Helen POV
"You're bleeding!"
The smell of blood washed over me in a hot copper rush which made me feel sick to my stomach, dizzy, confused because I could almost feel the pain of Justin's wounds myself yet we weren't bonded.
"It isn't important," Justin offered, throwing my own words back at me, "My father fears the beast will overpower me completely so he works hard to tame it. The creature responds best to pain. He finds the whip effective."
"It's important to me."
I echoed Justin's words through numb lips, struggling to my feet before shaking my skirt out to make walking easier.
If he used pain to control his Lycan, then there should be first aid supplies in his rooms. I couldn't imagine the Alpha King would leave his only son without medicine to treat his wounds---but I also couldn't imagine the refined Alpha King whipping his heir bloody either. What did I know?
I stumbled around until I found a dresser, but the drawers seemed to only hold clothes. I hadn't gotten a good look at the room when I was shoved in from the hall. The lights had been off since I'd been inside.
"What are you looking for?" Justin asked, sounding much more amused than I liked.
"Bandages. Antibiotic ointment. You have to have a first aid kit, don't you? Who would beat you regularly without treating your injuries?"
I knew I sounded judgmental, but I couldn't help the way I felt.
If the Alpha King would beat his only son, what would he do to me? Was a whip in my future too? How was I supposed to seduce a male who was bleeding everywhere?
"There's a box in the bathroom. Under the sink. It is truly nothing. Worrying over it is a waste of time."
Of course there was an en suite bathroom! Why would the Alpha Prince be confined to a room without even getting his own bath? I felt stupid for not thinking to look for another door already.
As to his protest about the pointlessness of caring for his injuries, I chose to ignore him.
Feeling my way along the furniture until I bumped into the wall, I ran my hand along until I felt the edge of a door and opened it.
I found the First Aid Kit and gestured for the great beast of a male to join me so I could tend his wounds---and do my best to begin seducing him.
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I had limited nursing experience as my family wasn't one to engage in sport fighting nor had me or my sister ever been the type to roughhouse.
My father had no son to carry on his line or make him proud during scuffles with other young wolves; my father was not even a beta, much less an Alpha. We weren't a family who knew much of violence.
Blood kept trickling down from the whip marks on my mate's back no matter how many times I swiped a wet washcloth over them. I wasn't sure if putting a bandage over a wound still bleeding would do anything at all. It seemed silly to me.
"What are you doing?" the Lycan snapped, irritation clear in his voice.
I was startled enough to drop the cloth on the floor with a wet sound. My face burned with color as I realized I'd jumped away from him when all he'd done was speak to me.
Retrieving the cloth, I winced at the blood on the floor, "I'm not a very good nurse. You're still bleeding. I can't seem to get it to stop. What do you normally do to treat an injury?"
Alpha King Juden probably had a doctor on his staff or maybe even a full healer whose magic could close nearly any wound. I imagined having to walk into the hall to ask for a healer. My ruined appearance would probably make them think the help was for me rather than Justin.
My face burned in shame as I realized I was still too aware of the Lycan's scent -richly masculine in a way which made my own wolf keen inside- while he seemed unmoved by me. Wasn't my mate supposed to desire me equal to how I desired him? Was I truly cursed to have no mate ever want me?
"You're thinking something unpleasant. What is it?"
"Just wondering why you don't want me. It doesn't matter. You're still bleeding and I don't know how to stop it."
Justin blew out a harassed breath before turning on the edge of the tub.
His huge hands swallowed the shower controls as he turned the water on. A warm cascade began to flow down from the shower and he surprised me by shoving my shoulder so I turned in place, giving him access to my back.
I was terrified I was showing weakness to the last Lycan yet all he did was unlace my dress. The wedding gown fell to my feet in a huge puddle of material, leaving me standing in only my slip.
"Get in with me. The water will stop the bleeding."
I didn't have a chance to protest or think about how he was still wearing jeans while I was in little more than underwear. Justin picked me up as if I weighed no more than a feather and my body reacted instinctively, my arms winding around his neck as my legs wound around his waist.
Justin turned until the water poured warm and soothing down on us.
"Justin!" I laughed, feeling ridiculous as he held me under the water, soaking my hair, making my slip transparent so it only just covered my full breasts, flat belly, and flared hips.
I had never felt more feminine than I did being held up in his arms.
"Diana," he murmured, eyes on my lips and I found the nerve to make a move on him to begin my seduction.
I kissed him with the kind of passion I'd only dreamed about. There was no hesitation, no fear in the way I handled him. My hands toyed with his hair where it fell too long around his shoulders; I clenched my thighs tight around his waist as I pressed my silk-covered sex against him.
"Diana," he groaned again.
He ducked his head under the shower, blocking the flow of water from hitting me. Justin nuzzled his face against my breasts. My nipples were hard buds trying to poke their way free of my slip; he sucked one into his mouth, slip and all, suckling hard before letting go to tug the strap down.
"Yes," I whispered, "Yes, yes, yes."
My voice was feverishly intense. I shrugged the straps of my slip off my shoulders, shaking my upper body so the material peeled down to expose my breasts to my mate's eyes. Men responded to the sight of naked women, right?
I had never wanted a male to see me before. I was untouched. Untouched except by this wild Lycan who seemed to want me.
His mouth on my breast was enough to have me squirming against him, desperate to get him to touch my core where my sex was a wet throb only he could soothe. I wasn't sure how well I was seducing him, but I was doing fine at seducing myself.
Just as I thought he was going to take me right against the shower wall, he leaned back.
The shower poured over him, plastered his long hair to his head, ran in streaming rivulets over his massive shoulders, down his muscular arms and over the grooves and ridges of his abdomen.
There was no possibility of a more perfect example of masculinity---and he was all mine. My second chance mate. My mate.
"What?" I asked, feeling drunk on lust and the mating bond coursing through my body.
"We can't."
"Can't?" I blinked at Justin in confusion, feeling stupid as I tried to understand why my mate was rejecting me, rejecting me again, "Why can't we? We're mates. You want me. I can tell you want me."
I couldn't survive being rejected by my second chance mate. I wasn't strong enough.
Justin cupped my face with one huge hand, looking deep into my eyes as he said, "If I make love with you, I'll lose my beast. I'll become human. Do you understand? I can't make love to you without losing my nature."
My tears started again as his words sank in and I was grateful the shower hid them from view as I struggled to get down from my mate's arms.
My mate who couldn't make love to me because I would bring him ruin.
If he had told me I would do anything other than hurt him, I'd have kept going, but hurt him? Hurt my mate? I never could.
I had enough reasons to feel bad about myself; I didn't need another one. Death would be preferable to being a betrayer or a two-times-rejected mate.
Stripping my soaked slip off, I wrapped a towel around my body and moved back into the bedroom, leaving Justin behind to take care of himself.
I sat on the edge of the bed, focused on my breathing, and realized I was getting hotter and hotter the longer I sat there waiting for my mate to rejoin me.
It was only minutes to midnight on the night of the full moon---which meant I would only have hours left to live because the Alpha King would kill me for being unable to seduce the Lycan prince.
Justin stepped out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his waist and the heat swept over me so completely it was as if I'd stepped into the mouth of a volcano.
And I realized---I wasn't heated. I was in heat for my Lycan mate.
Helen POVNeed swept over me with the force of a hurricane. Sweat beaded on my skin and my scent was amplified ten times as my body used every advantage it had to entice my mate to me."Justin---no," I panted, letting my head fall back as another wave of lust blew through me, "I'm going into heat. You should get back in the bathroom. Close the door. Keep the water running. You won't be able to smell me. I won't ruin you."I would ruin him, too.If my mate lost his Lycan abilities, he'd be left as a human with all a human's weaknesses and frailties.I didn't want to think of my strong, monstrous mate reduced in any way much less made into a human.Justin would lose his birthright, his place in wolfen society, his connection with his wolf---or was it his Lycan? He called his other half his beast. Was that how his inner voice spoke to him? As a monster out of myth?Looking at him across the dark bedroom, my heat emphasized his size, his strength, his scent until I released the towel I'd
Helen POVI realized it as soon as I said it out loud: I was free the way Justin was now free. There were no chains to bind me. No rope around my ankles or zip ties around my wrists. The door was wide open with no guard to stop me.I could run out the door and keep running until I blended back in with the pack who I had left behind. No one here would likely come looking for me after what I'd done to Justin. His father, Alpha King Juden, had only threatened my life if I didn't seduce him---and I had done it."I'm free."Justin was still breathing. He seemed to just be in a very, very deep sleep. What if I left him here for his father to take care of him? Was there any way he could find me again?I hadn't even told him my real name. He thought I was my sister. Diana. No one would go running their mouth about me to him either because I was overlooked completely in my own pack as a mixed coat Tiger Lily no one wanted.My own fated mate had thrown me over for my sister.I focused on my shi
Justin POVCool air blew over my body and I wondered where the breeze was coming from because there was no window in my room.I was kept away from all possible means of escape. My father, The Alpha King, knew better than to give me a way out; my beast craved freedom almost as much as he craved sex with the virgin offerings sent to him with every full moon.I opened my eyes to see something completely new to me: the outside world.Since I was old enough to shift, I had not been allowed out of my chains or out of the mansion which served as my cage. My father didn't want to risk losing me to either instinct or pure power since my beast was stronger than any wolfen form.My body was clothed only in a pair of shorts I wore for the sake of modesty in my rooms. I didn't remember putting them on so someone else must have dressed me, moved me, freed me.[Mate!] the beast inside me roared.Yes, I had been freed by my mate.I could recall the moment my chains broke with complete clarity -better
Helen POVJustin! I stared at my mate through the veil of my hands, my body stinging all over from the debris thrown on me.How had The Devil found me!?My first instinct seeing the last Lycan before me again---was to run.I dismissed the urge as soon as it came through my head. His legs were significantly longer than my own and I had seen him move faster than me even while chained.The next idea which came to mind was to deny who he thought I was---who he believed he knew I was but did he know? Could he know?Lycans were rumored to have all kinds of gifts, but I knew his vision wasn't perfect in the gloom which we'd met in. The darkness inside his room had been almost complete.My heat had caused many of my own memories to be hazy. It was a fair bet Justin didn't have much more clear memories of me."Thank you for your help, Alpha!""Alpha?" he asked, looking at me in puzzlement as he crouched to join me where I huddled in the walkway, "I'm your mate. Justin. Did they strike your hea
Justin POVI wasn't sure why the female smelled so strongly of my mate if she wasn't my mate.There was none of my own scent remaining on her body which meant she had either bathed very, very thoroughly or she was telling me the truth: she was not my Diana, but, instead, Diana's treacherous sister Helen.I couldn't come up with a reason why she might lie to me; her fear was palpable as she encouraged me to go to the outdoor eatery to wait on her to retrieve my mate and hers. She seemed confused about her instructions until she retrieved her cellular phone.The call she made went to a messaging service. I was annoyed, but she seemed relieved. Again, I had no idea what to think of things. All I knew was this woman smelled so much of my mate yet not at all of me. How would that be possible?I'd bit my mate during the mating. I remembered my teeth sinking deep into her muscles and how I'd lapped at the wound until all the edges were fully sealed by my healing saliva.If I focused, I could
Helen POVThree waiters came out to the table with the bottles of wine -four of them in total, one I knew was meant for me while three were there for Justin- alongside the wine glasses which were stacked into an intricate pyramid.They made sure the glasses touched just so on their edges before pouring the bottles of wine one flight at a time. The bottom layer was a deep red cabernet sauvignon, while a rich merlot was poured into the glasses atop it, and the third flight at the peak was made up of a beautiful Malbec imported from Argentina.I asked for the Malbec for my bottle because I knew it was a fine wine---so I thought it must be lower alcohol content because why would people drink a fine vintage only to become drunken fools?Justin didn't seem to have ever had wine in his life. He asked so many questions the waiters were all offering him suggestions as they finished the challenge set-up.I could tell from the looks he was garnering, he'd captured their affection as easily as br
Helen POVI couldn't bear it if I was rejected a second time. My second chance mate was better than my first fated mate had ever dreamed of being---if he left me, I'd die from a broken heart or I'd throw myself off a mountain one.Death would be the only tolerable option if I couldn't have Justin with me again.My breasts were full, aching. My nipples were stiff peaks against his chest. His hands squeezed my ass as he ground his cock against the wet pulse at my core. I locked my ankles over each other just as he claimed my mouth with his own.Our kiss was hot enough to set the world on fire; I didn't care who was dancing with us around the bonfire because Justin had lit me up inside, holding me together only long enough to bask in the feeling of me burning down in his arms.Every breath was saturated with heady wine; I'd never known wine was something to be savored before.Malbec seemed to be a drink with a subtle hint or rich red fruits, passion, and a smoky essence I associated with
Helen POVJustin kept me speared in place with his strange, golden gaze until I must have completely lost my mind.One moment I was crouched beside my naked lover, enjoying the burn of muscles used to excess the night before; the next moment my body had shifted into that of my wolf, Joy, and I was racing through the forest as fast as my four feet could carry me.I didn't pause to think or look back to see if Justin was going to follow me. I knew I had most likely stolen his beast from him which he couldn't help except hate me for doing.My heat must have come over me a second night. That was the only explanation which made sense to my overheated, overtired brain.I couldn't process a world in which I lost total control of my inhibitions to nearly mate with a Lycan in front of my village then to literally mate my Lycan in the forest on the ground no better than the animals we were on the inside.Why hadn't I been able to control myself? What was wrong with me? Was it the wine? Was it a