Sold to the Alpha (Alma Venus Shifter Brides 1)

Avelyn sighed and averted her gaze. “Okay, maybe. A little. It’s just that… you know how my first encounter with Jocelyn went. I’m not looking forward to meeting Karl.”

Karl and his Dark Wolves had arrived that morning at the Schloss. There had been ten days since the Seed Moon, and Max’s older brother had finally made some time to visit his family and try to make up for missing the party. When she saw the castle being flooded by a third pack of werewolves, Avelyn made the instant decision to spend her day in the bedroom. The courtyard had been buzzing with activity since early morning, and she could hear doors slamming and people walking past her room chatting. Now, all three wings were full. Jocelyn’s Moon Children had the Lunar Wing, and Karl’s Dark Wolves had just occupied the Nox Wing, which had made a couple of werewolves from Max’s pack move back to the Crescent Wing. It was then that she realized the third floor, where their bedroom was, had been so deserted for a reason: some of the Crescents had moved to the empty Nox Wing to give her and Max some extra space. Well, Karl’s arrival had just thrown the old order into chaos, and Avelyn preferred to stay as far from it as possible. Maybe, if she hid in her room with her books, they would all forget she existed. “Wishful thinking…”

“Karl is not Jocelyn.” Max placed one finger under her chin and lifted her head, forcing her to look back into his green eyes. “In fact, he already likes you.”

“Nonsense.”

“No, he does. It seems that Jocelyn has nagged him so much about you that she ended up getting the opposite effect.”

“Great! And that should make me feel better? Karl likes me because Jocelyn hates me?”

Max laughed cheerfully. “She doesn’t hate you. I told you not to take her seriously.”

“It’s not easy.” Avelyn stepped away from him and started playing with her bracelet. Max had gotten it fixed the next day after the Seed Moon, and she hadn’t taken it off ever since. She thought of Jocelyn’s harsh words, and anger boiled in her chest when she saw how relaxed and dismissive Max was.

“Anyway, you don’t have to take my word for it,” continued Max. “We’re having dinner with them in two hours, so you’ll get to see for yourself how eager he is to meet you.”

“We’re having dinner with them?” Avelyn’s voice trembled and her eyes went wide with panic.

“Please, don’t be like this,” Max pleaded, suddenly brought back to reality by her shocked reaction. He felt like a moron for not taking into consideration that she might not like the idea. “It doesn’t happen very often that we are reunited at the Schloss. Karl misses almost all full moons now, and sometimes not even Josie is here. I just want you to be there with me, you know? As my bride. You’re part of the clan now.”

Avelyn studied him carefully, unsure of how she should feel about the situation. He seemed sincere, and he didn’t look like he was trying to impose on her. Did that mean she could say “no”?

“Come on, baby. Do it for me?”

No, when he pleaded like that she couldn’t say “no”. She cursed herself for turning into such a softy whenever he made that puppy face and asked nicely. Those big, green eyes staring at her as if his life depended on her next word. “How do you do this to me?” After that terrible night when she discovered Sabine in the dungeons, she had tried to be more distant. Not physically, because he would have figured out something was wrong, but emotionally. She had tried to go through the motions of kissing him, hugging him, fucking him without getting emotionally involved. It had

proved to be… challenging, to say the least.

“Okay, sure. We’ll have dinner with them,” she finally said.

“Perfect!” The sparkle in his eyes made her smile. “Now, I know this is a bit stressful to you, so I was thinking I should do something to help you relax.” He closed in on her, and Avelyn took a few steps back, laughing.

“Oh, no!”

The back of her knees hit the bed. She raised her hands in front of her, and Max stopped when his chest pressed against her palms.

“First, I’m going to tickle you until you beg me to stop.”

“Never! I don’t beg, sir. Don’t you already know that?”

“Oh, but you do, my little she-wolf.” His fingers flew to her ribs, and Avelyn screamed before she fell on the bed. Max followed her, kneeling over her body and tickling her, at the same time avoiding the flailing hands that were trying to protect her sides. “I know you well. You like begging when I have you pinned under me, legs spread wide, my cock inside you. You like begging for more.”

“No!” She was laughing so hard that the muscles in her belly started to hurt. It was impossible for her to form full, coherent sentences. His fingers were pure evil. They danced on her ribs, sneaked under her sensitive armpits, and pinched her ass and thighs. “Oh, no, not there!”

“Where? On your ass?” His hands sneaked under her to cup her butt and tickle it. He knew that was the most sensitive part of her body. “Say ‘please’ and I’ll stop.”

“No!” She tried to shrink away, using her hands to crawl up on the bed. Max just tickled her harder. There was no way she could fight him.

“Say ‘please’ and I’ll stop tickling that juicy ass. I’ll eat it instead. How about that?”

“Noooo!” She kept laughing, screaming, and whining, all the while trying to hit him and push him away.

“Come on, that’s a great bargain. You only have to say ‘please’.”

Avelyn was breathing too hard to be able to answer. Tears of laughter had started streaming down her red cheeks. Max just went on tickling her, and she knew he wouldn’t give up until he got what he wanted.

“Say it, and I’ll lick your ass. Then I’ll eat your pussy until you come.”