The Last Shadow Luna

Catherine’s POV

I spun around with a startled gasp as the door clicked shut behind me. My back hit the edge of the bed, and there he stood—the most terrifying man I’d ever seen.

Gerald Draven.

The Lycan King of the North filled the doorway like a gathering storm, all raw power and barely leashed control. His black jacket was already discarded somewhere in the hall. The top buttons of his crisp white shirt hung open, revealing a brutal landscape of scars that climbed his thick, corded neck and vanished beneath the fabric. Those golden eyes glowed faintly in the low lamplight, locking onto me with a hunger that stole the breath from my lungs.

He wasn’t surprised to see me. He looked like he’d been searching for me all night.

“You…” My voice cracked. Heat surged through my blood again, fiercer than before. “You need to leave. Please—”

The words dissolved as another wave of scorching need crashed over me. My thighs pressed together instinctively, but it only made things worse—a fresh rush of slick warmth soaked through my ruined panties. I trembled, fighting the pull.

Gerald’s massive hands gripped the wooden doorframe so tightly I heard the wood creak and splinter. His broad chest rose and fell in heavy, deliberate breaths. A low, guttural sound rumbled from deep in his throat, like a desperate groan.

“I can smell you,” he rasped, his voice like a dark siren song. “Sweet and mine.”

I shook my head frantically, even as my traitorous body stepped toward him. My wolf, silent for four long years, slammed against my ribs, howling to break free. She recognized him. She wanted him or more accurately, she needed him with a ferocity that terrified me.

He stalked forward with predatory grace, the door shutting behind him with a heavy final click. His scent—dark pine, woodsmoke, and raw masculine power—wrapped around me, sinking into my bones and making my head spin. My back met the wall. There was nowhere left to run.

He stopped just inches away, towering over me. Slowly, as if I were a frightened deer, he reached out and brushed a stray lock of black hair from my flushed cheek. The unexpected gentleness in that single touch nearly undid me.

“I don’t know what they gave us,” he murmured, those golden eyes burning into mine, “but I won’t take you like a beast unless you ask.”

A broken whimper slipped from my throat. My hands fisted in his shirt of their own accord, yanking him closer. “I… I can’t… it hurts so much…”

That was all the permission he needed.

Gerald’s control shattered. His mouth crashed down on mine in a bruising, devouring kiss. He tasted champagne. His tongue swept inside, claiming every inch of me as his powerful body pinned me against the wall. I moaned shamelessly into his mouth, my hips rocking against the hard muscle of his thigh as it shoved between my legs, giving me something solid to grind against.

“Fuck,” he growled against my lips, the vibration sending sparks down my spine. “You’re so wet already.”

His hands were everywhere—rough yet careful, as if he was fighting not to lose himself completely. He yanked the thin straps of my dress down my shoulders, baring my breasts to the cool air. My nipples tightened instantly under his heated gaze. With a hungry sound, he bent and drew one into his hot mouth, sucking hard while his tongue flicked mercilessly over the sensitive peak. His other hand kneaded my other breast, rolling the nipple between strong fingers until I cried out, my fingers tangling desperately in his thick dark hair.

He dropped to his knees without warning.

In one swift motion, he shoved my dress up around my waist and tore my soaked panties clean away. I barely had time to gasp before his mouth was on me—hot, relentless, and utterly devouring. His tongue plunged deep inside me, then swirled around my swollen clit with devastating precision. Two thick fingers pushed into my aching heat, curling and stroking that perfect spot while he sucked hard on my clit.

Pleasure tore through me like lightning. I came with a shattered scream, my thighs clamping around his head as wave after wave crashed over me. He didn’t stop. He licked me through every pulsing aftershock, growling hungrily as if he couldn’t get enough of my taste, his fingers still working me until I was whimpering and shaking.

When he finally rose, his mouth glistened with my release. His golden eyes were completely feral now.

“On the bed,” he ordered, voice hoarse with need.

I obeyed on shaky limbs, crawling onto the massive hotel bed. Gerald stripped with ruthless efficiency. His body was a weapon—broad-shouldered, heavily muscled, every inch covered in scars that only made him look more dangerously beautiful. His cock sprang free, thick and long and brutally hard, the flushed head already glistening with precum.

He climbed over me, caging me in with his powerful arms. For a heartbeat, he just looked at me, something almost reverent flickering beneath the raw lust in his gaze.

Then he thrust inside me in one powerful stroke.

I screamed at the intense stretch—pain and blinding pleasure twisting together as he filled me completely. He was huge, stretching my walls to their limit. My inner muscles fluttered wildly around him, trying to adjust to the overwhelming fullness.

“Easy, little wolf,” he groaned, forehead pressed to mine, his breath hot against my lips. “Breathe for me.”

He stayed buried deep, rolling his hips in slow, devastating circles until the burn melted into liquid fire. Then he began to move—hard, deep, and utterly possessive. Each thrust slammed into me, driving the air from my lungs. The bed slammed rhythmically against the wall. My nails raked down his back, drawing blood, and he snarled in pleasure, the sound vibrating through both of us.

He hooked one of my legs over his arm, spreading me wider, pounding into me at a new, devastating angle that made me see stars. Every stroke dragged against that sensitive spot inside me while his pelvis ground against my clit.

“You feel it too, don’t you?” he rasped, teeth grazing my throat. “This is more than the drug.”

I could only moan helplessly as another orgasm built like a tidal wave inside me. My wolf howled, pushing against my skin, desperate to merge with his.

Gerald’s pace turned feral. His hand slipped between our sweat-slicked bodies, his thumb pressing tight, relentless circles on my swollen clit.

“Come for me again,” he commanded, voice rough.

I shattered completely.

My body convulsed around him, inner walls clamping down on his thick cock like a vice. Gerald roared, his hips stuttering. At the peak of my climax, he struck—his fangs sinking deep into the curve of my shoulder.

White-hot ecstasy exploded through every nerve. The claiming mark burned gold in the darkness, pleasure so intense it bordered on pain. I felt something ancient and unbreakable snap into place between us as his cock pulsed deep inside me, flooding my core with jet after jet of hot seed. He kept thrusting through his release, grinding deep as if trying to engrave himself in me forever.

We collapsed together, panting, trembling, and locked in each other’s arms.

The last thing I remembered was the reverent brush of his lips over the fresh mark on my shoulder and a whispered word that sounded dangerously like mate.

---

Morning light stabbed through the curtains.

I woke up alone.

My body ached in the most delicious and terrible ways. Between my thighs I was sticky and sore, and the deep bite on my shoulder throbbed with every heartbeat.

I sat up slowly, wincing. On the nightstand sat a crisp cheque for one million dollars—blank except for the amount and his bold signature.

There was no note or an explanation. Nothing.

He thought I was just a staff. A convenient body to fuck and pay off like some cheap whore.

Something fragile inside my chest cracked wide open. Tears burned my eyes, but I forced them down. I had survived Raphael’s rejection. I would survive this too.

I dressed on shaky legs, pulling my hair over the fresh claiming mark to hide it. The bite was deep and unmistakably lycan, already healing with unnatural speed. Inside me, my wolf purred contentedly for the first time in years, completely at peace with what had happened.

I slipped out of the room like a ghost.

In the lobby, the receptionist looked up sharply. “Miss! The gentleman in the penthouse left strict orders—”

I didn’t wait to hear the rest.

I ran.

Out into the grey morning light, heart hammering, the weight of a king’s mark burning on my shoulder and a million dollars clutched in my trembling hand. I disappeared into the streets of Oakhaven before anyone could stop me.

But deep down, I already knew.

The Lycan King would come looking.

And when he found me… nothing would ever be the same again.