Lucy’s POV
The next morning when I woke up, my skin burned hotter than an oven, and a terrible heat ravaged my insides. The fire within burned so hot that I felt it all the way into my eyes and ears. My head also ached, making it difficult for me to find balance as I got out of bed.
With a groan, I dragged myself into the bathroom. Maybe a shower would make me feel better, I thought, but after spending close to fifteen minutes under a steady stream of warm water with no observable change, I realised that what was wrong with me was something more serious.
But werewolves didn’t get such types of sicknesses. Daven’s heart problem was likely something he had been born with, and only started feeling the effect as age took its toll on his body, so it didn’t count. This thing that I felt was strangely similar to a sickness known as a common cold.
I got out of the shower, wrapped in merely a towel and went over to my wardrobe to select something to wear. Unfortunately, even before I opened up the wooden contraption, my legs were overcome with a sudden tiredness, so I went to take a seat on my bed. In doing so, the towel wrapped around my body slipped off me, baring me to the warm morning air.
Even though I had just finished taking a shower, I could feel sweat building up on my skin again.
“What’s going on?” I asked myself, pressing the back of my hand to my neck. Hot, as expected.
It was then I noticed that while the heat was widespread all over my body, there were certain . . . zones where the heat pulsated strongest: my breasts, and the secret spot between my legs.
I gasped in tune with the realization. I was experiencing Heat for the first time. Further proof that I was indeed mated to the triplets. I took a moment to process this information, breathing deeply to cool my thoughts.
Female werewolves only fell into heat after they had made contact with their mates. Growing up, I was told that it was a way to ensure breeding between mates. Usually, when two people became aware of their mate bond, it was only natural for them to have intercourse at some point in their relationship. The mate bond only sped up the process.
With this understanding, I couldn’t help but mourn my bad fortune. I hadn’t even thought about the possibility of this happening to me until that moment.
Unprovoked, a thought flashed through my mind. In it, the triplets were upon me, touching and caressing every part of my body, and quenching the fire that had been stirred up inside of me . . .
“Focus, Lucy!” I chided myself, and forced myself out of the bed even though every slight movement stimulated my erogenous zones.
I slipped into the lightest dress I could find, as tight clothes were only going to worsen the stifling heat bothering me. It was also because I could see myself taking off my clothes the moment I didn’t need to wear them anymore.
I looked at the clock, realising that it was already past noon instead of morning like I had originally thought. With a surge of urgency I finished dressing up and put the finishing touches on my look. I decided to leave my hair down for the day.
But the room was quiet. I looked around, finally realising that right from the moment I had woken up, I hadn’t seen or heard Tessa at all. Panic rushed through me like a wild breath.
“Tessa?” I called out, even though I knew that I likely wasn’t going to get a response.
The last time she hadn’t been in the room by this time, things didn’t go so well. It had been a trap to get me alone and vulnerable.
My first instinct was to go after her, but with my heat period in full bloom, I had to be extremely careful to not end up in a place with too many people. Being in heat meant that my scent was going to be everywhere, and much more pronounced than usual, which, if noticed by the wrong wolf, could cause some issues. I hadn’t seen it happen in person, but I had heard about a time when a woman, already mated to another, ended up having sex with another man because of the intense pheromones her estrus created, which warped her senses, and that of the man. Although other details about the story were questionable, like her prior relationship with that man, the main point of the tale was that as a female in heat, it was better to stay indoors.
–
Fortunately, I didn’t have to search for long to find Tessa. She was outside playing around with the Halflings, looking pink with joy. After watching them from the balcony I had become so acquainted with for a little while, the worry in my chest dissipated and I left to return to my room.
The path back seemed extra perilous and long. Hallways seemed to be longer than usual, and my legs failed to carry me fast enough. Whenever I passed by a female servant, I could feel their sharp gazes fall on me as they realised what was going on. Hopefully this didn’t end up being the talk of the week, because a female going through estrus was just another way of announcing that she had found a mate-or had one.
Finally, my room came into view, and I breathed a sigh of relief and let my eyes close for a moment. But as I opened them, I saw that a door to my left had opened, and someone stepped out, holding a large brown box in his arms.
I couldn’t stop myself fast enough, and bumped into him. I screeched embarrassingly as I realised that it was Seth.
He held on to his box, regaining balance rather easily. A smile curved his lips when he saw me. “Oh, hello, Lucy. I’m sorry, I didn’t see you there.”
I shook my head, annoyed at how flustered I was. I needed to get away as soon as possible, because the heat inside of me intensified to a degree I didn’t think would have been possible. “No, I’m sorry. I was in a hurry and I wasn’t looking.” I cleared my throat. “Do you need help with that?” I pointed to the box.
He narrowed his eyes at first, before understanding what I’d just asked. “It’s alright, I can get it there.”
But I was already in front of him, holding on to the other edge of the box. I didn’t even understand why I wanted to help him.
We made our way to a room right beside mine. There were other neatly folded boxes around the large room big enough to be a house on its own, very similar to mine. It was the second room that Daven used to stay in on those rare nights he conceded to my request for solitude.
“Thank you, Lucy,” Seth said after we dropped the box. He looked up as his brothers emerged from a smaller, adjoining room that looked like a walk-in closet. “Look who I found, brothers,” he said cheerfully.
Shaun and Scott froze as soon as they saw me.
I nodded in greeting to them, and inspected the place. “You’re all moving here?”
“Yes,” said Seth. “So much space in this palace is getting wasted. The rooms we’re staying in could actually be used to accommodate more guards or maids.”
“Ahmad would have a heart attack if he hears you’re planning to bring maids into the royal wing,” I said with a light chuckle. A picture frame across the room caught my eyes, and I walked over to it.
The woman in the picture was extremely beautiful, with blonde hair and deep blue eyes. The only thing that differentiated our features were her face structure, and her shorter, more wavy, hair.
Was it my resemblance to her that attracted Daven to me?
Leaving my questions to the wind, I returned my attention back to the present, only to notice that all three men were looking at me intently.
“Lucy,” said Seth, “are you . . . going through heat, or do you just smell absolutely wonderful today?”
“I’m sorry,” I whispered, but I didn’t move.
It was my cue to leave the room, but my feet remained rooted in place. That devious part of me that only reared its head when the triplets were involved took over, and I found myself very curious to see what they would do if I didn’t leave.
As though he could smell my challenge, Shaun walked up to me and held me by the hips. The growling coming from his throat was absolutely feral, and it excited me beyond measure. All in that moment, I wanted him to drag me down to the floor and claim me.
He pressed his face to my neck, and I could feel the sharp points of his teeth graze my flesh.
‘Go ahead, do it,’ I wanted to tell him, but the words remained in my mind.
“You’re being very cruel to us, you know that?” he said against the shell of my ear. “So unbearably, cruel.” And then he pulled me even closer to him, bringing our hips together. The pure masculinity of him pressed against the soft flesh of my lower abdomen, taking my breath away.
I couldn’t stop the moan that fell from my lips, and it seemed to stir him up even more, because it twitched against me, as though seeking to burrow into my body.
I opened my eyes, catching sight of the fire burning in his, and a little bit of sanity returned to me. I pulled away from him, ignoring the throbbing between my thighs.
“I-I’m sorry,” I said again, before rushing out of the room. Behind me, I heard someone curse softly, but it wasn’t Shaun as usual, but a softer, gentler voice that I didn’t think was capable of doing such.
–
On getting to my room, I took off every item of clothing on my body, slipped underneath the bed covers, and squeezed my eyes shut, hoping to be captured by some obscene dream in which Shaun finished what he had started.