Chapter 15:

DPOV

I took in the scene before me.

There were two bodies on the ground. Big men, strong men, reduced to lumps of meat on the ground. I could see the small rise and fall of their chest, so they weren't dead, but the were very much incapacitated. One was on his back, and I could see he had a broken nose and blood was still pouring slowly from the wound.

The other seemed to have passed out with his hand underneath him below his abdomen. Considering what she had been sent here to do, I imagine he was holding his balls.

My eyes traveled up towards the center of the courtyard. Several people were standing around. Nobody was looking at me, all their eyes were glued to the laughing girl in the middle. I couldn't blame them. She was gorgeous and it had nothing to do with the way she looked.

She was sitting with a couple of higher ranking soldiers. One of them was the lieutenant who was training the youngsters I had sparred against recently. She was wearing a large tunic. Probably to provide some coverage. My father would have thrown her in here close to naked.

She was joking with them, laughing with them and then her eyes landed on me.

I could only imagine what I looked like. I was still breathing heavily. The look of shock and the relief would be clear for everyone to see. She smiled softly.

Then the others noticed me and they immediately got up. I tensed, perhaps my father had given them an order to keep her here, to keep her from me. But as one of the men stepped forward, he bowed deeply and placed a hand on his chest.

"General." The motion was mimicked in the other soldiers in the inner courtyard. I looked around but no one was approaching me or Rose. Other than the two men on the ground who had obviously tried to attack her, nobody made a move to get to Rose.

Had these people protected Rose? Who had taken them down? I was starting to be a bit uncomfortable with this many people looking at me like that.

I moved towards Rose and when I reached her I scanned her body to see how much damage he had done. I titled her head a bit as I saw a bit of a bruise forming on her cheek. She placed a hand on mine.

"You should see the other guy." She joked. And I could hear snickers around her. When I looked up to see who had made the noise everyone went silent again.

"What happened?"

"He requested me, but I couldn't let him take what was yours."

Her words melted me. 'What was mine'. She was so sure of herself. And she had attacked the King in order to protect that piece of her. But what had it cost her?

"After I attacked him, he had the guards throw me in here." She gestured around the courtyard. "But I took down the first two and after that the lieutenant got me a drink instead of letting someone attack me again." She held up a cup of wine she was holding.

I looked over to the lieutenant and he inclined his head. I returned the gesture. He had protected her. They all had. They openly defied the King to keep her safe.

I returned my gaze back to Rose. "You are not going back to the concubine garden. Ever."

He would take her again and this time he would be prepared for her power. He couldn't let the humiliation stand. As long as he thought she was here, he would assume she was being abused. I hoped.

"You will have to keep the ruse going. Boast about having her move from person to person."

The lieutenant inclined his head again. I looked around. There were a lot of people here. Only one of them had to break and tell the King she wasn't here and it would fall apart. I needed time.

The lieutenant saw me looking around and bowed again. "They are loyal Sire." I took in every single one of them, they were bowing down again now that the lieutenant had said that. His words resonated within me. "We are with you." His eyes met mine and I knew what he was saying. They would stand by me and not the King when it came down to it. I resisted the tugging at the edges of my lips. Abe was right.

I had been so blind.

I had missed the loyalty of these men because I had thought I was unworthy of it. I had also never made real connections here. I knew almost everybody, and was friendly with most of them. But no one knew me really. I would never have thought my status as a slave would deserve such loyalty. But I realized they didn't see me like that. Only I did. And of course higher ranking individuals that would lose something from my ascension.

I talked some logistics with the lieutenant. He offered to house Rose, even train her. He had seen her take down the two men and was impressed. I wanted to keep Rose close but told him I would trust him with her if I wasn't around. As much as I wanted to lock myself in my room with Rose and never leave, I knew it wasn't that simple. I couldn't protect her all the time, but here she would be safe.

But at least tonight, I wasn't planning on letting her go.

There were many ways to get to my quarters. And for once I was grateful for the slave status. It meant I had the quarters closest to the 'lower' ranking soldiers and wouldn't have to walk past anyone I might think loyal to my father. It meant I could evade detection easily and Rose would have little problem ferrying between my room and the soldiers courtyard.

We made it to my quarters without trouble and the moment I closed the doors I grabbed the sides of her face and kissed her.

RPOV

The door closed behind him and the moment it did, his large hands cupped my face and kissed me. He pressed his body close to mine. At first the kiss was soft and desperate. I could feel his fear in it. I had also seen it when he stormed the courtyard. I didn't know what he expected but he hadn't expected this. I would have to tell him later all soldiers but the two on the ground had protected the 'General's girl'.

And now he seemed to be staking that claim too.

When I leaned into the kiss, responding with my own intensity it morphed from desperate and full of fear of losing the other to hungry. One hand moved towards my hair and the other went to my waist. The hand in my hair met something sharp and he pulled back a bit in order to take out what had stabbed him.

He took in the remaining blade pin. He raised an eyebrow at me.

"I have my secrets. One your father hadn't expected." I said shrugging.

The mention of the King darkened his eyes in rage, but it made him no less determined to keep kissing me. He placed the blade pin on a table by the door and his lips were back on mine in an instance.

My own hands started to drift into his hair. I pulled out the leather band around his nape. It was barely holding any hair anyway and placed it by my blade pin. His hair felt soft in my hands. I ran my fingers through them as he dipped lower to kiss my neck.

When he pulled back his eyes shone with that inner light making them appear gold. They were beautiful and held an enormous amount of power. But the otherness of them was dimmed a little with the very human emotion of desire in them. He smiled a little at me as he took in my eyes. I could feel my own power seeping through, apparently this glowing eye thing was a regular occurance now.

It signified we were both Alpha. Alpha's about to have sex. It made me shudder both in excitement and a little fear. Sex between Alpha's was brutal, at least on the full moon. I wonder how much less brutal it would be now.

I also wondered about Dimitri's past experiences. Even if I knew he had never taken a concubine, I had no illusion he had never been with a woman. But they wouldn't have been alpha.

He started leading me to the bed. And I fell down in it as my knees hit the edge. He unlocked his lips from mine for a moment to remove his shirt. And I had a glorious moment to take his upper body in. The skin was tanned from training but still a couple of shades lighter than my own. His muscles ripped and flexed underneath that tanned skin.

I sat up slightly and my face was level with his chest seeing as I was sitting on the bed and he was still standing at its foot. But it was a perfect height. I kissed his chest and could feel the rumble in his chest. It sounded wholy inhuman and made my abdomen clench in anticipation.

He pulled the tunic over my head and growled. This sound had lost all his humanity too, but it wasn't in pleasure. It was a possessive growl meant to ward off any and all other men.

I was wearing my bodice and my panties, and nothing else underneath. It covered the basics, but still left me very exposed. His father had seen me like this. Hell, a whole courtyard of soldiers had seen me like this before the lieutenant had given me a tunic to cover me up.

He bent down towards me and pulled me down with up so we were horizontal on the bed. He started to kiss my neck again as one of his hands trailed up my calf towards my hips, then my back and up to my throat. He pulled back a little. "Mine."

Yes, "I have always been yours." and whatever happened next I would always be his.

My words seemed to placate him enough and he went back to his loving. I could feel how desperate he was to be with me. His whole body was strained against mine. I could feel his arousal pushing against my abdomen.

I started to pull a little on his pants. This is where we stopped last time, but I knew we wouldn't this time. And so I undied the laces on the pants and started to pull them down. Dimitri helped me with the rest as it reached his thighs. He still had on an undergarment much to my frustration.

Dimitri started to work my bodice and was met with a lot of laces and buttons. He growled again and it went straight to my core. I whimpered at the sensation. If he kept this up, I might just come from his voice alone.

I had to sit up as he and I both worked the bodice. After only a few moments he had had enough and simply ripped the bodice open at the side where it connected at my back. Broken lace landed all around us. The sheer strength it must have cost to be able to do that. But it hardly phased Dimitri. He was an alpha in alpha mode. There was nothing standing between him and his mate, certainly not a bodice.

My breasts sprung free and his eyes darted towards them. His eyes glowed brighter if it was possible. I took advantage of our upright position and straddled him as his hands moved to cup my breasts. He kissed the top of them as my hands went back into his hair. We met briefly for a kiss that was all tongue and all desire before he went back to my breasts.

I connected my hips to his and found delicious friction against his hard cock. I leaned back a little to give him better access to my breasts and to be able to grind my hips into his.

He had his mouth on my nipple and his growl made delicious vibrations sending tinglings from my breasts to my lower abdomen. I fought the moan but it was no use. I wonder how quiet we needed to be? I was supposed to be in the soldier's courtyard. But this part of the hall was usually empty. Nobody wanted to be close to the slave General. The first one I knew off was down the hall, with at least three empty quarters in between. The sound wouldn't carry there. I mentally shrugged. I wanted to be close to the General, very close.

As he sucked on one nipple he kneaded my other breast. I dug my nails in his back trying to hold on for dear life. "Dimitri". It came out a breathless moan, but I could feel his cock twitching underneath me.

"I need you." It had been the same words I uttered on the full moon, but this time they were wholly my own words. Not said out of some compulsion made by the effects of the full moon, but of this intense connection that had binded us from the start.

Dimitri picked me up and placed me further onto the bed. He crawled up to me and hooked his fingers into my panties and he slowly slid them down. Once removed from my body he threw them somewhere into the room.

I felt strangely vulnerable and exposed. I had never been naked like this before and he was staring right at me. I closed my legs a little in an attempt to cover myself up a little, but Dimitri wouldn't have any of it. He pushed my legs back open but at least his eyes moved further up to my face again.

"You are beautiful. Don't hide from me." He moved in between my legs for a kiss. It was softer than the others. Reassuring, full of love. I felt myself relax again and instinctively make room for him between my legs. It annoyed me a little that he still had his undergarment on. I moved my hands inside towards his butt and pushed the fabric down. He helped with the last bit and this piece of fabric joined my own panties somewhere in the room.

I could feel his hard member push against my wet folds. But he made no move to enter me. Instead he lowered his fingers towards my entrance and touched the nub at the top. I jerked in response and was met with a satisfied smile. All male pride and possessiveness.

He entered one finger and curled it inside. I threw my head back. He was reaching the right spot. I wondered if he had been instructed by Tatiana too? Because he knew exactly where he needed to be.

He moved in and out and over that spot, slowly, almost lazily. He had no intention of making me come like this. He just wanted to prepare me.

But it was torture. I needed more, I needed him. "Please, Dimitri." I pleaded again.

Our eyes locked and I knew he was done with his torturous slow ministrations. He pulled out his finger and lined himself up against my entrance. He pushed inside a tiny bit, before pulling out again. The next time he pushed in a little further.

I closed my eyes, the sensation of him stretching my flesh, of him filling me bit by bit was too much if I also had to see his eyes glow with that intense love.

When he was fully sheathed inside of me, he stilled for a moment seeking my blessing. I gave it by slowly starting to move. Slowly, very slowly at first. But soon the pace picked up and our movements became more frantic, more primal.

Our eyes never left the other's and in his I could only see love. Love and of course desire. I wrapped my legs around Dimitri's waist and it tilted my hips at a different angle towards him. It allowed him deeper access and I cried out in pleasure. Dimitri's lips were back on mine in an attempt to stifle the sounds. My hands went instinctively towards his hair and it applied enough pressure so I could keep his lips pressed against mine. It was quite challenging because the rest of our bodies were moving rather vigorously.

I pulled back and smiled. Although I was loving our bodies connected at every inch, I wanted to try different things too. I didn't know what would happen tomorrow. I had come so close to losing this and I knew very well that neither of our lives were safe. If we only had tonight. I would make the best of it.

So I pushed Dimitri back and to the side. He seemed to take great offense by the loss of contact with my skin but as he took in my wicked smile he couldn't help but return it. I moved on top of him and straddled him. My legs on either side of him. I brought myself down on him and he threw back his head in pleasure. I started to move slowly, getting used to this new position. Then I remembered Tatiana's lesson and I stopped moving all together but started to squeeze. Dimitri hissed underneath me, so I knew I was doing it right. It took effort and concentration, but I couldn't argue with the result.

Dimitri's hands were on my hips and I knew he was fighting a losing battle in trying to lend me the control and stay immobile underneath me. Every so often he would buck upwards sending little lightning bolts up into my core. But the look in his eyes stopped me from going harder or moving more. He was looking at me not just with love, but with reverence. Even if we die tomorrow I knew tonight we were each other's salvation.

Eventually Dimitri gave in and got back up and met my lips once more. I started to move up and down as he kissed me, kissed my neck, kissed my breasts. His hands were on my back, tracing the top of my neck down to my hips and back up. Every so often they were guiding my rhythm. I placed my head on the crook of his neck. I was breathing heavily. I was gripping his shoulders now, moving faster and faster. We were both coated in a sheen of sweat. And I couldn't take much more. The tension was building inside of me.

Dimitri picked me up and flipped us again, never leaving me. Once underneath him again he moved, pulling my legs up against him. He was on his elbows next to me, keeping himself as close to me as possible. His breath was hot on my face and I could see the strain on his face to hold on. But I don't think he needed to that much longer, because I was at my breaking point. With every thrust he charged the coil inside me. I gripped his face, keeping him close. The moment I started to clench around him in agonizing pleasure I kissed him. He didn't hesitate returning the kiss as his own release wracked his body. He slowly rode out our pleasure and pulled back for some much needed air.

"I love you. Roza." He said as he pulled some hair from my face.

"I love you too. My General." he smiled that one brilliant smile he reserved just for me.

DPOV

I waited until she was asleep. I didn't want to leave her, but there was something I needed to do. I seemed to physically struggle to remove my body from hers, but I left my wolf in my stead. She snuggled against his warm fur. I knew as long as a piece of me was here with her, she would sleep soundly.

I felt almost jealous as her beautiful naked body pressed against the white of his fur. I covered her up a bit more. "Keep her safe until I get back."

I put on some clothes and moved out of my quarters and down to guest housing. I knew which one of them belonged to Abe. I had known for quite a while. I had chuckled when I had learned where the King had stashed him. It was a spacious guest room, but it was hideous. It was also furthest away from the amenities of the palace. He was nothing if not petty.

But that would end soon. Soon he wouldn't be anything.

I didn't bother knocking on the door. I just stepped inside. Pavel was up and alert in a second. He was very well trained. If this was all over, I was looking forward to sparring with him.

When Abe saw who it was, he waved to Pavel to stand down.

I moved around Pavel to look at Abe. "We need to talk."