The Cursed King

Seven

By the time Mr. Wolf stepped into the chamber, my breathing had finally evened out and I was relatively calm. I didn't wait for him to initiate the awkward conversation. As a detective, I knew that letting tension fester only made the interrogation room, or in this case, the royal bedroom, unbearable. I took the initiative to clear the air.

"I'm sorry I reacted that way," I said, turning to face him fully, forcing my voice to remain steady. "And you're completely right. I can't stay here forever. It was just a slip of the tongue, a temporary lapse in judgment. It would be great if you could just forget I said it."

Mr. Wolf looked down at me, the hard edges of his striking face softening. "It is I who should apologize, Aelia. It was rude of me to force my decree upon you. But... I still wish for you to return to your world."

A sudden, sharp pang of sadness hit my chest. Is it seriously just me? I wondered bitterly. Am I the only one sensing this insane, magnetic spark pulling us together? Am I the only one who finds a simple brush of our skin completely electrifying?

"But..." He paused, his hazel-blue eyes locking onto mine with a sudden, fierce intensity that made my breath catch. "My Lycan does not want you to leave. He is clawing at the surface, demanding that I hold onto you, conquer this distance, and claim you as ours."

A furious, uncontrollable blush instantly crept up my neck and stained my cheeks. The sheer weight of the words claim and ours reverberated through my entire body.

In my hyper-stimulated, completely corrupted mind, his words translated directly to: 'You belong to me, and I'm going to take you.' It was a wildly feral, dominant thought, and to my absolute horror, I was strangely, intensely turned on by it. My p***y throbbed with a sudden heat that had absolutely nothing to do with logic.

"And that... is exactly why you must return," he added quietly, his voice a low, gravelly warning that instantly threw cold water on my escalating fantasies.

Even though every rational cell in my brain knew he was right, the suffocating thought of leaving him entirely alone in this dead, silent kingdom felt completely wrong. But my return to Earth was inevitable. I needed to bury these reckless, hormonal feelings deep down where they couldn't compromise my survival. I was trapped in a completely foreign realm; instead of trying to romance a literal ancient wolf, I needed to pay attention to my surroundings and find a escape route.

"I will return," I said, forcing a bright, completely fake smile onto my face. "I must have just lost my mind for a second because of how beautiful this place is. Earth is where I belong, and I need to get home."

Mr. Wolf offered a slow, solitary nod, looking distinctly satisfied with my answer.

"Now, moving on to practical survival," I said, desperately shifting the subject as I rubbed my stomach. "Mr. Wolf, where exactly can a human find food around here? I haven't eaten a single bite since yesterday, and I am officially starving."

To emphasize my point, I groaned like a dramatic child, and right on cue, my stomach let out a ferocious, echoing rumble.

Mr. Wolf blinked, his eyes dropping to my stomach before shifting toward the open balcony. "It is morning already. Let me take you to the main fortress layout. Dèntra must be awake by now," he murmured, tracking the light in the sky.

I stood there, blinking in absolute confusion. Morning? Day?

"Excuse me," I said, gesturing vaguely toward the open balcony. "Did you just say 'daytime'?"

"Yes. It is day," he replied, turning his head back to look at me, a hint of genuine surprise in his eyes. "You could not tell?"

"Well, from where I'm from, daytime usually involves a giant, blinding ball of fire called the sun shining brightly in the sky," I pointed out. "Right now, it's just a little brighter, like right after dawn, but the moon is still dead center in the sky. In fact, it's so bright it looks like a white sun."

"Oh," Mr. Wolf murmured, understanding dawning on his features. "My Uncle cannot visit this sector often. This entire land was constructed using my mother's raw cosmic magic."

"Your Uncle?" My jaw twitched. "Wait... are you telling me the sun is your literal Uncle?"

He gave a casual, matter-of-fact nod.

"Okay, then why can't the sun god just stroll on in?" I asked, my inner detective craving the lore of this bizarre universe.

"As I said, this realm thrives on my mother's lunar energy. For him to pierce through her veil and visit here, he would have to expend a massive, exhausting amount of his own power just to sustain his presence," Mr. Wolf explained, his tone completely nonchalant. "And my Uncle is incredibly lazy. He despises spending his energy needlessly, which is why he is rarely ever seen, even at the grand gatherings of the Gods."

My mind was practically spinning with a dozen new questions. "Ah, I get it. The sun is a lazy slacker. Got it. But what exactly is a 'God's gathering'? Is it like... a divine VIP party or something?"

"Something of that nature, yes," Mr. Wolf replied, walking closer to me. "But it functions primarily as a mating celebration. Gods, demigods, and high entities gather from across the realms to seek out a compatible, powerful partner. Though, many of the married Gods utilize the event to hunt for new playthings."

He went on to calmly explain how a vast majority of the deities completely rejected the concept of monogamy, frequently seeking out new, temporary partners to satisfy their overwhelming s****l appetites.

I stared at him, thoroughly shocked. For as long as I could remember, human mythology and religion always portrayed the divine as pure, infallible beings completely detached from base, worldly lusts. What he was describing sounded less like a holy heaven and more like a high-stakes, debaucherous swingers' club.

Who would have thought human religion got it entirely, hilariously wrong?

"So... you're saying they just openly cheat on their spouses?" I asked, my eyebrows shooting up.

"They seek out intimate partners, yes, but it is always done with the explicit knowledge and permission of their bonded spouses," he clarified.

So... divine ethical non-monogamy. Cool, I guess?

"Does that mean absolutely every single God and Goddess rejects monogamy?" I asked, hoping for a shred of romantic decency in this cosmic hierarchy.

"Not all," he reassured me softly. "There are those who firmly believe that once you are bound in marriage, your entire existence and devotion belong strictly to your spouse."

I let out a subtle breath of relief. At least a few of them passed the vibe check.

"That reminds me," I said, tilting my head up to look into his striking eyes. "If your mother is Selene, a literal Goddess... does that make you a God too?" I paused, suddenly worried I was pushing his patience. "I hope I'm not annoying you with all these questions. Back at the precinct, I'd get chewed out if I badgered a witness this much."

"No, it is fine," he rumbled. "And yes. I am a demigod."

Even though I had strongly suspected it from the moment I saw him heal and transform, hearing him say it out loud made my breath hitch. "Wow. Okay. So... does that mean you have actual, superpower-level magic?"

He offered a small, knowing nod. "Yes, I do."

"Then... can you show me?" I asked, my inner child completely taking over. I probably looked like a kid standing in front of a candy store display, but my excitement was entirely justified. Every single corner I turned in this world revealed something mind-blowing about reality, the cosmos, and him. Everything was so profoundly fascinating that I wanted to absorb every drop of knowledge before I had to go back to my boring apartment on Earth. I was allowed to enjoy the magic a little bit, right?

Suddenly, before I could even blink, Mr. Wolf's massive, warm arm wrapped securely around my waist.

One millisecond we were standing on the dusty stone balcony of the residential ruins, and the very next fraction of a second, the air cracked with a silent pressure. The scenery completely dissolved.

We were suddenly standing dead center in a sweeping, obscenely extravagant grand hall.

My eyes darted around, completely blown away. The vaulted ceilings and towering pillars were intricately carved from solid, gleaming gold, with massive, raw diamonds embedded into the metal, sparkling fiercely under the light. Talk about old-money rich.

Positioned dead center in the room was a magnificent, polished wooden table, easily long enough to seat twenty royal guests. But that was just the head table. Branching off on either side were dozens of secondary banquet tables, each so staggeringly long that a hundred people could comfortably dine at just one. And there were easily twenty of those tables filling the space.

The sheer scale of the architecture was mind-boggling. Every square inch of the walls featured solid gold molded into winding vines and blooming, hyper-detailed flowers that seemed to pulse with a life of their own.

And then there were the chandeliers. Multiple grand fixtures hung from the carved ceiling, but the absolute monster of a centerpiece took my breath away. It was composed of sweeping gold rims from which hundreds of perfectly cut, moon-shaped crystals hung. I would bet my detective badge those crystals were actually flawless, priceless diamonds. The golden vines from the ceiling actually cascaded downward, blooming into massive sculpted flora that held the smaller, glowing crystal fixtures in place.

The light radiating from the diamonds completely illuminated the massive dining hall, yet the glow was incredibly soft and pleasant, casting a warm, majestic amber hue over everything without hurting my human eyes.

"This is... absolutely beautiful," I breathed, turning my head around to look at him. I had completely lost track of when I had unglued myself from his side, entirely intoxicated by the visual luxury of the room.

But the second my eyes landed on his face, my wide smile instantly vanished.

Mr. Wolf wasn't looking at the grandeur of the hall. His striking hazel eyes were completely vacant, staring into the middle distance as his features twisted into a mask of pure, unadulterated torment. It was glaringly obvious that this majestic room was a graveyard of heavy, devastating memories for him. The sheer, suffocating pain radiating off his silent frame was palpable.

I instantly, violently despised that look on his face.

A profound, territorial ache flared up in my chest. I didn't want him to feel a single shred of distress. An overwhelming, consuming urge took over my entire system, an intense need to physically dissolve every ounce of his ancient agony and force him to feel happy. Seeing him in pain made me physically uncomfortable, twisting my stomach into tight knots.

And right beneath that empathetic pull, a much darker, far more toxic and possessive urge slammed into my gut like a physical fist.

I don't want his mind wandering to the past. I don't want his attention anywhere but on me. I don't want him looking at the ghosts of this room, or thinking about the people he lost. I want him focused entirely, exclusively on me. I want him for myself.

Make him look at you, a dark, demanding voice whispered from the depths of my soul.

Driven by an absolute, reckless intoxication I would normally never succumb to, I took three massive, aggressive strides forward until I was standing directly in his space. Before my rational brain could scream a warning, I reached up, wrapped my hands firmly around the back of his neck, and violently pulled his head down to my level, capturing his lips with my own in a fierce, consuming kiss.

~•~