Today was the first time she gained her fox spirit, marking the first shift of the Fox Ignite—the kind of heat far more vicious and consuming than any omega wolf’s.
They would turn unnervingly aggressive and impossibly hard to satisfy, like a hunger with a mind of its own, sharp-toothed and restless beneath the skin.
His gaze sank into her fire-hazel eyes, as if searching for proof of how desperately she wanted him.
But no matter how deep he looked, he couldn’t find the answer he craved. Lust. Desire. Heat. That was all that burned back at him. He searched for something he feared he already knew would never be there.
Yet in his madness, he chose to blind himself to that truth—for her.
To him, those eyes were the warmest embrace he’d ever known. Or so he fiercely believed.
"Mine..." he hissed, the word dripping like a promise and a threat in one breath. "You are mine, mate."
He crashed his lips onto hers and devoured every sweet taste of her. Nibbles escalated to bites. Bites melted into fierce sucking, as if the hunger between them could never truly be satisfied.
The slick rasp of clothes, hurriedly removed under the influence of lust and hunger, filled the bamboo hut whose air was rapidly growing hotter.
Reon’s hand was possessively caressing her thigh, moving upwards only to find that she was already glistening, dripping wet for him.
"Put it in... mmhh... I want you, Reon... please... it’s aching..." she pleaded along with melodious moans, biting her lower lip as if he were torturing her with his restraint.
He spread her legs wider, positioning himself in between, and pulled her closer until her legs dangled over the edge of the oak table.
The moment his hard, throbbing tip slightly brushed against her glistening folds, she jerked her hips forward, as if wanting to suck him entirely into her cave. He smirked, and she was frustrated.
With one hard thrust, he buried his cock into her walls, which instantly pulsed with a jolt that sent shuddering pleasure through every nerve in his body.
"Arghh... Reon..." she gasped in a moan, her legs reflexively circling his hips.
Reon let out a guttural growl because the constriction from Lyria’s legs stimulated his balls, pushing his already strained control.
He wondered if the sudden violence of the thrust would hurt her, but from her expression of sheer pleasure, he knew she was enjoying herself immensely.
Something bitter touched his heart, a nagging doubt: was Lyria truly loving him as much as he loved her?
"Lyria... tell me you love me," he urgently asked her.
"I... Reon... Arghh..." She didn’t, or more accurately, couldn’t answer him properly because she was drunk in her own lust-induced haze.
Her legs still tightly circled him, forcing Reon to move at her will.
Reon, unable to resist any longer, finally gave in and began pounding her, slow at first.
Then, after a series of loud moans and groans, the pace varied—from a slow, deliberate friction to a fast, powerful thrust—until the legs of the table cracked.
After repeatedly becoming drenched in their mutual releases, Reon flipped her over with his cock still inside.
He could feel it, the tip of his shaft was starting to slowly bulge, a sign that both their bodies were ready for knotting.
"Am I hurting you?" he whispered from behind her ear, which immediately caused her to writhe beneath him.
She shook her head. "No. You’re not."
"Do you want us to knot? For me to mark you? Where do you want it?"
He kissed the left side of her neck. "Here?"
He licked her nape. "Or here?"
Then, he gave a soft suck on her right side. "Here is a good spot too."
He savored every wince, every hitched breath, every wriggle that came from her beneath him.
It was as if he didn’t want this moment to end. He had even forgotten his anxiety about Raymond’s fury. Even if he needed to go to hell, he wouldn’t regret this.
He began to thrust, slowly coating the slickness, and she begged for him to go harder. Her wish was instantly granted, thanks to the bulge he felt, and he needed to pound faster.
Not long after, her entire body went rigid and trembled. "Arrghhh Reon..." she yelled in a moan.
"Argh..." Reon, too, couldn’t hold back his own growl as his cock knotted inside her.
His fangs instantly emerged and sank into the right side of her neck. He marked her.
She tilted her head back in surrender, accepting that this mate bond would tie them until death.
Both of them panted heavily, and Reon gently licked the fresh mark wound.
Their knot still throbbed hard, and they needed to remain in that position for a while until the knot naturally released itself.
"I love you, Lyria. I love you," he whispered into a strand of hair by her ear.
But he didn’t hear the confession back from her. Just a soft whimper, enjoying the lingering feelings of her powerful orgasm.
’She’s tired,’ he convinced himself.
Lyria was tired from her first mating. He didn’t need to worry about a mere confession. Yet, the doubt tasted bitter, and he hated himself for even letting it exist.
But truly, Lyria’s confession should have been the least of his worries right now.
Because he could feel another strong energy pressing through the heavy air, which made Reon clench his jaw in alarm. Someone was coming.
Not long after, followed by the sound of cracking bamboo, a figure Reon knew well appeared in the open doorway.
His breath hitched. He hated it—someone looking at him in this vulnerable state, even though it was his own triplet brother, Robert.
"Bastard!" Robert spat, his balled fist shaking, ready to punch Reon.
"It’s her wish," Reon retorted, while tenderly stroking Lyria’s hair. He didn’t want Robert to disturb her still flutter-shut eyes, still drunk from the daze of being knotted.
"Raymond will kill you," Robert said, still furious. But Reon knew from their linked mind that Robert was drowning in jealousy by what he saw right now. This was what he was afraid of: their cursed triplet bond, where they needed to share a mate among them.
Reon could understand the feeling of jealousy that clawed at Robert’s heaving, enraged chest right now, because he wasn’t sure himself if he could be fine watching Lyria knotting with his two other brothers.
Was it because they were fraternal triplets, so they still harbored jealousy toward each other in every aspect? Not only about the mate bond.
Reon couldn’t truly answer that.
Lyria shifted beneath him, and her eyes fluttered open.
"Robert, is that you?" she asked weakly. "Come here... let me hold your hand." Her head tilted, her gaze searching for Robert’s presence.
And, obviously, he loosened his balled fists and walked closer to Lyria.
Just hearing Lyria’s fond, soft voice was enough to melt Robert.
Sure, Reon was the same.
Robert and Lyria’s hands intertwined. Lyria kissed his palm with a possessive, tender touch. Something in Reon’s chest dropped violently, a quiet ache he couldn’t disguise."
"Don’t be angry. I chose Reon as my first. But my affection for the three of you is equally immense. I want you too, Robert. I want you to claim me too."
Right after she said that, the cock-knot inside her released.
As her body shifted, freeing his shaft from her captive warmth, it left Reon with an unfamiliar hollow in his chest.