Enrapture: The Luna's Three Guards

AKARI - Vodka

Oak Perseus, Flynn King, Elias II.

I took one look at the men in the dark and I knew things were about to change…but as always, I would make sure it would be in my favor.

“The empire sent me new guards,” I muttered to myself with a scoff, my eyes resting on my impatient fingers on my knees and my wiggling toes while I lay in the silver bathtub in my bedroom cell.

I could barely believe the situation I was in after every effort I’d made to finally get that human guard to give in. It took two f*****g weeks and just like that, it all went down the drain.

I stared down at my suds-covered skin with obvious discontent. Who was to say I couldn’t do it again?

But then…the empire was not stupid despite what their king’s face looked like.

I could feel that these men weren’t just randomly chosen from the royal guards or soldiers like the human was. They were handpicked and more importantly, they seemed to know absolutely nothing about me. I can’t remember the last time anyone in their right mind stood in front of me in an attempt to challenge. Not many knew that I was no longer the Luna I used to be, but then again, the empire wouldn't miss an opportunity to inform the masses of my fall from power, to remind them that the empire was not to be trifled with.

They feared the influence of the humans was waning, which is actually true.

None of that mattered now. I shook my head as I slowly rose from the tub, my naked body covered in suds and petals and despite the bath being meant to relax me, it only left me with gnawing questions and more annoyance.

I grabbed the grey towel I had set beside me beforehand and dried off my body. I stared long and hard at my reflection which only served as reason for anger.

The full-length mirror showed a woman with a slender yet curvy figure, full… full rounded breasts, and shapely hips that taper into thick thighs and beautifully shaped legs. I had striking features that I inherited from my grandmother, with high cheekbones, a defined jawline, and pouty full lips the color of rosebuds. My eyes, large and feline, edged with thick blonde lashes and long silky blonde hair to go with it. Many often said I had everything, the Luna born with everything, beauty, brains, and strength yet, here I was, imprisoned and soon to be sentenced, and now the very thing I spent all my years as Luna detesting.

Weak.

Stripped of everything I spent my whole life building.

“Beauty isn’t always enough…” I couldn’t help the sadness that seeped into my tone as I spoke to my reflection but that emotion never once showed in my eyes.

Those words had become a constant echo in my head, they were said to me by the person I loved the most…right before he betrayed me.

I hated the fact that I couldn’t stop thinking about it yet grateful for the fact that it stuck.

I finally managed to drag my eyes from the mirror when I heard the sound of the bedroom door opening and muted footsteps on the rust-colored fur carpet that covered the bedroom floor.

They were in my room?

I shook my head.

The last thing I wanted was to give hints of my fear and weakness to my new jailers…I had to be cautious and had to say and do everything meticulously.

I would get out of here… I would get out of the empire’s hands and I couldn’t wait for the new life that would welcome her.

Putting on my best sultry smile as I pushed open the bathroom door, I slowed my pace and held my hands behind my back, chin raised with false confidence and my chest puffed up with an authority that I knew would take years to leave my system.

Oak was the first person I noticed, he was leaning over the vanity table, and in his hands, my hair brush. Azure eyes narrowed in deep concentration and a fang peeked out through his closed pink lips as he looked at the object like it was something completely foreign. When his eyes raised to meet mine, my breath caught in my throat, and I resisted the subconscious urge to take a step back.

“Miss Quinn,” He put down the hairbrush, his lips stretched into a seductive smile that looked more cunning than it was polite and something told me he was aiming for the latter. He gave me a small bow.

“A man shouldn’t be in the quarters of an unmarried woman at such hours,” I mused, “Much less, three men…”I turned to look at the now visible men who stood by the door.

The man on the right was taller, not just taller but bigger. One could tell he packed muscles underneath that simple grey shirt that would make my mouth water and my fingers itch. Cold brown eyes stared back at me with a steely resolve, he looked like a man who’d never known a day of weakness. His face was attractive in a rather rugged way but one thing that stuck was his perfect lips, pink lips that perfectly compliment his scarred dark brown skin and his Red hair and a thin scar that ran from his brow down to his bottom lip…just like Oak, there was no recognition in his eyes, instead a chill that I could feel deep in my bones.

Elias, the werewolf.

The man next to him was the same height as Oak, his athletic build rippled with leonine power beneath smooth olive skin, practically flawless. He had dark hair, thick, full and covered his head and sprinkled across the sides of his face.

He had regal brows contrasting the roguish desire smoldering in his piercing emerald eyes.

His almost dark red lips were curled up into what I could only describe as an amused grin, his long arms placed behind his back and his chin lifted.

I could tell after my observation, that the man was royalty or something close to it.

Why then would the empire choose such obvious noblemen to be my new guard? Something told me it wasn’t a well sought out job that everyone wanted to have.

What was their plan?

Still, I never let my smile waver, not even as the Lycan took slow and measured steps toward me. He stops when he is only a few steps away and bows.

“It is such an honor to meet the famed Luna of midnight,”

So, he does know me.

“Up until recently,” He reached out his hand, beautifully tapered fingers appeared in front of her, “You were but a rumored being, whispered into the ears of every living creature under the empire,”

I take his hand, cautious but amused by how easily this man approached me despite claiming he knew who I was.

The rumors about me were never true, but I chose to leave it that way as it kept people away.

Yet.

He lifts my hand to his lips and places a soft kiss on the back of my palm. One that sent a rush of shivers through my veins.

“Your beauty is unparalleled,” He looked up at me and I couldn’t read a thing from those emerald eyes.

“I am Flynn King, it is a pleasure to meet you, Akari…”

The sound of my name on his tongue had a certain appeal I didn’t expect. The Lycan's voice was a rich, cultured bass with a seductive purr underneath, equal parts oil and smoke, eloquent and slyly persuasive in its tone.

Was it intentional?

Could he tell just how much of an effect his voice had on me?

“The pleasure is all mine,” I responded, my voice devoid of the inner turmoil in my head and heart.

Why?

That was the question that kept ringing in my head.

Oak stared at both of us with an expression I wished I could read and then nodded curtly.

Flynn took a step back, I could feel his burning gaze on my lips, and sure, I knew how attractive I was to men and how to handle it or twist it to my advantage when need be but this time…the rather open invitation from Flynn, things felt different.

It got me…excited.

“Now that we've got all the introductions out of the way,” The werewolf's voice came out deep, a gravelly baritone with a harsh, gritty edge, like stones grinding together but, heavens, was it a rather melodic sound to my ears.

His cold eyes didn’t stray now that he had gotten my attention, instead they got darker. He brought his hands out of his pockets and crossed his arms over his chest, looking like a man who’d never had a day of fun in his life.

When his lips parted to finish his sentence, the words that left him were anything but what I had expected.

“Vodka…” He ground out, “Where do you keep it?”