Chapter 13 — Mark or Die

Dmitry’s Office – Rurik Motors, Moscow

Dmitry kept his eyes fixed on the screen. But it wasn’t the report from the German branch that held his attention.

In the corner of the monitor, silent and discreet, a small window displayed footage from the company’s internal security cameras.

Three of them were fixed on different points in the advertising department. And in all of them, Susan. She entered a meeting room. Laughed at something a colleague said.

Walked with papers pressed against her huge breasts, her red hair tied in a loose bun. She wore a dark blazer that unconsciously molded her curves.

And he… was losing his mind.

“Fuck… Look at this woman. She’s begging to be ripped apart.”

The Lycan’s voice roared in his mind, raw, without any mask.

“You’re obsessed.”

“No… I’m fucked. Condemned to want this woman forever.”

Dmitry replied mentally, closing his eyes for a moment.

“Mr. Rurik?” The assistant knocked on the half-open door. “Do you need anything before I leave?”

“No.” He stood up. “Is Alexei in the parking lot?”

“Already waiting, as you requested.”

Dmitry picked up his phone. Once again, the video was there. Susan talking to her colleagues. Laughing. Beautiful, soft, desirable to the point of torture.

“Fuck… You need to bury yourself in her right now.”

“Not yet.”

“She calls us in her dreams, fuck. She smells you, gets wet, opens up… She wants it, even if she’s scared.”

“I know.”

“Then STOP this shit! Get rid of that fucking marriage already. Susan isn’t a woman to be shared. She’s ours. Only ours!”

He left the office with long, firm strides. As soon as he reached the ground floor, he spotted Alexei leaning against the car as if he were in a pop music video.

“Look who finally decided to leave the stalker post!” Alexei opened the car door for him with a mocking smile. “The little redhead is still on the tenth floor, you know? I thought you were going to camp out in the elevator today.”

Dmitry let out a heavy sigh.

“Shut up, Alexei.”

“Ah, brat (brother), you know I’m having fun. I was in the meeting. Everyone saw it. Even Natalia saw it. You were devouring the girl with your eyes like she was the last dessert on the planet.”

Dmitry stared at the dark window as the car began to move. His eyes were red with exhaustion.

He hadn’t slept properly since the night of that dream.

“I tried to keep control. Two whole days burying myself in numbers and meetings. The only reason I managed it was because she was on the cameras the whole time. Even so, the nights…”

“Nightmares?” Alexei asked with a curious smile. “Or… wet dreams?”

Dmitry slowly turned his head, with a sharp look.

“Shared dreams. With her scent stuck to me. With the touch I’ve never had, but my soul already knows. She feels it too. I saw it. In her eyes.”

Alexei whistled.

“This isn’t going to end well.”

“It’s going to end with her moaning and writhing while we bury ourselves deep inside her, until nothing is left that doesn’t carry my scent, my mark, my cum.”

“And what are you going to do about Natalia?” Alexei asked, as if talking about the weather. “Because, you know… she’s not going to step aside. Especially now that you’re drooling over someone else. Right in front of her.”

“I’ll deal with it,” Dmitry replied firmly. “She’ll understand that the agreement between the families remains in force only until the council approves my exit. After that, I owe her nothing.”

“Yeah, right.” Alexei laughed. “Good luck telling that to the daughter of the Kovalenko clan’s Alpha. She’s going to cling to you at the event like a tick on a sick lycan.”

Dmitry ignored him. They were arriving.

Arkady Zaitsev’s tailoring shop in central Moscow was an old, elegant place that smelled of leather and polished wood. Arkady himself, a man with white hair combed back and attentive eyes, received them with a slight smile.

“Mr. Rurik. Mr. Alexei. The piece is ready. Perfect, as always.”

Dmitry removed his coat while Arkady pointed to the reserved fitting room.

He put on the custom-made suit, crafted from soft black fabric, with satin lapels and a precise cut. He looked at himself in the mirror.

“She’s going to see me like this… She’s going to get all wet… And she won’t even understand why she wants so badly to be fucked by us.”

Alexei entered, sitting down with a glass of whiskey in hand.

“You know what I really want to know?”

“No. But you’re going to tell me anyway.”

“Are you going to mark her?”

Dmitry turned slowly, adjusting the cuffs of his shirt.

“If I get the chance, yes.”

“You’re going to mark the little redhead in the middle of the event?”

“Maybe not there. But she’s leaving there as mine. And the rest of the world is going to notice. Especially Natalia.”

Alexei took a sip of whiskey.

“Then the war begins on Friday. I’ll bring popcorn.”

“She’s going to look beautiful… She’s going to bite her lip, look away… And when I touch her, when my hand slides around her waist… Fuck… She’s going to open her legs for me without even realizing it.”

The Lycan whispered low and lascivious:

“And when we fuck her… it’s going to be until she begs us to stop… or to never leave. She’s going to tremble, she’s going to cum, and she’s going to understand that she will never… never… belong to anyone else.”

Dmitry looked at himself in the mirror one last time.

“Arkady. Just adjust the hem of the pants. I want everything perfect. Friday night… I’m taking what’s mine.”

***

Natalia raised her arms with elegance while the stylist made the final adjustments to the dress.

A long red silk model that molded her body with surgical precision. The daring neckline highlighted her porcelain-white skin, and the diamond necklace hung over her cleavage like a silent reminder of her status.

“It’s impeccable, Mrs. Rurik,” the seamstress commented, admiring.

“I know it is,” Natalia replied, without taking her eyes off the mirror.

Her tone was cold, calculated.

She knew every curve, every angle that attracted glances. And that night, she would make sure to remind everyone — especially her — who the woman beside Dmitry Rurik was.

Sitting with a casual pose on the velvet sofa, Irina Kravtsova watched the scene with a little smile on her lips and a glass of wine in her hand.

“You look stunning, as always, Natalia. But…” She made a dramatic pause, bringing the crystal to her lips. “Do you think Dmitry will notice?”

Natalia didn’t blink. The slight stiffening of her shoulders was the only visible response.

“He will notice,” she replied firmly.

Irina raised an eyebrow.

“Are you sure? Some say his eyes have been quite occupied lately… with a certain redhead, freckled and wearing glasses. It seems he even forgot she was in front of him during that meeting.”

Natalia clenched her fists. The image of Dmitry watching that fat girl as if the world around him had ceased to exist still burned behind her eyes.

“I’ve already heard the gossip,” she said through gritted teeth. “And I don’t let myself be shaken by rumors from envious employees.”

Irina let out a low, almost pitying laugh.

“Oh, Natalia… You know lycans. They don’t react like this to just any woman. If Dmitry is… drooling… it’s because there’s something beyond the physical.”

At that moment, the stylist finished the adjustments and discreetly left the room, leaving only the three women.

The silence hung for a moment, until Svetlana Romanov, Natalia’s trusted advisor, an older Lycan with sharp eyes and an impeccable posture, decided to intervene.

“Irina is being too direct, but she’s not wrong. Dmitry isn’t just distracted… He’s obsessed. And that puts us in front of a political and personal problem.”

Natalia spun on her heels, her eyes flashing with anger.

“Dmitry is my husband. Our marriage was a strategic alliance, and he understands what that means. He belongs to me.”

“And yet, you need… help from potions to sleep with him,” Irina prodded, savoring every word.

Svetlana crossed her arms, serious.

“The bond between you has always been one of appearance. Dmitry never truly gave himself. You were raised to be the perfect wife, but he never allowed you to be more than that. Now, with this human, everything has changed.”

“I am not just anyone,” Natalia hissed. “I am a Kovalenko. I was molded to be an Alpha’s female.”

“And that’s exactly why…” Svetlana said, her voice firm as steel. “It’s time to act like one. Dmitry is about to mark another. And if that happens… you lose everything.”

The silence that followed was cutting. Natalia closed her eyes for a moment, breathing deeply. When she opened them again, there was something dark and determined in her icy gaze.

Her claws lengthened slightly, reflecting the light like silver blades.

“Dmitry Rurik is mine,” she murmured, like a poisoned oath. “And I will not let some human, fat as a sow, without a name or history, take what is rightfully mine.”