Blood Bound
B***d Bound Chapter 16

“I WAS WORRIED YOU WOULDN’T make it out of the ritual alive,” the Alpha joked darkly, watching the little sorceress’s pathetic attempts to pull herself upright. A teasing smirk was plastered on his sensual lips.

Maya frowned.

If she really didn’t make it, she would have to thank him for f*****g her to death.

Currently, her thighs could barely close from the raw and uncomfortable feeling settled between them, and the tips of her breasts were swollen and red. Even her back was aching from all the positions he had maneuvered her into.

How many times did we do it?

From the corner of her eye, she deftly noted how relaxed the Alpha was compared to hours ago when she’d first entered his domain.

Although he was still naked, he seemed more tolerable now with his lazy countenance and reposed posture. Even that suffocating aura of his had long lost its turbulent and reckless edge, choosing to become tame as it rolled along her skin like a cat caressing its owner.

Perhaps it was her imagination, but Maya felt his strong aura slowly leak into her skin and mold with her smaller one, weaving and twining itself indefinitely into her very flesh.

In the aftermath, there was a strange tingle that left her nerves feeling frazzled and depleted as it gave way under the soft buffeting of his dominating essence. It was like every fiber of her being was giving way to him—like her soul was merging to become one with his.

Maybe this is the ritual’s doing.

Maya ignored the subtle sensations and shakily pulled herself into a sitting position.

The silk sheets slid down her sweat-slicked skin and gathered at her belly, leaving her rounded breasts bare to his intense view.

From her lashes, she could see the Alpha’s Adam’s apple bob as he swallowed down the tell-tale signs of arousal floating to the surface. His light eyes darkened, and the golden flecks shimmered with his turgid emotions.

Maya’s heart skipped a beat and warmth gathered on her face. Her fingers immediately curled around the silken sheets and tugged the thin fabric back up, holding it to her chest.

“What happened?” she asked, voice husky and gravelly, obviously from screaming his name the whole night.

His dark brow arched in question of her seemingly innocent and oblivious inquiry, wondering if he had overdone it because his little sorceress seemed quite delirious all of a sudden.

“We had s*x,” the golden-eyed male stated rather blatantly, as if the dark sorceress didn’t already know this.

She was one of the participants. How could she not know this tidbit of information?

Maya turned her head to him and narrowed her eyes, sending a withering glare his way.

“I know that,” she croaked firmly, feeling her throat ache from overuse and other reasons she didn’t want to name.

The Southern Lord loosely shrugged his shoulders and reached his hand out to grab the tall glass of water stationed on the nightstand to the right of him. Once it was in the palm of his hand, he brought the cool cup to Maya’s swollen red lips and tipped it forward to make it easier for her to drink.

Without much thought, his little female took a sip to wet her lips, letting him hold the cup as she drank from his hands.

Xavier chuckled throatily in response, “We completed the ritual.”

After swallowing another mouthful of water and noting the smug look blossoming on his overly confident face, Maya asked, “How did we go about doing that?”

The Alpha set the cup back on the nightstand.

“By having s*x,” came his prompt reply, as if he didn’t have to think very hard to procure the answer.

Maya sent a dark glare his way, tempted to throttle him until he lost consciousness, but found she could barely move because of her jelly-like limbs. Even lifting a facial muscle seemed to be too straining at the moment.

“And by me taking your b***d and marking your skin with mine,” he continued. His eyes trailed along her delicate collarbone to her slim neck, where his mark stood starkly prominent on her supple flesh.

The intricate mark contained cryptic symbols of his family bloodline and heritage, along with his status and name in werewolf tongue. It was now ingrained permanently on her skin and her soul and would remain there even after the day they ceased to exist.

Xavier’s chest swelled with pride and satisfaction at the pleasing thought.

Nothing could be more fulfilling than the knowledge of his little sorceress being permanently tied to him in such an irrevocable way.

They were truly “stuck” together now.

Inseparable in more ways than one.

It couldn’t make him any more delighted.

“What would have happened if we didn’t finish the ritual?” Maya voiced, trying to keep her gaze off his naked chest and abs.

“Had you been any more late, our lives would have been forfeit,” he stated calmly, as if he were talking about how nice the weather was or what he had eaten for breakfast.

Maya’s eyes widened at the word “our.”

Although she had already guessed this, Maya didn’t think his life would also be in danger due to her actions.

If they were, why did he let her go through with it? Why did he encourage her to complete the process knowing that any fault on her part would lead to their deaths?

Maya frowned. “How?”

“Rituals like this aren’t harmless. They were created only for those strong enough to withstand the test.” Xavier brushed the long locks of red hair over Maya’s bare shoulder to get a clearer view of her pretty face. “You can’t start the ritual without finishing it, because the dire consequences will rob us of our lives and our powers. It can strip you of your dark magic and return you to your powerless and mortal state, just as quickly as it can take all of my immortality and powers away.”

When this b***d ritual was first created by one of his great ancestors and her mate, many werewolves had been shammed by its promise of supreme power and never-ending youth.

They fought to attain the secrets, only to come out buried six feet under.

Most of them were young and naive, barely a few centuries old, yet they failed to heed the warning written in their own tongue.

Xavier had read through the entire scroll out of curiosity when he first started ruling the Southern Lands, almost eight hundred years ago, and decided not to mess with it. At the time, he didn’t plan on becoming another soul lost to the ritual.

Although he was also enticed by the scroll’s promise of power, he knew there were severe repercussions he could not handle.

Since he hadn’t found Maya, his soulmate, and had just stepped into the position as the Southern Cardinal Alpha, he didn’t have the wisdom and strength he had now to assure nothing would go wrong. So, Xavier decided to guard the scroll for several decades and didn’t intend to use it unless he could guarantee he would succeed and his mate would survive the process.

When one of the former members of the Werewolf Council broke into his office—one too many times—and attempted to steal the scroll, he let the annoying pest take it.

Xavier didn’t want to continue dealing with the nuisances sneaking around his land.

When he got rid of one, another one would pop up.

The lot of morons never gave up, regardless of how he had tortured the previous ones he had captured to set an example for them not to cross him.

So he thought, why not let the scroll take care of them?

After all, he was assured none of them would live to finish it.

And true to his words, it was not long after the scroll was stolen did he hear of the council member’s death. Only two days had passed before the male was declared dead inside his luxurious home, along with his partner of choice.

After that, a vast number of werewolves “mysteriously” died in sets of two every couple of years. Most of them sucked their partner dry of life and some…even ate the other.

Perhaps their sense of control was too weak, was what he had thought. But later he found out there were a lot of key factors to successfully activate and finish the ritual.

The obvious ones were the participants must be soulmates and only one of the two was to drink the other’s b***d.

Unfortunately, no one had figured this out, other than him.

As time gradually crawled by, the number of werewolves willing to risk their lives to activate the ritual dwindled down to—literally—no one.

Not many had completed the ritual other than the one ancestor and her mate.

Yet how the scroll managed to replace its way to Maya was a mystery, along with how they had completed the ritual.

Perhaps, they had his ancestors’ blessings.

He didn’t know.

“Why would you let me dive into this knowing it could also strip you of your powers and kill you?” Maya ground out the words through a tightly gritted jaw and a clenched fist.

Her heart was pounding incessantly in her chest at the knowledge of how close she had come to death’s door. Even though she knew there would be some consequences, she didn’t think it would be this drastic and terrifying.

“Because I believe in you, little sorceress. I am confident you are strong enough,” he replied in finality. “And besides, why wouldn’t I want to be permanently bound to you, my mate?”

Maya scowled.

Her head ached from the information he was procuring.

“You are insane,” she spat. “And I am not your mate.”

“You are my soulmate. Because if you weren’t, you wouldn’t be alive right now,” he replied, chuckling darkly. “I’m usually not that merciless towards those who aim to use me as a stepping stone.”

Maya paled considerably and thought, Was it already too late to kill him?

“And don’t think you can simply get rid of me now, Maya. You and I are soul bound. We are connected as one. I cannot live without you and you cannot live without me. Because we now share the same soul. If you were to kill me, you will also die.” Xavier stared down at her with a serious expression on his face, losing that usually playful facade he always had on to lure her into his gilded cage.

Maya fisted her hands.

If anyone were to know they were connected in such a way, Xavier Thaeos would easily be defeated and killed. Because Maya was currently his only weakness.

If he wanted to live, he had to make sure she was protected and safe.

This was probably the only drawback to attaining his powers.

“Your enemies could easily use me to kill you,” she mused out loud, noting the glint of approval flashing in the Alpha’s golden eyes.

The little sorceress is always so smart, he thought. She had managed to pinpoint the exact problem, again.

“You won’t let them…will you?”

Maya didn’t reply.