Strength to Let Go

Chapter Two-1

Chapter TwoONCE MY BODY got used to the lower temperatures, I sat on a nearby tree trunk, surveying the valley before me. There were no werewolves close enough to catch my scent, so I thought I’d use the time wisely and get ready for the battle. I knew I had no chance of survival, I also knew how many I’d take with me, but I was at peace with my decision. If I wanted an easy out, I’d just stumble into someone’s sword. We were not immortal, but weres were not the easiest kill out there either, much less someone like me.

Werewolf tribes varied across the globe, but the core was the same. In the case of my own tribe, the Dragons of the Fang, much like it was for the Dacian Wolves and the Sons of Ulric, lineage was very important. I was the son of the Alpha House. Someone in our family would automatically lead the tribe. In this generation, that was my brother, Shishou, who was a few minutes older than me. I had the strength of an alpha wolf either way, and because of how our tribe was organized, I’d been training to fight since I was three. I’d spent most of my childhood and adolescence in Okinawa, my Sensei teaching me how to use every weapon imaginable, including my own body.

The only wolf in the world who was stronger than me by default was Vicks, my brother’s female mate. She was the alpha of the Dacian Wolves and throughout history their alpha, always a female, had been a sort of an Empress over all werewolves. She had some really old magic within her, but some of that had been imbued into me when she’d mated my twin. Back then though... she could still kick my ass.

Then Kieran had happened. The Dark Prince of the Fae. I’d met him, fallen completely in love with him, and had taken his blood on many occasions. Wolves didn’t typically drink blood, although they’d have a taste of their mate on the night of their mating. The blood would seal their lifelong commitment to each other, and the mark of the bite would heal slowly, over a month, so that the wolf within us would see it and know it had claimed its mate. With Kieran and Kayden (the greatest warrior of the Fae nation had been sharing Kieran’s body at the time) it had been different. The wound would seal immediately and my restless wolf would claim its mates over and over again. I did not complain one bit, having my mate’s blood and having him drink mine was an exquisite high I did not want to let go of. What it caused though, that had angered a lot of people, mostly the fae.

Drinking so much blood from each other had changed us. I had become part fae and Kieran had gotten a wolf form. When that had happened, he had split from Kayden, and our mate joined us in his very own stunning physical form. It was safe to say that made me a very powerful wolf, with no one to match me. Yet the fae were not upset by that, they were enraged with their immortal, very old Dark Prince gaining even more power and Kayden being set free without their accord.

I couldn’t care less, I had bigger problems, like Kieran’s jealousy over my bond with Kayden. We’d managed to work through that, though, and became the trio I thought would last an eternity. Was I wrong in that assumption?

All that power, it just made me harder to kill. It would make today’s task a whole lot harder to complete. On a normal day, I could take quite a few dozen wolves down before they’d even get to touch me long enough to bruise me. Now? Well, it took a lot of relentless warriors, pretty much what I came looking for here. Besides, they had always gotten into fights with the Chinese werewolves at the border, it would probably keep those particular subjects of mine safe for a while.

As I extended my senses, using the dark magic of my fae blood to locate as many nearby werewolves as I could, images of Kieran and Kayden plagued me. The more of my juice I used, the more powerful the memories became. I had to clench my teeth and survive them if I wanted to achieve my goal.

I had met Kieran while running errands for my brother’s male mate, Stuart. The Alpha of the Sons of Ulric had sent me to Ireland, one of his territories, to meet with some packs and secluded families. He had his hands full with cleaning up the mess the French had made and getting ready for the biannual tribe meeting which was happening on his territory that year. I guessed it was easiest as three powerful alphas, himself, my brother, and Vicks, were already there. Werewolves, we loved our efficiency.

I had just left after a delicious meal at a friendly pub the local shifters had taken me to. I had a nice little buzz from too much whiskey and beer, and I was walking aimlessly around Dublin. I saw him walking toward me, and my brain stopped functioning. Long, wavy dark hair, chocolate eyes, neatly trimmed facial hair and the clothes of a rock star. Kieran had noticed me way before I had clocked him, then again, I was probably easy to spot with my crazy hair and crazier clothes. Let’s say using Visual Kei as fashion inspiration does not make one very plain. He locked eyes with me and strutted my way, a self-assured smirk curving the left corner of his mouth.

The lust was unbearable. My c**k hardened, my eyes turned steel blue, and I slowed my pace down to an abrupt halt, licking my lips and watching him come closer. He kissed me right there, in the middle of the street, before I even knew his name. Then Kayden came forth, turning my prince’s eyes pitch black and his long fingers into talons, adding a second scent to the first that had enthralled me. He crushed his lips to mine, and I felt them switching and fighting for control, for the chance to taste more of me. The longer we snogged like that in the middle of the street, the more my fuzzy-as-f**k brain managed to make sense of what they were: fae, a quite powerful one, and a warrior spirit, powered by the most magnificent dark magic I’d ever experienced, apart from the fleeting presence of ancient Asian gods.

At some point, the cat calls and harsh words from parents walking with their children got to us and he pulled back. Kieran simply said his name, then took my hand as I was mumbling mine and pulled me along with him to a café close by. We spent hours talking and staring at each other. Okay, maybe the gawking hungrily at each other happened more than the actual talking.

When it was well after nightfall and the scent of arousal permeated the air in the café so potently I was starting to growl and twitch at the slightest shift in his posture, I asked him to come with me to my hotel room. Somehow, his eager nod took me by surprise. He was so mesmerizing, I couldn’t believe he’d actually give in to me that easily.

We ended up not leaving that hotel room for days. I f****d them into the mattress as they took turns coming to the surface until every cell in our bodies hurt, depleted of all traces of energy. We then lay in each other’s arms and talked about nonsensical subjects, avoiding anything of any depth. We eventually had to get out of the room and go our separate ways, after exchanging information.

I went back to the U.K., my mind plagued with memories of him. I’d start sweating and panting the moment his face came to mind. If I closed my eyes, all I could see was his body straining under me, covered in a sheen of sweat. As he came, thousands of bright colors would glow under his skin, making him seem so impossibly beautiful and truly magical. I’d never had such compelling jerk off material in my life and I nearly rubbed my c**k raw, yet still was unable to get him out of my head.

He finally replied to my sporadic texts, saying he wanted to see me. The moment I sent my “hell, yes” reply, he appeared right in front of me, out of the blue, startling me half to death. Well, all of me but my c**k, which promptly stood at attention the moment my brain made the connection between what I was seeing before my eyes and the male I’d been craving. That was how I found out about fae being able to flash like that, closing their eyes and then appearing wherever they wanted to. Neat trick, I’d thought at the time.

We had another s*x marathon that ended up in a huge fight. We made what I then thought was a mistake, we got into a conversation about relationships and what we wanted. I guess I said something wrong, or maybe he didn’t hear all of what I was saying. He did share he’d been betrayed and hurt in his extremely long life, spanning over thousands of years. My dark prince was so blinded by the prospect of suffering he did not hear me saying I wasn’t dismissing a deeper connection, I just hadn’t had one.

After that dreaded night, Kieran cut all contact with me. I eventually went back home, plaguing my pack with my sour mood and fits of anger. I decided to leave for Okinawa early. It was what I did during heat season. When all werewolves turned into s*x-hungry morons, I’d either submerge myself into the Ni-chome club scene, or go to Okinawa for training. In the past few years, I’d opted for Okinawa, as heat season came with a certain longing, a strange need for intimacy and for powerful feelings. It was a strange combination, a wolf in heat was at the same time a s*x-hungry animal and a pure soul, looking for its mate.

I trained harder than I had in years, pushing my body past all of its limits. It still did nothing to quiet my brain. There was fury bleeding through all my pores during the day, and at night my dreams were plagued by Kieran and Kayden. I couldn’t exhaust myself effectively enough to just pass out and have a dreamless night’s sleep.

One evening, I got into my cabin after a long shower in the outdoors bathroom to find Kieran sitting on my bed, dark circles under his eyes. He was biting his bottom lip and he lowered his gaze when he saw me. All the anger in me was gone the moment I laid eyes on him. Nothing else mattered, other than him being there.

That night, I showed him just how much I wanted from him the only way I knew how: by submitting to him. Throughout my s****l adventures, which had been plenty and with hordes of different partners, I had never bottomed. I wasn’t against it, I was just saving that for my future mate. I couldn’t explain why I felt I should save that part of me. I’d never even thought of trying before them because those I set my eyes on usually answered to my dominant personality and never questioned who’d top . Besides, I’d always known they wouldn’t last.

My body and my soul had recognized Kieran and Kayden as my mates long before my brain caught up. I gave them everything I had, and that was the best expression of it. Later that night, we switched positions to our normal setup, and while I was buried deep inside his tight, hot ass, staring into his eyes, I nudged his head and he tilted it for me. I struck and bit, my long canines finding his vein and taking long pulls of his delicious blood. I marked him as mine, him and Kayden both, as my wolf howled in my head. I’d never come so hard in my whole life, but that feeling was going to be relived time and time again with my mates.

Because of what he was, the mark disappeared within seconds and I could feel the wolf in me whimpering, as if he’d just been kicked. Later on, we found a way for him to have a permanent mark. I drew the kanji for okami, which meant wolf, on Kieran’s wrist and sealed it with some potion he had that kept the new tattoo intact. I, in turn, started to wear a collar-like necklace that was a family heirloom of theirs. It was the clearest sign I could think of to show I belonged to them.

It just got better and better after that. Kieran proposing one morning over breakfast and us arranging for a spring ceremony in Tokyo. Just in time for the cherry blossoms! If anyone had told me a few weeks or months before meeting Kieran and Kayden that I would be all teared up at my cherry blossom-themed wedding I would have laughed so hard I would have eventually passed out. Back then, however, I wouldn’t have known I’d be meeting two wonderful men who to me smelled like everything good and happy in life: cherry blossoms, mochi, and a spicy, very male scent that was uniquely theirs.