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My stomach clenches when I realize where she’s going with this. She sounds unbelievably worried.

“Typically, yes,” I tell her, still stroking her breast. “It’s customary for a wolf to mark his mate.”

“With a bite,” she adds, almost as if she’s checking her facts. But this is a girl who grew up surrounded by shifters. She knows all about mating — or sheshould.

“Yes.”

Elena worries her bottom lip between her teeth before meeting my eyes. “Will it hurt?”

“Only for a second.”

She nods, and her expression morphs into something like resolve. “All right.”

“All right what?” I ask, my voice trembling at the implication.

She can’t possibly mean what Ithinkshe means. I know I need to mark her — my wolf is demanding it — but I want to take things slow.

“I’m ready for you to mark me.”

“Are you sure?” I ask. “Because it doesn’t have to be tonight. We could wait a while. There’s no rush.”

Elena nods. “I’m sure.”

My throat goes very dry. “Youhaveto be sure, Lena. Because once I mark you . . . there’s no going back.” My voice is hoarse with vulnerability and need. I don’t tell her that it’salreadytoo late — that she’s already mine. With my mark or without it, I’ll never let her go. “You’ll be mine. Forever.”

“I know,” she whispers. “And I . . .” She takes a deep breath. “I want to wear your mark.”

A wild excitement streaks through my chest. Elenawantsme to claim her. She wants the whole world to know that she belongs to me and that I belong to her.

The thought makes me instantly rock hard again, butthen that thrill morphs into panic. Elena is human — fragile as hell and slow to heal. What if I really hurt her?

“You won’t hurt me,” she says, as though she read my thoughts. Her hand comes up to caress my cheek, and a low growl rumbles through me at her feather-light touch. “I trust you.”

ELENA

A delicious shiverrolls through me as Jake slides between my thighs and plants a kiss on my swollen nub. Fire shoots through my veins at his touch, and my core clenches in anticipation.

Jake’s tongue flicks over my most sensitive spot, making torturous, unhurried circles. I moan and lie back, savoring the feeling of his rough hands on my thighs before his thumb parts my folds, and he licks me from ass to clit.

I shudder as he laps me up. I’m already dripping wet. Dripping wet and . . . confused.

I asked him to mark me, but he appears to be distracted. He lavishes attention on the flushed lips of my pussy, taking one between his teeth and giving it a gentle tug.

An embarrassing groan of pleasure slips out of me, and I rake my fingers through his hair. However I might have imagined sex with Jake, Ineveranticipated that he’d be able to make me feel like this.

Then his fingers are inside me again, stroking that magical spot. Pressure starts to build low in my abdomen,and I clench my thighs together as he coaxes and licks and bites.

When he sucks my clit into his hot, wet mouth, I squeal and thrash on the bed. Jake captures my wrists and pins them to the mattress, forcing me to submit.

My orgasm rocks through me with overwhelming force — stronger and harder than the last. Jake eases each wave with gentle licks before folding his body over mine.

I sigh. Jake is hard everywhere I’m soft. Huge. Warm. Masculine. He towers over me by nearly a foot, and yet our bodies somehow just fit.

Then Jake pulls back to look at me, and I’m startled by the naked terror in his eyes.

“What’s wrong?” I ask.

He shakes his head. “N-nothing,” he croaks. “Everything’s perfect.”