Chapter 0003

Ares’s POV

The last flick of the woman’s tongue along my stiff shaft sends me over the edge. I come apart under her touch as she and her companion continue to pleasure me. A groan escapes my lips and I thread my fingers through their hair, urging them to go faster as I slowly descend from my high.

They look up at me, licking their lips and smiling. “Did you like that, your Majesty?”

I heave a deep breath. I must say, after a hard day’s work, these two women are just what I needed to deescalate. I get up from my seat and grab a towel. “You two did very well. I shall reward you both properly.”

The other woman giggles. “You know how to reward us, your Majesty. We’re very willing to… take more of you.”

I wrap the towel around myself, catching a glimpse of them posing naked on the reflection of the mirror, trying to entice me.

Instantly, I feel myself getting hard again. Their gazes travel to my manhood, and their eyes spark with excitement. They jump to their feet and both hug me from behind, running their curious hands all over my body as I throw my head back and close my eyes, taking in all the pleasure they’re giving.

But when they start to pull me back to the king sized bed to share me, a sudden intrusive voice starts to invade my head, loud and assertive.

“Where are you right now?”

I groan internally. It’s my Beta, Heather.

And yes, she’s a woman. A witch too. A mighty capable one, at that.

I contemplate blocking her from my mind-link, but at last I just sigh and reply, “I’m in my room enjoying some private delights. Please, don’t interrupt me if you don’t want your innocence tainted.”

Beta Heather just snorts. “I have very important news for you, King Ares. Your whores could wait.”

“Courtesans,” I correct her lazily. I’ve been baited by her ‘important news’ before and I would not take her seriously this time. “Now, if you don’t mind, I have a pair of beautiful ladies waiting for me--”

“I felt the presence of your Mate, your Majesty.”

I freeze. The ladies wrap their arms around me and kiss either sides of my neck, but I just brush them off. They pout, but I face them sternly and say, “Take the cash and leave, please.”

They mirror looks of shock, but they both know better than to argue. “Of course, King Ares.”

They jump off the bed immediately and get dressed, not even sparing me a glance.

With that, they scamper out of the room together, but along the way, they bump into Beta Heather.

Heather’s bright red curly hair bounces as she does a double take on the courtesans. They scurry away like rats, and she’s left standing at the doorway with her mouth gaping.

“Who the hell… never mind, I don’t want to know,” she mutters. “King Ares--”

“Tell me what you know,” I command, grabbing a robe and wrapping it around myself. “At once.”

“You have to come with me, your Majesty.

I don’t even bat an eye. Wearing just a royal robe, I exit my room and follow her along the hallways. The guards are not looking, but I’m sure they find it strange that I’m parading around in this ungodly hour wearing next to nothing, for the first time trailing behind my Beta who is leading the way with great focus.

She found my Mate. Felt her presence, just like that. After years and years of trying and failing.

Could this be the end of my endless, meaningless immortal life? Would I finally be happy with my other half who I’ve looked for all my life?

A little flame of hope sparks in my heart. I don’t want to let it grow and consume me, but it seems that it’s too late.

By the time Beta Heather stops walking, I’m already aflame with hope. So much so that I don’t notice we stopped in front of her lair.

She opens the door and lets me in, and I see that her there’s a basin of water on her work table, directly under the moonlight.

But the image it’s reflecting is not that of the moon. It’s a pack.

Particularly the Diamond Pack.

Suddenly, the pieces fall into place

“My Mate is in the Diamond Pack,” I whisper.

“Yes, their Alpha is still Malcolm.” A sour look crosses her features. “That means it’s good for us.”

I smile. For the first time in a while, my smile feels genuine.

The Diamond Pack is smaller than the others, and Malcolm is no threat. He’s always been a two-faced fool who likes to throw his weight around even though he’s not significant in the grand scheme of things. A part of me could not believe that my treasure of a mate belongs in his pack, but I should count myself lucky.

This means finding her in that limited female population would be easy.

“Send invitations to every family with an eligible woman,” I say. “I don’t care if they’re previously engaged or whatnot. My Mate only belongs to me.”

Beta Heather opens her mouth as though to argue, but in the end she just nods. “of course, your Majesty. I will send the invitations right away.”

“Good,” I say curtly, a bigger smile now making an appearance on my face. “Meanwhile, try to do some more of your divination and try to narrow down our choices.”

She nods without saying a word, which gives me an impression that she doesn’t deem my task possible. But what does it matter? She achieved the impossible just by sensing the presence of my mate today.

A hundred years. That’s the time I had to wait just for a single sign of her

How many Choosing Nights have I attended? I have no clue. All I know is that I was let down in every single one of them. The only women presented to me were fake.

Now, this is real.

Once I meet my Mate, we can finally repopulate the Lycan race. I would have someone to rule the land with, someone to share every part of my life with. I would not be alone in my duties.

And together, we could do so much more.

* * *

As soon as I retreat back into my room, I head straight to the bathroom and sink into the hot tub, throwing my robe aside.

I close my eyes, sinking into the warm water.

I wonder what my Mate looks like.

I wonder how she smells. How she sounds. How she tastes….

“May I come in, your Majesty?”

My eyelids flutter open at the sound of the voice. With a frown, I try to put a face to the voice and recognize who it is, but I don’t find it familiar. At first I thought it’s just Beta Heather, but then I hear footsteps from outside the bathroom.

Heather would never trespass like that.

I make a move to rise out of the water but then the door flies open. I prepare myself to fight, but my body relaxes as soon as I see that it’s just a lady.

A lady with dark black hair and equally dark and brooding eyes.

She’s wearing a silk robe over a long flowy dress that teased the outline of her body. Her lips are curved into a somewhat mischievous smile that’s soft and feminine, but her eyes are like a hawk’s. Sharp and focused.

The woman bows before me, her movements slow and lingering.

Our eyes meet when she straightens up, and it clicks.

She’s one of the girls pleasuring me from earlier.

But that still doesn’t mean that it’s okay to go to my private places unannounced.

“Who are you and why do you think you can just barge in here like that?” I ask in a low voice, not bothering to cover up

She bows again, lowering her body in the right angle so that I can see the top of her breasts. “I’m Ivy, your Majesty. We didn’t finish what we started earlier.”

“I am perfectly aware,” I mutter.

Ivy takes a step forward.  Then another. And another. Until she’s standing at the edge of the tub. She takes off her robe, revealing that her dress was nothing but a flowy mesh that shows every inch of her body. I can feel my manhood stirring at the sight of her, but I just look calmly at her face.

That seems to embolden Ivy.

She sinks into the water, her mesh dress ballooning around her like a cloud of ink. She crawls closer to me, her hands skimming my legs and going up my thighs, circling close to her prize.

Then she grabs my entire length in her hand and starts to move her closed palm up and down.

Pleasure reverberates in my body. My instincts are responding to her, but the news about my mate continues to deter me and she seems to notice this.

“I love serving you,” she says, biting her lip as she tries to get into a rhythm. “I can serve you every day, your Majesty.”

I just stare at her. I can see right through her sweet demeanor. I know that she’s smarter than what she lets on, and clearly she’s pretty bold, considering that she risked her neck coming into my chambers like that.

Still, her intentions of having this encounter become more than just a transaction are clear.

Ivy stares at me hopefully. When I don’t respond to her or her touches, she tries to come closer to me and hold my face.

But I grab her wrists and hold them up midair.

“I told you to leave, didn’t I?” I push her hands off me. “Now do as I say and go.”