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Someone was stroking me as I slept. I felt like I had swum up, up from under the black water of the lake I'd seen in my mind's eye, the viscous fluid holding a heavier than normal weight as I pushed through it. By the time I breached it, I was panting with the effort.

Which didn't explain why I was lying on a bundle of furs in what looked like a medieval cottage.

"Ah, there she is." Apparently, she was my nipple, as a strange hand reached from behind me and gave it a tweak. "These are quite lovely. So lush."

I jerked away and heard peals of laughter as I clambered clumsily from the fur nest. When I stood, I looked for the owner of the voice and the hand, and was horrified at the result.

There he lay, the black wolf, resplendent on the pelts, his pale skin unmarked as it had been just after I'd left his cell. His hand toyed with his rigid cock almost absently, but those blue eyes stared into mine.

"Finally taken a mate, little queen? I have been waiting for you to form your court. You activate your mating bond, you activate all of your mating bonds."

"All of them? I only activated one."

He smiled at this, finally leaving his dick alone and getting to his feet. I shied back when he approached me, so he held up a hand. I had no idea what magic this was, but I couldn't move a muscle.

"Mmm..." he purred in appreciation as he inspected my body. "What a pity I couldn't mark you in much more pleasant ways. Look at you quiver, my darling. I could almost persuade myself it was in anticipation.”

Not fucking likely , I snarled in my mind, unable to move my lips.

"Well, let's reveal your other mark, anyway.

I'm hurt you don't wear it with pride." He pouted, honest to goodness pouted, as he pulled my hair to one side.

He stroked his fingers over my neck, the place where he'd bitten me, and inside my head, I cried out at the sudden burn of pain.

For a split second, it was as if he'd bitten me again and the venom was burning into my skin.

"There, now all of your mate bonds are in place. "

He looked down at my body with a possessive eye, sweeping his hand down my collarbone and cupping my breast before sliding it across my stomach.

"Yes, you're just perfect. None of them are going to resist this splendour laid out for their delectation.

" His hand slipped between my legs. If I could have snarled, bit, slashed, or torn his fucking head off, I'd have done it.

Instead, my body betrayed me. "So wet...

" he hissed, the black pupils in his eyes flaring.

He pulled his fingers away, showing me the glistening evidence there, despite no feeling of arousal from me.

He licked them, a horrible echo of Finn's gesture before.

"Your reluctant lover is right. So sweet.

Just the honeypot to lure those I need to your side. "

He rested his forehead against mine, smiling as he said, "Come to me, little queen. Soon, or this will become a nightly ritual.