I intended in the kitchen, attempting to preserve half the apples that I’d taken from Astrid’s house. I knew my sister well enough to know that next time I visited, there’d be a box of canned fruit and vegetables, as well as a bunch of other snacks that didn’t require freezing waiting there for me. Astrid was many things—emotionally unavailable, ambitious, basically the ideal little Hunter robot—but above all, she was organized. She would have taken note of my food requirements and planned accordingly for my next supply run.
It had been weird seeing her last night. Astrid and I had always been very different kids even before I’d been quietly shuffled out of the way and began living a more regular human life. While she’d been the one to approach me with the marriage idea, I assumed that was because the Council thought I’d be more agreeable if it came from her. I’d never once considered that maybe Astrid was looking out for me, but last night, it seemed like she was looking out for me a little. She’d even talked some shit to Allerick and Soren, which had been both bold and inadvisable.
Maybe I’d been too hard on Astrid all these years. I hadn’t exactly fought very hard to maintain our relationship either, and she had her reputation to worry about.
I’d make more effort with her, I resolved to myself. Especially if she was going to let me use her place as an alternative to dropping in at the Council HQ. The more I reflected on that, the more it annoyed me that they’d demanded I check in with them on each trip home. Was I not a citizen of the human realm now I’d married? Why couldn’t I go where I pleased? I may have agreed to this marriage, but it had still been their idea and I didn’t see why I should be punished for it.
″You are very stompy today,” Levana remarked, sounding faintly amused. “Did your trip to the human realm not go well, Queen Ophelia? Or was it the performance that bothered you?”
″The performance was fine,” I replied, flicking my hand dismissively. I mean, it bothered me a little that everyone had this impression of me as a frightened little mouse, but I didn’t want to turn it into a huge deal. “And the trip home was uneventful. I got the food I needed and a few clothes I’d been storing at my sister’s house.”
Levana hesitated and I glanced back at her, giving her what I hoped was an encouraging smile. She’d gotten more comfortable with me over the past week, and I felt like we were almost at ‘friend’ status.
We were going to get there, I was determined. I would wear her down and make her love me. I was going to grow all over Levana like shadow fungus. I was pretty sure I was already there with Affra, she basically fussed over me like a grandmother who didn’t get to spend enough time with their grandchildren and overcompensated whenever she did.
Despite marrying the king and living in the castle, my life here wasn’t exactly a fairy tale, but I’d still grown rather fond of it. I was going to do my best to hold on to it.
″It’s just that I heard a rumor that the king didn’t feed on your trip,” Levana whispered, glancing around uncomfortably.
″Oh! Um, well no, he didn’t. Is that bad?” I asked. I hadn’t questioned Allerick on why he’d opted not to feed or why Soren had floated off in a huff. I doubted he would have told me anyway, despite his chattier than usual mood last night.
″The king can’t leave the realm as often to feed because—” Levana suddenly cut herself off, and it stung to know that she didn’t trust me even though I sort of got it. I was new here, and from Hunter stock at that. “Well, he just can’t leave as often. He should have fed last night while he was in the human realm.”
Huh. I didn’t question him not being able to leave as often—he was the king and he had king stuff to do—but I couldn’t understand why he hadn’t fed. I hadn’t been agitating for us to leave, and while that park was pretty deserted, we could have gone literally anywhere with their shadow traveling abilities. They could have found another area on the Hunter-approved list.
″I don’t know what to tell you,” I said honestly. “Soren fed, and I didn’t, like, scream or get all disgusted if that’s what you’re worried about.”
″No, I wasn’t implying that at all, Queen Ophelia,” Levana said hurriedly, evidently worried she’d offended me. “It’s none of my business, I shouldn’t even be asking. I guess I was worried something had happened.”
I frowned to myself, not saying anything further because we were now within hearing range of Verner and Andrus—the two guards who stood at the wing to the king and queen’s quarters. Soren had definitely seemed agitated by Allerick’s decision, so maybe something had happened, but I just hadn’t seen it.
″I will see you at dinner, Queen Ophelia,” Levana said quietly, giving me a short bow as I passed the point where the guards remained.
″See you at dinner!” I called back, still mulling over her words. Damn it, I’d been planning on finishing my drawing inspired by the ghostly Shade forms I’d seen last night, but now my brain had taken off on a completely different tangent.
I opened my door, knowing Affra would be taking her afternoon nap, and closed it behind me without paying much attention. Only as I turned to face the room did I realize I wasn’t alone.
″What is this?” Allerick purred, sitting on the edge of my bed, sifting through sheafs of paper. Drawings. My drawings.
My mouth went dry. I was frozen in place in front of the closed door while my husband sat on my bed looking at my drawings.
″You weren’t meant to see those,” I said in lieu of a better answer. One that I didn’t have.
″No?” He gave me a slow smile that revealed a row of vicious teeth, and my belly swooped for an entirely different reason. “But I’m in some of them. And the ones I’m not in… well, you hadn’t met me yet.”
″It could be anyone,” I argued weakly. The images were all shades of gray, done in charcoal. The pale gray I’d used implied Allerick’s distinctive ice-blue eyes, but I was frankly willing to argue that it was anyone but him at this point.
The crown was an unfortunate giveaway. Maybe he wouldn’t notice.
″You’re a pretty little liar,” Allerick said in a deep voice that traveled directly to my clit. “You’d better hope they’re of me. If you’ve been drawing other Shades fucking my wife, wearing my crown,”—shit—“then I’m going to have to kill some of my own subjects, Queen Ophelia.”
″As if you aren’t off fucking your subjects every night,” I scoffed, even as my idiot vagina was being all ‘I’m ready for you now, oh big strong predator. Take me.’
Allerick did a double take. “I haven’t taken a lover since this marriage was brokered. I won’t take one. We are married, Ophelia. Did you think this was a flexible arrangement?” His voice dropped into a furious growl at the end that seemed to rumble through every erogenous zone I had.
″No, I have never thought that. I thought you thought that,” I rasped, pressing my thighs together because my panties were feeling damp. Like weirdly damp.
″Never.” Allerick groaned. “You have no idea how delicious your fear is to me, wife. I need to lick the pretty pussy you’re hiding under those ladylike clothes. Does your cunt taste as sweet as your fear smells?”
Yes! Holy fuck, yes. What had taken him so long?
Now we’d gotten that pesky issue of him not screwing other people out of the way, my body didn’t understand why I wasn’t impaled on his dick yet.
″Wait,” I said, frowning as my mind caught up. “My fear? I’m not afraid.”
Allerick stilled. “Yes, you are.”
I snorted at the ridiculousness of him trying to argue this with me. ”No, I’m not. Not even a little.”
The King of the Shades reeled back like I’d slapped him. “Then what are you feeling right now? What is making you smell like that?”
″I. Am. Horny.”
I punctuated each frustrated word with a step towards him, kicking off my flats as I went.
He didn’t quite frown, but there was no mistaking the confusion in his body language.
″No.” He shook his head. “It’s not that. You smelled like this at our wedding.”
″I was horny at our wedding!”
Oh my god, everyone thought I was afraid. There had been a whole skit laughing about how scared they thought I was at my wedding!
If I wasn’t so sexually frustrated, I might feel sorry for my adorably confused husband. He looked at me before returning that ice blue gaze to my explicit drawings, finally putting the pieces together.
His wife had elaborate monster fucking fantasies, and he was a monster who hadn’t been fucking me.
Fear. I almost snorted at the thought. Idiot.
″Are you telling me,” Allerick said slowly, carefully collecting up my drawings and setting them on the nightstand, “that you have been wet and wanting since our wedding, wife?”
I paused, the deep commanding nature of his voice reminding me that while we may be husband and wife, we were also predator and prey.
My panties grew embarrassingly wet in response, and I was starting to get concerned about the low absorbency capabilities of lace. Had my period started? Surely not, I’d just had it.
If anything, I’d be ovulating.
Allerick inhaled deeply, breathing out on a groan that made my thighs tremble. “Come to me, wife.”
It wasn’t even a question that I’d go—I’d been waiting for this moment since I met him—but I could see the question in Allerick’s body language.
The choice was mine.
How sweet, this monstrous king of mine.
I took a step forward, unfastening the line of small buttons that went down the front of my dress as I went. It was a suitably conservative dark gray silk, fitted at the top with elbow-length sleeves, and floaty to where it fell just above my knees.
Regal-ish. That’s what I’d been going for.
The scarlet lace lingerie I was wearing underneath was anything but.
The silk fabric of my dress pooled at my feet as I stepped between Allerick’s knees, and I felt the heat of his gaze as it ran down my body. A sound burst out of Allerick that stilled us both—a rumbling almost purr-like noise that made my muscles go weak and my pussy gush. As soon as the noise started, it stopped and I missed it instantly, but I didn’t have time to mourn it because Allerick was on me.
Strong hands wrapped around my waist, claws lightly scraping my skin without breaking it. I landed with an oomph on my back on the mattress, already reaching for my underwear to push the embarrassingly wet garment off, but Allerick beat me to it. His head dipped between my thighs, and I was forced to drop my knees flat to accommodate his horns. There was a puff of hot breath over my mons before I felt the unmistakably sharp edge of those teeth.
″What are you—”
My question ended in a gasp of surprise as his fangs ripped through the lace of my panties. It wasn’t a suave, practiced movement—it was more like my underwear personally offended him and he wanted to destroy them for their insolence. His claws sliced through the elastic either side of my hips and I sucked in a breath at the sudden disappearance of the friction.
Allerick loomed over me, looking every inch a feral monster with the crimson fabric of my panties caught between his teeth like blood dripping from a beast’s maw.
Another absurd gush of arousal flooded the sheets and my face heated in response.
″I don’t know why I’m so wet,” I mumbled, very unsexy concerns about mattress protectors popping into my head.
Allerick yanked my panties out of his mouth, shamelessly pressing them to his nose before tossing them aside. “I know why, little queen. I’ve seen your pretty drawings, and you have no idea what is hidden beneath these shadows.” His grin was smug as he gestured towards his still covered cock. “Your body knows though. Your body is trying to prepare you.”
Well then.
″Show me,” I demanded, but Allerick just chuckled darkly, lowering his face between my thighs again, his horns pressing against my flesh.
″Later.”
I wanted to argue, but Allerick’s long tongue was prying me open, moving like no human tongue could move as it explored every inch of me. I almost wept at the sensation as that wicked tongue brushed against my clit. I was no virgin to, well, basically anything, but this felt like no oral I’d ever received before. Experiencing intimacy with Allerick would be like doing everything for the first time again.
″You’re so silky,” Allerick groaned, his voice sibilant with his long tongue still extended. “Silky and sweet.”
His delightfully thick tongue burrowed into my cunt, making me forget how to breathe for a moment.
I’d had dicks inside me that didn’t feel this good, I thought hazily. Rough. I felt silky to Allerick because his tongue was so rough.
Delightful.
Every part of him seemed designed just for me. It made me want to see his cock even more. After he finished what he was doing.
He pulled his tongue free with an embarrassingly wet slurp, licking his lips before returning his attention to my clit. As his claws pressed against my spread thighs, I realized he couldn’t use his fingers to stimulate me, not without turning my insides to confetti. Briefly, I worried that it wasn’t going to be enough to get me over the edge, but Allerick’s tongue seemed to pulse around my clit and I became completely undone.
My husband’s hands held me in place as I thrashed beneath him, attempting to kick his face away as the pleasure bordered on too much, but he didn’t let up. One crushing orgasm rolled into another, and Allerick’s attentions grew more languid, easing me back to this dimension after my mind had departed it completely.
″Please, please…” I panted, reaching for Allerick.
″No more?” he assumed ruefully.
I blinked at him.
″Show me your cock,” I corrected. “Definitely more, are you joking right now?”
It was his turn to blink in surprise. “My wife is insatiable,” he muttered approvingly, more to himself than anything. He had no idea. “Tell me if it gets to be too much.”
I was about to inform him there was no risk of that happening when he moved up to kneel on the mattress and dropped the shadows that preserved his modesty.
My mouth went dry. All the fluid in my body had traveled south on an urgent lubrication mission.
″Ophelia,” he rumbled, that strange purring sound flaring back to life. It was even better than the reverent sound of my name on his lips. “Truly, nothing frightens you.”
″I have almost no sense of self-preservation,” I murmured, rolling onto my front and crawling towards his magnificent cock like a moth drawn to a flame. “It’s so…”
″Monstrous?” Allerick suggested wryly, lazily fisting his shaft.
″Glorious,” I breathed, my fingers tracing the thick bulge at the base of his cock. He sighed happily, seemingly content to let me explore. “What is this?”
His grin was all smug arrogance. “My knot. Once I am buried to the hilt in that pretty pussy, it will expand, locking us together so not one drop of my cum escapes.”
Swoop. My belly dropped all the way to my toes.
″Does my wife like the idea of being bred?” he asked lazily, swiping a drop of precum from his tip with a knuckle and offering it to my lips. I licked my tongue over it greedily, closing my eyes at the unexpectedly sweet taste.
Yes. Yes, I liked that idea very much. I was on birth control, but I could happily ignore the fact for now to let this delicious fantasy play out.
Allerick laughed quietly, lying on the bed next to me, his enormous frame dominating the space, and his impressive cock standing at attention.
″If you want my seed, come and get it,” he said, gesturing at his dick magnanimously, ever the insouciant royal.
Cute.
I climbed over him, feeling the burn in my inner thighs as I straddled his hips and rubbed my drenched pussy over his length.
″You may be the king of this realm and used to demanding every little thing you want,” I purred, rocking my hips slowly. “But I am your queen. You will put in work for me.”
With sexual boldness that was surprising even for me, I climbed up his body, smirking when his tongue flicked out to tease my clit as I crawled over his face before settling on my back against the cushions with my legs spread.
″I will gladly put in work for you, your majesty,” Allerick said with a dark smile, shoving my legs wide and settling himself between them, bracing his weight on his arms either side of me.
He was so warm. The body heat radiated off him even with the small distance between us, and the warmth made my already relaxed muscles feel even more languid. Perhaps I should be embarrassed by my nudity in front of him, but he didn’t look at me like he found my pale, clawless human body revolting at all.
″Are you ready for me?” Allerick drawled, dropping his hips to rub his enormous dick teasingly over my clit.
″Are you ready for me?” I scoffed. I was going to wear this Shade out, that was for goddamn sure. I had plans and fantasies I wanted to fulfill.
Allerick smirked, reaching between us to line his cock up at my entrance then oh so slowly pushing forward. I sucked in a surprised breath at the intrusion, at the fullness of him. Not even my biggest dildo could have prepared me for the stretch of Allerick’s cock and oh my god, we hadn’t even got to the knot yet.
″Relax,” Allerick growled, exposing his vicious teeth. “You will relax for me, wife. Your cunt will stretch for me, for my knot, and I will fucking breed you. Understand?”
″I understand,” I gasped, grabbing the back of my knees and pulling them up towards my chest, opening myself up for him and saying a silent prayer that my birth control held up against monster sperm, as tempting as his words were. “You’re so deep, oh my god.”
The stretch I’d been prepared for. I hadn’t been prepared for feeling like my insides were rearranging themselves to accommodate Allerick’s cock. Like he was permanently imprinting himself on my body, shaping it to his will.
I didn’t even mind. My mind and body were in agreement—it was Allerick or no one after this.
The veins in his forearms stood out against his leathery skin as he picked up his pace, thrusting deeply but taking his time, lips peeled back to reveal his fangs, eyes occasionally scrunching shut like the pleasure was as overwhelmingly good for him as it was for me, which couldn’t possibly be true.
″Your knot,” I gasped, arching my back. “I want it.”
″You’ll get it,” Allerick replied, looking a little feral in the best kind of way. “Relax. Let me in.”
I made a keening noise, my nails digging into the back of my thighs where I still kept my legs up as Allerick began pushing his knot in. “It’s so much.”
″You can take it,” he grunted, slowly rocking his hips forward. “You will take it. Let me in, Ophelia.”
I forced my body to relax, to concentrate on the many pleasurable sensations that outweighed the strangeness of the thick knot pressing against my entrance.
″My good, sweet little queen,” Allerick groaned, pressing all the way forward. I made a noise somewhere between a squeal and a sigh as his knot seemed to inflate inside me, locking us tightly together. I could feel him everywhere. Despite his intimidating girth and the size of his knot, even though it looked like there was no possible way it would fit, he felt made for me.
It was so much sensation that it bordered on overwhelming, and yet it wasn’t enough. There was something missing. I clawed the sheets, trying to ground myself before I burst into tears and begged him to put his teeth in my neck. I had no idea why I wanted that, but I was craving it more than anything.
Insane, I reminded myself. That is an insane request.
Though for a moment, I wondered if it was a shared moment of insanity, because I could have sworn Allerick’s icy eyes were fixated on my neck before he scrunched them closed, holding his entire body still for a moment until he regained his composure.
″Look at you,” Allerick purred, scraping his claws over my belly, his voice gravelly. “No, look. Look down.”
I blinked, my orgasm haze clearing enough to realize he was actually giving me an instruction, and looked down the line of my body.
Holy belly bulge.
I could physically see his cock in me. Or his cock shifting my guts around. Whatever was happening, I was into it. My pussy contracted around Allerick’s knot like a vice as another rush of wetness tried to escape, leaking out in the slightest trickle from where we were sealed together.
Allerick grinned viciously, his head tipping up from gazing at my bulging midsection to my breasts before settling on my neck again.
″How long will we stay like this?” I rasped, shifting my hips slightly. Just that slight movement stimulated everything, and my mouth fell open on a silent scream as a faint orgasm caught me off guard, slowly unfurling through me.
″Hopefully, a good long while,” Allerick replied, suddenly scooping me up and rolling so that he was lying on his back while I shuddered my way through yet another orgasm on top of him. My husband groaned as I clenched around him, claws digging into my hips as his cock flexed as it swelled inside me, flooding my pussy all over again.
″I’m going to bloat up like a balloon if you keep filling me with cum,” I whined, not entirely sure if I was protesting or begging for more.
″Good,” Allerick rumbled. “Hopefully your belly will still be nice and round by dinner, so everyone can see as well as smell how well you take your husband’s knot.”
And then he was rocking into me all over again, making my pussy convulse and my brain go blank, and my only coherent thought was that I hoped he was right.
