Curiosity crosses his expression, casually sweeping his gaze up and down my body as if assessing if I was a foreigner to this body that resembled his husband. 

"A rematch?" Verando muses, reeling back in his wolf which took great offense to my behavior. I knew he'd been lenient on me, allowing me to tackle him to the ground and surrendering his body to my torment. Alpha probably thought I could use a dose of manners but it was Verando who kept himself keyed down, allowing me to explore at my own pace. 

That was- until I stepped out of line.

It was unsatisfying, too restrained to bring me firmly to my appropriate place at his side. Truthfully, what stirred under my skin was hunger. For more. It was the first time I'd felt the urge, the desire for any sort of power or position in life. 

The desire to be put into submission came to the forefront every time I allowed my eyes to linger on him for too long.

 His very presence had awakened this primal urge that surfaced the moment he stepped into that doorway.

I was his, yet in this body, I didn't feel it so intimately as I had in my humanity. The spark of rebellion burned bright, for, I stood a chance at some sort of hierarchy. My position was no longer a given, I was not merely at his mercy and I could inflict sufficient damage to become a threat.

 Catching my lower lip in my teeth to hide the deviant smirk threatening to surface, I defiantly raise my eyebrows as I slowly begin to circle him. His body flexed, poised to defend himself, the man was entirely too unscathed compared to my state of disrepair and that simply wouldn't do.

 "Are you afraid you might lose your position to me?" Perhaps I could tempt him into participating.

With a scoff, he offers a dramatic eye roll but not a motion to engage me. "I'm not an Alpha anymore, remember?"

Taking a slow inhale, the intoxicating scent proved otherwise. Just as potent to me as any potion or spell, it brought out the challenge of the voice hunkering in the depths of my subconscious. My inner voice, the libido that had teased me throughout my youth, had been replaced by something much more powerful, something bordering on sinister. 

"Not what I'm picking up on." I tease, keeping my voice as even as possible. 

"Are we an expert now? You've been a lycan for 5 minutes and you're in tune with what an Alpha would smell like?" Verando remains still, skilled, knowing better than to trigger my youth and inexperience. 

I was unpredictable, uncertain even in my mind of what I was after. I felt confident I wouldn't hurt him, yet here I stalked, a hunter cornering his prey. 

I shrug one shoulder, dismissive. "I know what you smell like, I know what I feel. This is the first time I've felt we could be evenly matched, I'd just like to experiment a bit while we have space."

 The voice delights in the thought of the sport, I remember watching the wolves spar in the courtyard and wondering what they got out of the roughhousing. Now, it sounds increasingly appealing to flex this newfound strength. 

"You're very young to be pushing your body like this. Youth and enthusiasm will get you bruised and bloody. I'd like to remind you that you're a lycan now, I'm not going to be able to take it easy on you." His words caught me off guard, the threat in his voice very real in that he wouldn't hesitate to put me in my place. 

I consider this, consider his warning to me, much as it encourages me to back off it also invites me to press on. 

If I had this urge now, I could only imagine it would get stronger as time went on. I needed structure, I needed to be reminded where I belonged, it was the basis of my comfort and the missing piece in this vast land of senses and mystery. 

I needed to be certain in him and that included my lurking wolf. 

Taking a slow breath, I nod. "Put me in my place?"

Taking the opportunity, I move towards him. There's a hesitation in my body, an unknown of the speed at which I move. What I was not prepared for was the impact in which my husband directed me past him and then planted his palm in the center of my back to drive my full force into the snow on the ground. 

The eruption of white flakes burst from my collision, dusting me in a fine coat of frost. "You've been holding back on me." I accuse. 

"You were quite delicate before, darling."

Verando's voice is low, apologetic, he doesn't want to hurt me. I was pushing this on him, pushing him to fight me, but I didn't want to fight either. I wanted to get to know him in this way, and know my strength with someone who had an invested interest in keeping me alive. 

Flipping over on my back, I attempt to sweep his leg with my own only to feel his hand grip my ankle and feel him hoist me up above the ground only to then promptly drop me back into the fresh pack. 

Managing to get my feet under me, I propel myself forward to tackle him, figuring I'd caught him off guard, and yet I'm met with a brick wall as his crossed arms block any invasion into his torso. He'd been so easy to knock off balance in all of our sparring before, I'd personally pushed him off ledges and injured his pride with multiple slips and falls. 

Crashing into him, feeling the immense ache radiating through my body that could only be akin to running headfirst into concrete, reminded me just how much he'd been withholding. 

I can only assume that falling away from any input I'd given him was a safety measure for if my human body had done this surely I might have broken something. Yet, I'd managed to elicit a grunt of effort, to push him back and slide him on his heels in the snow. 

My hand-to-hand was laughable at best and I knew I was outmatched as every attempt to get over on him was met with a skillful block and redirect. 

All efforts sent me spinning and slinging in odd directions as he sent me away from his vitals and out into space. It's me who is slipping and falling, while the impacts are startling and uncomfortable, this new body holds up well to the force. 

Falling once more towards the snow, I grip his wrist and yank him down with me, utilizing my strength, I catch him off guard for one moment and pin him into the snow. "Ha!" I proclaim, only to gasp at the speed at which he flips us and shoves my hands above my head. 

Panting from the exertion, I can only stare up at him, bewildered at this man whom I'd taken for granted in his abilities. 

"I was promised bruised and bloodied." I challenge, bucking my hips against him in an attempt to flip him off of me. Much good it did given the size difference, I'd gained only a few inches, not the mile of space it would have taken to make us equal. 

"Well, to be honest, I thought you'd be much less careless. Your hand-to-hand is dreadful." His biceps flex as he keeps me pinned, having to strain to hold onto my squirming form. The chilled ice cools my burning skin, where I expect to shiver, I feel comfortable in the cool of the snow. "Disappointing and not very Lordly of you...."

"I'm a king, not a lord." I retort strongly, wrapping my legs around his waist in an attempt to twist free. "I didn't realize what a brute you were. I asked for a spar, you hardly touched me. You know what they say, a student is a reflection on their teacher." 

Narrowing his eyes, he glares down at me, and a low growl rumbles in his chest, causing my body to shiver at the intensity of his gaze. 

How could he handle me? In any other instance and if I were anyone else, my throat would be his for the taking. But here, beneath him, I meet no such punishment. I'd disarmed him, if only for a moment as his expression softened. 

"I came too close to losing you to beat this obstinance out of you, we can't do things the way a pack would, you're not a member of my pack. You're carrying a piece of my soul, you know."

Wrinkling my nose, I struggled to keep my ferocity when he hit me with such an onslaught of gentle evaluation. 

"You don't want me in your pack?" The statement wounds me, cutting me to the quick and ruining some of my resolve to insight a response from him. It would make sense, I suppose, that he wouldn't want me as part of that world. If he couldn't discipline me, what else was there to keep me in line? Perhaps this wasn't as cut and dry as I had hoped, silently I kick myself for not delving more into pack politics. 

I hadn't fit in in any sense in my human life, it made little to no sense to assume I would settle in so seamlessly into a society full of rules and regulations. 

"Stop." The command is strong, bringing me to pause immediately as my gaze lifts quickly to meet his. "Don't you dare assume that I wouldn't want you. If you gave me a moment to speak, as a subordinate wolf would, you would have learned that you are far beyond a simple member of some ridiculous pack. Nic, you know I have left that nonsense behind." 

My lips part and he narrows his eyes, silencing me once more and producing a timid swallow as I peer up at him. "Of course, that's not what you're truly after, is it?" His tone lowers, almost brooding as he switches my wrists to one hand and uses his free hand to grip my jaw. "Do you think I'm blind to what you seek?"

I shake my head out of his grasp only to gasp as that same hand lands between my legs to firmly grope me through the tattered remains of my pants. 

"I just wanted a rematch." I hedge, squirming beneath his grip yet held here by the weight of his gaze. Suddenly, I'm painfully aware of how my body tangled around his. My legs clinging to his hips, my entire being seemed to bow towards him. Lowering his nose, he takes a slow inhale of my neck, dragging the tip of his nose up to skirt my jaw and press his lips to the base of my ear. 

"Youth and inexperience." He exhales in amusement. "Have you already forgotten your enthusiasm in the kitchen?" 

My body ignites, I shut my eyes firmly as his hand trails up to shred the rest of my shirt. The pieces slip off into the snow, exposing the rest of my chest to the chill air and bringing a shiver of excitement. 

"If you could think back to that moment, you'll realize this scent is not one of an Alpha but one of who commands over you. It's an assurance that you belong to me." 

In a quick motion, he flips me onto my front and I'm left dazed as my face is pressed heavily into the frosty ground. The weight of his pelvis strains against my raised hips as his knees force mine apart. Strong and warm, his palm presses carefully into the nape of my neck to hold me here. "You already know your place, don't you? Right here, beneath me, because that's where you are happiest. You just love it when I put you here." 

His hand makes firm contact with my ass and I nearly yelp in surprise. 

The sound is a shock yet my response has me red-faced, embarrassed, and beyond consumed with desire for this man. The urge to rebel conflicts hard against my desire to please him as a low whine curls from my throat, "Alpha." I managed, unable to control the response nor did I wish to.

 His evaluation of me was more accurate than I could ever say out loud, I belonged to him. 

Thrusting his hips to mine, I feel his arousal against the whispy remains of my pants. "You can finally feel what you do to me." He growls, tightening his grip on the back of my neck. "This urge?" 

I groan as he grinds his hips against my backside. The voice lingering in the background silences, bowing to the desire that won out over all else. 

"It's your hunger to serve me."

Kicked into overdrive, my skin feels as though it's one fire as I sway my hips to tempt him into action. The sound of his voice, the scent of him engulfing me in a hot blanket of unchecked lust threatened to tip me over the edge in its own right. It was more intense than anything I'd ever experienced, inducing a heavy pant that heaved my chest and trembled my legs with anticipation.

Glimpsing over my shoulder, I could see the effect I had on him was just as potent as he was to me. "Then take me." I groan, shuddering as he shreds the remnants of pants from my hips, sliding my boxers down just enough to grind his clothed cock against me. 

"Gods, Randy." I'm trapped in his grasp, unable to move from my pinned position and completely at his will. Gripping my hands into fists, I swallow back the desperate sound that wished to slip from my throat. "I belong to you."

The attempt is weak but it's what my body pleaded for me to do. Wetting his fingers beyond his lips, he slides two of the digits inside of me, in a slow torturous curling motion that makes me writhe. I wish to press my thighs together, fighting against the intensity of the sensation.  "Claim me as yours. Please."

"I know, I know. You're coming apart at the seams." Verando exhales, patient with my desperation as I rock my hips. "That's a good boy. Beg." His voice is low, and sultry, driving me mad. 

Shutting my eyes tightly, I sink my teeth into my lower lip as I hear him fumble with the zipper of his pants. Consumed, I can focus in on his pounding pulse and the hearty tone of his breathing, I can hear just how badly he wishes to have me. "Randy, I need you." I manage, a moan raising in the octave of my voice as he tortures me with his fingers.

Unable to stop the grin as he curses under his breath, I part my lips to gasp as he fills me. The intensity brings a low, husky growl from my chest as I struggle to get used to the size of him. Any attempt to arch away is thwarted as he shoves my face into the ground with a growl.

Forcing myself onto my hands, his palm moves from the nape of my neck to tangle his fingers in my hair and yank my head back. Acting under its power, my body moves against him as if I'm merely a slave to a part of myself that had longed for recognition for what felt like an eternity. 

I loved to be dominated, I had missed this side of him, immensely so, in my weakened state. 

As he takes me, merciless in his desire, I find that once again he's been holding out on me and I find that I'm starved for him. Reaching back, my hand touches his hip, causing him to freeze.

 "Are you alright?" He manages, his voice strained, heavy with concern for me. 

I pull away only to spin to face him and nod, breathless, as I climb onto his body once more and wrap my arms around his neck. Sucking my fingers, I use the wetness as more lubricant as I twist my hand against his shaft before lowering myself onto him once more. "It hurts so good." I manage, wincing as his hands pull me roughly against his hips.

My lips find his, moaning as I set my own greedy pace. The kiss doesn't last nearly long enough and I'm breathless as he sinks his teeth into the base of my neck. Verando groans against my heated skin, his scent the most potent hit of any drug as I nuzzle my cheek against his in desperation for that closeness. 

 I dig my nails into his shoulders, bowing my head to plead for all of him into his ear. A gasp leaves my lips as he drops back to his hands and knees, pinning me under him into the cool snow. "Fucking hell, Nic." Verando murmurs, making me whimper as his teeth penetrate my skin once more. He was devouring me, laying claim to every part of me he could reach as I raked my nails over his skin. 

It was as if we were desperate to mark each other, my wolf was running rampant, hyper-sexualized, and unwilling to surrender one ounce of this moment. Beyond the intensity of my new sense, this was how I convinced myself that we would be ok, that I would be enough for him, and that he could still love me through this.

Bathing the bite mark with his tongue brings a throaty moan that causes the red to rise to my cheeks once more. "Let me hear you," Verando commands as I wrap my legs around him, my body succumbing to the intensity of my overwhelmed senses. 

As I begin to climb, I can only writhe against him as he meets me in his pursuit of completion. One of his hands finds my thigh, hooking behind my knee to pin my leg upward, exposing me to his will and I allow myself to be taken. Bearing my neck to him, my eyes flutter shut as I cry out in encouragement.

I grip for any part of him that I can reach, he catches my lips once more. Everything was different and yet nothing had changed, I was his equal, his husband, despite my preference for his dominant nature. "I love you." I manage, crushing my lips to his as I hook my arm around his neck, fisting my hand in his hair, pleading for him to finish inside of me.

My confession is his undoing and feeling him release himself spurred on an orgasm more intense than I'd ever felt. I was grateful for the distance we'd put between us and the elf community, for my desperation embarrassed even me while I begged for him.

I press my forehead to his as my body shakes, I'm limp and yet so deliciously alive. Verando pants, hovering over me in what could be considered fatigue. It wasn't often I got to see him in a sex-induced stupor as he waited to catch his breath and I admired the planes of his face, slowly trailing my fingers through his locks. 

I had suspected his weight on me might feel stifling but instead, I feel quite comfortable with the level of contact. 

"You've been holding out on me." I accuse, wrinkling my nose at the soggy snow and slush beneath us. While I didn't mind his presence, our body heat had succeeded in melting all the fresh fluffy snow around us. "I'm also covered in mud."