The King’s Tainted Mate
Chapter 75

"Myrna!" Her name from his mouth pierced us both, cracks instantly forming in my heart and by the sound of the pained tone from his lips, those undoubtedly reached somewhere deep within his soul. What should have been a precious moment shared between me and my mate was suddenly marred with pain.

I'd been lost in the wave of ecstacy even before he'd laid me down on his bed. Right when he took my mouth, I had slipped from the shores of safety and ridden the wave of want and need with every stroke of his glorious tongue. I'd held on when he scooped me up, heart beating in delicious anticipation of what was to come. But instead of his bed, he had me straddle him, a position that left me blushing, yet not regretting my hasty decision to discard my gown.

With his lips, tongue and hands he'd caressed every inch of my naked self, sparking desire that had me begging him to take me and make me his. And when he had, by the gods! I did not know what in the realm hit me. Nothing had felt more magical than the feel of his hardness as he filled me in a gentle, yet hasty move that left me undone. With the hungry way he'd taken me in right before he claimed me for himself, my name should have been the one to slip out of his mouth as our bodies merged into one, but that was not to be.

Frozen, I held his gaze as he held mine. It was, however, not the gold I'd come to love that stared back at me. It was not the deep that had once before beckoned me to dive to its depth with a deathly symphony. No. What I beheld there was a darkness that still wished to devour me, yet not in the pleasurable manner my mate would have.

I was not familiar with sorcery, but whatever this was, had the markings of the magical craft written all over it.

I should have done the reasonable thing at the realization. Got away while I still could. Untangle my naked body from his before the beast I knew lurked in the darkness was unleashed, but somehow I knew that doing anything of the sort would merely have Myrna win. I would let the darkness win and be left with nothing but a broken heart once again. I couldn't have that. Not when I'd finally gotten a taste of what it meant to be alive. To be claimed by my mate. To be filled by him so beautifully. Something that my virgin and drunk self had missed out on when I'd first given myself to the stranger that was him.

So instead of running, instead of allowing myself to fall into trickery, instead of breaking that pleasurable contact that had my core already pulsing with unfulfilled need, I pulled him in and kissed him, hard, with a defiance I did not know I possessed. Bent on reclaiming him from Myrna's clutches, I let my boldness loose. Caressing every inch of him that was within my reach as I sinfully claimed his lips.

Something within him fought me, but I fought for him, for us. I fought for me. He'd wished to pull back, many times. To deny what I was offering, but I held on, drawing him deeper, unwilling for once to let anything or anyone take away what was rightfully mine. It was my turn to pleasure him as he'd done for me that fateful night.

The mere memory had me tightening around him, claiming him for myself and relishing his hardness that still filled me perfectly.

"Mine!" My wolf growled with a ferocity intended to intimidate even the worst of enemies. It would be the thing to get the gold glowing back in his eyes again. The thing to have him rake me in as he'd done before. With that deep hunger whose fulfillment lay in what or in who the gods had gifted him.

"Sh-Shyla?" His voice was a mix of surprise and a pleasurable moan that drew a satisfied smile out of me. "I-" His hips buckled into me, grinding deeper, leaving me overwhelmed by waves and waves of pleasure.

I had him. Claws sunk into flesh as my wolf howled at the ensuing toe curling sensations, earning ourselves a possessive growl from our mate. He was mine...until he was not.

"I-I can't!" Jaws clenched while his hands flew to his neck. "It's... killing me!" His face contorted in a painful manner even as his wolf emerged. No doubt in a bid to help him bear the pain. It did little to help. Claws sunk into flesh, yet not as a means of granting pleasure. My mate furiously clawed at the spot meant to hold my mark, drawing blood. Myrna's mark!

It took me but a moment to realize just how Myrna, who should have been miles from the kingdom already after being banished had managed to sink her claws into my mate. It explained how her name instead of mine had been the one to proceed from his mouth the moment he'd claimed me.

The print of her lips on my mate mocked me as realization dawned on me. It was no simple mark to speak of her love for him, but a spell, a tether, meant to bind him to her. And keep me away from him while at it. At least when it came to moments such as these. She would not let me be intimate with him. Even when she'd been booted out of our lives, she'd made sure my mate and I would not live to enjoy what was left of it. With this, we would never truly know the beauty of our bond! The thought angered me and I wished for nothing but to snuff out the very life that held her existence in this realm and beyond.

I couldn't focus on that, however. Not just yet. Not when my mate withdrew from me and took away all that warmth that had filled me, albeit against his will. The struggle was oh so clear as he still clawed at his own skin, seeking to be free.

"Elian..." Fulfilling my own desires now forgotten, I only longed to ease his pain when I stretched my hand and laid it over the place Myrna had intrusively placed her mark. Not knowing what else to do, I hoped my touch would accomplish that task at the very least. What it did, however, left me marvelling at my own simple touch. And if not for his own hand that gripped mine in place, I would have withdrawn and searched the entirety of it for the presence of magic.

"Elian..." His name on my lips was but a whisper when gold, the deepest shade yet, took me in with a hunger that sent the entirety of my naked self melting under his gaze and rekindling my own need for fulfilment. It was as if my hand possesed a spell of its own that had rescued my mate from Myrna's clutches and thrust him right into mine. All traces of his recent struggles were but a memory in time and all that remained was the alpha wolf who only longed to finish what he'd began.

"Need-you-now..." He breathed out, his rugged tone stirring something in my blood even as he drew closer. I should have done the reasonable thing yet again. Should have held him back until the spell had loosened its hold and we were both clear headed. Enough to figure out what in God's name had just transpired. But then his free hand fisted into my hair and tugged, bringing my mouth to his in a searing kiss that emptied me of everything but my need for my mate.