Chapter 39: The Name He Whispers in the Dark
{EMBER}
Every night, Lorcan took me—claimed me—used my body as though it were a balm for wounds I did not inflict.
He touched me like I was his, breathed against my skin like a man drowning, desperate for air. But beneath every thrust, every shudder, every whispered groan, I heard the truth he tried so hard to bury.
He wasn’t seeking me.
He was chasing the shadow of someone else.
There were moments—brief, unguarded, razor-sharp—when he would gasp her name into my neck, a single fractured syllable torn from the depths of memory.
Iris.
He always pretended he hadn’t said it. And I pretended it didn’t carve into me like a blade.
But his wolf told a different story. It never accepted me—never marked me—never even tried. The creature inside him recoiled from me, as mine did from him.
My wolf refused to bare her neck to another, refused to recognize a mate that fate had not chosen.
None of it mattered.
The bond of souls was dead, but the bond of flesh was enough.
Because I had something far more dangerous than destiny—I had access to his body. I had the heat that made him falter, the pleasure that made him forget himself, the release that made him tremble.
And soon...
Soon I would have him completely.
I would make him crave me with a need that bordered on madness.
I would make my touch his addiction, my body his sanctuary, my presence the ache he couldn’t quiet.
He might long for Iris in his heart—but his body belonged to me.
And eventually, the body always wins.
Like this night.
I loved the way Lorcan’s eyes darkened—no, devoured—as he wrapped his arms around me. Desire pooled in them like molten emberstone, dangerous and irresistible.
His cock pressed against my thigh, thick and hard, pulsing like a warning bell—this will not be gentle.
The thought should have frightened me. Instead, heat unfurled low in my belly, urging me to push him further.
He reached for my hips, intent—hungry—to slam me down onto him and claim what he believed was his.
But I hesitated. Just a breath. A flicker. A heartbeat.
And then the corner of his mouth twitched in realization.
That look—the raw hunger in his eye—made my lips curve in wicked invitation.
Slowly, I let my fingers toy with the edges of my dress, brushing the fabric up my thighs as if I were deciding whether or not he deserved the rest.
His breath hitched.
Good.
Instead of letting him drag me down onto him, I tilted forward—quick, deft—and pressed my palms against his chest, pushing him back. His brows shot up, and the faintest gasp escaped him before his back hit the furs beneath us.
I crawled over him like a queen ascending her throne.
Lorcan’s hands flew to my thighs, fingers digging in with a mix of shock and desire. Power hummed under his skin, coiled and ready to strike, yet he made no move to flip me.
Not yet. Not when he didn’t know what game I was playing.
Being on top—straddling the wolf who had tried to tame me—felt intoxicating. A stolen crown. A moment carved from rebellion.
And goddess, it thrilled me.
I saw the confusion flicker in his eyes. He wasn’t used to this—wasn’t used to being the one beneath. The mighty Alpha pinned by nothing more than a woman’s will.
I leaned down, my lips brushing the shell of his ear.
"Stay," I whispered, the command low, sinful, smug.
His fingers tightened on my thighs. His breath snarled in his chest. And I sank onto his eager cock—slow, a descent that felt like sliding into a forbidden fruit.
Lorcan’s head fell back with a guttural groan, dark hair spilling across the furs like ink. His eyes snapped open immediately, locking onto mine with something between awe and disbelief.
He was witnessing me—every movement, every rise and fall, every slow claim of his body with my own. And that look... goddess, that look could have set kingdoms ablaze.
I rode him with a controlled rhythm, my hips rolling against his cock. He tried to grasp at my waist, tried to buck beneath me as if reclaiming dominance—but I pushed his hands back, flattening them into the furs.
"No," I breathed, hovering above him like a stormcloud. "Not yet."
His jaw clenched. A low rumble vibrated in his chest.
But he obeyed.
For now.
The sensation of having him inside me—stretching, filling, grounding me in ways both sensual and spiritual—was almost too much. His length throbbed inside me, precum slicking him with heat.
Lorcan’s dominance began to crack strand by strand. I saw it in the way his breath stuttered. In the way his fingers flexed helplessly at his sides. In the way his eyes burned with disbelief that I—I—held him in the palm of my hand.
I leaned forward, bracing my palms on his chest, feeling the muscles ripple and clench beneath my fingers as I rode him with slowness his head snapped back.
Control.
Real, intoxicating control.
The very thing he’d always claimed as his birthright.
I stole it from him with every motion.
He gasped beneath me, and something primal broke loose in his expression—a raw, unguarded plea buried beneath all that Alpha pride.
"Ember..." he growled, voice rough with need.
"Shh," I murmured, rolling my hips in a way that made his entire body tense. "Just feel."
His eyes fluttered shut for half a heartbeat before snapping open again—burning with an intensity that made my breath catch.
His cock pulsed inside me, throbbing harder with each downward grind. I could feel him struggling, fighting, desperately trying to regain control of his own body.
But I wasn’t giving it back.
Not yet.
Not ever—not unless I chose to.
And goddess help me, it felt glorious.
The rhythm quickened—urgency building between us like a storm rising over cracked earth. Lorcan’s breaths grew ragged, his hips beginning to buck despite my earlier command.
He was losing it. Losing himself to me.
I dug my nails into his chest, dragging slow, wicked lines across his skin. His muscles rippled beneath my touch, straining, tightening. He was fighting the instinct to flip me over, to reclaim what he believed was his right as Alpha.
But I rode him harder, faster, gripping his shoulders as I moved. His body began to tremble beneath mine, breaths sharp and frantic.
Then suddenly—
He arched up violently, his cock swelling inside me, pulsing with a ferocity that made my breath falter.
His eyes—those eyes—flashed with something inhuman. Ancient. The raw power of a creature on the edge of losing the last shred of his humanity.
I felt it before I saw it.
The shift.
His bones tensed, fighting the inevitable. His breathing fractured. His body locked into mine with a final, primal thrust.
A guttural growl tore from his throat—a sound that wasn’t entirely human.
His climax hit like a detonating star.
He buried himself as deep as my vagina could allow, his body freezing as pleasure ripped through him.
And then...
The locking.
His cock swelled further—stretching, securing, sealing itself inside me with that unmistakable, biological snap of nature’s ancient claim.
I cried out, hands gripping his shoulders as the pressure surged through me—pleasure tangled with pain, fear melted with instinct.
Lorcan’s forehead pressed against mine, his fingers biting into my hips as the shift tore through him. His voice was a ragged whisper.
"Iris ... Iris ..."
Then his body contorted beneath me—skin rippling, bones scraping, muscles bulging as the wolf pushed forward. The air around us crackled, heavy with magic, heat, and the scent of raw desire.
I threw my head back as the pleasure-pain of the lock and his partial transformation coursed through me, overwhelming every sense.
His cock—still locked deep inside me—throbbed in erratic pulses, each one echoed by the growling breaths that spilled from his shifting throat.
The room glowed faintly, shadows dancing like specters across the walls as the fire flared, reacting to the energy erupting between our bodies.
And for a moment—
A terrifying, breathtaking moment—
There were no lies, no schemes, no vengeance.
Just two beasts mating in the dark.
A low, feral growl rumbled through his changing chest—possessive, primal, claiming. My wolf shuddered inside me, powerless beneath the weight of instinct. She clawed, fought, screamed—but the bond of flesh and nature held her captive.
The moment his body locked into mine, something inside me broke open—panic, euphoria, fury, longing, all crashing together.
No denying the brutal truth of what we were.
Lorcan’s grip tightened as he forced out the words, voice trembling between human and beast.
"You are mine."
I gritted my teeth, swallowing the truth that trembled at the edge of my tongue.
For this moment—
For this night—
I was.
But I would not remain so.
When the morning came, when the moon faded and control slid back into my hands, I would remember why I stepped into this den.
And I would make certain that in the end, it was I who owned him.
Not the other way around.
