< 263 The Challenge
263 The Challenge
Lucian
I didn’t speak at first.
I just stared at her-long enough for the silence to thicken between us, long enough for her to start fidgeting beneath my gaze. My father had left with Martha. Darian had gone with Tiffany.
Rowan had walked out. Now it was just me and Mara… and the heat in the room.
I loosened the top buttons of my shirt with deliberate slowness, never breaking eye contact.
“Come here,” I said, curling a finger.
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She stayed rooted to the spot, playing at innocence. That stubborn flicker in her eyes made my blood run
hotter.
I stood, crossed to the door, and turned the lock with a sharp click that made her flinch-just barely.
“Last chance,” I murmured, my voice low enough to feel rather than hear.
This time, she came.
Her steps were measured, but her breathing betrayed her. When she stood in front of me, I didn’t touch her right away. I let the weight of the moment press down until her chest rose and fell faster. Then my hand slid under her dress, fingers brushing the inside of her thigh before hooking into her panties and dragging
them down-slow enough to make her shiver.
They hit the floor. She stepped out of them without me asking.
“Good girl,” I said, tugging open the top of her dress until her bra was exposed. My knuckles grazed her skin, and goosebumps chased the path I left behind.
“You’ve been naughty, Mara. Defying me like that.”
Her lips parted, but I silenced her with a look.
“Naughty girls,” I said, my voice dropping into a growl, “don’t get away without punishment.”
I pulled her across my lap, her dress spilling over my legs, her perfect ass arched in offering. My hand traced the curve of her before slipping lower, circling her entrance with a lazy precision that had her moaning almost immediately.
The sound stoked something deep and dangerous in me. I wanted to take her-hard, fast-but no. She’d learn that her release belonged to me.
I smacked her once, sharp enough to make her gasp. Then again. Her body jerked, but the wetness coating my fingers told me she was melting into it.
“Please…” she breathed.
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<263 The Challenge
“Please, who?” My fingers teased higher, my thumb brushing her clit only to retreat.
She hesitated, the fight still flickering in her.
I tightened my grip on her hip. “Say it.”
Her voice was a whisper and a confession. “Please, Alpha…”
Points)
The title rolled through me like fire. I pressed my thumb to her clit, rubbing in slow, deliberate circles that built and built until her body went taut beneath me. And then-just before she could break-I stopped.
“Up,” I ordered. She obeyed without a word, her pupils blown wide, her breath unsteady.
“Kneel.”
She dropped to her knees before me. I unbuckled my belt and let my trousers fall, freeing my c**k, already
hard and heavy. I tilted her chin up so she had to look at me.
“Show me.”
She wrapped her lips around me, heat and wetness swallowing me whole. I fisted her hair, guiding her
pace until she took me deep, her throat contracting around me. She gagged once but kept going, eyes
locked on mine even as they watered.
“f**k, Mara…” I rasped, beginning to thrust into her mouth with measured force. Her submission was
intoxicating-her control given over entirely to me. When release hit, I held her still, spilling into her throat.
She swallowed every drop, her tongue sweeping over me until I hissed from overstimulation.
I cupped her face. “Now, it’s my turn.”
She climbed into the chair, spreading herself wide, legs resting on the armrests in blatant invitation. The
scent of her arousal filled the air-rich, dizzying. I knelt, dragging my tongue from her entrance up to her
clit, savoring her taste.
Her fingers tangled in my hair, pulling me closer, grinding against my mouth. A knock sounded on the door, sharp and insistent. I ignored it. So did she.
When I sucked her clit into my mouth, she shattered, her body trembling as she cried out. I didn’t stop until she was shaking too hard to breathe.
I stood, stroking myself, still hard for her. “On your hands and knees, Mara.”
She moved instantly, bracing herself on the couch. I drove into her, and her heat clamped around me like a vice. The rhythm was brutal, deep, each thrust stealing a sound from her throat.
Her walls gripped me tighter with every stroke, milking me, pulling me toward the edge until there was nothing left but her and the way she made me lose control.
When we were spent, I dressed and unlocked the door.
Austin stood outside with a message. Richard had arrived-with the nurse.
And just like that, the predator in me gave way to something far softer. I couldn’t wait to see my son.
THE NEXT DAY
I
Mara and I spent most of the evening with Richard. Watching her cradle him, her voice soft and steady as she soothed him, something inside me settled in a way I hadn’t expected. She would be an incredible mother-there was no doubt in my mind.
When the nurse finally took Richard upstairs, Mara gave quiet instructions to Jennifer to keep a close watch over them. We both knew the next few days would leave little room for quiet moments like this.
The morning came unhurried, sunlight spilling through the windows as we shared breakfast. Mara and Martha left soon after, their conversation fading down the hall. Darian, my father, and I made our way to the office. Rowan had everything in place for the press release-my only task was to speak. And for the first time in a long while, I wanted to.
I felt rested. Clear. The weight I’d been carrying was lighter now, eased by my wife’s quiet strength and the
safe arrival of my son. Today, I could face anything.
The walk to headquarters’ conference room felt different-each step steadier, each breath sharper. The air
buzzed faintly with anticipation.
Inside, the stage was set. My father stood to my left, his presence a solid anchor. My brother stood to my right, steady as ever. We had allowed only a select group of journalists in; their murmurs died down as I
took my place at the podium.
The teleprompter waited, its first line glowing softly in my periphery. I drew in a breath and lifted my gaze-
not to the screen, but to the camera.
This was for the people of the island.
And they were going to hear me.
“Residents of Mooncrest Island,” I began, my voice cutting through the air like a blade. I didn’t blink. I
wanted every man, woman, and child watching to feel my eyes on them-on him.
“This morning, I speak to you about a traitor-a parasite-named Chase Nighthorn.
“He has slithered his way into the minds of certain Alphas, poisoning their loyalty and twisting their honor until they turned their weapons on their own people. He has stolen your money, your safety, your peace. And for what? For his own hunger.
“He hides behind the mask of a savior, claiming he fights for the poor, for the forgotten. But his words are ash. He has refused-every single time-to tell us what he claims my family took from him. Why? Because it’s a lie. Because there was nothing to take. Because without his lies, he is nothing.”
I leaned into the podium, letting my voice drop lower-harder.
“He stole the packs’ wealth. He crawled to another island and sold Driftwake’s resources like a beggar peddling stolen goods, all to buy himself an army. He promises prosperity but delivers only blood. The
263 The Challenge
attack on Rockville was because of him. The lives lost there? His hands are drenched in that blood.”
I paused, letting the silence drag, so the weight of my next words would land like steel.
“Chase Nighthorn is not a leader. He is a coward. A coward too afraid to face me, too afraid to face my family. He hides in the shadows, behind other men’s swords, behind the false faith of fools.”
I straightened, my voice rising until it filled the room.
“So hear me now, Chase Nighthorn. I strip away every excuse you have left. I challenge you to a duel-me, my brother, my father-any one of us. Pick the man you think you can kill, and face him. Winner takes everything. Loser loses more than his life.”
I didn’t soften the next words.
“If you refuse, every man, woman, and child on this island will know you for what you are-a liar, a thief, and a coward who sent others to die in your place.
“Your picture will be on every screen. The names of the packs who betrayed their people by siding with you
will crawl across the bottom for all to see. You will find no safe corner, no ally to hide behind. Even your
own people will turn their backs when they realize you’ve led them into ruin.”
I leaned forward, my tone a final, deadly promise.
“So come, Chase Nighthorn. Show us you’re the warrior you pretend to be… or keep running, and I’ll hunt you down myself.”
The feed cut to Alaric’s face-clear, damning, impossible to mistake-beneath it the words: He wears many disguises. The list of treacherous packs rolled beneath it like a brand on their honour.
I caught Rowan’s eye across the room, saw the flicker of satisfaction there. That last touch was his, and I gave him a short nod.
The questions came fast, but my answers were sharper still. When I walked off that stage, there was no doubt in anyone’s mind-Chase Nighthorn’s days in the shadows were numbered.
And I would be the one to drag him into the light.
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