Virgin Sacrifice To The Last Lycan: Read Chapters 1-5

The Lycan was a wall of masculine muscle behind me. His body heat scorched me even through my wedding dress; his breath seared the shell of my ear as he leaned closer and whispered, "Mate..."

If the last Lycan was The Devil, I thought I might want to go to Hell.

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Helen POV

The Devil's Lair

"You have to wake up now! C'mon, c'mon!"

I forced my eyelids to open. They felt so heavy I thought I would have better luck lifting the world. My head hurt badly and I could feel bruises forming on one side of my body where I'd evidently been thrown down to the ground by whoever had abducted me.

"Wha---?" I struggled to ask, my tongue feeling thick and too heavy the way my eyelids did.

My cheek felt as if it were bruised. I suddenly remembered being slapped and my eyes sprang open as adrenaline flooded my system, telling me to get up, to run, to fight.

The girl at my side gripped my arms tightly. She shook me a little while shaking her own head 'no' at the same time.

"We're in The Devil's Lair. We've been brought as tributes. You can't make trouble or they might kill you before you even get a chance to see him."

"The Devil?" I asked, stunned and suddenly terrified.

Nodding again, the girl quickly whispered, "I'm Donna. My parents saved me to offer him. I hope he picks me! If I become his Luna, my parents will get to live in the Alpha House with me and my whole family will benefit. I'm the first Snow White our line has had in generations."

A Snow White was a werewolf female with pure white fur: the strongest female, the Alpha female, the most desirable and beautiful mate for wolves to have.

The only thing Snow White about me was the wedding dress I was wearing though it was not pristine after all I'd been through.

Pushing the voluminous skirt down, I wriggled around until I was sitting up beside Donna. We were both secured with zip ties at our wrists and thick ropes at our ankles. A look down the row revealed all the women were trussed up the same way: virgin sacrifices for the last Lycan.

Fear prickled through me, making my skin hypersensitive as I grew more and more worried about what was going to happen to me next.

I knew all the stories regarding Alpha Justin, last Lycan and only son of the Alpha King Juden. They called him 'The Devil' because he was a raging beast as a result of his nature.

According to the rumors, Alpha Justin could only be tamed by having sex with a virgin wolf during the full moon. Every pack sent virgins to sacrifice to The Devil. He turned them all away. Cruelly. Violently. Some went crazy from his rejection. What did he do to drive women crazy with only a rejection?

"Your parents sent you as tribute? So are you from Lone Wolf?" I asked, trying to use our whispered conversation to distract me from my panic.

"I am," Donna said, obviously proud of her pack, "What pack are you from? I haven't seen you around."

I could detect a hint of jealousy in the question and tried to suppress a frown. Why would she be jealous of me? Didn't she know what they said The Devil did to the tributes? She had to know I hadn't been offered voluntarily. Did she think I was going to be chosen over her? Over all the other virgin wolves to come before?

"I'm from Fiery Cross Pack. My father is Alpha Henry. I'm a Tiger Lily so I don't go on many outings to other territories."

I was a mixed coat -called a Tiger Lily like the wild princess who had tried so hard to steal the heart of Peter Pan- with fur made up of three colors. My family had hoped for better for me, but my first shift nearly broke my father's heart.

Donna seemed to relax after learning I had a mixed coat. In her eyes, I was less desirable already.

Testing the zip ties on my wrists, I realized I wouldn't be able to break them unless I shifted. I drew my knees up to pluck at the rope wrapped around my ankles, but my fingers weren't strong enough to take the knots apart. I was as helpless as all the other women lining the hallway to the door of what had to be The Devil's Lair.

The heavy wooden door looked solid and intact which surprised me more than it should have. I knew The Devil was supposed to be chained in his chambers. He was said to savage some of the virgins offered to him. He couldn't be too violent behind such a beautiful door, right?

"Tell me how you got here? Please?" Donna asked.

I didn't see how telling Donna about my capture could hurt.

"I made a bad decision. I went to a bar alone. I got drunk. I guess because I don't drink often and I felt confused. Some soldiers came in. They asked if I was a virgin. They laughed at me when I said 'yes' and I was going to slap them for laughing only someone hit me first. I passed out and woke up here. You were shaking me. That's it. The whole story."

"Except for the part about why you were wearing a wedding dress alone in a bar," Donna pointed out.

I shrugged without answering. She didn't need to know everything---and the truth was too humiliating to face when we were already in a terrible situation.

No warning preceded the first she-wolf being pushed through the door. I wondered what would happen for a few seconds at most; the first woman raced back into the hall as if the hounds of Hell were chasing her.

Every she-wolf between me and the door was rejected or sent out in under a few minutes. Tears, babbling, and even a few screams came from the ones The Devil didn't want.

The closer it got to my turn, the more nervous I became---and the more confident Donna got.

I thought Donna would have better luck for sure, but she had barely entered the room before a roar echoed from behind the door and she was thrown out hard enough to leave her in a heap at my feet. Her arm was at a strange angle as she tried to get up; I wanted to go to her only to find myself thrust through the door instead.

I was in The Devil's Lair!

Cold air blew over me making me shiver. I could see little in the darkness of the room even with my enhanced werewolf sight. My hearing picked up the sound of chains -they said The Devil was kept chained all the time because of his uncontrollable rages- and my shivers turned to full body shakes.

"Hello?" I whispered, wondering if talking to him would get me thrown out faster or more forcefully.

The Devil surprised me by responding, "Hello."

His voice was rich and dark and sent a wholly different kind of shiver through me.

I shuffled forward a few steps only to be grabbed up in strong, heavy arms. A wild scent of open forest and sandalwood flooded my nose; I went limp in The Devil's arms rather than making any attempt to free myself.

His huge hands swept over my body, cupping my breasts and squeezing them over my dress before releasing them to rub down my flat stomach to my full hips. I had never been so aware of my body as I was with him exploring my shape over my wedding gown. What would his hands feel like on my bare skin?

I was simultaneously terrified and turned on. I didn't know if I wanted to scream or strip for The Devil; I let him turn my body around and my head fell to the side as he pressed an open-mouthed kiss to the claiming spot at the nape of my neck.

"Yes," I whispered, not sure what I was agreeing to or why except I was and I had to because this moment with this monster? My whole life had led up to this.

The Devil was a wall of masculine muscle behind me. His body heat scorched me even through my wedding dress; his breath seared the shell of my ear as he leaned closer and whispered, "Mate..."

If the last Lycan was The Devil, I thought I might want to go to Hell.

No males had ever been allowed to touch me. I was kept pure.

His scent wrapped around me as heavily as his arms and his lips were hot as they pressed against my pounding pulse at the base of my throat. My heart skipped a beat while my body responded with a flash of heat to match the one ruling the Lycan.

I had never felt so hot, so alive, so aware of my own skin as I was with the Lycan wrapped around me. His hands traveled over my dress again, making me moan as his hot palms cupped my breasts, making the satin of my wedding gown rub the hard peaks of my nipples.

I wanted him to tear my dress off, touch my skin, touch me, touch me, touch me.

He ground his body against mine, making me moan again even though I couldn't feel him nearly as well as I wanted through the yards of material making up my gown.

I'd never wanted to touch a man the way I wanted to touch this wild male.

Reaching behind me, my fingers were nearly claws as I sank them into his hips, trying to get him to move closer. But suddenly, he pushed me away with a hard shove which sent me slamming into the door.

Justin POV

Heat raced through his veins with every beat of his heart; Alpha Justin of Lone Wolf Pack, known as 'The Devil' and as The Last Lycan, fought for control inside the chains binding him.

His father -Alpha King Juden- had kept him in chains since he was a boy beginning to age into adolescence. His body was scarred from years of bondage, years of whips and chains and cuffs meant to subdue the monster inside of him.

Every full moon brought more torture as the Alpha King insisted she-wolf virgins be offered to Justin.

His body wanted the she-wolf virgins. His body craved their tender flesh and soft, wet sex, but his beast rejected their fear as unworthy of his interest.

Justin had no name for the beast inside himself. The Lycan part of his mind was pure animal instinct rather than a coherent consciousness of its own. He never wanted to hurt the she-wolves offered to him, but the beast couldn't tolerate their tears, their screams, their fear which was as bad as a slap to the face.

None of them ever recognized what an honor it would be to feel him fuck them.

Until she came in and said "Hello."

Her scent was moonlight, rain, and a flower Justin couldn't name. Gardenia maybe? He didn't know -hadn't left his room in years, much less been allowed in a garden- and didn't care except she smelled so good he couldn't resist her.

'Mate.'

The monster moaned inside his mind and Justin knew he couldn't let this one leave soon. He had to have a taste of her. Just a taste, wouldn't hurt, would it?

'Mate.'

Justin shook with the effort it took to hold himself back from her---then the beast spoke again in his mind and he stopped resisting.

'Mate.'

Running his hands down her body, Justin marveled at how every curve seemed to fit perfectly in his hands. His beast had never spoken words before. True the monster was only repeating the same word over and over, but it was a word nonetheless and any words were better than the violent feelings the creature usually communicated using.

He didn't even notice when he said the word aloud, moaning the word into her ear, "Mate..."

Her breasts, her waist, her hips, her ass---Justin shoved her away from him as his heat cycle crested, trying to force him to give in, to tear her dress off, to fuck her until his lust was sated.

Thrusting her away from him with the last vestiges of his self-control, Justin growled at her, "Get out."

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Helen POV

Pain exploded from my shoulder as I hit the solid oak door. My body was tingling all over from the rough exploration of The Devil's hands. He'd been thorough as he'd groped and grasped and groaned over me, but I didn't feel violated the way I thought I would.

I felt---hot. Heavy. Sticky even where my own wolf had started to react to the powerful Lycan male laying claim to my skin.

Why had he stopped?

All the stories claimed the last Lycan needed to mate with a virgin she-wolf to tame his beast during the full moon. He was supposed to get control out of the exchange while the she-wolf gained power of her own from mating with him.

No one had ever warned me about how being rejected by a mate would hurt. I'd been warned males couldn't control their need for sex. I was the one who was supposed to be careful to protect my virtue. My mother had never said anything about how it felt for a male to throw me away rather than mate me.

I realized I wanted Justin to want me, to take me, to have me just as he roared at me again.

The sound The Devil made was pure animal, no words involved, and it chilled me to the bone. I fumbled for the doorknob, grateful when it turned under my hand allowing me to open the door and stumble back into the hallway where I was met with stunned stares.

"I---"

Words failed me as I realized I didn't know what I was supposed to say in these circumstances. Was I meant to apologize for not pleasing the Lycan? Be angry he hadn't chosen me? Cry?

Tears felt too close to the surface for me to think of them for long; I was grateful when an astonishingly good-looking wolf stepped forward to introduce himself.

Offering me his hand, he said, "I'm Randy. I'll be Justin's Beta when he's ready to take over the throne as Alpha King. You want to tell me what happened in there with him?"

Curiosity colored his words clearly enough for me to tell he was genuinely interested.

I found it hard to believe the day would ever come The Devil would be tame enough to rule over wolves as the Alpha King.

"Nothing. He touched me. He called me 'mate' and then he threw me out like all the rest."

I shrugged a shoulder as if it didn't hurt, as if it didn't feel broken---as if my heart didn't feel more bruised than my body.

Randy looked me over from my messy hair down to the scuffed toes of my shoes. I didn't want to think about how I looked to him in my rumpled wedding dress and doubtlessly ruined appearance from tears, sweat, and being dragged around all night.

Whatever Randy saw in me, he must have liked because he reached down and removed the rope tying my ankles together. He stood up with a smile before gesturing for me to follow him.

"We're taking a walk. Keep up."

I lifted my skirt so I wouldn't trip over the material and followed as fast as I could. We wound through so many halls and stairways I knew I wouldn't have been able to find my way out if I tried.

Randy held open another heavy wooden door -even more impressive than the one guarding the last Lycan's room- and waved me in, "Please step inside. The King will see you now."

The King? The Alpha King?

I was stunned into silence as I hesitated in the doorway.

Randy grasped my arm at the elbow and then pulled me through the doorway. He led me forward until I was standing before a huge desk where the Alpha King sat waiting.

I recognized the Alpha King from his public appearances. Even a human would know our King. He was famous! What was I doing standing in front of him looking like a disaster survivor?

I waited for the King to speak. I had learned how to be seen on command and heard only on request. My family had taught me to know my place.

"My son called you his mate. Is this true?"

I nodded, "Yes, your majesty. He said 'mate' and he touched me, then he made me leave."

"Touched you? Touched you how? Did he want to have sex with you or was he pushing you away?"

I didn't know how to answer. Justin had wanted me from the passionate way he'd explored my body with his hands, but he had pushed me away. My shoulder felt like a giant bruise from how hard he'd pushed me away.

"Both? He was passionate and then he pushed me away. Told me to 'get out.' He didn't hurt me."

The King considered me before saying, "That's good. My son needs his mate. His heat cycle starts every full moon and continues to get worse the longer he goes without a partner. You have twelve hours before this full moon ends. You will mate with my son, give him your virginity, and you will live to become his Luna."

I had only twelve hours to convince the Lycan to have sex with me? Impossible! I didn't know how to seduce any man much less a wild man.

"I don't know if I will be able to do---that. What happens if I can't?" I asked, adding, "Your majesty."

"You'll die."

The King didn't blink as he stared at me, his eyes dark with a hint of glow from the presence of his wolf. I couldn't believe what he'd said.

"What? How?"

"You'll die," the King said again, "I'll kill you."

I looked from King Juden to Randy and back before nodding.

"It's up to you, little wolf. Go be a good mate to my son."

The twelve hours I had to seduce the Lycan felt like twelve seconds as Randy walked me back to the ornate door guarding Alpha Justin.

I was thrust back into the dark room as soon as we reached the Lycan's room. The growl coming from Justin was warning enough for me to sink down to the ground right at the door.

Conversation was impossible to make when every word I spoke resulted in growling, rattling chains, and an increase in tension in the room.

As I smoothed my skirt over and over, I suddenly started to cry.

My first mate had rejected me on our wedding day -choosing my sister over me- and my second chance mate was a monster! What kind of curse was I under?

Helen POV

The Devil's Lair

Alpha Justin had not said a word to me since I'd been pushed back inside his room. He hadn't done more than snarl at me every time I tried to speak to him.

Unable to see almost anything in the darkness, I couldn't tell if Justin was even looking at me.

My wolf -called Joy since I was a child- encouraged me to try my luck at appealing to The Devil's gentler side. He had to have a human side, right? Even Lycans were still human most of the time.

My tears were fake though my fear and sadness were both real. I focused on trying to let out every bit of misery in me through my voice, my actions, my presence in the small room which now served as a cage for both The Devil and me.

"I was rejected, you know?"

Honesty might earn me some favor with the Alpha. I couldn't offer anything else unless I wanted to risk getting closer to him and his angry growls scared me too much to risk closing the gap between us.

Rubbing the fabric of my skirt between my fingers, I continued speaking, "My sister stole my mate. On my wedding day. That's how I got here. I was rejected by my mate because my sister made a better match than me. I drank too much in a bar and wolves from your pack or a pack loyal to yours took me when I said I was a virgin."

Everything I had said to Alpha Justin was completely true; I found the tears I had been faking were now really flowing down my cheeks. How had my life gone so wrong so fast?

"I was supposed to be married today."

The confession was a broken whisper I didn't have to fake.

My fiance, Scott, had always been too good for me and not ashamed to let me know. His family was a powerful Alpha family who bred true to their line. All their males had the deepest of black coats while all their females were the purest of whites; I was marrying above my station as a mixed coat who people doubted could even claim an Alpha father.

"Why did your sister make a better match? Do you have different parents?"

Startled at the questions, I gasped, my head jerking up from my hands as I strained my eyes trying to see through the blackness of the room.

"No," I answered, trying to hold Alpha Justin's attention as long as I could with my story, "We have the same mother and father. I'm---younger by a year. My older sister Helen is more beautiful. She's a Snow White with the purest white coat any she-wolf could ever have. I'm a Tiger Lily because my coat is mixed with three different colors."

"Your mate was shallow enough to reject you for a she-wolf with a pure pattern?"

The way the Alpha said it made the logic seem ridiculous.

I'd never considered the importance put on coat colors from the perspective he offered. Was it shallow to want a mate who was more pure?

A werewolf's coat indicated their power as well as their beauty. A she-wolf with a pure white coat was as strong as a she-wolf could be while the addition of more colors to make a more and more mixed pattern meant her magic was weaker, more diluted, less reliable.

My sister could shift in seconds whereas it took me over a minute or more to reach my wolf form.

In a fight, my sister could come to her mate's aid in the span of a heartbeat while I'd need minutes.

Minutes in a werewolf battle meant the difference between life and death.

"You're crying again. Did you love your mate?"

"He was my fated mate," I said, confused by the question, "Of course I loved him."

"No, did you love him or did you just love his wolf being the mate to yours? There's a difference---what's your name?"

"Diana," I said, uncertain why I was continuing to lie to him about being my sister.

"Diana. What did you love about him, Diana?"

I realized a part of me kept thinking this entire experience would be over soon and I would be allowed to go back home. If Alpha Justin didn't know my true name, he couldn't hunt me down when I left. If I succeeded in getting him to mate with me, I could still leave afterwards.

Feeling comforted by the thought I could leave after my night with The Devil, I answered him with total honesty.

"I loved the way his wolf loved mine. My family never wanted me. They only tolerate me out of loyalty to the bloodline. Being a Tiger Lily is a shame on our House. My mother hates looking at me. She makes me dress in a maid uniform so guests think I work for the family instead of being their daughter. My father lets her get away with it because he's embarrassed by me, too."

"I wanted to make my family proud. I don't---I don't think I even knew him well enough to love him. He was as disappointed to be my mate as my family is to have me as their daughter."

"Anyone who's disappointed with you is a fool."

Alpha Justin stated his opinion as if it were a fact. For a moment, I let myself bask in the praise even though I knew the Lycan didn't have the right perspective to judge my situation.

"Thank you. That's kind of you to say. You don't have to say it though. I know who I am and what I have to offer. I know you should have your pick of mates. You probably wish you had found a different mate, too, but I'm grateful I met you. I never thought I'd get a second chance mate. They're so rare! Why should I be so lucky, you know?"

Finding a second chance mate was the equivalent of being struck by lightning twice in wolfen society. Most wolves tried to find their fated mate for years before either getting lucky or giving up.

"You're my first mate."

Justin spoke with a strange tone. I couldn't tell if he was angry or confused or disappointed in spite of saying he thought disappointment in me would make for a fool's feelings.

"Forgive me for being crude. But how did he reject you? Your first mate. How did he reject you before the wedding?"

Shame made me bow my head. I forced myself to breathe in and out through my mouth to stave off a panic attack.

I was wearing my wedding gown! How could he not realize Scott had rejected me literally at the wedding, not before?

The only explanation was he thought there was no way any wolf could be so cruel as to humiliate their mate in front of both their combined packs on what was supposed to be the happiest day of their lives.

Tears dropped from my eyes in fat drops exactly as rain falling from pregnant clouds. Sadness ate its way through me -a hungry beast chewing through flesh until its teeth struck bone- and I wondered if I would ever be happy again.

"He wasn't there."

"What? Your mate wasn't there? He didn't show up?"

Shaking my head, I continued, "At the end of the aisle. Scott was supposed to be waiting for me. We had a whole day rehearsal to make sure I did it all right. I knew when I was supposed to walk. We started on time. All the ladies walked before me. All of the groomsmen escorted them. Everyone was so beautiful. But he wasn't there. He just wasn't there at all and it was time for me to walk."

I raised a hand to wipe at the tears pouring from my eyes, doubtlessly ruining my makeup or washing it away.

"I waited to see what would happen. He came out with my sister. They came in through a side door. I walked the aisle and he stopped the priest. He just---stopped everything. He took my sister's hand then gave me a formal rejection. As soon as the mate bond was broken, he asked my sister to take my place as his wife and that's what happened. He married my sister after rejecting me."

My tears got the better of me then and I let my head fall into my hands as sobs tore through me. I was wallowing in my misery when hot, huge hands tipped my face up and then The Devil kissed me.

I fell into the kiss with a desperation I didn't want to look at too closely.

Pressing my body against his, I opened my mouth to let his tongue inside mine. I tried to mimic his movements even though I had no experience with open-mouthed kisses.

I wrapped my arms around his neck, stroked a hand down his back and jerked when he made a feral sound as my hand touched a wet, raised stripe over his shoulder.

"You're bleeding!"

Helen POV

"You're bleeding!"

The smell of blood washed over me in a hot copper rush which made me feel sick to my stomach, dizzy, confused because I could almost feel the pain of Justin's wounds myself yet we weren't bonded.

"It isn't important," Justin offered, throwing my own words back at me, "My father fears the beast will overpower me completely so he works hard to tame it. The creature responds best to pain. He finds the whip effective."

"It's important to me."

I echoed Justin's words through numb lips, struggling to my feet before shaking my skirt out to make walking easier.

If he used pain to control his Lycan, then there should be first aid supplies in his rooms. I couldn't imagine the Alpha King would leave his only son without medicine to treat his wounds---but I also couldn't imagine the refined Alpha King whipping his heir bloody either. What did I know?

I stumbled around until I found a dresser, but the drawers seemed to only hold clothes. I hadn't gotten a good look at the room when I was shoved in from the hall. The lights had been off since I'd been inside.

"What are you looking for?" Justin asked, sounding much more amused than I liked.

"Bandages. Antibiotic ointment. You have to have a first aid kit, don't you? Who would beat you regularly without treating your injuries?"

I knew I sounded judgmental, but I couldn't help the way I felt.

If the Alpha King would beat his only son, what would he do to me? Was a whip in my future too? How was I supposed to seduce a male who was bleeding everywhere?

"There's a box in the bathroom. Under the sink. It is truly nothing. Worrying over it is a waste of time."

Of course there was an en suite bathroom! Why would the Alpha Prince be confined to a room without even getting his own bath? I felt stupid for not thinking to look for another door already.

As to his protest about the pointlessness of caring for his injuries, I chose to ignore him.

Feeling my way along the furniture until I bumped into the wall, I ran my hand along until I felt the edge of a door and opened it.

I found the First Aid Kit and gestured for the great beast of a male to join me so I could tend his wounds---and do my best to begin seducing him.

________________

I had limited nursing experience as my family wasn't one to engage in sport fighting nor had me or my sister ever been the type to roughhouse.

My father had no son to carry on his line or make him proud during scuffles with other young wolves; my father was not even a beta, much less an Alpha. We weren't a family who knew much of violence.

Blood kept trickling down from the whip marks on my mate's back no matter how many times I swiped a wet washcloth over them. I wasn't sure if putting a bandage over a wound still bleeding would do anything at all. It seemed silly to me.

"What are you doing?" the Lycan snapped, irritation clear in his voice.

I was startled enough to drop the cloth on the floor with a wet sound. My face burned with color as I realized I'd jumped away from him when all he'd done was speak to me.

Retrieving the cloth, I winced at the blood on the floor, "I'm not a very good nurse. You're still bleeding. I can't seem to get it to stop. What do you normally do to treat an injury?"

Alpha King Juden probably had a doctor on his staff or maybe even a full healer whose magic could close nearly any wound. I imagined having to walk into the hall to ask for a healer. My ruined appearance would probably make them think the help was for me rather than Justin.

My face burned in shame as I realized I was still too aware of the Lycan's scent -richly masculine in a way which made my own wolf keen inside- while he seemed unmoved by me. Wasn't my mate supposed to desire me equal to how I desired him? Was I truly cursed to have no mate ever want me?

"You're thinking something unpleasant. What is it?"

"Just wondering why you don't want me. It doesn't matter. You're still bleeding and I don't know how to stop it."

Justin blew out a harassed breath before turning on the edge of the tub.

His huge hands swallowed the shower controls as he turned the water on. A warm cascade began to flow down from the shower and he surprised me by shoving my shoulder so I turned in place, giving him access to my back.

I was terrified I was showing weakness to the last Lycan yet all he did was unlace my dress. The wedding gown fell to my feet in a huge puddle of material, leaving me standing in only my slip.

"Get in with me. The water will stop the bleeding."

I didn't have a chance to protest or think about how he was still wearing jeans while I was in little more than underwear. Justin picked me up as if I weighed no more than a feather and my body reacted instinctively, my arms winding around his neck as my legs wound around his waist.

Justin turned until the water poured warm and soothing down on us.

"Justin!" I laughed, feeling ridiculous as he held me under the water, soaking my hair, making my slip transparent so it only just covered my full breasts, flat belly, and flared hips.

I had never felt more feminine than I did being held up in his arms.

"Diana," he murmured, eyes on my lips and I found the nerve to make a move on him to begin my seduction.

I kissed him with the kind of passion I'd only dreamed about. There was no hesitation, no fear in the way I handled him. My hands toyed with his hair where it fell too long around his shoulders; I clenched my thighs tight around his waist as I pressed my silk-covered sex against him.

"Diana," he groaned again.

He ducked his head under the shower, blocking the flow of water from hitting me. Justin nuzzled his face against my breasts. My nipples were hard buds trying to poke their way free of my slip; he sucked one into his mouth, slip and all, suckling hard before letting go to tug the strap down.

"Yes," I whispered, "Yes, yes, yes."

My voice was feverishly intense. I shrugged the straps of my slip off my shoulders, shaking my upper body so the material peeled down to expose my breasts to my mate's eyes. Men responded to the sight of naked women, right?

I had never wanted a male to see me before. I was untouched. Untouched except by this wild Lycan who seemed to want me.

His mouth on my breast was enough to have me squirming against him, desperate to get him to touch my core where my sex was a wet throb only he could soothe. I wasn't sure how well I was seducing him, but I was doing fine at seducing myself.

Just as I thought he was going to take me right against the shower wall, he leaned back.

The shower poured over him, plastered his long hair to his head, ran in streaming rivulets over his massive shoulders, down his muscular arms and over the grooves and ridges of his abdomen.

There was no possibility of a more perfect example of masculinity---and he was all mine. My second chance mate. My mate.

"What?" I asked, feeling drunk on lust and the mating bond coursing through my body.

"We can't."

"Can't?" I blinked at Justin in confusion, feeling stupid as I tried to understand why my mate was rejecting me, rejecting me again, "Why can't we? We're mates. You want me. I can tell you want me."

I couldn't survive being rejected by my second chance mate. I wasn't strong enough.

Justin cupped my face with one huge hand, looking deep into my eyes as he said, "If I make love with you, I'll lose my beast. I'll become human. Do you understand? I can't make love to you without losing my nature."

My tears started again as his words sank in and I was grateful the shower hid them from view as I struggled to get down from my mate's arms.

My mate who couldn't make love to me because I would bring him ruin.

If he had told me I would do anything other than hurt him, I'd have kept going, but hurt him? Hurt my mate? I never could.

I had enough reasons to feel bad about myself; I didn't need another one. Death would be preferable to being a betrayer or a two-times-rejected mate.

Stripping my soaked slip off, I wrapped a towel around my body and moved back into the bedroom, leaving Justin behind to take care of himself.

I sat on the edge of the bed, focused on my breathing, and realized I was getting hotter and hotter the longer I sat there waiting for my mate to rejoin me.

It was only minutes to midnight on the night of the full moon---which meant I would only have hours left to live because the Alpha King would kill me for being unable to seduce the Lycan prince.

Justin stepped out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his waist and the heat swept over me so completely it was as if I'd stepped into the mouth of a volcano.

And I realized---I wasn't heated. I was in heat for my Lycan mate.

Helen POV

Need swept over me with the force of a hurricane. Sweat beaded on my skin and my scent was amplified ten times as my body used every advantage it had to entice my mate to me.

"Justin---no," I panted, letting my head fall back as another wave of lust blew through me, "I'm going into heat. You should get back in the bathroom. Close the door. Keep the water running. You won't be able to smell me. I won't ruin you."

I would ruin him, too.

If my mate lost his Lycan abilities, he'd be left as a human with all a human's weaknesses and frailties.

I didn't want to think of my strong, monstrous mate reduced in any way much less made into a human.

Justin would lose his birthright, his place in wolfen society, his connection with his wolf---or was it his Lycan? He called his other half his beast. Was that how his inner voice spoke to him? As a monster out of myth?

Looking at him across the dark bedroom, my heat emphasized his size, his strength, his scent until I released the towel I'd wrapped around me. My fingers were too numb to hold it in place any longer.

My nudity didn't bother me at all as I stretched back on the bed, moving one hand down to cup my breast while my other plunged between my thighs to seek the wet flesh of my sex.

"Justin..."

I wanted him more than I wanted my next breath of air.

Every inch of me was on fire with need for him. His cock swelled before my eyes, rising to nearly touch his belly from the force of his lustful response; Justin let his towel drop away as he nearly flew across the room to join me on the bed.

His mouth feasted on mine as we kissed deeply, passionately, our tongues dueling for dominance as if kissing were a battle to be won.

I was shameless as I spread my legs wide open, grabbing Justin's hair at the base of his neck to hold his face to mine so I could keep kissing him even as I rubbed against every part of him I could reach.

"No," I groaned, trying to break away from the drugging kisses even as my wolf howled in defiance inside my mind, "I can't! I can't be the reason you lose your wolf. Leave me. Just---just leave me, Justin."

His chains rattled as he climbed onto the bed with me and I buried my hands in his hair to avoid reaching for the shackles on his wrists.

I knew no amount of tugging from me would break his chains.

"Never. I'll never leave you. Never."

Justin stopped kissing me just as I was on the verge of losing consciousness from lack of oxygen. I'd been so wrapped up in kissing him, I hadn't even thought about the little matter of breathing. I didn't need oxygen as long as I had Justin, my mate, my lover.

His touch was the only thing which soothed the fiery heat blistering my skin, baking me from the inside, melting me until hot honey nearly dripped from my sex.

"Please! Please, Justin, please!"

I was in tears again only this time my tears were of frustration rather than humiliation or loss.

I needed my mate. I needed him inside me. I needed to feel him fucking me as hard as he could, as deep as he could, as only he could because he was made to be mine. My body the lock and his the key. I knew without words we would fit together perfectly in spite of our size difference.

Justin rubbed the wide flared head of his cock between the swollen lips of my pussy. He lined himself up with my aching empty hole and thrust inside me with one long, smooth, uninterrupted thrust, making me scream as my orgasm crashed over me.

I shook all over under his immense weight. His cock was a welcome invader inside my body. I was stretched to capacity, full up with him, and I wanted nothing more than to feel him moving in and out and in and out of me until I found my completion again.

My heat made me greedy with lust.

I didn't think it was possible to overcome the pain of losing my virginity in seconds, but my heat made me crave my mate more than I feared any pain which might linger later.

My body was young. My body was strong. My body was the body of an Alpha she-wolf and I would use it to please my mate, to tease my mate, to ease my mate of anything other than pure pleasure.

I was made for his pleasure.

"Yes, Justin, yes. Fuck me. I'm yours. I'm your mate. I was made to be your mate. I want you. I want all of you. You're mine, mine, mine---"

Justin covered my mouth with his own as he plunged into me over and over.

I lost count of how many times my body shuddered to completion. All I could focus on was Justin. His smell, his skin, his hair, every inch of him occupied every inch of my body, mind, and soul.

Our final coupling left me sprawled beneath Justin, my legs and arms shaking from aftershocks of pleasure while my inner walls still spasmed around the thick thrust of Justin's cock. I couldn't speak. All my words had been used up. I couldn't believe such satisfaction was possible to reach.

My heat seemed to have swept through me and burned off by the time I could feel the moon slipping away to have its place taken by the sun.

Panicked, I looked at Justin's face, trying to see if I could see a change in him. Would I see his beast die? Would it hurt? Would he feel it? Could we stop it?

Justin swept his gaze over my face as if he too were looking for signs of a change in me. I was too tired to offer him words of comfort, instead I merely stared back, hoping he could sense how thoroughly pleased I was with him through the mate bond we had forged during sex.

His hand reached up to the nape of my neck and his attention moved to the chain around my throat which held the two rings I'd carried with me as long as I could remember.

Ignoring my necklace for a moment, Justin looked irritably at his own chains---and then jerked hard enough to break the cuff around his wrist, freeing him for the first time in who knew how long.

I found myself feeling panicked again as his dark eyes returned to my face, roving over my features as he pulled free of my body as he had been freed from his chains.

The Lycan then tore my necklace free of my throat with a jerk which made me scream.

Light fell across my face, shining right in my eyes until I couldn't keep my eyelids closed any longer. I blinked at the strip of sunlight in surprise -I'd thought it had to be artificial light of some kind- as I hadn't thought there were any windows in The Devil's Lair.

That was ridiculous though, wasn't it? The Alpha King wouldn't have kept his only son in a windowless room in chains. He wouldn't have whipped him to keep his beast in line either, would he?

I could still smell the copper tang of his blood as it trickled down his back the night before.

Alpha King Juden had told me he'd kill me---he'd literally said he would kill me if I didn't seduce his son within twelve hours and what had I done?

I'd done it.

I'd seduced Justin, The Last Lycan, The Devil, and he was so deeply asleep he didn't stir even when I shook him hard enough for his head to roll limp on his neck.

Was he powerless now? Had I killed his beast? Was that what was wrong with him? Why wouldn't he wake up?

Getting out of the bed, I found a discarded towel to wrap around my nakedness.

No one was out in the hallway to see me though. I couldn't see anyone -no tributes, no Randy, no servants of any kind.

I was alone with Justin on the floor with his room only his chains were broken. The door wasn't locked or guarded so someone must know something, right? They knew he wasn't a Lycan any longer. They knew it was my fault.

I'd left him powerless because I was a slave to my heat.

Shame swept over me until I literally started shaking. My teeth chattered but not from cold. I was the reason Justin wouldn't wake up. Was I the reason Justin would never wake up? Was he going to die?

Had the Moon Goddess given me a second chance mate only for me to betray him to his death?

My wolf, Joy, howled inside my head. She was furious at the thought of losing our mate. Terrified, too.

"I don't know what to do! Stop it! You're giving me a headache and it's not helping me or you."

Joy wasn't answering me in words as much as feelings. She was capable of words. We'd spent more of our life talking to each other than to our pack, strangers, or would-be friends.

"We could leave now."