The Wolf's God Unwanted Luna

Vivian’s POV

I scrambled back and threw myself to the ground, trying to crawl away, until Zaliver was suddenly on me. Moving faster than thought, he flipped me over and pulled me into his lap, straddling him in one quick, fluid motion.

His arms locked around me, one hand pressing gently but firmly against the back of my head, keeping my gaze locked on his.

"I’m sorry," he murmured, his voice low and heavy with guilt. "He’s harder to control than I remember."

His breath warmed my skin. His hand trembled slightly against my back. His eyes, now glowing an unnatural shade, dropped to my neck.

"After I mark you, all your injuries will heal faster. Our bond will strengthen completely," he whispered.

But I didn’t hear most of it.

All I could focus on were his parted lips and the sharp glint of his elongated canines.

I knew I had lost even before it ended. Deep down, I knew. Just like he did.

It was only now, standing there with the weight of reality pressing down on me, that the truth finally sank in.

I was mated to him.

To Zaliver.

To the most powerful creature born of not just one race, but two. He didn’t just command a species, he was one. He didn’t need armies or weapons to catch what he wanted. He was the storm.

Relentless. Unstoppable. Inescapable.

There was no corner of the world I could disappear into where he wouldn’t find me, not with the strength he carried in his body, the speed in his blood, or the sharpened instincts in his soul.

I was shackled to a force that no one, not even me, could run from.

"No man should have this much power," I whispered, my voice trembling with awe and something close to fear.

His piercing blue eyes locked onto my neck, and a slow, devilish smile tugged at the corners of his mouth.

"You’re right," he murmured.

He stepped closer. My breath caught.

His fingers brushed through my hair, gently pushing it over my shoulder, then wrapped around the back of my head. He tilted it, exposing my neck.

My heart kicked hard against my ribs.

I knew what he was about to do.

This wasn’t a kiss. It wasn’t playful. It wasn’t a tease.

This was forever.

His lips found the curve of my neck. I felt the brush of them, soft, reverent, then the tip of his nose grazed up toward my ear as he whispered, voice low and final.

"But I get to share all this power with you."

Then he struck.

His fangs sank into my skin, and I screamed.

A fire like nothing I’d ever felt surged through me. My blood spilled into his mouth as he bit deeper. I clawed at his arms, weakly trying to push him away, but he only pulled me closer.

His voice slipped into my mind, like silk over a blade.

Give in to it. Feel me.

I didn’t want to.

I wanted to resist.

But the pain was too much. I couldn’t hold on.

So I let go.

And in that surrender, something happened that I hadn’t expected.

I felt him.

Not just the warmth of his body against mine, not just the sound of his voice in my mind. I felt him the way you feel a song that knows you better than you know yourself. The grief he carried in his chest like old stone. The fierce, desperate tenderness underneath all that cold authority. The centuries of loneliness that had calcified into armor, and the single crack running through all of it, shaped exactly like me.

I finally understood.

We had danced around each other. Played games. Pretended we were something other than what we really were. But this, this bond, it stripped all of that away.

We weren’t two people anymore.

We were one truth.

Two souls crashing together, choosing to fall not despite the risk, but because of it.

Zaliver was there in every breath I took, every tremor in my bones. I could feel him, the immense power flowing through his body like lightning. It was raw, primal, and impossible to pull away from.

I was burning.

Every nerve in me lit up. I hadn’t even realized I was moving, pressing my hips against his with a needy grind, until he let out a rough groan that matched my own.

He pulled back from my neck, licking the wound, his mark.

I gasped, shaking.

It was like he’d tattooed himself into my soul.

Reality slammed back into me all at once, like surfacing from deep water. The forest. The dark. The cold air against my skin. I was in his arms, and I was changed, and somewhere underneath the exhaustion and the fear and the lingering fire of the bite, something in me had gone quiet in a way it never had before.

Not empty. Settled.

And the first thought in my mind?

Zaliver. Naked.

I remembered the chase. The beast hiding in his skin. The danger, the fear, and the thrill.

In a blink, his arms were around me. He lifted me easily and began walking, carrying me like I weighed nothing.

I scowled up at him, too exhausted to protest physically, but not about to go silent.

"You do realize you’re completely naked, right?" I asked dryly.

He looked down at me with that annoyingly smug grin and a glint of calm satisfaction in his eyes.

"Yup."

I rolled my eyes and stared ahead, trying to will myself not to pass out in his arms.

He sighed, voice lower this time. "You’re angry with me. I know."

I didn’t look at him. "That’s putting it mildly. I don’t even want to see you, much less be carried by you."

He let out a laugh, deep and rich, shaking both of us as he walked. It made my glare deepen.

"Well, then that’s my cue," he said.

"Cue for what?"

"To start wooing you."

I turned my head, startled by the softness in his tone. His smile wasn’t cocky now, it was warm. Almost hopeful.

He leaned down and pressed a kiss to my forehead.

I flinched, but he didn’t pull away.

He just kept walking, holding me close.

Like I was his.

Because now, I was.