The Lycan’s Curse
Chapter 13

Larissa

I have had a permanent smile on my lips the last three days. Waking in Cassius' arms Wednesday morning was heaven. He was insistent that I remain in bed all day, but I'd felt better than ever. I'm certain that was from a combination of the pleasure he'd given me the night before on top of his blood. Just thinking of his blood makes me warm, tingly. Considering my freak out over learning about it at first, that I drank it straight from his arm should have made me shudder, and it did, just in the opposite way as I'd expected.

Each night since then, he's come to bed with me, taking me in his arms then taking me up to the stars with pleasure. Now, he'll give me one or two o*****s then insists I drink, before giving me at least two more, and having me drink again. It's incredible and I can't imagine anything better.

I hate that I can't give it to him in return though. He doesn't see it like that but at first, I didn't believe it. Then his Lycan broke free last night and jumped out the window for a run after he'd made me mindless with the bliss. I suppose with the curse that is as close to it as he'll be able to manage. He smelled of woods when he came back to me, wrapping me up in his arms and I slept without a care.

Tonight, he's allowing me to join him for dinner downstairs with the remaining dukes still in residence. He says it's normal for them to remain for months after a new king is crowned, their attempt to maintain status quo. He's certain they won't like his ideas, but he won't back down from them and I fully approve.

Too many of the packs that I was shuffled through still maintained a class status that you couldn't rise above, regardless of your talents. I can't wait to see him demolish that to ensure that everyone is treated fairly-especially those like me that were ridiculed for things we couldn't control.

Caroline finishes the zipper of the gown. With the dukes here, dinner is more formal but if it means being next to Cassius I don't mind.

"Ah, you look delicious, little wolf," Cassius says as Kai guides me into the dining room. He gives a nod to Kai then takes my hand, leading me to the seat next to his. "You all remember my mate. I'm pleased to say that she is feeling well enough to join us for tonight's meal.

"And this is her adoptive father, Kai. Though the adoption was not formal I still recognize him as such, and he is welcome at my table anytime," he adds as some glance at the guard crest on Kai's jacket with disdain when settles in on my other side. "You have made him a guard?" Duke Marlow asks in surprise. "Is he even qualified for it?"

"Kai is more than qualified to be my mate's primary guard. I know that no one will get past him, and few even recognize he's there before he could attack," Cassius says, his tone easy and light but I can see the steel in his eyes that dares them to question him further. "For those of you that don't immediately identify it, Kai is dragen."

That sent the room silent, but I could see a few connecting dots, recalling news of a dragon being sighted. Combined with the knowledge of my attack they certainly should get the picture.

Dinner was longer than if we'd had it alone but I'm not in the least tired when it ends. Though I don't argue with Cassius' assessment that I must go and rest once it's finished. It allows us both to leave for the night and I wrap my arms around Cassius' shoulders, licking his neck as he carries me to our room.

"That makes our skin warm, wakes him so well, little wolf. Keep it up and we won't make it to our room," he warns, but I know he wouldn't dare risk someone else seeing us together the way I know we'll be.

I tease him with little nips, letting out a laugh when he tosses me onto the bed, pulling off his clothes in a rush. He reaches for my dress, but I don't want it shredded. I roll to the side, barely making it off the bed before he lands where I was. "Honestly, my king, can you not control yourself?" I tease, making his eyes glitter. I turn to give him my back, pulling my hair to the side and add, "Unzip me like a gentleman."

"You know the beast wakes just for you, my queen," he whispers into my ear as the teeth of the zipper open one by one with his slow torturous movements. "Wants to sink his teeth and devour every last bit of your taste as we drown in your scent."

"You cannot continue to ruin all of my clothes, no matter how much I love you..." The air rushes out of my chest from a combination of what I just said and Cassius flattening my body back against his chest. I can feel every inch of his skin until the shorts disrupt us. He refuses to remove them, and I won't make him before he's ready.

"Little wolf..." he whispers against my ear making me shiver. He lifts me, letting the dress float to the ground, laying me back on the bed, bringing his body down to mine, his eyes holding mine now.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean for it to slip out," I admit, resting my hand over his heart feeling the way it pounds. "I know that's not why you chose me, and I didn't want you to feel bad because you can't return it, but that's what this is for me, and I can't stop it." "You love me," he states, and I nod, my chin trembling a bit. "Only my mother has ever said those words to me before, I didn't know what it truly meant, not until you said them, little wolf. I may not be able to feel them myself, but I feel it from you now. I know I cannot return it the same, but I would have no one else in your place. Of all the people I have met over my nearly hundred years, in every pack that I visited, none but you have made him wake, stay, the way you have. I know it's not the same, but I swear I will never change my mind on that. You are my mate for life."

"Will you let me do something then?" I ask as his words make my feelings for him deepen.

"Name it and it's yours, the only thing I will not do is release you from our bond," he returns immediately, and I can't help but smile at that.

"I would never ask for that, never want it because my heart is yours. I wear your claim proudly for all to see, will you wear mine? Let me mark you?"

"If you do, there is no way to break the bond. Not even both of us denouncing it would allow you to bond to another," he states, holding my gaze and I smile, running my fingers down his face, giggling when he nips at them.

"You forget, I've already met my fated mate, any other I take would be solely by choice and I choose you."

"Then yes, but not quite like this," he says, lifting up from me. I grin when he slides my panties off me, my breath catching when his shorts join them, letting me see all of him and what would be a very impressive size if the curse didn't exist. "This is all that I am, if you are sure then we'll continue."

"I love you. The way you protect me, treat me, look after me. They all made me fall for you because unlike others, my heart is free to choose and I choose you," I promise, my body heating as his skin presses against mine. I can already feel the pleasure building inside me, anticipating the culmination of it.

"Do you Larissa, take me, Cassius, the Lycan King, to be my mate? To walk beside me through this life, faithful and just in that which we do? Two halves made whole, to leave this world together not before?"

"Yes, I take you to be my mate, Cassius." My voice is stronger than I expected considering the heatwave washing through me, the elation that nothing will tear me from him now.

"As you take me and I have taken you, Larissa, my mate, you may mark me as yours, so all others know, you hold the deepest part of me," he stated, baring his neck and I felt a surge pushing me forward, stronger than any other as my canines instantly dropped. They slid into his skin, biting hard as the words flooded my mind and heart. 'I love you, Cassius!

A pain started from within even as I heard him shout, but his didn't sound painful. His cheek brushed against mine, his hand holding me to his skin, and I heard him whisper inside my head, Keep drinking.

I didn't want to stop, his taste seemed sweeter to me, and as he held me tighter, every bit of my body burned with the most incredible heat. I licked at my lip as the drips of blood ran onto them, trying to focus only on that and the heat, but the pain radiating inside me was too much and I couldn't hold on any longer.

My head fell back with a cry, shaking with the pain. "Cassius...what...augh..."

"Shh, shh, it's okay, little wolf, it's okay," Cassius said, pulling me tighter against him. "It will stop, I know it. Until then, drink. Please, Larissa, drink," he whispered into my ear, but I couldn't get my canines to come back down. "It's okay, it's okay, here, I've got you." He gnashed open his wrist, bringing it to my lips and the first touch of it, brought my teeth down once more. They slid into his wrist as my wolf pressed forward, wanting it more than ever. The pain faded from the forefront of my mind, but my body shook still. "Eyes on me, little wolf," he pleaded pulling them open instantly. "I don't know how long it will take but it will stop. Let me help you until it does. Focus on me, on your skin against mine, the bliss just it creates. Do you feel it, Larissa? Do you feel how pure it is?" I couldn't force my teeth from his skin to respond but every hard plane of his made me ache deep in my core. His hips pressed against me, and my eyes widened-it couldn't be.

"It is, it is," he repeated telling me he heard that thought. "My precious mate, more astonishingly rare than I ever knew, imagined. You woke my Lycan and now you've woken me, little wolf. She's changing now, becoming like me, that's the pain you're feeling, but it will end, and you will be as strong as me, and we will love one another until we return to the stars."

'Love?' The word sticks in my head, repeating over and over, bringing tears to my eyes seeing it in his gaze.

"Love, I know what it is because it's what you felt when you put your claim on me. All of those emotions flooded me until the pain overtook it, but then I felt it again, but not from you, from here," Cassius whispers, touching his heart with his free hand. He brings it back down, holding my head as his forehead drops to mine. "I despise that curse even more now that I know how much it's kept from me, but together, we beat it and we can start anew tonight."

'Yes, yes. My thoughts were nearly as breathless, as I felt his solid mass nestled snug against my heat. I shifted, moaning into his skin as his length slipped between my wet lips, pressing against my hard nub. The pain flowing through every cell faded feeling that and I lifted further into him, making it stop again.

"Do you need me inside you, little wolf? To make it go away?" he asks, a smile on his lips and the teasing light in his eyes slays me. I bite harder on his wrist in return, and he grunts, his c**k jumping teasing at my opening.

"Lycan mates are known to ravage each other with bites, to get the taste of their mate's blood," he states, groaning deeper as I lift until his tip is inside me. I can't stop from biting deeper when he fills me, stars bursting in front of my eyes as the o****m overtakes me instantly.

His body glides against mine, as he holds my neck gently and I release his wrist, licking at the bites watching them fade instantly. He lets out a grunt before his mouth is on mine, kissing me, messy and wild, as we drag in breaths.

Each pump of his hips drags his hardness across my c**t, making it dance and I wrap my legs around his waist, holding tighter when he starts to pull out.

"Easy now, little wolf. Your strength is growing wildly," he teases, before pumping harder into me. My body is quaking, inside and out it feels, but the outside quaking is from the pleasure as Cassius pumps into me, faster and harder. The inside quaking is a bit frightening, as though something's about to erupt.

"Cassius," the hint of fright in my tone erases his teasing and he lifts my lips to his once more. The kiss isn't quite as wild, but it calms me, letting the pleasure flooding my lower half take over. My canines grow as the scent of where I marked him as mine hits me and I can't stop the need. They sink into his skin, and I can feel his orgasm this time, hitting on top of mine as his teeth sink into my claim once more as well.

It overrides everything letting me bask in the scent and taste of him, the waves of heat washing through my body, as my muscles contract around his hardness. It wraps us in a den of magic, and I smile, clinging to Cassius' shoulder, my nose in his neck for the longest time.

A wild burst ends the heaven and I let out a scream that turns into a growl as everything around me changes. My vision intensifies, my hearing catching the triumphant shouts of another beast, and my nose picks up a new smell, one I've never located before, but can't get close enough to-Cassius' beast.

Hold tight, little wolf, Cassius warns, and my arms wrap around his thicker, hairy shoulders as he stands, even taller than normal, moving to the balcony. He leaps down to the next, then jumps into the grass, still carrying me before heading towards the woods. Once there he sits me down and I stare up at him, still nowhere near his height, especially compared to his beast. I reach out for him, stopping when I catch sight of my own arm. Similarly elongated and far hairier than normal. This is definitely not my wolf. She can't stand on two legs. Oh god, did I mess up the shift somehow? See yourself using me, the way I see you. Cassius' voice inside my head calms me, my worry.

I shut my eyes and a new picture appears, one with two beasts, Cassius' taller, darker one and another, shorter, far lighter. Cassius' hand reaches out, caressing my face, and I feel the touch shoot deep desire back through me.

It floods every part of me and my eyes pop open, my feet moving before my brain thinks it, running into the woods. Cassius' beast follows instantly, and I manage to dodge and counter him for a few minutes but soon, he has me pinned beneath him. Mine! His growling and snarling make the desire worsen and I open my arms to him welcoming him home.

'My king, my beast,' I promise him, before the pleasure ignites so deep, it consumes me.