Jose POV
I carried him like he weighed nothing.
Still damp from the bath, his skin glistened with droplets that clung to him like pearls. His body was light, curled and trembling against my chest, and his eyes darted everywhere but my face.
I tossed him on the bed.
He landed with a soft gasp, the white sheets beneath him blooming like petals around his bare body.
He flinched. The sheets rustled as he adjusted himself, pressing his knees together, arms folding across his chest in a weak shield. But I could still see him. All of him.
Vulnerable.
Delicate.
Fear.
Curiosity.
Something darker, deeper, the way his wolf answered mine like a trembling echo.
I stood at the edge of the bed and watched him breathe.
Then slowly, I undressed.
One layer at a time.
Not for performance.
Not for seduction.
But for dominance. Deliberate. Ritualistic.
The outer robe slid down first, revealing the black embroidered undershirt beneath. Then the sash was untied. The final layer peeled away until the fabric whispered against the floor, pooling at my feet.
I stood bare, the firelight brushing over me like a second skin.
His eyes widened.
He inhaled sharply, and the breath caught in his throat.
I watched his gaze flick downward and freeze.
A flush bloomed across his cheeks.
He wasn’t speaking.
He was seeing.
“Look all you want,” I told him, voice low, almost amused.
He blinked. Swallowed. His voice was a whisper, trembling. “That thing… it wouldn’t fit in me. I don’t want to be ripped apart.”
My jaw clenched.
“You don’t have a choice.”
I moved forward.
He yelped, scooting backward, sheets twisting around his legs. “W-Wait—!”
I paused above him.
His voice was smaller now. “I still have that one wish you owe me.”
I stared at him. “What do you want?”
He trembled beneath me. “I know… I know you wouldn’t stop if I told you to. But… just…”
He inhaled, shaky. “Be gentle with me. As much as you can. I’m scared I won't be pretty anymore if you rough me up.”
My wolf growled at the hesitation, hated the plea, wanted to bury itself in him and claim what was ours. But even then, even in my darkest instincts, I was not a man without law. I was not a king without control.
And I had made him a promise.
My head dipped lower. My breath fanned across his throat. I didn’t touch him. Not yet.
“I could have forced this,” I said softly. “I’ve done worse to people who deserved less. Men who dared to look me in the eye.”
His lashes fluttered, throat bobbing, but he didn't look away.
“But you asked for gentleness. I'll give you what you asked, just this once.”
His lips parted.
He didn’t speak.
Didn’t dare to.
My lips brushed his collarbone. Not kissing, just… claiming space. Learning him. Letting him feel.
He was warm. Tense. A bundle of nerves and pride wrapped in perfume and defiance.
His body trembled beneath mine, but he didn’t fight.
Not anymore.
“Why me?” he whispered suddenly. “Of all people. Why did the moon pick me for your fate?”
I didn’t answer.
Because the truth was brutal.
Because I didn’t know.
Because fate is cruel, and he was too soft, too delicate, too bright for a world built of war and shadows.
But the bond didn’t care.
It burned through me, wild and unstoppable.
So instead, I said, “Because you’re mine.”
He stared up at me, lips parted, face flushed, and in that moment, I didn’t see the bratty prince from Blue Lily Kingdom.
I saw something else.
Something that could survive this place.
Maybe even thrive.
That's if I didn’t destroy him first.
---
My hands moved slowly, reverent, fingers gliding across his stomach, tracing up over his ribs, barely brushing his chest.
He gasped softly.
His skin was warm beneath my touch, soft and vulnerable, his breath hitching with each movement. I could feel the battle in his body, torn between fear and the bond tugging him closer to me, demanding surrender.
He wouldn’t look me in the eyes.
But his body leaned into every brush, every graze of knuckle or palm like it didn’t know what it was asking for only that it needed.
His wolf surged, scent changing, sweeter, richer, betraying him.
He whimpered when my hand reached the side of his throat.
“You’re burning,” I whispered, dragging my thumb along the edge of his jaw. “Do you even realize what you’re doing to me?”
He shivered, cheeks flushed pink.
“I hate you,” he whispered, voice small.
“You will,” I replied, voice sharp and honest. “But not tonight.”
I leaned down.
Let my lips graze the spot where his neck met his shoulder, the place my wolf wanted to sink its teeth into. But I didn’t bite. I pressed a slow kiss there, and another, working up the line of his throat, soft and dangerous.
His fingers clenched around my bicep. Holding on.
Or anchoring himself.
He turned his face away, breath shaky.
The sound he made, a stuttered exhale, nearly undid me.
Still, I forced the pace.
I touched him like I was learning something sacred. Let my breath ghost down his chest. Let my hands settle at his hips, grounding him, steadying him.
I could feel how hard he was trying to pretend he didn’t want it.
But his scent was loud.
And his wolf was louder.
“Look at me,” I said.
He hesitated.
Then he did.
His eyes locked with mine, and for a moment, neither of us said anything.
We just breathed.
Two creatures caught in a situation neither of us wanted, drawn to each other by fate, by the cruel design of the moon.
“I won’t break you,” I said.
He blinked slowly.
“…Promise?”
I nodded once. “Not tonight.”
And then I kissed him hard.
The room filled with the sound of shifting sheets, of uneven breaths, of two wolves tethered by prophecy and need. His pulsing hole was dripping already, his scent almost driving me mad.
I stuck two fingers at first, he let out a pain filled moan, driving his sharp nails into my biceps. After a while I became unsure if he was grounding against my fingers or pulling away.
Deciding he's had enough foreplay, I moved up and licked his neck while lining my member against his leaking hole. This action made my wolf still for a moment, anticipating.
Gentle, I reminded myself.
I pushed in slowly and he arched his back in an inhumane way, moaning in pain and trying to pull away. I held him in place until I fully disappeared inside him.
“You’re not being very gentle.” he whimpered.
“I haven’t even started,” I murmured, nipping his earlobe.
"Ngh!" He moaned.
The sounds he made, messed with my head as I moved with him, until I gradually lost control.
Ignoring his screaming and incoherent nonsense as I pounded into him vigorously.
He definitely needed to work on his stamina, as he released three times before I finally came once, knotting him.
I sank my teeth into the soft flesh of his neck, his body shook uncontrollably with pleasure as he released for the last time, sinking his teeth into my neck too.
The bond pulsed like wildfire as we laid there in each other's arms, my weight still crushing him.
---
Later, much later, he lay tangled in the sheets, one arm draped over his eyes like he couldn’t face me.
I lay beside him, breath still uneven, my head tilted.
He was flushed. Silent.
But not crying.
Good.
“You were brutal and irresponsible,” he said suddenly, voice hoarse.
“Careful,” I warned.
“Did I lie? You almost split me into two” he snapped, curling away from me.
I chuckled, quiet and deep. Then leaned down and brushed my fingers through his damp hair.
“Sleep,” I told him.
“Wasn’t planning to,” he muttered.
But his breathing slowed soon after, exhausted from the weight of emotion rather than touch. I could feel his emotions well now.
I remained awake, watching the candles flicker.
He’d asked for gentleness.
But one day, he’d know me in full.
Not the man I allowed him to see tonight.
But the Beast of Blood Sea Kingdom.
The king that fate carved from pain and prophecy.
And when that day came, I prayed his wolf wouldn’t break.
