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It destroyed him anew, completely demolished his control, and pushed the human side of him all the way to the back, together with his demonic nature. All that was left was the wolf, and it was ravenous for her body, her heart, her soul.

He began to fuck her, every plunge of his cock meant to mark her as his territory. He began to possess her, branding her with his kisses, his caresses, his thrusts.

He was wild for her, and she—-

The way she stared up at him with eyes clouded with desire—-

The way she kept tossing and turning her head on the pillow, her hair spread out like gold silk against the whiteness of her sheets—-

The way her legs snaked around his waist, the way her hips began to rise to meet his cock—-

The way she started panting his name—-

His proper little Soleil was as wild for him.

“Mine,” he growled.

This Soleil was for his eyes only, he thought possessively.

He fucked her as hard and as deep as he could.

“Mine!”

And then his hips began furiously pumping over hers, and she was panting even more loudly, urging him with her breathy little cries—-

“Mine—-”

She clutched his shoulders as she started to come.

He sank into her one last time, plunging his cock so deep he reached her womb, and then he started to shoot his load into her.

“Mine.”

And that had been her first inkling, Soleil thought sleepily hours later, of how insatiable her marquis could be. He had not let her up at all. He had made love to her over and over, and even though she had begged him to stop, thinking that she could not survive so much pleasure, he had not listened to her at all. He had kept making her come and come—-

Until she had been reduced into this—-

This limp, weak doll.

She could not move at all, too tired to even open her eyes. All Soleil could do was follow him, and right now the marquis had her head on his lap while he stroked her hair like she were a pet.

Over her head, she heard him murmur, “Tell me about your curse.”

Her eyes drifted. “My demon sire – or mother – offloaded it on me, but I hadn’t known about it until I attended LSL and my former adviser Crystal saw it during a checkup. Since then, she devoted her time to discovering all she could about the curse. It was her who showed me how the curse was fashioned after an aneurysm, her who told me that heartkeeping could save me—-”

His lips tightened. “And yet you neglected to let me save you until the last minute.”

This time, Soleil opened her eyes. Looking up at him, she said simply, “It was too unfair.”

“Are you fucking serious—-”

“I’m sorry.” She reached up to cup his cheek, calming him down with her touch. Soleil said gently, “But it is the way I am, and I think...you would not like me any other way.”

“I want you alive,” he snarled, “that’s what I want the most.” But his damn stubborn heartkeeper only smiled and shook her head.

Lowering her hand back to her side, she told him, “The curse is nullified by heartkeeping, but it is not completely gone. Whoever chooses to end the union will reactivate the curse and die, and that’s why,” she told him helplessly, “I could not bind you to me until I am certain you...”

“Love you?” he supplied silkily when she suddenly felt too shy to say the words.