them. I wouldn't even knot them as it despised me to be with any female before my own and the orgasms that I had were short lived with little euphoria and only a few drops of cum leaking out of me.

As if my body was saving himself for her. All my cum, all my knots just for her.

I pulled my hand away from my throbbing cock and fisted it over my lap inside the water. I shall keep all I have for her. No drop to be waisted tonight.

I sighed deeply as I thought of her small, soft body. She was so different from us, and it made my human side worry about how she would take me. I knew human body was different from us, but I had never sensed it so closely. Just her soft small breasts, and her plump ass were enough to prove how different her body worked. It was as if she was ready to take my children and mother them already.

But that wasn't the only case. She-wolves had an almost bony vagina, made for the shape of their mates' penis. The knot would cause no discomfort for them as they had the space inside for it with a bony ridge to lock the knot inside. They didn’t need lubrication as our cocks weeped enough precum for the smooth motion and their orgasms were bound to their mates'. When the male came, the female would follow; their release widened the opening of their cervix to get more cum inside and the bony ridge would get prominent to lock the knot inside.

That's all that would happen in our sex. But with my sweet little human? I had no idea how her body worked.

And she was afraid. I could sense that even without the bond fully formed. Her eyes, wide and searching; her voice shaking. She didn’t understand. How could she?

I gritted my teeth. I trusted Gwen to prepare her. She was safe with her. But even as I tried to calm myself, the sound of her struggling and crying burned in my ears. I could hear her pleadings, and it took everything in me not to rush to her and hold her in my arms, comforting her.

My wolf was restless beneath my skin. The animal inside me didn’t understand. It only understood the need. I would not let myself think of fear, or softness, or pain.

Tonight, I would have what the Moon had promised me.

My wolf surged within me, pacing, snarling for release.

Ours. It growled. She is ours. Claim her. Bind her. Knot her.

I let out a slow exhale, lowering my face to the water, feeling it wash over me.

Yes. Tonight would end the waiting. By dawn, the bond would be sealed, and I'd become the most powerful version of myself with my mate by my side.

🌙

Her POV:

The sky was dark, yet the moon’s light poured down in silvery ribbons, bathing everything in its glow. It wasn’t like the faint moonlight I’d seen back home; it was too bright, almost like a living thing.

One of the women gripped my arm again, and the other two closed in on either side of me. I couldn’t have escaped even if I’d wanted to, not with the heavy layers of wool and leather weighing down my shoulders.

We walked back toward Aleric’s house. I thought they might finally leave me there, but when we rounded the corner, I froze.

There were so many people.

Men and women all standing on both sides of a narrow dirt path that cut through the village. The flames from wooden torches, held in their hands, cast their faces in gold and black, and I realized with a jolt that there was barely any difference between the men and the women; they were all tall, broad, carved from the same hard muscle.

I clutched the wool around me tighter, but my shaking wouldn’t stop. My teeth chattered even though the air was warmer here. My eyes darted from one strange, unfamiliar face to the next, searching for some kind of kindness or humanity, but all I saw were sharp eyes and smiles that showed sharp canines.

Gwen placed a hand on my shoulder and leaned close to my ear.

“Now you will walk forward,” she whispered. “Between them. They won’t touch you. They won’t speak to you as Alpha requested.”

My heart was hammering. “Walk… where?” My voice came out small.

Gwen hesitated just for a second, something human flickered across her face, as if my fear had made her uncomfortable. But then her expression hardened again as she looked at the crowd.

“To the tent.”

I followed her gaze and saw a large tent draped in dark furs and thick ropes, standing alone at the far end of the path, located just in the center of the village.

“The moon has promised you to us,” Gwen said. “Your duties start from tonight. When you reach the tent, you will go inside. You will sit on the bedding in the middle. Do you understand?”

I stared at her, uncomprehending, my lips trembling.

Her hand pressed firmly against my back. “Go.”

I didn’t move.

She pushed harder, and I stumbled forward. “Please—”

“Go,” she said again, her tone sharp enough to cut. “Don’t make us carry you. It will not look good if you resist. They are watching. All of them. Show them respect by accepting your fate so they can show you respect later.”

I swallowed the scream in my throat and took one shaky step forward. Then another. The ground was cold and damp beneath my bare feet, blades of grass brushing my skin, tiny pebbles pressing into the soles. My heart thudded louder with every step I took down.

The faces around me blurred together; smiling, whispering, watching. When some of them noticed the tears sliding down my face, their smiles faltered. For the briefest moment, their eyes softened, confused, as if they couldn’t understand why I was crying at all.

The path felt endless, even though it wasn’t long. The murmurs around me rose and fell, their strange language brushing my ears but meaning nothing. I kept walking, hugging the heavy wool around me like it could somehow protect me from all those eyes.

When I finally reached the tent, two boys stepped forward, their movements quick despite their size. Each grabbed a leather flap and slid it aside so I could enter.

Their eyes followed me while their mouths curled into what I assumed were meant to be reassuring smiles. The taller one leaned forward slightly and lifted a hand, gesturing inside.

“Safe,” he said in one broken word.

I shook my head and instinctively took a step back from the tent. My hands trembled. My breath was shaky. When I turned, searching for Gwen or the women who had brought me here, they had already vanished into the mass of bodies.

The pathway remained strangely open, a narrow corridor carved through the sea of werewolves. Some of them tried to soften their gazes when my eyes met theirs. But their canines, their height, their animal stillness… nothing about them eased my fear.

A young girl pushed her way forward. She wiggled between people as she was slightly shorter. Her orange hair was braided on both sides of her face, and when she lifted her chin, her freckles glowed in the firelight.

“Alpha will come,” she called out to me, her voice surprisingly loud. “You enter the tent.”

She flashed a wide smile with her small canines showing.

I shook my head again and stepped back from her, but she hurried forward, slipping free from the crowd like a fish from water. She stood before me and bowed deeply. Then she straightened, but only halfway, as if afraid her full height may intimidate me.

She placed a hand to her chest, tapping gently.

Something about the way she said it made my stomach twist; like something significant was supposed to happen before tomorrow came.

“I am Alice,” she said. Her accent was thick.

“But… we are not introducing ourselves to you tonight. Alpha ordered.” She giggled, excitement shimmering behind her eyes as she added, “I will see you tomorrow morning.”

Alice stepped closer, her expression pleading.

“You enter. No worries.”

Her hand landed on my shoulder, guiding me forward. And even though every fiber in my body wanted to run, the crowd behind her was urging me to go inside.

So I stepped inside.

The boys immediately let go of the leather flaps, and the entrance fell shut, cutting me off from all eyes. It was just me. Just my shaking breath. Just the tight ache in my chest.

I wiped at my tears as my eyes adjusted to the dim glow coming from small bowls of animal fat burning on clay stands and plates on the ground.

The tent was enormous. Much bigger than it had any right to be, considering I hadn’t seen anything like this earlier from the balcony.

Humans could never construct something like this. The bones of the structure were carved wood, lashed together with thick rope, layered with furs that kept out the cold. The ground was covered with woven carpets, thick enough that I couldn’t see the soil underneath. And on top of that, in the middle, was…

A nest.

There was no other word for it.

Deep furs. Soft ones. Layers of wool blankets. Piles of pillows arranged in a loose circle as if meant to cradle bodies.

My steps grew slow and hesitant as I approached it.

It looked like a place meant for warmth. For closeness. For something intimate.

My hands shook harder.

I dropped the heavy wool from my shoulders; it fell to the ground with a thud. My breath tore through my chest as I hurried to the back of the tent, grabbing the leather wall and trying to lift it upward. If I could just crawl underneath, slip out the back, run—

But the hide didn’t budge.

Not even a little.

It was as if they had nailed it to the ground. Or weighted it with stone. Or built the entire thing with the intention of me never, ever escaping.

I tried another section. Then another. Then another, desperation rising like burning water in my throat. I searched the tent ten times over, patting the carpets, pulling at the furs, reaching into every shadow for a weapon, a bone, a rock, anything sharp enough to defend myself.

Nothing.

They had put me in a cage.

My breath snapped, my strength with it. I crumpled into the far corner of the round tent, the fur-lined wall warm against my back, and stared at the nest in the center.

The leather they had forced on me clung to my body like a second skin. I clawed at it, wanting to tear it off, because it felt like a skin that wasn’t mine, a skin I didn’t choose. A skin that belonged to them.

My sobs grew loud enough for the whole camp to hear, but I didn’t care. They wouldn’t care even if they did hear. Their voices outside were booming, laughing, hollering, and murmuring in their strange language.

A few moments later, their voices rose in unison. I curled deeper into myself, clutching my knees to my chest, as I tried to block out their noises and stop my body from shaking.

The howls turned into chanting; deep, guttural, rhythmic. Then, the unmistakable sound of dozens of bodies slamming their feet into the ground in unison.

They weren’t just celebrating.

They were calling for someone.

“What is happening?” I whispered to myself, my voice trembling.

I curled tighter, clutching myself. The leather fell shut again, but not before Aleric’s massive body stepped inside and the flaps were pulled down again.

The tent suddenly brightened as the front flap was lifted, sound bursting through in a deafening wave.

He had to bend to enter. When he straightened to his full height, his eyes scanned the tent once before landing on me. He frowned deeply. His tongue clicked against the roof of his mouth, a sound of disappointment.

And he wore almost nothing. Just a strip of leather around his waist that dropped low over his hips, held by a strap running between his legs. A reminder of that monstrous thing he had beneath it.

Black ink covered his arms, his chest, and even parts of his thighs. Not markings like Gwen’s, but detailed ceremonial symbols carved into him, shining where his sweat touched them. His neck and face were untouched, the only places left bare, as if saved for my lips.

His hair was slicked back, wet, and braided in several tight strips.

He looked like a god of an ancient forest.

“Please…” I whispered, my voice barely sound. “Please don’t…”

He approached me, as I pressed myself so hard into the tent wall I genuinely thought it might tear. His shadow swallowed me whole when he stopped just in front of me.

“Why you hide… little mate?”

Aleric crouched down in front of me. I curled tighter, trying to put a distance between us, but his hands wrapped around my wrists and pulled.

My arms came free from around my legs even though I tried to resist him with every muscle I had. I dug my nails into my own skin, twisting, trying to wrench myself away from him, but the size difference made it pathetic. Embarrassingly pathetic.

He released my wrists, and I scrambled sideways, trying to crawl away and for one second, I actually thought I’d slipped past him.

But his hand landed on my back while his other arm swept beneath my knees, and he lifted me up effortlessly. I thrashed in his arms, twisting, pushing at him, kicking uselessly. He barely tightened his hold, just enough to keep me from falling.

His eyes stayed on my face the whole time.

“Shhh,” he murmured. “Do not move. If you fall, you will hurt yourself.”

My breath tore out of me in a sob. “Don’t. Please.... Leave me. You’re making a mistake...”

He carried me toward the large nest of furs and blankets, waiting there like some kind of throne. He lowered himself with me and sat, sinking into the thick softness.

“What mistake, darling?” he asked gently.

I shoved at his shoulder with both hands, pushing with all the force my fear could give me, nails scraping against his skin. He let me go, allowing me to fall onto my back on the nest. I scrambled backward, breath shaking as I said.

“Maybe you’ve mistaken me. Maybe there’s someone else...I’m not from here, I don’t belong here, I swear—”

A deep growl rolled from his chest. Angry.

Before I could find another word, his hand slid behind my neck, and he pulled me forward, crashing his mouth onto mine.

The kiss was brutal. His beard scraped my chin, my cheeks, my skin burning under it. When he finally released me, I was gasping, dizzy, and shaking.

His forehead touched mine as he breathed against my lips:

“A werewolf never mistakes their mate.”

He stared at me as if the truth lived inside my bones.

“You are mine. You were made for me. You were never meant to live among humans. It was wrong from the start. But now…”

His thumb stroked the side of my neck.

“…you are where you belong.”

I pressed both hands against his ink-covered chest, pushing hard, trying to create an inch of distance. His hand stayed fixed behind my neck, refusing to let me move.

“You’re insane!” I snapped, anger mixing with fear inside me. “You’re all insane! Werewolves aren’t real! There’s no such thing! You’re all just... just some cult living in the woods, thinking you have powers and believing in stupid—”

His hand moved fast. His palm came to the front of my neck, gripping it, almost circling all the width of my neck with one hand. My back hit the furs from the force of it as he hovered over me. His grip on my neck was tight enough to silent me but letting me breath easily.

His eyes burned down into mine. “Do not insult what you do not understand, little one.”

Aleric lowered himself between my legs, forcing them open with the push of his knees. My breath hitched as the leather skirt pulled upward around my upper thighs, barely covering my naked pussy. My hands flew to the one he had on my throat. I clawed at his wrist, desperate to pry him off, but he didn’t budge. My fingers might as well have been scraping stone.

His other arm slid beside my head, his forearm bracing his weight as he leaned over me. His body became a wall of heat and shadow above mine; broad shoulders, inked skin, heavy weight cutting off every path of escape.

With an almost tender motion, he used the fingers of his bracing hand to sweep the braids away from my face, pushing them back from my forehead. My chest rose and fell too fast, sobs caught inside my throat as he patted my head too gently compared to the way he had me pinned by my neck.

His breath was hot against my ear as he spoke: “When the bond is sealed,” he murmured, “you will feel it in your bones… in your blood… exactly the way I feel it if the moon bless you with it.”

He lowered his mouth to the side of my neck. Right over the mark he had given me the night before. His lips dragged over the raw, tender skin. I winced, half pain, half instinctual terror, as his teeth grazed over the spot, nibbling.

My fingers dug harder into his wrist, trying again to push him away, but he didn’t even acknowledge the attempt.

“And even if you don’t feel anything because you're a human…”

“…I will make you feel me.”

He lifted his head slowly, and my heart stopped. His eyes were nearly black; so blown with lust that the gold had vanished. The pupils had expanded until they swallowed everything.

He didn’t look human like this. Not even close.

His breath brushed my lips.