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Beneath the Crown's Teeth

Name: Beneath the Crown's Teeth
Rating: 5.0 (1 reviews)

Titan

Fantasy | Ongoing

5.0

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"I'm your mate, you emotionally constipated, shadow-slinging bastard!" "No. You're not." "Then unchain the damn door, Alpha High-and-Mighty. Let me go. I'll find someone else-someone with enough balls to mark me without whining about fate." "Watch your mouth." "Why? Scared I'll find a real ALPHA? Someone who doesn't hide behind shadows and daddy issues-" He moved. One second, I was raging, the next his hand was at my throat-not choking, but holding. Claiming. His body pressed close, heat and darkness rolling off him like a storm barely contained. "You want a real alpha?" "Y–yes." He leaned in, lips brushing mine, his eyes glowing. "Then congratulations, little wolf, you just fucking got one." He bought me like a possession. Now he watches me like a threat... And touches me like I'm his salvation. They say the bond between mates is sacred. He treats it like a curse. But the shadows around him know the truth. So does the fire between us. And whether he accepts it or not... He's mine. And I? I'm the only fate he can't deny.

R18+ Fantasy Love triangle Curse Vampire Alpha Arrogant/Dominant Romance Hidden identities Werewolf

Chapter 1 The Heat Hits First

05-29 08:44

Chapter 1 The Heat Hits First

KEIRA LARSSON:

The bastard made me wait.

Didn't ask. Didn't explain. Just sent Beta Isaac to deliver the order like I was a dog he'd trained to sit pretty.

So here I stood.

At the edge of the training grounds, sun beating down like it had a vendetta, soaked in heat and the kind of silence that makes you want to scream just to hear something.

I shifted on blistered heels, the jeans clinging to my legs like a second, sweat-drenched skin. The flannel shirt stuck to my back, sleeves rolled, collar open-not that it helped.

Council-issued. Like I was council-owned. Like they needed to dress the merchandise before tossing me to the wolves.

Literally.

I'd been standing there for forty-five goddamn minutes. Long enough for my temper to boil, for my stomach to twist, for my skin to feel like it was crawling. Something inside me throbbed, dull and low, a pulse I couldn't name, and didn't want to.

Then I smelled him.

Not him-not the Alpha.

This scent was different. Pheromones, sweat, arrogance. Sour under the sweet.

'Didn't know they let the auction toys wander so far off the shelf,' a voice said. Dark. Velvet. Rotten.

I blinked. My jaw ticked. I didn't respond.

He stepped in front of me, shirtless, drenched in post-training heat. His pants rode low. His eyes didn't rise above my chest.

'You lost, sweetheart?' he drawled. 'Or did the Alpha rent you out already? Wouldn't blame him. I'd be curious too... See what all that money bought.'

My spine went stiff.

I met his gaze-amber, bloodshot, too amused.

He smiled.

'What's it like,' he stepped closer, 'being bought because no one wanted to keep you? Bet you've got that sweet, broken thing going for you, huh? Cry real pretty when they knot you?'

There it was.

A flash of heat-not the good kind. Rage. Shame. The urge to rip his tongue out and bury it in the dirt.

But I smiled. Slow. Sharp. The way snakes smile right before the strike.

'What's it like,' I murmured, voice dipped in honey, 'living in a pack that only tolerates you because you're too dumb to be a threat and too useful to be killed?'

His smirk twitched.

'Aw,' he said, mock-pouting. 'You mad I guessed your price right?'

I leaned in, just enough to make him think I was soft.

'You're bleeding insecurity all over me,' I whispered. 'Careful. I bite.'

His laugh was short. Dirty. Dead of empathy.

Then-his hand clamped around my waist.

The other? Buried in my hair, shoving it aside.

'Let me go.'

He didn't, instead his nose brushed my neck like I was something to be tasted. Something filthy.

Something he could take.

'For a whore, you smell like sin.'

I froze.

The word hit like a slap. Whore.

He fucking said it.

I jerked my head back, slammed my forehead into his chin, hard enough to make him grunt-but not hard enough to stop him. His weight crushed me down, all brute strength and sweat-slick hunger, and I was choking on his stink.

'You want the Alpha's bitch to warm you up before he gets here?' he whispered, fingers curling around my wrists. 'I won't tell.'

'Get. Off.' I thrashed, fists flying, feet kicking, but he was already slamming me down. Hard.

My back hit the dirt. The air punched out of me in a sob I didn't mean to make.

His hand gripped my wrists, pinning them above my head. His body caged mine, heavy and thick with heat, and his glowing yellow eyes burned down into me like a brand.

'That mouth of yours's been asking for this since you stepped off the auction stage,' he snarled. 'Thought you were hot shit in your little flannel. What? You want us all looking at you like meat?'

'I'll kill you,' I spat, panicking now, struggling under him. 'I swear I'll-'

'Kill me?' he hissed, and leaned down, lips grazing my collarbone.

'You can't. This is what you're for. Why else would an Alpha buy a ruined little bitch like you?'

My knees kicked. I twisted, screamed-

RIP!

The side of the flannel shirt tore open at the shoulder, one button flying into the dirt.

I felt the breath leave my lungs like glass shattering.

He grabbed my ankle when I tried to scramble back, yanked me so hard my spine scraped across the earth.

'No one's gonna save you.'

His fingers clawed at my waistband-

And then the wind shifted.

Fast.

Feral.

Like something ancient tearing through the air.

Before I could process it, the bastard was gone.

Ripped off me with an animal sound, thrown across the training ground like a sack of meat.

He didn't land. He crashed. Bones cracked. Breathless, ugly sounds spilled out of him as he rolled, bleeding and coughing.

A shadow stepped over me.

Not cloaked. Not robed in Alpha gold. Just black cargo pants, heavy boots, and a body carved from fury.

Alpha Nikolai.

His chest was bare. Skin slick with sweat, jaw tight, hair windswept like he'd sprinted straight from war.

He didn't speak.

Didn't even look at me.

He walked straight toward the bastard still wheezing in the dirt-but he wasn't the only one.

More wolves.

Shirtless. Wide-eyed. Snarling.

They circled me like they could smell blood. No-worse.

Want.

I scrambled to my feet, dirt caked to my arms and throat, boots slipping in the dust. My heart thudded loud in my ears.

'What the-'

A blur of movement flashed beside me.

CRACK.

A sickening slam echoed through the training ground as Alpha Nikolai's arm shot out, catching one of the wolves mid-charge. The poor bastard flipped midair and hit the dirt with a choked groan, unmoving.

Nikolai stood to my left like a shadow torn from hell-bare-chested, jaw tight, muscles tense with the promise of violence. His voice came out low, guttural, lethal.

'Stand. Down.'

But they didn't.

They growled, twitched. One of them started forward again.

'What the fuck is wrong with them?!' I shouted, voice shaking.

His head jerked toward me.

Storm-grey eyes. Raven hair dripping sweat.

And then, a snarl meant for me.

'You're in fucking heat.'

The world blinked.

'I'm-what?'

The ground trembled.

No-howls.

Dozens. Everywhere. Not far anymore. Closing in.

'Alpha.' Isaac appeared out of nowhere, his chest heaving. Blood on his lip. 'We're losing control. The eastern and southern ranks-' He cut off, eyes flicking to me. 'It's her. Her scent. It's tearing them apart.'

I could barely hear them. My ears were ringing. My knees wobbled, then gave out beneath me.

I dropped to the dirt like someone unplugged me.

What's happening to me?

I didn't even know what heat felt like. I didn't know it could feel like this-

Hot and wrong and too much and-

'You have to get her out of here,' Isaac growled.

Nikolai didn't hesitate.

He grabbed me by the arm.

'Up.'

I tried. My lungs were fluttering, breath too fast.

'I-I... I c-can't-'

He muttered something brutal under his breath.