Chapter 21
There’s something deeply unnerving about being paraded through a ‘kingdom’ you didn’t ask to rule. I expected snarls, hostility, maybe someone throwing a chair. But no, Pierce’s pack was too well-trained for that.
Instead, I got silence, watchful eyes and subtle nods. Wolves in tailored suits and combat gear all eyeing me like I was either a threat or a toy.
He brought me to the ridge estate, high in the woods, where the main pack compound sat like some ancient fortress turned elite survivalist retreat. Multiple buildings. Training fields. A war room. And more guards than I could count without looking suspicious.
He finally fully introduced me into his world. It is still hard to believe that he’s a werewolf.
“This is where I run things,” Pierce said as we walked, his voice low but firm. “This is where you’ll eventually stand beside me.”
Right. No pressure.
From the upper balcony, I could see his people moving below, patrols, shifters in human form, young wolves in training. It was organized. Disciplined. It was a machine… and I was about to be dropped into the center of it.
He placed a hand on my lower back. I tensed, but didn’t swat it away. Progress, lady and gentlemen.
“They’re just not used to outsiders,” he said. “They don’t trust easily, but they’ll learn. You’re not here to just play a role. You’re here to lead.”
I scoffed. “I was a journalist two months ago, remember? My biggest decision was whether to run a cover story on corruption or cancel culture.”
“Seeking answers and secrets,” he said. “Exposing truths most of all can’t stand, always standing your ground. That’s more leadership than most have.”
I didn’t respond. Mostly because my stomach was tying itself into knots.
“I still see questions flying in your eyes,” Pierce said, leading us back inside to his office, “ask.”
Grabbing the opportunity, I asked how long he’d run this place. Who he trusted. What this world even was beneath the surface. And then I asked the one that made him stop pacing:
“Why aren’t you part of your original pack?”
He sat down on the edge of the bed, elbows on his knees. Quiet for a long moment.
“My brother Pierre betrayed me,” he said. “Framed me. Said I turned against our Alpha. That I was trying to take power for myself. I wasn’t even allowed to speak before they cast me out.”
I swallowed. “Your own brother did that?”
“He took everything,” Pierce said. “My place, my title. The pack I bled for. So I left and started over. I built my own pack from nothing, and I swore I’d never bow again.”
He looked up at me then and a sly smile bloomed on his face when he reached for me. “But perhaps, I’ll make an exception for those pretty legs of yours, little fox.”
I only arched my eyebrow on that one, barely holding my smile back to keep pretending not to be impressed. “What does Luna actually do?”
He turned, leaned against the window frame. “She speaks when the Alpha can’t, she protects the people when I’m at war, she negotiates. Commands. Judges. Sometimes she’s feared. Sometimes loved, but always respected.”
“And if they don’t respect her?” I asked, already knowing the answer.
His jaw flexed as crystal eyes became three shades darker. “Then they answer to me.”
The air shifted—sharp with something primal, and something painfully honest.
“I’m definitely not going to be soft,” I said after a long pause. “If you want a pretty little peacekeeper, that’s not me.”
“I don’t want soft, Lyra,” he said, voice low and steady. “I want something real. I want you.”
I stared at him without blinking for fuck know how long. “And if I say still refuse?”
His jaw tightened as he tilted his head down, like trying to shake off all of his arrogance and that dominance he possessed. Yet he didn’t answer.
I took a step forward. Just one. Close enough to feel the heat between us rise.
“I’m not your Luna,” I said, voice barely above a whisper.
“Then tell me how to earn it,” he replied, tone almost pleading, but not weak. No, this man had teeth and fire and dominance in his blood. But right now… he was standing still for me.
I didn’t answer.
Because I didn’t know how. I didn’t know if I’d ever be ready to be her—the woman the pack would follow, the one they’d bow to, or challenge.
“I want you, Lyra. Not just as my partner, or just my Luna. I want you as my woman. All of you.” He stepped closer, slower this time like trying not to scare me. “I know I’ve fucked up and I know I’m broken in ways you didn’t ask for—”
“No kidding,” I muttered, but the words had no heat. My pulse was racing too hard.
“I don’t fucking need a perfect Luna,” he said. “I need the fire. I need you. You’re all I want, Lyra.”
My heart beat so loud I swore he could hear it.
I should’ve walked. I should’ve pulled back. Built the wall. Made a joke. Changed the subject. Walk away and never come back.
Instead, I reached for his shirt with trembling hands, feeling a solid hot chest under my palms.
His muscles tensed beneath my fingers, his breath hitching—but he didn’t move. Didn’t speak. Just watched me with a gaze so hot it burned right through me.
I looked up and finally managed to say, “Are you gonna kiss me or just keep staring at me like a damn creep?”
That was all it took.
Pierce surged forward and took my mouth like it was a battlefield, like he had to claim every inch before someone else could.
His hands buried in my hair, tilting my head just how he wanted it, lips crashing against mine with a hunger that wasn’t careful or sweet. I gasped into his mouth as he backed me into the wall, his body caged mine in, hips grinding against me, hard and heavy.
I moaned as I felt him—completely, undeniably hard—pressed against me like sin wrapped in skin. Then he dropped his hands to the backs of my thighs, gripping me tight, and lifted me in one swift motion.
My breath hitched. Legs wrapped around his waist on instinct, my core already clenching from the friction alone.
“Still not soft,” I whispered, panting between kisses, barely coherent.
His grin was a flash of teeth against my jaw, feral and wicked. “Good,” he growled. “I like it when you bite, little fox.”
