I am Sam
Chapter Twenty-Four

ASLAN

I want her; I can give her more than anyone else ever could; I can give her the world. She’s an exquisite creature, the most interesting specimen I have ever seen.

Slowly pacing up and down past my expansive bed, my eyes continue drinking her in as she lays in my bed; the warm sweater hugging her body is riding up with every moment she wriggles around, and the small piece of fabric covering her sex has me imagining how good she must taste; which only has me growing harder for her by the second.

The lighting in my room is naturally always low, with candles burning all around my bed, so it helps to keep her in this tranquil state the tea water has placed her in; I’m cocking my head slowly from side to side like some animalistic predator, salivating in the glorious vision of perfection wriggling around against the white sheets, Mmm, she is... the moment my hand lowers to the apex of my girth. A low rumble reverberates from my throat as I begin stroking at it through my pants; I’m standing shirtless before my bed as I keep rubbing, touching myself; watching her and desiring only to do one thing, pleasure her in every way she deserves to be satisfied and more.

My eyes close for just a moment as I continue stroking my rock-hard strength through the fabric, it’s straining uncomfortably against it, and I know I need my own release soon. The moment a small moan escapes her lips, my eyes suddenly open on her; she’s biting down against her lower lip, her hands flying up in her long lushes hair; she’s rubbing her inner thighs together, and I know she’s lost in whatever moment is presenting itself in her mind; I know it’s not of me, but the longer I keep her in this state, very soon it will be.

I still stand there for a second longer when another moan from her lips has me losing the will to merely stand back and watch this goddess; I’m slowly descending over her as I breathe in every sensational touch her skin has against mine. The very moment my lips are hovering above her sweet plump ones, I’m instantly diving in, my lips crushing against hers so vigorously, devouring them, claiming her mouth and dominating every corner as my tongue snakes its way in past her teeth and slides effortlessly against hers, that’s it little wolf, kiss me like you would the one in your mind, soon he will be nothing more than a faded memory archived to dust in the background of the girl you used to be. I will have your present and future; I will be the one who pleasures your every waking moment of your day for the rest of your life; it will be my name, you scream, little wolf, not his.

SASHA

Moaning as my hand flies up to my forehead, I feel like I’ve been lost in a dream for days with the meanest hangover; I feel completely groggy and disorientated the moment my eyes finally open, my brows furrow slightly when I start taking in my surroundings; I’m in a room, it’s dimly lit, candles surrounding me; placed all over the room. Where am I?

Turning my head to the right, I replace myself focusing on something on a nightstand; it’s a very mystical-looking teapot with a long stem; it’s ultimately see-through, clearly made of glass, and a small matching cup right beside it, the moment my eyes narrow in on the contents of the teapot I’m swallowing back a lump forming in my throat, it’s then that bits and pieces start coming back in flashes as I remember climbing that godforsaken never-ending staircase, I remember the prince, and the...red water. Gulping again, a slight shudder has an ice-cold feeling running down my spine, instantly snapping me into the reality of here and now, the water, tea spring, tea... As it dawns on me, I suddenly gasp as I shoot into a seated position.

The spring is the tea Asher was warning me not to drink; my brows furrow as my heartbeat begins to escalate; why on earth would he not have told me that the water spring was the tea he was talking about? My hand flies up to run through my long strands of hair; how could he not tell me that, seriously?

I’m still completely lost in my erratic thoughts when I hear a steady low moan beside me; gulping, I slowly turn my head to the left of me as my eyes widen in disbelief; my eyes slowly rake over his naked form draped across the bed only inches away from mine; he’s a sleep, and his body looks like it’s been sculpted by the gods. Gulp.

My heart starts racing when I quickly pull the sheets away from my body to inspect myself; I’m wearing nothing besides panties and a grey sweater. Oh no! Did he? Did we? Oh, goddess, please, no.

It’s the prince; my hand instantly cups my mouth as a gasp escapes me; this is... no, no, no... I didn’t, I wouldn’t, I don’t even know him; what the hell is wrong with me? How could I? We had sex; I’m the worst possible person in the world, how could I? I’m instantly feeling horrified, which immediately turns into anger, regret, and a sudden explosion of rage has my eyes illuminating with sparks of blue; I’m about to unleash all hell on earth on this prince as I shove both my hands against him hard with a growl of my own wolf swirling among the magic of my element, but then something unexpected happens the moment a shocking zap of something around my neck has me grunting out in pain; falling back as I grab for my throat; there’s a metal ring feeling thing around my neck, what the heck?

Before I can even give any more thought to the ring or zapping pain I just experienced, I’m instantly startled by the prince suddenly hovering right over me, his body pinning mine down as the crystal blue of his eyes pierce mine. A seductive grin instantly forms against his lips as his eyes continue raking me over, his lips descend on mine, hungrily trying to gain access into my mouth; he’s strong, very strong; the moment his tongue pushes its way into my mouth, I do the only thing that makes sense to me, I bite down hard.

Wincing, he immediately pulls his head back, blinking the surprised look on his face; a small trickle of blood begins to run down the corner of his mouth. I’m glaring hard at him, and I can taste his blood on my lips when another growl reverberates from my throat,

“Try that again, and the next bite will take it right off ,” I sneer at him, but instead of heeding my warning, he slowly leans down and licks at the blood against my lower lip, instantly having my entire body tensing in response.

“You are quite a feisty creature, little wolf,” He purrs against my ear; my palms instinctively shove against his rock-hard chest, but he doesn’t even move; it’s like he’s made of rock-hard tungsten; his arms are built like he’s some samurai warrior; his hair cascading down around his face and arms only makes him look like even more of a god.

I push against his chest again, which elicits a groan from him,

“Careful little wolf, the more you push against my chest, the faster my strength awakens from his slumber.” I’m looking at him in confusion; I’m sorry, what? Then suddenly, I’m gasping back, almost swallowing my own tongue in the process the moment I feel the head of his rock-hard dick pushing up against my heat, my eyes instantly shooting down to where he’s pushing up against me and back up at him, my jaw goes completely slack as my eyes continue to widen in response. Oh no, goddess, please no.

I begin vigorously wriggling against his hold, trying to get away, which only has a low chuckle reverberating from his chest as a full-blown sinister smile creeps up at the corners of his mouth,

“Now you’ve done it, my sweet little Sasha; he’s awake now.” Wait, what? He’s awake now; he was already hard before... oh shit! The moment I feel the rock-hard head of his hard-on almost push right through my inner thigh, I gasp so loud that I cover my mouth with my hand. How is it possible that someone could be so hard and, gulp, big?

Narrowing my eyes at him, I want to use my elemental powers on him but quickly remember the damn ring around my neck,

“Get off me! How dare you!” I shout at him, my wolf is surging through me, which only has him chuckling louder,

“Sweetest Sasha, the more you fight this, the harder he gets for you,” And that’s when my entire body freezes; I stay incredibly still as I heed his warning; my breathing is heavy as my eyes remain on his. A victorious grin spreads across his lips as he smirks in response, “I will give you the world, Sasha. If you give yourself to me, I will worship your body, your mind, your soul like the goddess you truly are for all eternity.” My heart rate is going insane in my chest, my throat feeling so dry as I stare up at him when I croak out,

“I have a mate,” Like that’s meant to somehow miraculously mean something to this guy, somehow I can’t see myself being that lucky with him; his reaction only confirms it,

“I know,” He purrs, his eyes lighting up with blue crystals; scoffing nervously, I’m trying to think of how to get out of this situation without pissing off a Seelie prince, but it’s a bit hard to do with his bare rock hard dick pushing up against my inner thigh.

“Do you make it a habit of taking things that don’t belong to you?” Tilting his head up to me, he suddenly looks amused,

“That depends,” He breathes against my lips,

“Depends on what?” I retort, pulling my face back and away from him, which only has him grinning with a spark of excitement. Great, he gets off on a girl playing hard to get.

“Whether or not you still want your mate after I’ve pleasured you,” And with that, he dips his head down and begins trailing soft, tentative kisses all the way down my jawline, my neck, and my shoulder before lifting his head up so his eyes can again pierce mine with its seductive nature. “I’ve already claimed your mouth, little wolf; why not allow me to claim you’re body? I will worship you, sweetest Sasha; I promise to make your body tremble as my lips drink in the intoxicating nectar of your sex.”

Gulping, I’m completely left speechless right now, is he for real? Furrowing my brows, I’m instantly relieved; he said allow me to claim your body, which means he hasn’t yet, right?

“You mean we haven’t...” I’m staring up at him with hopeful eyes, which instantly has him leaning in and taking my lower lip in between his teeth before pulling back again,

“Not yet, I am many things in the bedroom, sweetest Sasha, but I’m not into somnophilia,” Letting out a small puff of air; I’m internally so grateful for that, thank goddess we didn’t.

“Well, I’m not into cheating on my mate, so if you don’t mind getting off of me,” Pushing against his chest again, this time, he moves onto his side and allows me to get away. I’m up on my feet and instantly feel wobbly on my legs, turning to face him with a scowl on my face. He’s lying on his back with his big muscular arms behind his head, just watching me intently. I immediately turn away from him, his junk is all out on display, and he’s still rock hard. Oh goddess, why me?

“Do you mind,” I scold him,

“What seems to be the problem, little wolf?” He purrs,

“You’re naked, completely but ass naked; that’s my problem,” I continue scolding.

“What’s wrong? Do you like what you see, sweetest Sasha,” He drawls out my name so sinfully that my breath hitches in my throat.

“Just cover up, okay prince Aslan,” I grumble, which instantly has him up off the bed and standing right behind me, still completely naked.

“Please, just call me Aslan,” He purrs as he brings his lips against my ear, his hands slowly running down either side of my arms, which earns him an involuntary shudder that runs through my body.

I need to get Aslan to back off; if that means being a bit mean to do it, so be it. Swinging around to face him, I’m narrowing my eyes on Aslan when I shove him back, which only ends up having me shove myself back, leaving him still unmoved; damn, he’s hard as a rock; but I still keep my eyes narrowed in on him as I look up into his eyes, and the man suddenly seems like a giant compared to my small frame.

“Now you listen here, I already have a mate back home, an Ultima wolf mate, his name is Wolf, and no amount of sweet talking in my ear is going to get me to forget about him, understand?” I’m doing all that I can from diverting my eyes south at this point, “And furthermore, what the hell is this thing around my neck?” I snap. Aslan slowly cocks his head with pure amusement in his eyes, like I didn’t just scold him like a little child,

“Sweetest Sasha, in view of your first scolding, I am perfectly aware that you are mated to an Ultima wolf; like I said before, there isn’t much I don’t know. I just honestly don’t care; I know I can and will give you more; more pleasure, more satisfaction, more everything and anything your heart desires.”

“What about love? What about that?” I snap with my arms now folded across my chest as I raise a brow at him, “Because Wolf has my heart, no one else will ever have that but him,” Shrugging he seems completely unphased by my comment,

“I’m an Unseelie man, Sasha; we are, by nature, devoted and hopeless romantics to our woman, and to answer your second question, the ring around your neck is to stop you from using your elemental magic on me.” Touching the metal ring around my neck, I’m suddenly clenching my jaw as I smirk in response,

“Are you scared of me, Aslan?” Tilting his head to the other side, he gently runs his hand down my jawline, earning him another involuntary shudder. Urgh.

“I don’t like witches much; I am absolutely infatuated with your wolf, though; she is quite a wild one,” He says with a wink; blinking back confusion, I’m furrowing my brows at him,

“What do you mean she’s wild?”

“I’ve been privileged enough to see her in your eyes these past three weeks, albeit she was lost in the moment of her wolf mate; she is breathtaking.” My jaw goes slack as heat instantly pools between my ears, my face heating in that moment,

“Three weeks!” I shriek; I stumble back, my entire body feeling wired up as I begin hyperventilating, and then my eyes snap up to him as pure rage begins pulsing through my body in waves, “You asshole,” I’m suddenly slamming my fists against his bare chest, “How could you, three weeks, three whole weeks, you drugged me for three weeks and kept me in your room!” I’m screaming at him as tears stream down my cheeks, slamming and slamming against his chest; and yet he stands there completely unmoved.

Only once, I can’t slam my fists against his chest anymore, and I’ve cried so much that I hardly have a voice. Do I stop slamming my fists and just stand there, resting my forehead against his chest, breathing heavily between sniffing back more tears. Aslan slowly folds his arms around me and pulls me against him even tighter,

“I hate you.” I whimper, sighing; he tightens his hold in a bear hug,

“No, you don’t, not really.”

“Yes, I do,” I sniff,

“Sasha, I tell you what, I will send a hundred of my best men to the Unseelie for you to retrieve Lisbon so the curse on your wolf mate can finally be lifted.” Pulling away slightly, I sniff again as I stare up at him in disbelief through my puffy red eyes,

“What? Why?” Gently wiping away at my tears, he pushes his lips against my forehead before pulling away and looking deep into my eyes,

“Sweetest Sasha, I told you, I will give you the world if you become mine,” Clenching my jaw, my body tenses in response,

“And I’ve already told you, I have a mate.” Tilting his head again, a small smile creeps up at the corners of his mouth as he cups my cheeks and tilts my face up so our eyes can connect.

“If you go into the Unseelie realm, you will die, that’s a fact, but if I send my men into Unseelie territory, they will retrieve Lisbon for you.” Gently rubbing his thumb across my bottom lip, he smirks, “Think carefully about this, Sasha, without the help of my men, you will die, and the hopes of your mate’s curse being lifted will die with you; how tragic will that be,” My brows furrow in response, “But if you give yourself to me, I can guarantee that your mate’s curse will be lifted, and he will be able to live a life shifting into his wolf again. To get that, you’ll have to make a choice, Sasha; Give up Wolf and stay with me, and he gets to live a full life as a wolf again; I’m sure he’ll meet someone else eventually; deny me, and you will end up dying as you try and save him, now is that really what you want?” Gulping, I slowly lower my eyes to the floor, the image of Wolf with that other she-wolf pops into my mind, and a tear slowly rolls down my cheeks.

“If I stay with you, you’ll help me break the curse on Wolf?” Nodding, he gently runs his fingers up and down my arms,

"You have my word," Swallowing hard I’m suddenly faced with the most difficult decision of my life, could I give up Wolf in order to break his curse? Could I lose the man I love in order to save him?

ASHER

It’s all my fault; I should have told her the water was what I was talking about when I was revering to tea, but seriously couldn’t she see that the water was red; it was fucking red!

Nature gives clear indications of certain things we should steer clear of; the colour red is a pretty clear indication to anyone, right?

I mean, red tree frogs, stay away. Red mushroom, don’t you fucking dare. Redwater, Sasha, seriously, it’s red water, for fuck sake; RED WATER, it’s common sense.

I’m scrubbing a hand over my face, my wolf is so on edge that if it wasn’t for these goddam wolf cuffs, he would be tearing through this place and replaceing Sasha, but I can’t; that witch bitch made sure of that the moment she put them on me in my sleep. Telling me, she loved me one minute, only to cuff me the next; I should have known better than to trust Eris.

Now I’m pacing up and down inside castle Sansa, wondering what to do; it’s been a week, a whole fucking week; Sasha is mated to an Ultima wolf, the only other Ultima wolf in existence besides me; I’ll be damned if I’m going to allow prince Aslan to fuck this up, I’m going to make sure that Sasha gets back to Wolf so that hopefully one day I can meet him too. The only question is how, what do I do? Aslan won’t even allow me to see Sasha; he’s got her locked away in his room; oh fuck, please, no. I’m pacing like a madman, I’ve got to do something, but I can’t go up against prince Aslan because I really do respect him. If it wasn’t about getting Sasha to break the curse on her Ultima mate and get back to him, I would be like, sure, prince Aslan, keep her, she would be a fortunate girl, but I can’t do that with what’s at stake now, can I?

It suddenly hits me, the only way to help Sasha is for me to go and replace Atlas or one of the other elemental witches who are her friends; swallowing down hard, I’m suddenly clenching my jaw nervously; I don’t want to do this, but I don’t really have a choice, do I? I’m going to have to go and replace them, get them to help me with Sasha; never before have I felt at such a disadvantage because of my curse as I do right now.

I really hope they don’t kill me before I can tell them why I’m looking for them, and who I truly am.

ATLAS

“What do you mean you let her go?!” I’m almost shouting the words at Noah as my entire body tenses in response,

“I’m not her captive, Atlas,” Noah narrows his eyes at me, “She asked me to let her go, which only confirms what Miera said; the Unseelie creature didn’t take her; she left with him willingly.” Running my hands through my hair, I’m pulling at the roots as I pace up and down,

“This is all my fault; I should have just gone with her to the Unseelie realm, bit the bullet and taken her; now she’s turned to an Unseelie creature for help. Are you serious? Are you fucking serious!?” I scream out the last bit as I topple over a bedside table in Sasha’s room, smashing it against the wall in splintered pieces. I feel like I can’t breathe; she’s my sister, and I failed her; how could I have been such an idiot to keep her here just because I thought it was the safest thing for her? She’s right; I don’t know what it feels like to be connected to my fated mate, so how could I have thought dragging things out with Sasha would help her? Of course, she would go after Wolf on her own, and the whole dream manipulation thing, what a fucking terrible idea that was, now we’re missing Sasha and Caleb; I wish Caleb was here; he would know what to do.

I’m slowly breathing in and out, trying to think and figure it out in my head, “What would Caleb do? What would Caleb do?” I quietly repeat those words until it dawns on me, swinging around to face the others. They’re all watching me intently and somewhat curiously,

“We’re going to the Unseelie realm; if that’s where she’s heading, then that’s where we’re going,” I blurt out, and Noah immediately gives me a suspicious look,

“You realize we must go through the Seelie to get to the Unseelie side, right?”

“Yeah, so? Why on earth would they deny us entry into the Unseelie realm?” I retort with a smirk. And all four of them look at me like I’m crazy, except Eris; she’s looking at me like she wants to gauge my eyes out with her nails, not that I give a fuck; she’s helping whether she wants to or not.

~

We’re on top of the Watergate bridge, we’ve been stationed here for the past few days. Fuck.

The Seelie have refused us safe passage into the Unseelie realm. When I asked about a girl travelling through here on a boat with an Unseelie, they told me they knew nothing of any girl. Liars, they’re all fucking liars, sneaky mother fuckers who like playing games; I don’t have time for this. Sasha could be in serious trouble now, and I can’t get to her. Fuck.

I’m still pacing up and down on top of the bridge, everyone’s eyes on me, but no one dares say anything, not now; I’m like a ticking fucking time bomb; when suddenly I swing around and stare straight into the eyes of an Unseelie creature standing at the end of the bridge, and not just any Unseelie animal, it’s the one that’s been lurking around Aeonian, it’s the one who took Sasha.

Narrowing my eyes on him, blue sparks of anger swirl around in my eyes when I grumble, “You.” I’ve suddenly got all the others beside me, glaring daggers at the Unseelie; he’s messed with the wrong witches today. Everyone’s eyes light up with the glow of their own elements, Noah and Miera’s eyes take on a light blue, Circen’s a blood red, and Eris a misty white. Our elemental powers are ready to annihilate this asshole from existence when he suddenly shoots his hands up in surrender and drops to his knees.

“Please, don’t; I need your help to help free Sasha from prince Aslan.” I’m suddenly blinking back the surprise in my eyes when I furrow my brows at him; what did he just say?

“I’m not really an Unseelie creature; I can prove it to you.” He says, lowering his head to us, “Please, I want exactly what you want, to help Sasha; she’s my pack.” Swallowing an uncertain lump in my throat, my eyes instantly return to normal as my energy begins to pull back, the others follow suit, and soon we’re all just standing there staring at him suspiciously.

“What do you mean she’s your pack?”

“Just let me show you. Can I show you?” He asks me, and my eyes are narrowed on him when I finally answer with,

“Fine, but if you try anything, I swear on my powers we’ll end your worthless existence,” Nodding, he sighs before slowly getting up and moving over to the side of the bridge, “What are you doing?” I sneer at him,

“I need to wash this white clay off; only then will you see,”

“How do I know you’re not just trying to make a run for it?” I grumble at him,

“You have two water elements with you; surely you don’t think I’m that stupid, do you?”

“Get on with it then.” I snap at him; I don’t have time for bullshit from the Unseelie. Nodding once he dives right over the side into the water, all five of us rush over to the side of the bridge and look down,

“Where is he, where is he?!” I’m shouting out. Fuck. “Noah, use your...” Just as I’m about to continue, a head suddenly pops up out of the water; turning to look up at us, my jaw suddenly goes slack, “Your a... a...”

“I’m an Ultima wolf, specifically Prince Asher of the Ultima’s.” He says nonchalantly, and I’m just blinking back in surprise, which is quickly replaced by shock.

Once he’s back on the bridge again, I can’t believe it, it’s him, it’s really him, prince Asher of the Ultimas,

“I thought you were dead?” I bark out in disbelief, “How is it... I mean, how?” Everyone else suddenly lets out a sigh of relief, like they see a ghost and they’re happy about it. We all encircle him in an instant with shocked expressions, except Eris; her eyes are so wide they look like they’re about to pop out.

“You died, didn’t you?” Circen asks in disbelief as she smiles from ear to ear; even Noah has a huge smile on his face,

“I can’t believe it; everyone said you died, man.” Asher merely smiles coyly before looking down and shrugging,

“Yeah, it was better everyone thinks I was dead after what happened,” And I don’t miss the moment he looks up past us at Eris, standing right at the back with her eyes trained to the ground. Still, I’m too fucking psyched to see Asher after Ronan ordered the banishment of all the Ultima’s; I thought that Asher had been killed.

Before all the madness, before everything got all crazy and Ronan forbade us from even speaking of the Ultima’s, we were all friends; believe it or not, we were friends with Asher; I mean, we didn’t get to see each other all that often, but after all the shit went down with Asher’s dad, I just assumed that was it, Ultima’s were no more. I’m so wired right now, and I know everyone else is too. Everyone except Eris, that’s strange right?

Asher ends up telling us everything about Prince Aslan drugging Sasha with the Tea water, and my jaw suddenly clenches in response as my fists tighten,

“So he won’t let you see her?” Shaking his head, Asher looks down,

“No, I haven’t seen Aslan or Sasha for the entire week I was there; that’s why I had to come to replace you guys; I guess lucky for me, you were here and not back at Aeonian, right?” He shrugs with a smirk; and I suddenly replace myself sighing as I pull a hand through my hair, looking from Asher to everyone else,

“Well, I guess we just have to ask the general on Seelie gate duty if we can come up to prince Aslan; how hard can it be?”

~

It’s been two weeks since Asher found us on this bridge; we’ve been denied entry every fucking day so far; the Seelie general on duty is clearly so far up prince Aslan’s ass, doing everything the prince asks him to do, including keeping us out. I feel like I’m losing my mind...

The moment the general on duty finally changes shift with someone else, I decide to change my tactic; he’s clearly new at this gate duty thing, and he seems pretty young, so I use this to my advantage when I ask to have an audience with Queen Fae instead of seeing Prince Aslan. Just like that, the Queen grants us an audience with her. Finally.

I wonder if she knows what a dick her son has been; then again, would it bother her? She loves her children to her own detriment sometimes.

Oh well, here we go, I guess; let’s see how the Queen feels about keeping fated mates apart; I don’t think she’ll be too happy that her son has stolen Sasha away from her fated mate Wolf, who just happens to be an Ultima.