G
race was pregnant. Hawes told her that morning after the Hunter’s Blood Moon. After he fucked her senseless again. Mersin and Cordea confirmed it. It would be a human pregnancy, a 9-month cycle. The baby would be a boy, born sometime late July. The village celebrated their Alpha’s mating, treated Grace like the queen they thought she was. They bowed down to her, brought her gifts, made preparations for the baby, the saviour that would arrive in the summer.
Hawes was back to being Hawes. Cold, demanding, Alpha. He fucked her when he wanted her, which was almost all the time. When she wasn’t near him, she hated him, but when he touched her, she was his to claim however he wished. And he did. Relentlessly. And she welcomed him each time, opened her thighs like a whore. Each time they fucked, she came like it was the first time, a lifetime of unreleased passion spilled out of her, controlling her, owning her. Like Hawes did. It was impossible and unsustainable because it made her insecure and needy.
October turned to November and the snow fell hard. Hawes, as ruler now of his kind both above and below, wielded his power with authority. Both were his to command. Nordil was locked up, not killed as Hawes had promised. It was much better that he live out his eternity chained like a dog, in the bedroom that once belonged to him. Despite her objections, Hawes forced Grace to accompany him to his underworld kingdom. Fucked her in front of Nordil, paraded her around, assigned her hellhound guards both in the underworld and above. She was precious to him. Or rather, her cargo was. She wondered what would happen when the child was born.
Her senses were sharper now. Cordea worked with her to channel the wolf in her. Taught her how to control it so it didn’t overwhelm her. It was intense to be able to smell odors, trails that were days, weeks, even months old. Her hearing was sharper, her sight clearer and she was physically stronger. No match for Hawes, but at least she had stamina.
One day, after they’d fucked and he pulled himself from her, she rolled to her back and stared at him, her eyes lingering on his handsome face, so perfect. “This house is too small for the three of us.”
He stood, his cock half-erect, still breath-taking as her eyes stroked it. She felt her heat grow. She didn’t know if it was the baby in her womb or if her feelings for him were changing, but these days he just needed to enter a room and she was wet and panting.
“The village will build us a new one, in the spring. In the village, where you and the boy will be well-protected.
She sat up, curling her legs under her, her ass resting on her calves, and watched him as paced. Like he was waiting. For the child, she guessed. He had a long wait. She needed reassurance.
“Do you love me?” she asked.
“Do you love me?”
“Yes.” She lied. And then she stopped. Did she love him? Maybe, but there were days she also hated him. “Do you love me?” she insisted.
He sighed, “You’re my mate, Grace. It could not be otherwise.”
She wasn’t satisfied with his answer. It didn’t reassure her. “Are you faithful?”
He stopped his pacing and gazed at her. Conjecture in his eyes. Then he came to her and sat down beside her, raked a nail across her cheek, down her jaw, past her neck until he reached her breast. He rubbed her nipple, then pinched it sending a spasm of pain, then lust through her.
“I want only you, mate. I think of only you. When my cock grows hard, it’s because of you. I need no other.”
Was that a yes? Grace wondered. But his hand had moved from her breast, over her belly, pushing her thighs open, fingers sliding through her folds, touching her intimately. He pushed her onto the bed and brushed his lips across hers, sending a cascade of fire down her spine. Then he fucked her and she let him. How could it be otherwise?