Chapter 105: Bad Intentions

Tessa’s POV

The aftermath of this contract between Lucian and me was going to be good for me ... I could feel it in my bones, and I wanted him to feel the heat too.

It was not a trivial thing, what he had done. He had stripped me of my essence as a she-wolf, as a Luna, and expected to walk away scot-free. Expected to stroll around like nothing had happened.

I still loved him. God help me, I did. But he was going to get a taste of every cruelty he had ever shown me. I remembered walking helpless through the chambers of Winterwood, serving him despite everything he had put me through. Serving him with a smile carved into my face like a wound.

Power had consumed him, and now it was about to eat him alive. But because of my love for him, I wasn’t going to let it devour him completely ... just a taste. Just enough for him to learn his lesson. That was what I told myself.

I couldn’t get pregnant, and it was all because of him. He was going to pay. Everyone was going to pay. It wasn’t fair. I was the first and the most important ... I had always been.

The demon inside me whispered that I should make the she-wolves of Winterwood suffer through everything I had suffered. That I shouldn’t have to carry the weight of it alone. But I couldn’t use one wrong act to cancel out another. That wasn’t the kind of woman I was.

Still ... if it ever came to that ... the world would know that Lucian had broken me first.

"Lucian!" I called out to him the way someone calls for their house help. Casual. Careless. Completely intentional.

He still walked up to me like a king. Majestic, unhurried, unbothered ... and I understood it. Old habits didn’t die easy.

"Prepare yourself tonight, Alpha," I said, holding his gaze. "We’re going to have a very nice time."

He looked at me like he wanted to wrap his hands around my throat ... and not in the way I would have preferred.

"The pleasure you’re chasing won’t yield anything," he said, his voice low and cold. "You’re... you’re not able to conceive."

"Neither did the pleasure you were getting from your breeders," I fired back. "That wasn’t yielding anything either ... just pleasure. And you kept me this way. So prepare yourself tonight to please me." I paused, letting the silence hang between us. "Or let me rephrase ... to please each other."

"I’ve heard, Luna," he said quietly.

"I’m going to touch you tonight so you feel it in every last strand of hair and every last hormone running through your body," I told him. "Get ready to give love to mine too."

He left for the council after that. Off to sit with the elders the way he always did.

I settled myself onto the bed and crossed my legs like the queen I was.

Then I laughed ... loud and free ... filling the room with it. A victor’s laugh. Because that was exactly what I was. A victor.

Someone should have made a trophy with my statue by now. But I’d make do with what I had.

The laugh was so loud I didn’t even hear Kael knocking at the door until he knocked a second time.

"Kael ... you’re here. Have a seat," I said, waving him in.

Kael was used to coming to see Lucian, so we fell into conversation easily enough.

"How are you, Luna? The Alpha has gone to the council, yes?" he asked.

"I’m fine, and yes, he has," I replied.

He made to leave almost immediately.

"Where are you going?" I asked.

"To meet the Alpha at the council," he said.

"And you want to leave that quickly? You didn’t even ask how my head was." I tilted my head. "You don’t follow up well, Kael."

"Forgive me, Luna." Remorse crossed his face immediately. "I asked the Alpha how you were doing recently and he told me you were fine. I didn’t think to ask again."

I laughed at that. "That’s what he told you? That I was fine?"

Kael nodded slowly.

"Can I take my leave now? The Alpha will be looking for me," he said.

"The Alpha has been distant from me," I said. "He only cares for Winterwood. He neglected his Luna. I have needs that should be met ... don’t I?"

Kael looked confused, like he heard every word I was saying but couldn’t figure out why I was saying it to him. I got it. I understood.

"There’s no one else I can talk to," I admitted. "That’s why I’m telling you. You’re who I’ve got right now."

"I’m sure the Alpha will come around," Kael said carefully. "He’s a mindful person."

I walked toward him without hesitation ... like someone whose shackles and chains had just been snapped clean off. No caution. No restraint. Just movement.

Kael stepped back.

"I’m not an animal," I said, closing the distance anyway. "Why are you moving away from me?"

I raised my hand and pressed my fingers lightly against his lips.

"These lips," I said softly. "Always closed. I know you don’t talk much."

"What do you mean, Luna?" he asked, his voice unsteady, his heartbeat loud enough for me to feel it in the air between us.

"I need you, Beta Kael," I said.

He could feel my breath. I could feel his.

"This is improper, Luna ... I’m leaving," he said and turned toward the door.

I caught his hand. And then I kissed him before he had the chance to register what was happening.

He pulled back immediately.

"Luna Tessa!" He said my name like it was a reprimand.

"You’re a man," I said. "Maybe just as strong as the Alpha. He won’t know ... I promise."

"This is wrong." He left with force, pulling the door shut behind him.

I stood there in the silence he left.

What had I just done?

The freedom I had just claimed through that contract ... it was intoxicating me just as much as it had intoxicated Lucian over the years. I understood now, more than I ever had, why power was so hard to put down. It didn’t matter how small or trivial the amount was. The moment it landed in your hands, it was already changing you.

But it had started. And going back was not an option anymore. I had to see it through.

I stayed with myself until it was time for Lucian to return.

Then I called my stylists in and told them to do what they did best.

They delivered ... the way they always did.

Lucian walked into the room and found someone entirely new waiting for him. Different. Charged with a special kind of aura that the regular Tessa had never carried. This Tessa had control. And she was going to use every bit of it on her husband ... shamelessly.

"Welcome, husband," I said, moving to help him out of his clothes.

Lucian was cold as ice water ... still and composed as always. I had never seen a brutal Alpha King of his calibre look so helpless, and I had to use every second of it.

"You know what? I have an idea," I told him as he moved toward the bathroom.

I told him I was joining him.

It was a drastic shift from whatever he had planned, and he resisted at first ... but he had to give in eventually because I had already decided that was where the pleasure was going to begin.

We stepped into the bathroom together and I washed him first, working my hands over him under the running showers. I wanted to feel loved by Lucian ... truly loved ... so I pulled him closer and looked him in the eyes.

"Give me a mouth job in this shower, baby," I said.

I watched him sink down and put his mouth where I needed it. Every pull sent shivers tearing down my spine. I gripped the bathroom wall as he worked, moaning freely ... because it was just the two of us, and I loved every second of it.

We moved from the shower to the bed, bodies still wet and tangled, and we fucked there with everything we had.

Whether he was enjoying it or not didn’t concern me. All I knew was that he was moving at the pace I wanted, exactly the way I needed.

Fuck ... he was good. All those years with the breeders hadn’t been for nothing. He had become experienced, and that experience was mine now.

I reached orgasm on that bed.

We kissed until his eyes grew heavy and he fell asleep beside me ... bare, undone, completely spent.

And I lay there wide awake, restless in a way that had nothing to do with him.

I got up quietly, picked up my clothes, and slipped out.

I walked down the hall and knocked on the door.

It opened.

"You can’t resist me," I said. "Your Luna wants to see you."

"It’s 10 PM, Luna," Kael said.

"I don’t care," I replied ... and I pushed my way in and closed the door behind me.