I'm swallowed by darkness first, and then suddenly, the light overwhelms me. It's blinding, searing, cutting through me like a thousand needles, muffling my senses and yet, in the same moment, setting me free. It suffocates me with its intensity, and yet I feel peace, calm, something I didn't know I needed, all at once. My body trembles from the weight of it all. It feels like too much, and yet it's not enough—everything and nothing at the same time.
But just as quickly as it began, it stops. The light recedes, leaving only the cold, smooth marble beneath my bare feet. My toes curl against the cool stone, grounding me. I take a steadying breath and slowly open my eyes. The world around me is silent, still. I stand before an impossibly tall tower of white marble, gleaming faintly under the moonlight. The gates, pearly and ethereal, stretch before me, beckoning me forward.
Had I failed? Had I died?
I can't tell. All I know is I must keep moving. I take a hesitant step towards the gates, my heart pounding louder than my footsteps on the marble floor.
Inside the tower, a scene unfolds before me. A woman sits on a settee in a lavish salon, laughing softly, a tinkling sound like chimes in the breeze. She's speaking to a wolf, a beautiful creature with shimmering fur and sharp, knowing eyes, the firelight casting an orange glow on her coat. The woman's laughter shatters the quiet, drawing me closer, but I can't reach her. My feet move through the sofa like a spectre, unnoticed by the woman, though the wolf's gaze catches mine.
Her eyes meet mine—those intelligent, ancient eyes. And then, unexpectedly, she speaks to me.
"Child of the moon, last of the touched," her voice echoes in my mind, melodic and soothing, the voice of the Moon Goddess herself is exactly as I'd imagined it to be. "You have submitted to the rite of queens. Do you accept the challenge before you, with clear mind, clear intent, and purity of heart?"
I swallow, gathering my composure, my heart racing in my chest. The words are familiar—they've been whispered to us since we were pups. It's what we were all trained for, the test that each of us must face when the time comes.
I nod sharply, never breaking eye contact with the wolf. Her gaze softens, and I could have sworn she smiled.
"Excellent. What do you know of the challenge?" she asks, her voice still calm but laced with an unspoken power.
"Only what was whispered to us as pups," I reply, my voice steady but betraying a hint of uncertainty. "That every wolf faces a different challenge, one meant to test them, to push them to their limits."
Her muzzle reflects the firelight, the glow flickering softly off her pelt. She tilts her head and, in a voice that feels like the weight of moons and stars, she says, "Actually, little one, every challenge is the same. Like your sisters before you, you will be sent back in time—to the time of the first queen. You will live as her. I will observe your rule and decide for myself if you are worthy of the crown."
The words hit me like a physical blow. The first queen—the one whose reign was known for its difficulty, its tragedy, its painful end. I'd read the stories, but the details were scarce. I know only that her reign ended in bloodshed, her death a pitiable thing. My pulse quickens, and for a moment, I can barely breathe.
The woman—her companion, the one sitting beside the fire—rises from her chair gracefully. Her movements are fluid, almost ethereal, as she crosses the room toward the wolf. She doesn't look at me, but there's something about her presence that pulls at me, like an answer I'm afraid to know.
"If I die as the queen," I whisper, barely able to control the fear that slips into my voice, "will I truly die?"
The wolf doesn't respond immediately, the silence stretching long and thick between us. She simply continues to watch me with those eternal eyes, full of knowing and mystery, before turning her attention back to the woman, who now sets a steaming cup of tea on the ground and arranges a plate of raw meat before her. She scratches under the wolf's muzzle, her touch tender and reverent, oblivious to the godlike being at her feet.
"There is one last thing I must urge of you, my child," the wolf's voice finally fills my mind again, soft yet powerful, "Do not get lost in the vision. Only you can choose to return, to truly reign, and save your people."
The words hit me hard, my mind spinning with the implications. The challenge ahead is not just about facing the past; it's about surviving it, holding onto myself through a storm of time and fate.
"How long will I be there?" I rush, desperate for clarity, my breath shallow. My time with the wolf is running out.
Before I can even process the question, I hear the woman's voice, low and wistful, as she leans down to the wolf: "My love, why must you punish me and stay in that form?"
The wolf rises slowly, stretching, her body rippling in a way that causes my breath to catch in my throat. Her pelt shifts, changing before my eyes, and for the first time, I feel the gravity of her true form—one I've only ever heard whispered of in legends— but the light is too bright for me to make out any details.
I can't hold back my questions any longer. "Why did you forsake me? Why did you ask my father to kill the queen?"
Her voice comes through the bond again, clearer this time, more gentle than I expected.
"I never left you, my darling child. I've always been here."
I feel her presence more than hear her words, a soothing balm against the confusion in my heart. But there's one more thing I need to know, one last question I can't hold back.
"Is my father alive?" The words are a whisper, a prayer I'm not sure I even want the answer to.
But she doesn't answer. The room around me starts to fade, the edges blurring, and my breath catches in my throat as everything shifts, the world dissolving into nothingness.
I close my eyes and inhale sharply, the scent of the moon and earth filling my lungs, and the world goes dark.
When I open them again I'm in an unfamiliar room and there's a naked man in bed next to me. The queen's consort and his mouth is on my neck, sucking and nipping at sensitive flesh there.
He's a strangely beautiful man who smells intoxicatingly like pine needles and cinnamon. I realize with a start that my body is naked and pressed against his very hard flesh. I move to pull away and he turns dark green eyes on my face. I shiver and he smiles. He rolls over and pins me underneath him playfully, a predatory grin on his face.
"My love" he growls pressing my hands above my head as he licks again at my mate mark. I feel myself grow wet and blush deeply, evidence of our bond. If he notices he doesn't comment as he licks his way down my breasts. My nipples grow hard with arousal. I feel myself gasp and whimper with need I'd never experienced before. The mate bond was the most powerful magic in the world and I tried to struggle against it, reel back, but the arching of my chest just made him chuckle warmly in his throat.
"Patience my love." He chides playfully taking a nipple deep into his mouth. I could feel my whole body tingle and twitch. His tongue was sending little electrical currents up and down my skin. His hand shifted so that one of his much larger hands held both of mine pressed above my head while his other trailed languorously down my skin. He teasingly etched small circles with his thick powerful fingers until he reached my wet core.
I can hear myself panting and moaning beneath him like an out of body experience. A euphoric high. His index and middle finger tease my clit with soft circular motions while his mouth releases my pert nipple in favour of my other breast. He starts rubbing more vigorously and I realize I should object to this stranger using me like this but I can't seem to find my voice and in this reality he's not a stranger, he's my mate. The pleasure ripples over me like a powerful tide as I cum all over his hand. I can feel and hear him growl appreciatively through his chest. I ache for more.
He drops the other hand that was holding me down and releases my breast. I gasp and cry out at the loss of him but he grabs me unexpectedly. He lays down and pulls my pussy down on top of his face with a hungry growl. He starts to suckle and I hear him growl, "Ride my face with that pretty pussy my queen, my love and let me devour you whole".
And he does. He relentless suckles my clit while I grind against his open mouth until I come undone again on top of him and I can feel the pleasant vibration of his mouth against my pussy while he sucks me clean. I gasp when my orgasm rocks me again and he adds three of his thick fingers, one by one. They claw at the nerve bud inside and I whimper, my orgasm carrying over like a ricocheting tide, rocking me again and again. I lose myself in the feeling, and his face is drenched with my juices but we don't stop. He drinks deep of me like a faucet made just for his pleasure.
We keep going again and again until almost his whole fist is inside of me and then he pushes me off. I hear myself growl, angry to be torn from something that felt so right but he grips my throat with his soggy wet hand and presses me down into the soft mattress. A hungry look in his eye. Expressing dominance. I thrash against it, I was his queen, not his beta.
That's when I see his massive, throbbing cock and gasp. He suckles at the mating mark and I'm so stimulated I nearly cum right there. "I need you to lay very still, the first time I know it will be tight." He growls into my ear tenderly.
My... first time? My eyes widen as horror and realization strike me. This was going to hurt. I nearly start to claw at him to get away but the hand around my throat catches my arm and then my other and presses me against the bed. He starts to suck the mating mark again and whispers in my ear, "Do not fret my love, I will be gentle, you will not hurt."
I writhe under him, a mess of emotions. Somewhere lost in pleasure and in the throes of panic. I remembered my first time laying with Bricent and nearly cried out. It had been awful and brutal and painful. I tried to buck my legs but he held me down. The contact against his skin soothed my nerves slightly. The touch of him was like magic.
And then I felt the pressure between my legs. It wasn't painful really, just tight, as he slowly inched the monster he called a cock inside of me. It was a strange feeling, the tight pressure with the immediate pleasure of his sucking the mate bond. He thrust deeper and deeper inside until his full length was sheathed in my wet core. I realized with a start that it didn't hurt like Bricent had. My mate hadn't lied to me. He stayed very still for a long time before he started to gyrate his hips and I moaned at the feeling of his thick cock pressing against the sensitive nerves inside my core. He lightly growled with appreciation.
His mouth never left our mating mark but his hand dropped my arms and his fingers made their way to my clit. He began to massage my clit while swirling himself around inside of me. A few minutes later my body was wracked by a new kind of orgasm and I heard him gasp as I clenched down on his cock internally. He started to buck his hips and move himself in and out of me while I loudly cried out in the throes of pleasure.
He picked up the pace as my orgasm carried over into another and another. Each thrust, suckle and massage throwing me deeper into the abyss of pleasure. It felt like hours had passed. I whited out from the pleasure and then came back to myself to the booming claps of him pummelling my pussy with his beautiful cock. My body rippled underneath him, I was puddy in his experienced hands and he coaxed another orgasm out of me while he continued to thrust in and out of me relentlessly.
He stopped for half a heartbeat before throwing me onto his lap with a grin, "Ride me my queen, please don't stop." He commanded me for the first time in hours releasing my mating mark from his mouth. He watched me with appreciation as my chest bounced in his face and I found myself loving the feel of him. Urging me on, wanting to press deeper, he began to meet my thrusts and I whimpered on top of him before cumming again all over his cock. He growled appreciatively and then threw me down again. This time he spun me around and I was disoriented but he never once removed his cock from inside of me.
My face and body was pressed down into the bed. He moved my legs so that they were closely pressed together and then reached underneath me to grip my breasts. He whispered into my ear, "I'm going to cum inside of you my beautiful wolf." He nuzzled my neck and then I felt him deeper than ever before. His cock jammed against my g-spot relentlessly as I twitched and he massaged my breasts. His right hand shifted down to my clit as he started rubbing there again feverishly.
The thrusts echoed in the room like drumbeats and I felt myself orgasm again for what must've been the hundredth time. This time, however, his fangs dug into my neck and I felt him rut inside of me. His cock swelling up to ten times its size, filling me full of his potent semen. The mix of pain and pleasure overwhelmed my senses as I cried out in equal measures of pain and bliss. Tears dribbled down my cheeks. I panted under him. His fingers rubbed furiously at my clit, never stopping while I came undone over and over again on his swollen cock. Each time my pussy clenched he would jerk inside of me instinctually, the movement extending the bliss of the experience. My whole body tingled and ached.
I felt so full, so whole, so spent, so complete. I had never experienced such bliss, such fulfillment.
I was in so much trouble. I now understood the moon goddess's warning.