Page 59 of The Forbidden Wolf King
We walked out of the living room and into a small library. It was cute that Axil seemed to know where he was going, which meant he’d been here before. Probably as a kid.
Axil looked around, seemingly stuck in his memories and then glanced at me. “You know what it feels like to pull on your dominant power and hold another dominant’s gaze?”
I nodded. As a female in a pack of strong males I’d had to do it often.
“Well, controlling another person against their will is a lot like that. But instead of holding eye contact you …” His lips thinned as he stared off into the rows of books in the distance, seemingly at a loss for words. “You hold the image in your mind of what you want them to do and …pushit over them. You wrap them in it until they are forced to do it,” he finished and then shook his head. “I’m sorry I’ve never had to explain this to another person before. My father taught Ansel and I when we were younger.”
I nodded. “That’s okay. I think I know what you mean. It’s like holding a thought in your head of a person kneeling, and they kneel?”
“Sort of, yeah. Do you want to try it on me first?”
My eyes widened. Control Axil? Against his will? The thought felt so wrong and yet I knew he was the best person to practice with.
“Uh, sure,” I said hesitantly.
“You won’t hurt me,” he said, and then placed his arm over mine. “Hold my gaze.”
I had friends who were submissives and they said it was uncomfortable to hold a dominant’s gaze, that when they locked eyes with their alpha for too long, their insides churned.
Not me. It gave me a thrill. My heart would pound in anticipation of how long I would be able to hold it.
“I’ll have to bring you into Death Mountain pack,” he stated.
Even though I knew that was inevitable, my heart pinched a little at the thought of leaving Dorian, Amara, my brothers … Eliza. They wouldn’t be pack family anymore. But Axil was my family now, and so was this child in my belly and I’d have to join Death Mountain pack to truly be queen of the wolven.
“Okay.” I handed him my wrist upturned.
I locked eyes with Axil fiercely, gritting my jaw as he dragged a clawed finger down my arm and drew blood. The dominance of the alpha king was unlike anything I could describe to an outsider. Looking at Axil now, there was a knowing that he could take me in a fight, that he could take over my will, but also that he would protect me at all costs, that I could depend on him for anything. That’s what true dominance was in a wolf pack. My leader, my protector, my mate.
I gasped when he pressed his bloody wrist to mine.
“Zara Moon …” He gave me his last name and I had to suppress a whimper of surprise. It felt so right. “I claim you for Death Mountain pack and I share this burden with you. The magic of my forefathers.”
I gasped as I felt a literal tearing away from my brother, Dorian, Eliza, everyone in the Mud Flats. It was like a constant knowledge in the back of your mind that someone was there and now they were suddenly gone. It was replaced with new people, Axil and all of the Death Mountain wolves. Then I felt his magic, and I wasn’t prepared for the hot buzzing sensation to crawl up my veins and into my chest. I shuddered as the magic completely entered me and settled just under my skin.
“You feel it?”
I swallowed hard and nodded. It was an unnerving thing, like you were sharing your body with someone else. My wolf was there, and one other. This magic.
I realized then that I’d been holding his gaze the entire time without issue. “You’ll be more dominant while you carry the power,” he told me and then stepped five paces away from me, putting his hands at his sides. “Now make me kneel.”
I swallowed hard, trying to concentrate.
“Kneel!” I shouted with force, but nothing happened.
Axil shook his head. “You don’t have to say it. Ansel did that for theatrics. Focus on the vision of my kneeling and then wrap it in the magic and …throwit at me.”
Right.
Closing my eyes, I envisioned the king of the wolven bowing his head and dropping to one knee before me. I felt the magic stir to life inside of me and I opened my eyes and pushed that vision over him as if I were throwing a fishing net and capturing him in it.
He winced for a second and then dropped to one knee, head bowed.
I gasped, releasing the hold I had over him and he looked up at me with a grin.
“You’re a natural.”
My heart pounded as the power coursed through me. “You’ve had this the whole time?” I asked him, looking at my hands as if they were weapons.
