Violet
A laugh rumbled against my lips as I fumbled with the buttons of Kylan’s shirt. “Slow down, Pup.”
But I couldn’t slow down. I was too impatient and way too desperate for that mark. So I kissed him with all I had instead, swallowing whatever else he was about to say. Part of me feared that if I didn’t keep going, he might take it all back.
Deep down, I knew things were different this time. I knew it wasn’t just some spur-of-the-moment thing, because he wasn’t like that. He wanted it as much as I did.
“I don’t want to slow down,” I breathed against his mouth. Eventually, I just gave up on the buttons and pulled. A chuckle left him as one popped off and flew somewhere across the room. I would have kept going too, ripping every single one off if I had to, but then his hands moved to my cheeks and everything just…stopped.
His lips curved into a smile. “Violet?”
“Yes?”
My cheeks flushed as I stared into those beautiful brown eyes. I hadn’t even noticed my fingers were still tugging at the fabric of his suit until he lowered his gaze.
He didn’t say anything about it. He just let his hands slip from my cheeks, trailing down my back until they reached my hips. When he squeezed me to lift me from the floor, I gasped against his mouth. My legs barely managed to wrap around his waist because of that giant, stupid dress.
We both started laughing as I squirmed, trying to fix it.
“I’ve got you,” he murmured. Then he started walking backward. The bed was soft against my back when he set me down.
“Turn around,” he said, his voice low. I looked into his eyes once more and let him guide me as he turned me instead. My head rested against the mattress as I tried to remember how to breathe. How to take it slow.
I just didn’t know how long it would last.
A deep breath left him as his fingers found the ties of the dress at my back. I remembered what it felt like to breathe again when he loosened them, one by one, and the fabric slid down.
“I’m afraid of hurting you,” Kylan said, his lips pressing hot kisses to my shoulder. When I felt his tongue press against the curve of my neck, a small sigh escaped me. Goosebumps rose everywhere.
“But I will try my best not to.”
The dress slipped from my body, and cool air touched my skin. I shivered, realizing the moment was getting closer, nothing but my underwear and bra between us now.
He turned me to face him again, settling between my thighs while his eyes locked with mine. It wasn’t a look of hunger in his eyes, but something much more than that. It was the gaze of someone who had just found something precious.
“You’re staring,” I whispered.
“How can I not?” His voice came out rough. “When I’m looking at the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen—“
“Please don’t,” I chuckled, my face burning. I pulled him down to me instead, connecting our lips once more. This time, the kiss was slower, deeper, not as rushed. His tongue slid against mine in a way that made me melt into the mattress, into him, letting me get lost in the taste of him.
Somewhere along the way, his clothes disappeared too, including the dress shirt that had been bothering me. Now there was nothing left but his boxers and the heat building between us.
He pressed against my thigh, hard, and a sigh escaped me. I broke the kiss to wrap my arms around his neck, pulling him closer. I needed more.
As soon as his lips found a new spot, brushing against my jaw, I closed my eyes and exhaled. I let myself get used to the warmth of his breath, the softness of his mouth, the way my whole body seemed to hum wherever he touched me.
“Kylan,” I sighed his name as his trail of kisses moved lower, down my neck, across my collarbone until he reached that spot again. Right where my shoulder met my throat. A satisfied hum escaped him, and my head tilted on instinct. Exposing more, offering myself to him.
I felt Lumia growing more impatient. The one thing I needed at the moment was for him to sink his fangs into my neck. For him to mark me, claim me…but nothing happened.
“You’re taking…too long,” I managed to get out right before my hips rolled up, seeking friction against his thigh.
“Patience, Pup.” A smile pressed against my skin.
I rolled my eyes, a breathy laugh escaping me. He was still going on about that whole patience thing. He dragged his lips across my skin like we had all the time in the world. Like every inch of me needed to be memorized. Treasured.
His fingers moved to unclasp my bra, and before I knew it, that was gone too, tossed somewhere I didn’t care to look. I didn’t even have the time to look as his mouth had already moved to the swell of my breast. Hovering and teasing.
“Just…please.”
I caught his lips curl, his breath over my nipple, before his tongue finally flicked out, swirling in slow, deliberate circles. A moan escaped me as his hands found both breasts, kneading, touching, driving me insane. My fingers tangled in his hair as I gasped, arching beneath him.
Though he wasn’t exactly speeding things up either, he didn’t stay there for long, and his lips traveled down. Kisses pressed down to my stomach, all while he was still taking his sweet time. It was absolute torture.
By the time he finally reached my hipbone, I was already an aching mess.
“At this rate, you won’t have a voice left by the time I mark you,” Kylan breathed, his fingers hooking into my underwear. "Keep it up, and people are gonna start lining up outside our door too."
"Yes," I smirked. "So much for those soundproof walls of yours."
My breath hitched as he looked up at me, pulling them down slowly while his eyes never left mine. I was so wet already that I could feel it.
The evidence was likely glistening in the dim light, and when Kylan lowered his head, his breath brushing against me, the gentle air made me sigh.
His tongue dragged through my folds so slow it was almost cruel, teasing me. A sound tore from my throat, and my head fell back against the pillows.
“So fucking good,” he murmured against me.
Then he did it again, and again, at the torturously slow pace that made my thighs tremble. Made my fingers grip the sheets, forgetting how to think.
And when the tip of his tongue circled over that sensitive bud, I gasped loudly. My hands flew to his hair, gripping, pulling, needing something to hold onto.
He sucked gently at first, as if he was testing my reaction. Then harder, focusing on that bundle of nerves in a way that made my vision blur.
If it weren’t with him, the sound that came out of me would’ve been embarrassing. “Right there,” I gasped. “Don’t stop—”
He didn’t. His mouth kept working, setting a rhythm that nearly had me screaming. I pulled his hair so hard, I almost felt sorry. The pressure kept building, my stomach tightening, toes curling, and I could feel it coming.
I came with a loud gasp, my whole body shuddering as he kept going. Gentler now.
His hand was circling my stomach soothingly while I rode it out. Until my breathing slowed and my body stopped trembling.
Several breaths left me as I looked down at him through heavy-lidded eyes. Kylan was watching me with this satisfied little smirk on his face, and I felt a blush creep up my cheeks.
“So,” I hummed, squinting my eyes. “Definitely way better than the last time, but could still use a bit of prac—“
A yelp tore from my throat before I could finish as he bit down on my inner thigh without warning. It was so soft, I had barely felt it. My leg kicked out on instinct and caught him somewhere in the shoulder, making him burst out laughing.
“How are you going to take a mark if you can’t even take that?”
I started laughing with him. Fair point.
“That’s going to be different!”
“Is it?”
“Yes!” I grabbed his face and pulled him up to me, still giggling as I kissed him. The taste of me lingered on his tongue.
“And you’ll warn me before you mark me,” I said against his lips. Kylan pulled back to kiss the tip of my nose.
“I will do that,” he said. “I promise.”
My hand moved down between us until it found his erection pressing against my thigh through his boxers. I tugged at the waistband, and he helped me, both of us fumbling a little until they were gone and I could finally wrap my hand around him.
I stroked him slowly, looking up at his face. His jaw tightened as he looked down for a moment. A soft growl rumbled through his chest as he twitched in my palm, and he exhaled hard through his nose, clearly fighting to keep his composure. He was losing.
Before I could do it again, he looked up at me.
“Pup,” he warned. His hand shot out to grip my wrist before he pinned it above my head. I shot him a questioning look.
That familiar smirk spread across his face as he looked down at me. “If you keep doing that, this is going to be over in seconds.”
I laughed, finally understanding what the problem was. “Trinity would love to hear about that.”
“I know she would,” he agreed. “That’s exactly why I can’t let it happen.”
Still holding my wrist, he positioned himself at my entrance. I could feel him so close, pressing against me.
“So, uh—”
I raised an eyebrow. “Uh?”
“Should we…” He cleared his throat. “Say something? Before, you know…”
Before the marking?
I let out a small laugh, almost in disbelief that this big, powerful prince who had just made me come so hard I forgot my own name seemed to be that nervous about all of this. He was so adorable, so ridiculously awkward.
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “I’ve never done this before.”
A frown appeared on his face. “Wow, really? You haven’t?” His tone was dripping with sarcasm. We both shared a nervous laugh, and I thought about it for a second.
What did people say before something like this? Before their whole lives changed?
“We should’ve done this a long time ago. It would’ve saved me a lot of stress.”
He let out a breath of a laugh, shaking his head. “Can’t argue with that.”
The smile slowly faded from his face as his gaze shifted into an intense look of focus. He positioned himself again and slipped past my entrance.
He pushed in so slowly I felt every inch of my skin prickle, every inch of him stretching me, filling me until there was nowhere left to go. I felt whole.
We were both breathing hard by the time he stilled. He let go of my wrist and my hand immediately found his back, nails digging in, holding on just to feel closer to him, and then he started moving.
He pulled back, almost all the way out. Pushed back in. A moan slipped from my lips at the same time a groan left his. Our mouths brushed together, breathing the same air. Sharing this moment.
Every thrust drew sounds from both of us. A gasp from me when he pushed deep, and a low grunt from him when I clenched around him. I felt him everywhere.
Lumia purred beneath my skin, reaching for something more than usual. And I could feel him too…Valerius, just beneath Kylan’s skin. Both of our wolves were straining toward each other, desperate to be joined just as badly as we were.
Both realized that it would actually happen this time.
I locked my legs around his waist and rolled my hips, pulling him in until there was nowhere left to go.
His hips drove into me with a hunger that made my eyes roll back. Each thrust deeper than the last, his body grinding against mine in a way that made my thighs shake. My fingers twisted in the sheets because I didn’t know what else to do with my hands. It felt too good.
So good that I almost couldn’t believe something as painful as the mark was supposed to follow this.
But it would…
“Stop!”
Kylan stopped immediately, concern written across his face. Before he could ask what was wrong, I held him close and rolled us over. Never letting him slip out of me until I was on top.
As I looked down at him, my worries slowly faded away. The sight alone made me catch my breath. His hair was a mess against the pillows, chest rising and falling while his soft eyes stared at me as if they had already seen through my fear.
He rubbed small circles against my hips. “You’re scared.”
A chuckle escaped me as I traced my finger along his jaw. “Perhaps a little.” We both released a sigh as I began moving again. “But that’s for me to worry about. All you have to do is mark me.”
My hands found his shoulders for balance. I lifted myself, feeling him slide almost all the way out, then sank back down. Slowly this time.
I rolled my hips and felt him sink deeper. My mouth fell open, but nothing came out except a breath I didn’t know I was holding.
“Fuck, Pup,” he breathed. His hips jerked up hard, hands desperately pulling me down against him.
I gave in to it, and let my body do what it had been aching to.
My hips took over, and I let them, moving against him faster, harder, until his breath caught every time I sank, and that became the only thing I wanted to hear. Curses left him, one after another.
His hands roamed up my stomach, over my ribs, and when his fingers found my nipples, my head tipped back, making me lose my rhythm for a second. A sob of pleasure slipped past my lips as I arched into his touch.
His arms were around me before I even came back down, pulling himself up until his chest was against mine. He held me tight, like he was afraid I’d slip away if he didn’t, forehead pressing against mine, breath shaking against my lips.
“Stay with me,” he whispered. I didn’t know if he meant right now or forever.
“I’m not going anywhere.”
I cupped his face in my hands, thumbs brushing his cheeks as we moved together.
A low groan rumbled through him, vibrating against my chest as I felt myself unravel with each thrust. My fingers tangled in his hair, pulling him closer, needing something to hold onto before I fell apart completely.
An unfamiliar warmth spread through my body as he brushed his lips against my collarbone. Then higher until his mouth hovered over the curve of my neck. Goosebumps rippled across my skin as
He stayed there, breathing me in, and every exhale made me breathe a little louder.
“You smell so good,” he murmured. “Do you know that?”
I couldn’t answer. Couldn’t do anything except whimper and tilt my head to give him more. Fingers traced up my throat until they gently wrapped around it. Soft lips dragged across the spot, savoring the place he was about to claim.
The anticipation alone was enough to destroy me.
Then he finally asked.
“Can I mark you?”
My eyes widened with surprise. It suddenly felt like everything stopped. Like I had found myself in some kind of dream, and all of this couldn’t possibly be real.
These were the words I had been longing for since our first moments together, and he had finally said them. I felt butterflies in my stomach.
This was it.
This was really it.
I swallowed before I answered and slowed my movements until they came to a full stop. “Yes.”
Both of us breathed hard. I squeezed my eyes shut, waiting for the impact, but nothing ever came. His lips kept hovering, so close now that I could feel the heat of his breath. Something was stopping him.
I knew how much he wanted it, but I also knew what could be holding him back.
I don’t want to hurt you…
Those words came from fear and love, and now he was second-guessing. “Kylan,” I sighed, shifting my neck closer. I gave him everything I had.
“I know it will hurt,” I said, my voice steady. “But I can take it. I promise.”
Several seconds passed with his breath still hot against my neck and neither of us moving. I could feel his heart pounding against his chest. A final breath escaped him before a soft growl built in his throat.
Suddenly, a purple light appeared through my nearly closed eyelids, so bright my eyes flew open. It was everywhere. On the walls, ceiling, moving across the room like it was alive.
I looked down, noticing the reflection on my skin as well. It traveled from my arms, down to my breasts, and it all came from him.
I should have been scared, but I wasn’t. Because I knew exactly who it belonged to.
Valerius.
He was present, right at the surface. I could feel them both. Kylan and Valerius, their energy mixing against my throat where his mouth still hovered.
Inside me, Lumia rose to meet him. She pressed against my skin from within, reaching for the mate she had been waiting for.
‘Mate,’ she roared. ‘We will finally be one.’
A breathy sound escaped me as fangs extended against my neck, and sharp points pressed into my skin. My pulse quickened, heart hammering so hard I was sure it was about to explode. But I knew what I wanted. I knew what I had signed up for.
“You do not have to be afraid.”
His voice was different now. It was deeper and layered. Almost like two voices speaking as one. “I will take care of you.”
I let out a whimper and flinched just a little as his tongue traced, preparing me for what was coming.
He roared. “Mine.”
His fangs sank into my flesh before I could take another breath, and a scream escaped me. My nails clawed down his back as the blinding pain hit me. It was more than I expected, more than I could have possibly prepared for. It felt like fire spreading through my veins, tearing me apart and putting me back together all at once.
Goddess, it hurt.
It hurt so much.
I felt his fangs sink deeper, breaking through my skin, through my muscles. He was claiming every part of me, and I didn’t want him to stop. The deeper he went, the more confused I became.
Did it hurt? Yes. But there was something else, too. Something so raw and so incredibly overwhelming under the pain that I didn’t know whether to scream louder, cry, or moan.
A blinding white light exploded behind my eyes. They started glowing, and Lumia surged to the surface with a howl of joy. ‘Now you will know,’ she breathed. ‘They have always cared about you.’
The memories hit me before I could react. They were not mine. His.
Flashes rushed through my mind like a timeline of his years, everything he felt laid bare in front of me. There was an emptiness that stretched on forever, born from a place no person should have to bear. Never being enough.
The need to always be hard, always be cold, so no one would ever dare try to take him down.
But beneath all of it, there was this anger. It had been there since he was a little boy and had never left. It only grew, year after year. Every time the king looked past him, every time the queen pushed him, he had to swallow down what he really felt.
Then the anxiety crept in. A tightness in his chest that became so familiar he forgot what it felt like to breathe without it.
But once I came into his life, it slowly faded.
There was no time to think about that because something new entered the chaos, and it was something he couldn’t recognize. Something he didn’t understand.
His blood boiled the first time I spoke back to him. This Bloodrose girl who wouldn’t stop talking, who looked at him like he was just a person. Not a prince or a threat.
And underneath the anger, that new feeling kept growing until he couldn’t separate it from the rest, so he made himself believe that the feeling was not supposed to be there for one simple reason. He wasn’t all too familiar with positive emotions.
I felt his fear. His fear of feeling, and most of all his fear of ruining me. It terrified him, so he pushed me so I would hate him, made himself say cruel things. He watched me walk away and hated himself every single time.
And then there was the shame. So heavy it kept him up at night. He replayed every word in his head. Every look on my face when he hurt me. He caused himself more pain than he ever caused me, and I didn’t know. I had never noticed.
The shame never stopped. It just doubled with every harsh word until he saw just how much it was breaking me, and he forced himself to stop. Not for his sake, but for mine.
That’s how it happened. How the chaos he carried for years began to settle, and all that anger and emptiness made room for something else. Something that finally let him breathe.
As I neared the end, I finally understood what that feeling had been. It was love.
He had loved me from the very beginning. Even when we both didn’t know what to call it.
My eyes flew open with a loud gasp. Everything was different now. I could feel him, not just inside my body but inside my soul. His emotions tangled with mine, so intense I couldn’t think straight.
I gasped, feeling him thrust up into me again with his fangs still buried in my neck. A deep groan left him as his hands gripped my hips, pulling me down onto him as he pushed up.
I moaned against his ear and clenched around him at the same time, and the sound that left him made my whole body shiver.
“Violet…”
A low, needy whimper caught in his throat. An unexpected sound I had never heard from him before. He was always so composed, in control, but right now he was falling apart just as much as I was.
Louder moans escaped me with every thrust.
His fangs shifted in my neck as his lips brushed my skin. “Are you gonna come for me?”
I hummed, my nails digging into his back as my body started to shake. He groaned loudly against my neck, and I felt him losing it, his thrusts turning sloppy and desperate. I was close. So close it was almost painful, and so was he. I could feel it.
“Kylan—“
I came with his name stuck in my throat, squeezing tight around him. A growl left him, but he didn’t stop. He kept moving, kept pulling sounds out of me I didn’t know I could make, dragging it out until I was nothing but tremors.
He followed right behind me.
A deep groan rumbled against my neck as his hips jerked. He spilled inside me, warm, pulsing, filling me up while I held onto him.
He shuddered against me one last time, a shaky breath leaving him as his body went slack. Still trembling, breath coming out in ragged puffs against my neck while his heart raced against my chest. It took a while for it to slow down.
We breathed together as we came down from whatever that was. His fangs retracted slowly, and I winced at the sting, feeling his tongue trace over the fresh wound.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered, his tongue dragging across it slowly, soothing the sting. I shivered at the sensation and moved my fingers through his damp hair. A chuckle left me. “Don’t be,” I said. “I wanted it.”
We shifted until we were lying down. Our bodies were tangled together, legs intertwined while he was still inside me. Neither of us ready to let that go yet.
The bond was loud and alive, perhaps a bit too alive. I could feel so much of him now. Not just his body against mine, but everything that came with it. Every emotion. Every feeling.
“Kylan?”
My fingers reached for his chin, and I moved it so he had no choice but to look at me. His eyes were brown again, soft and more vulnerable than I had ever seen them. I even felt Valerius beneath his chest, settled and content.
‘He’s pleased with you, Violet,’ Lumia said.
So was she. I could feel the warmth spreading through my body that belonged to both of us. Kylan’s gaze dropped to my neck, and his thumb brushed over the still-sensitive mark. A small wince left me.
“You’re in pain.”
“A little,” I admitted. “But it’s okay.”
“I know,” he chuckled. “I can feel it.”
Our eyes locked again. A gentle smile reached his lips as he brushed the hair from my face. “I can feel you,” he said, sighing softly. “All of you.”
His thumb traced my cheek. “I can feel your joy,” he continued. “Lumia’s joy too… but there’s something else. This feeling I can’t quite place.” His brows furrowed slightly. “What is it?”
I knew exactly what he was feeling. Vulnerability.
There was still a part of me that couldn’t wrap my head around this being real. “I never thought I could have this,” I admitted. Tears pricked at my eyes before I could stop them.
“Someone who would actually want me, and—”
His brows knit together. “I’m sorry—”
“No.” I pressed my fingers to his lip, smiling a little. “Let me finish.”
He went quiet, but I could still feel his concern. This urge to fix whatever was hurting me. And now that he could feel everything, I had a feeling I would be hearing those two words a lot.
I’m sorry.
I trapped his jaw between my fingers gently, making sure he was looking at me.
“I keep thinking about all those times I felt like I wasn’t enough,” I said softly. “Wasn’t enough for you…for anyone, and this whole time…”
A laugh escaped me. “You loved me from the start, even when you were terrible to me. When you pushed me away and made me believe you felt nothing.” My voice cracked a little. “I know why you did it. I saw it, felt it, but I wish you had told me sooner so I could tell you the same.”
We could’ve saved ourselves so much pain. All those wasted moments.
“So do I.” His face changed to regret. “I was too stupid to know what to do with it. Too scared to admit it,” he said. “I know I can apologize over and over for the rest of my life, but it won’t erase what I did or the way I treated you.” He swallowed hard. “I just hope that you can feel how much I love you.”
“Of course I do.” A chuckle escaped me. “You have shown me so much love before this mark. Ever since you told me you love me, I have never once doubted it.”
As soon as a relieved laugh slipped past his lips, my heart fluttered. A tear escaped down my cheek, and he caught it with his thumb, wiping it away gently.
“Happy tears,” he said.
“Yes,” I confirmed.
He shifted slightly, pressing deeper into me, and I gasped. I was still so full and sensitive. A soft groan left him as well. “I don’t want to move,” he exhaled.
“Then don’t.”
“We have to eventually. If we want to get out of Lyperia tomorrow.”
Tomorrow…
I thought about that more times than I could imagine today. About leaving, going back to Starlight, and living inside this bubble like everyone was normal again, even if it would just be for a little while.
He dropped his forehead to mine, and we just stayed like that for a moment. I hadn’t expected all of this tonight.
I thought we would go back to the room and sleep, maybe talk about the ceremony. But now here we were, bonded and marked and tangled together in a way that could never be undone. Because I wouldn’t allow it.
“We should probably keep this to ourselves for now,” I suggested. “Kaelis just had her ceremony, and I don’t want to take away from that.”
“Yes,” Kylan hummed. “Also, my mom will lose her mind when she finds out I marked you like this. Without some…grand ceremony.”
Right.
That was also a thing…
I hadn’t even considered that until now. I always had a feeling our marking wouldn’t be traditional, but not like this. Unfortunately, I knew how huge these people were on tradition. On doing things properly and making everything into a spectacle.
This was perhaps the biggest moment of the kingdom, and we had done it without anyone’s involvement. I groaned and dropped my face into his shoulder.
His chest rumbled with a laugh. “Don’t worry. She likes you, so she’ll probably give us a pass.”
“Probably,” I mumbled against his skin. “Or she’ll have us do it all over again in front of the entire kingdom.”
“That too.”
I lifted my head and looked at him. My mate. My everything. Mine.
“Not a lot has changed, but everything feels so different now,” I told him. “Whatever happens, nothing can ruin this for me.”
I felt a flicker of something through the bond. Either worry or anxiety, though I couldn’t tell from his face. How often had he done this?
“Yes?” I asked. “What are you thinking about?”
“It’s stupid.”
“Tell me.”
He hesitated, and his lips curved into a smile. “I’m thinking about what comes next,” he said. “And then I started thinking of pups, and…” He let out a breath. “I can barely raise a squirrel.”
I burst out laughing and slapped his chest. “You have just marked me a few minutes ago, and you’re already thinking of pups?”
I rested my arms on his chest and looked down at him, still giggling. I knew that wasn’t really what he was worried about. I could feel that there was something deeper underneath, but I wouldn’t push. Not tonight, and not ever.
If he wanted to tell me something, he would tell me.
“Well,” I said, trying to keep my face serious, “the Moon Goddess and I have been pretty tight lately. I’m sure she’ll spare us from having to raise a bunch of Violets for a few more years.”
He raised an eyebrow. “How do you know they’ll be like you?”
“Just a hunch.”
He hummed, his fingers finding my mark again, tracing it softly. “You’re perfect so I wouldn’t mind though,” he said, taking a breath. “If they were like you. With your heart, your strength, your fire, hopefully those amazing eyes…” His gaze found mine. “I know they’d turn out to be unstoppable.”
His words left me speechless. How could I respond to that?
He took my hand and placed it over my heart, holding it there for a moment. Then slowly moved it down from my ribs to my stomach before letting it rest there.
We both looked down at his hand covering mine.
“That’s where they’ll be someday,” he said. “Our pups.” His fingers brushed across my skin. “When I’ll be ruling with you by my side, raising them with you. Building something special for them.”
I still didn’t know what to say, so I pressed my lips against his instead, giving him everything I couldn’t put into words. When we pulled away, a wide smile stretched on his lips.
“I can’t wait,” I whispered. “For all of it.”
He brushed his nose against mine. “I love you.”
“I love you too.”