The moon had reached its highest point, casting a silvery, ethereal glow through the floor-to-ceiling windows of the Royal Chambers. The air was thick with the scent of night-jasmine and the lingering, electric charge of the massage earlier. Leo sat on the edge of the sprawling bed, still draped in his emerald suit, looking like a king who had conquered a thousand worlds but was currently being defeated by a single, stubborn white wolf.
"Are you not going to change?" Selene asked, her voice a soft, melodic contrast to the heavy silence of the room. She stood before him, already dressed in soft cotton leggings and a tank top, her hair a cascading waterfall of moonlight.
"No," he grumbled. He didn't move. He leaned forward until his forehead pressed into the crook of her neck, his hot breath fanning against her skin. The sensation of her pulse beating against his cheek was the only thing keeping his Lycan, Phoenix, from shredding the silk shirt off his own back in a fit of restless energy.
Selene giggled, the sound vibrating through her chest and into his skull. "You can't sleep in that, Leo. You'll wake up looking like a crumpled piece of paper."
"Sure, I can," he replied, his voice muffled by her skin. He felt like a man anchored in a storm. As long as he was touching her, the four centuries of darkness stayed at bay.
Selene shook her head, a playful smile tugging at her lips. She gently nudged him back, willing herself to sit up, and Leo found himself lacking the strength to deny her. He watched, his green eyes dark and hooded, as she jumped off the bed with the grace of a forest creature.
She disappeared into his cavernous walk-in closet and returned a moment later, clutching a soft, charcoal-grey t-shirt and a pair of worn-in sweatpants.
"I'm not changing," he said, though the protest lacked any real bite.
"You can act like such a child sometimes," she chuckled, sitting on the edge of the bed beside him. She reached out, her fingers nimble as she began to undo the silk tie from around his neck.
"A child? I am not a child, Selene. I am all man," he countered. To emphasize the point, his eyes swirled with a sudden, violent flicker of gold. Phoenix was peering through the cracks of his composure, preening under the attention.
Selene didn't flinch at the sight of the Lycan's eyes. Instead, she leaned in closer, her fingers moving to the top button of his white dress shirt. "I didn't say you were a child, Leo. I said you act like one."
As the first button gave way, her knuckles brushed against the heated skin of his collarbone. The contact sent a jolt of pure, unadulterated lightning through Leo's nervous system. He went perfectly still, his muscles locking into place as he fought the urge to pull her onto his lap and never let her go. He watched her every movement, his gaze tracking the way her lashes swept against her cheeks as she focused on the task.
Button by button, she peeled back the layers of the King. When the shirt finally hung open, she reached for his hands, sliding the sleeves down his corded, tattooed arms. Leo sat there, bare-chested in the moonlight, his torso a map of a thousand battles and ancient magic. The ink seemed to move in the dim light, the lines shifting as his chest rose and fell with his heavy, shallow breaths.
"I like your tattoos," Selene muttered, her voice dropping to a shy whisper. She handed him the soft t-shirt before moving to the foot of the bed.
Leo felt a profound sense of intimacy in her actions. It wasn't sexual- not yet, but it was something deeper. No one had ever cared for him this way. No one had ever stripped away the King to find the man beneath. He felt vulnerable, a sensation he usually loathed, but with Selene, it felt like coming home.
"Put your shirt on," she said, giggling as she made quick work of his shoes. She glanced up at him, her face flushing a deep, radiant pink. "I don't think it's a good idea that I take your pants off, Leo. This treatment will stop here."
She moved back toward the head of the bed, but Leo didn't move to put the shirt on. He stayed as he was, his skin cooling in the night air. "You really care that I'm in pajamas, don't you?"
Selene nodded, her teeth sinking into her lower lip as she looked at him. The sight of her biting her lip was more than Leo could handle. He reached out, his thumb catching the edge of her lip and gently tugging it free from her teeth.
"Please don't do that," he breathed, his voice a low, dangerous rasp.
"W-why?"
"Because," he said, his eyes darkening until they were almost entirely gold, "it makes me want to kiss you until neither of us can remember our own names."
The air in the room became heavy, charged with a magnetic tension that pulled them together. Selene looked away for a heartbeat, her mind a whirlwind of conflicting emotions. She thought of Nik, of the mountain Alpha who was currently waiting for his turn to prove his worth. She thought of the "fairness" she had promised. But the longer she sat in Leo's presence, the more the memory of Nik felt like a fading dream- a sketch compared to the vibrant, overwhelming reality of the Lycan King.
She looked back at Leo, her blue-violet eyes shimmering with a desire that mirrored his own. One kiss. It wouldn't be a betrayal, would it? It was a test of the bond. It was a necessity. She bit her lip again, a silent challenge, and then did something that broke Leo's last shred of restraint: she leaned in and caught his thumb between her teeth, her tongue flicking against the pad of his finger.
"Selene," he groaned, a sound of pure agony and ecstasy.
"One kiss," she whispered against his skin.
That was the only permission the Lycan needed. Leo pounced. He didn't just kiss her; he claimed her. He drove her back into the plush pillows, his body hovering over hers like a shadow over the moon. When his lips crashed against hers, the world outside the palace walls ceased to exist.
It was a kiss born of four hundred years of starvation. It was desperate, hungry, and devastatingly deep. Selene gasped into his mouth, her hands flying up to wrap around his neck, pulling him closer as the sparks of the mating bond turned into a forest fire. Leo's tongue swept into her mouth, tasting the wine and the sweetness of her, while his hand slid under the hem of her tank top.
His palm was hot against the small of her back, his fingers splaying across her skin as he searched for more contact. Selene let out a soft, broken moan as he nipped at her lower lip, her fingers tangling in the dark silk of his hair.
The heat between them was reaching a flashpoint. Leo's Lycan was screaming for him to mark her- to sink his teeth into the junction of her shoulder and neck and tie her soul to his forever. But through the haze of lust, Leo felt the wall of her resolve. He felt her hesitation, the ghost of her promise to the other man.
With a massive amount of effort that left him shaking, Leo broke the kiss. He pulled back just an inch, his forehead resting against hers, his breath coming in ragged, uneven gasps. His eyes were clouded with a dark, swirling gold.
"Any longer," he wheezed, "and I won't be able to hold back, Selene. I will take you, and I will mark you, and the world can burn for all I care."
Selene blinked, her lips swollen and red, her eyes unfocused. She took a shuddering breath, her hand resting over his heart, which was thudding like a war drum.
"Okay," she breathed, her voice barely a whisper. "We best be going to bed then..."
Leo let out a long, shaky exhale. He nuzzled his face into the side of her neck one last time, inhaling the scent of her- lilies, rain, and the intoxicating musk of a shifted wolf, before flopping down beside her. He pulled her into his chest, his arms locking around her waist in a possessive embrace.
As Selene's breathing slowed into the rhythmic pattern of sleep, Leo lay wide awake, staring at the shadows dancing on the ceiling. He felt like the happiest creature in existence, but beneath that happiness was a cold, jagged shard of dread.
Nik.
Leo knew very little of the Alpha of the North beyond his reputation for being stubborn and fiercely protective. But he knew the rules of the pact. In three days, Selene would leave his territory. She would go to the mountains, to the pines and the cold, and she would spend a week in another man's arms.
The thought made Leo's blood boil. Phoenix snarled in the back of his mind, a constant, low-frequency vibration of violence. 'Kill him,' the Lycan muttered, the thought echoing through Leo's subconscious like a mantra. 'Kill the mountain dog. Rip the throat out of the competition, and she will never have to leave this bed.'
Leo shut his eyes tight, trying to silence the beast. He knew Selene would never forgive him if he spilled Nik's blood. She was a creature of peace, of the forest. If he became the monster the rumors claimed he was, he would lose her more surely than if she chose Nik of her own free will.
But the fear remained. What if Nik was more "her speed"? What if the mountain air and the rugged life of a pack was what her wolf truly craved? Leo was a king of stone and gold; Nik was a king of trees and earth.
He tightened his grip on her, pulling her so close there wasn't a whisper of air between them. He needed to win her. Not with his crown, but with his soul. Because Leo knew, with the terrifying clarity of a seer, that if Selene rejected him after he had finally tasted her lips, the "Madness" wouldn't just take him. It would consume him.
The kingdom wouldn't fall because of a prophecy or a war. It would fall because its King had finally found his heart, only to have it ripped out of his chest.
"You are mine, Selene Dawn Star," he whispered into the darkness, a vow that the stars themselves seemed to record. "And I will fight heaven and hell to keep it that way."