“Shh.” He dared to nip her throat, teeth grazing a part of her he knew she rarely exposed to anyone besides close family, and felt her spine arch. He had only seen her throat once, so many years ago, when he convinced her to sneak into one of the many elvish training facilities late one night to swim in a pool.
Viktor groaned at the memory of what the sight of her in only her black panties and bra had done to him. He was too afraid to touch her then — gods, she was so out of his league it wasn’t even funny — but he could touch hernow.
Breathing hotly against her skin, he rasped, “We’re not talking abouthimnow, sweetheart.”
He felt her breathy sigh ruffle his hair. “Then what are we going to talk about?”
“Nothing,” he answered, fingers moving to the silken sash tied around her waist. He traced the topography of its bunches and twists before he found the knot. It unraveled with one sharp tug. “I don’t want words right now. I just want my mate.”
Her fingers curled into the shirt covering his stomach. There was no prick of claws, and for a moment he was stunned by the vulnerability she must have felt every time she came near him. Clawless, with her choices dictated by biology firmly out of her control, unsure of his affection —no wonder she had accused him of torturing her. With him, his fierce elf was helpless.
The trust it took to let him near, after everything, stunned him, humbled him, and aroused him beyond his ability to articulate.
“You have me,” she whispered, so soft his coyote hearing barely picked it up.
Chest aching, Viktor pushed aside the tearing need to claim for just a moment. He lifted his head to peer into her face, needing to see the truth in her eyes when he asked, “Do I?”
She swallowed thickly, but didn’t look away. “Yes,” she answered, stronger. “Yes, Vik. I don’t know how we’ll figure everything out but I know— Iknowthat I’m yours. That you’re mine. You have me, body and soul.”
He let the sash fall from his fingertips. Reaching up to cup her cheeks, he forced her to look him directly in the eye. There could be no second thoughts about this. No redos or cancellations — not simply because it would break him to let her go a second time, but because there was more than just their hearts on the line.
“I need you to be sure,” he ground out, “not just about you and me, but about everything. If we do this, you become alpha of my pack, sweetheart. You won’t just belong to me anymore. You’ll belong to all of us. Are you okay with that?”
This was about more than lust, more than the fever. There was no way they could have sex and hewouldn’tbite her. It was as deeply ingrained in him as the need to shift was. The need would override everything else.
And once she took his bite, everything would change. They would be mates in the eyes of the law and under the power of the gods. They would be leaders of their pack. It was vital that she understand those things before they went any further.
Camille’s violet eyes searched his face, but he didn’t see doubt there. “Would your pack accept me? Benjamin didn’t seem to think so.”
“Considering you saved my life? Yeah, I think they will.” In fact, heknewthey would, since he’d spent the better part of the day going from den to den, speaking with every family. He was relieved when every single one of them asked about his mate.
They were wary of outsiders, certainly, but Camille had scaled a cliff and took down a shooter on her own for their alpha. That sort of thing went a long way to earning trust. The problem was that now hereallyhad to share her.
Viktor smoothed his thumbs over her cheekbones, saying, “Don’t mind Benny. He’s just doing his job.” He sucked in a deep, calming breath through his teeth. “If you take my bite, he’ll accept you.”
He felt the cool touch of her fingertips sliding under the hem of his shirt like a tickling trail of water droplets. He shuddered when she asked, “And what about the Alliance?”
“One of their alphas tried to kill a prospective member,” he replied, voice flat. “They don’t have anything to stand on. Unless they want to come off looking like they sanction what Andreas tried to do, then they’ll let us in.”
Palms met the skin of his stomach next, making the muscles of his abdomen clench reflexively. His cock ached and his instincts were in a whirling rage, but Viktor pushed it all aside to focus on his mate, on the thoughts he could see churning behind her eyes.
“What happens next, then?”
A heavy weight settled on his shoulders the moment he heard his attacker was a cougar shifter, and it had only gotten heavier as the hours passed and the reality of what Alpha Andreas did set in. Viktor knew that only two options lay before them now. Neither of them were free of bloodshed.
“In the unlikeliest scenario, the Alliance will back Andreas and escalate things with the EVP. Teddy will have to bring it to the Congress floor.” Unspoken between them was the specter of the Great War, which impacted so much of their lives, despite the fact that both of them were born decades after its end. “If they choose that route, then it may come to war.”
A representative of the Alliance had attempted to assassinate a political leader — small and relatively unimportant though he was — on EVP soil. That could not go unaddressed.
That was the worst case scenario, but the best case wasn’t much better. Firming his jaw, Viktor broke the news to her in a grim voice. “Far more likely is they won’t back Andreas. If that happens, it will be one on one.”
In the shifter way, the transgression would be met claw for claw, fang for fang: Viktor versus Andreas.
If he won, then Andreas would die and the future of his pack would be left in Viktor’s hands. He could choose to expel them from the Alliance, though he didn’t foresee doing so.
If he lost, then he would die before he ever even got the chance to enjoy matehood, to see his pack flourish.
Viktor tried not to flinch when he watched the blood drain from Camille’s face. Her normally luminous lavender skin paled to an ashen gray when she whispered hoarsely, “You… you would fight him?”
