A Court of Arcane Souls - A Gods' Saga Anthology

[This stories characters were introduced in A Queen Among Alphas (book 1) but takes places after the events of A Queen Among Gods (book 6)]

Slowly I turn the door handle, holding it firmly, suppressing the tell-tale click of an opening door. With slow, calculating steps I creep into the bedroom. Lying peacefully under the covers rests my prey, his chest gently rising and falling to the steady beat of his heart. He thought he could beat me. He thought his reckoning would never come. How wrong he was.

I pull the lighter from my pocket and with a single, perfect strike of my thumb, I light the firecrackers in my other hand, flinging them to the far side of the room. I cover my ears and brace myself as the firecrackers go off. Each crack resounds around the room with incredible speed, and I watch in amusement as Bryant wakes up with a fright. His mind races with disoriented panic as he leaps out of the bed taking a fighting stance as his poor brain attempts to figure out what the f*ck is going on.

I drop to my knees, clutching my stomach as my laughter fills the air alongside the smoke from the firecrackers. I continue to cackle mercilessly like the madwoman I am, pointing at my beloved animai as he stands to the side of the bed, arms up and ready to fight, his black hair dishevelled with a few strands hanging in his confused face. His firm, bulging bronzed muscles coiled and ready to fight as his delicious eight-inch d*ck hangs majestically between his legs. How I got so lucky to nab this guy I will never know.

“You should see your face!” I continue to chortle.

Clarity finally comes to Bryant, and I feel him instantly relax when his eyes land on me, but quickly his deep, amber eyes narrow at me as he places his hands sternly on his hips.

“Scratch that, you should see your d*ck,” I laugh playfully as I drink in the sight of him.

“What the f*ck Torie?!” he shouts, but I can feel that he’s not angry with me.

I rise to my feet, wiping the tears from my eyes, “Oh man, I should have recorded that. That was priceless.”

“You’re a dead woman,” he threatens.

“Oh yeah?” I tease.

In a flash he races towards me, his arms setting off jolts of electricity through my body as they snake around my waste. He quickly throws me down onto the bed, pinning me beneath his gigantic 6’4” frame, but so far, I fail to see the punishment.

“You’re gonna get it now,” he promises, sitting up as he proceeds to tickle me mercilessly. I laugh and writhe uncontrollably, but it only spurs him on. He makes a play for my ribs and focuses his assault on them, singling out my weakness. My screams and laughter fill the room and fresh tears fill my eyes as he relentlessly tortures me with his tickles. “Say you’re sorry.”

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry!”

“Now say you love me.”

“I love you!”

He clasps his hands around my wrists and swiftly pins them above my head as his lips descend upon mine. I don’t have a chance to catch my breath before his lips begin to move hungrily against mine. I immediately stop resisting, wrapping my legs tightly around his waist, moaning into his mouth when I feel his c*ck become nestled against my athletic shorts. He firmly presses his c*ck against my p*ssy, making my insides clench and flutter. I sink my teeth into his bottom lip and tug hard eliciting an erotic groan from deep in his throat.

We look into each other’s eyes, momentarily lost in one another; a sea of emotions crashing between us leaving us temporarily speechless.

Bryant frees my wrists, sliding one arm under my body while the other tenderly brushes my hair from my face. His amber eyes look down into mine with so much love and adoration that it fills my heart with more warmth than I can describe.

“How did I ever get so lucky to bag a woman like you?” he whispers.

I grin at him, “I was just thinking that about you.”

He grins back, then quickly leans down placing soft, tantalizing kisses down my neck that make my breathing turn shallow and my body go weak.

“We should head to training,” I point out, my hands roaming his body of their own accord, desperate to feel the curves of his muscles and the static of his flesh beneath my fingertips.

“I think we should stay here and do some one-on-one training,” he says mischievously.

“Just another reason why we love this man. He has fantastic ideas,” says my wolf spirit Philomena while eagerly licking her chops.

“You’d think it was a fantastic idea if he suggested eating dirt,” I retort.

“Now that’s going a bit far,” she rebukes.

“You two are unbelievable. Here is my poor buddy, trying his best to get laid and you two are busy chit-chatting,” interjects André, Bryant’s wolf spirit.

I immediately burst out laughing and am quickly joined by Bryant. We smile at each other as he shakes his head.

“What can I say? He’s a hell of a wingman,” Bryant grins.

“You can say that again. But that doesn’t change facts.” Catching him off guard, I quickly flip Bryant on his back, smirking down at him as I place my hands on his chest. “We can have our fun later, right now, we need to go to training, so up you get it.” I give his chest a light tap and leap up from the bed. I adjust my athletic shorts and crop top and look myself over in the mirror. I neaten my hair – which I suppose is redundant since it’s about to get messed up during training.

I recently got a haircut, and I am loving myself sick in my new hair. For years I kept one side of my hair shaved, mostly for the sake of showcasing my tribal wolf tattoo on my scalp, but I’ve started growing it out. Not a lot, just enough to hide the tattoo. I always kept my remaining hair combed to one side and left long, but now I’ve cut it, so it just grazes my shoulder. I’ve always been more of a tomboy. I love black, leather boots and I will wear anything that shows off my muscles. I worked hard to build this much definition and I’m going to show it off. But I admit that in the last few years since I joined Aurum Obscuro, I’ve been trying to soften my look just a little. I don’t want to change who I am fundamentally, but now that I’m the Beta Female of a pack, I want to look a little more respectable while still looking like I could knock your teeth out effortlessly. It’s all a balancing act.

Bryant comes up behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist and planting a soft kiss on my shoulder. “Your work ethic is both frustrating and a turn-on.”

I chuckle, rubbing his arms as I smile at his reflection in the mirror, “The sooner we get training over with, the sooner I am all yours,” I point out.

“Don’t you have patrols after training?”

“I never said I would be yours the second training was over, just that we’d get there sooner,” I say with a cocky grin.

“You’re so sneaky, I swear you could con the devil into signing away his soul to you.”

I snort in amusement, watching happily as he gets dressed into his athletic shirt and shorts and puts his sneakers on. Dressed or undressed, this man is a masterpiece.

“It’s not fair. I want time with André,” Philomena whines.

I roll my eyes, “Bryant and I let you and André take over our bodies just last night so you could have your fun. Can’t you two just hang out in your wolfy world?”

“We do, but it’s not the same.”

“Wouldn’t you rather spend time together in your own bodies?”

“Yes, but the s*x in your bodies is much more pleasurable,” she admits cheekily, sitting back on her hind legs as she shakes out her brown and golden coat.

I’ve never cared that I couldn’t shift. It’s truly made no difference to my life. People have always expected me to be miserable about not being able to shift, but how can you miss something you never had? I think that Omega’s who feel bad about their lack of shifting abilities only feel that way because their stupid packs pressure them into that wasteful depressive mindset. I’ve been able to do everything I’ve ever wanted to do and still enjoy the companionship of my wolf spirit, so I’m not going to let the opinions of some cunts with too much time on their hands bother me. I wear my hybrid status proudly, but I admit that since mating with Bryant and André, I do feel a bit sad that André can’t experience life with Philomena the same way other wolves can.

“I’m sorry Torie, I didn’t mean to make you feel bad,” Philomena whines, hanging her head in shame. “I was just being silly…and a little horny,” she giggles.

I smile shaking my head, “Our animai sure knows how to mess with our brain, huh?”

“You can say that again. But you know I love training, so I promise no more funny business.”

“You prepared to help me kick Bryant and André’s *ss today if it comes down to it?”

“With pleasure,” she says with a low growl, slowly shifting into an attack crouch as she rolls her shoulders ready to pounce.

“Excuse you. How can you go from wanting to f*ck me to wanting to kick my *ss?” André interrupts aghast, making me cackle.

“I can’t help how I express my love for you,” replies Philomena coquettishly.

“These wolves are f*ck*ng nuts,” chimes Bryant, shaking his head in bewilderment.

I chuckle as I walk over to him, lift myself onto my tippy toes and plant a kiss on his cheek, “Gotta love them. Now let’s go.”

“One more thing, then we can go.”

Bryant quickly dashes into the bathroom – understandably – then once he’s done he takes my hand, and we make our way out of the packhouse.

The Aurum Obscuro packhouse is vastly different to the one at Invictus. It’s a gorgeously cozy three-story lodge that was built near a stunning waterfall in the Cascade Mountains of Washington State. It’s smaller than the packhouse at Invictus, which is surprising because for a long time, Aurum Obscuro had the largest pack in the whole United States with Invictus having the second largest. Invictus ended up beating their numbers when they started taking in some nagata residents which was around the same time I ended up moving here when I finally found my animai.

As we step out of the packhouse hand in hand, I feel the instant chill in the air of the approaching winter, and I feel the excitement begin to bubble within me. I’ve always loved winter, but winter in Aurum Obscuro is truly magical. Waking up after the first snowfall to see the trees and mountains around the packhouse covered in a thick blanket of snow and the waterfall frozen in ice…it’s exactly how I used to picture