Page 4

The moment the penthouse door clicks shut, he has me pinned against it, his body pressed against mine as he takes my lips.

There’s nothing gentle about how he pries my lips open, taking what is his.

There’s nothing slow in the way my body melts into his arms like I have always belonged here.

Like I belong to him.

I was Julian’s girlfriend a few hours ago, but right now, an undeniable bond thrums between us like a living thing consuming all my senses. Everything I think, feel, and desperately need are all about this stranger.

And he must know it too, because he lifts me off the floor effortlessly, my legs instinctively wrapping around his torso as he walks around in the dimly lit space.

I barely pay attention to the surroundings, because all I can focus on is the feel of his fingers digging into my thighs and the way his breath comes out in rough pants against my skin.

Can he feel it too? The way my heart is pounding, the way everything inside me is swirling and anticipating being with him?

My back meets the edge of the bed as he sets me there, then his dark eyes rake over me, almost as if he’s drinking in my features and committing them to memory.

I should be hesitant.

I don’t know his name.

I don’t know who he is.

But then there’s no denying that his touch undoes me in a way Julian’s touch never did.

“Tell me you want this, wild one.” His fingers skim up my bare arms, leaving goosebumps in their wake.

I don’t hesitate in answering him even for a second.

“I do.”

That’s all the green light he needs, because he tugs my dress over my head, his gaze darkening as the fabric pools at my feet.

Then he lifts me up so my back presses against the mattress and he’s on top of me. Our eyes meet for one moment, right before he claims my lips again in a punishing, bruising kiss that surges through my body like wildfire igniting my entire body.

I moan something incoherent when he unclasps my bra and my aching, heavy breasts spill onto my chest.

He swallows my moans.

He kisses my jaw, all the while grunting like he’s feeling the same chaos igniting in my body, and in his.

When he licks the spot where a Mate’s mark should be, I have to dig my nails in his shoulders to keep myself from feeling the excitement of probably being marked.

I shouldn’t be thinking about marking. I shouldn’t be allowing a stranger to roam his hands all over my body like he owns it, but I do, and I want more.

“Oh, Goddess.”

The minute he wraps his lips around my aching nipple, the moan is out of me faster than I can stop it.

“Alaric, not Goddess,” he rasps, his voice rough and possessive. His tongue flicks over my nipple. “My name, wild one. Say my name when you moan like that.”

I tremble beneath him.

“Alaric.”

That pulls a smirk from him as his hand slowly and tortuously cascades down my body. He rewards me a second later when his fingers slip my panties down my legs, right before he starts exploring my core and drawing out a reckless mewl from my lips.

“Fuck, baby. You are so wet.”