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My insides melted. Wetness pooled between my thighs.

I didn’t know what to do. Hours ago, he’d all but denied our connection.

Now his hands were on my waist, roaming my curves.

Everything in my logical mind told me to shut it down.

I shouldn’t want him this way. He was cruel, heartless…

and yet I wasn’t exactly mad about it. Was this Divine fate at work?

Would I ever have control over my emotions when it came to the Bruins?

“I know you want this. I can smell your arousal.” His hands cupped my breasts, and I cursed the fabric keeping me from his touch. Nipping his way down my neck, across the top of my shoulder, he continued to explore my body with his mouth, pulling soft sighs from my lips.

He was right. I wanted this. In this moment, I wanted nothing more. My body was on fire.

A strange billowy sensation curled around my legs, drawing my attention downward. There—coiling around my calves, were smoky shadows gliding up my skin, lifting the hem of my nightgown along with them.

“Wait, Jase.” I tried to hide the panic in my voice. What exactly was happening?

The others had told me he could manipulate shadows, but I’d never imagined this. It was…corporeal. A being all its own.

“Shh,” he reassured me, whispering in my ear. “It’s just my shadow.” The fabric continued rising over my hips, while his hands freely roamed my body. “Say the words. Tell me to stop and I’ll walk away.”

“No…” The word slipped out, soft and unsteady. “Don’t stop.”

As soon as the words left my mouth, his shadow ripped the gauzy fabric from my body, leaving me naked. The moonlight streaming in through the window highlighted my curves, giving me an otherworldly appearance in the mirrored surface of the glass.

“Such perfection,” he breathed. His voice dropped into something deep, primal.

“Mine,” he growled, his breath warm against my ear.

Gliding his hands up my bare torso, Jase stopped to tease my pebbled nipples.

My breath hitched, and I arched my back in a silent plea for more.

He pressed his erection firmly against my ass—and I could tell he was just as endowed as his younger brother.

The shadow returned, this time spreading my legs apart while Jase continued to explore my body, trailing his tongue down my back and across my hips. He gripped my ass, biting my cheek. Then, without warning, his shadow dipped deeper—exploring more than just my legs.

Smoky tendrils slid into my core, igniting a sensation like nothing I’d ever experienced.

I couldn’t comprehend what was happening.

All I could feel was pleasure—surging, unrelenting, all-consuming.

Inside and out, the shadow caressed me until I moaned shamelessly, consumed with desire, completely oblivious to everything else.

“Shhh,” he hushed me again. “I’m not ready to share you with the others.”

I’d all but forgotten we were still in the middle of the cabin. “I can’t,” I whispered between gasps.

“You can,” he said, covering my mouth, muffling my cries.

The shadow was relentless, leaving no part of my core untouched. Drawing out unyielding pleasure from me until it became too much and I crashed over the precipice. My legs wobbled beneath me and Jase wrapped his arm around my waist, holding me upright.

“That’s my girl,” he cooed, brushing his lips against my ear as the waves of rapture washed over me.

Before I could fully recover, the shadow coiled up my waist, split in two, and pinned my arms over my head. Jase pulled my hips back, using his foot to spread my legs farther apart.

The idea of getting caught like this—naked, arms pinned above my head, and my ass on full display had me reeling.

Desire and anxious energy blurred together into something euphoric.

I felt beautiful, like a moonlit goddess, and Jase—my Bruin—was worshipping at my feet.

I wanted nothing more than to feel him inside me.

As though he could read my thoughts, he slid the head of his cock slowly along my slick entrance. Lining himself up, he hesitated for a moment before sliding in, completely sheathing himself inside my core. “Fuck,” he hissed as I gasped at the sensation. “You’re so fucking tight.”

I tried to relax, but he was huge , and I was still sore from my time with Lucius. The stretch was intense—yet it only added to the pleasure building up again, deep in my core.

His thrusts were slow and deliberate. Each pull and push sent waves of sensation through me. Our muffled breaths and moans created a symphony of lustful sounds. I moved with him, pushing back, meeting him blow for blow as each moment drew us closer to the edge.

Jase’s thrusts shifted into grinding as he molded himself against me. His mouth found that perfect spot—where your neck meets your shoulder—and bit me, hard.

I cried out before he could cover my mouth, the imminent orgasm tore through me—violent, undeniable. My muscles pulsed around his cock as he groaned, falling over the edge with me. His rhythm faltered as he came, pumping me full of his seed. His bear, claiming what was his to take.

He held me close, still inside me, our breathing gradually slowing to a synchronized rhythm, before he finally pulled out. “I’m sorry,” he whispered.

“Sorry for what?” I reached for my shoulder, fingering the tender bite. “Biting me?”

“Go back to bed, Michaela.”

His voice was different now. Distant. I grabbed the shredded remains of my nightgown and clutched it to my chest. “What did you say?”

He was already pulling his pants back on. “This was a mistake.”

“It didn’t feel like a mistake to me.” My heart was breaking. How could he deny our connection now? We were both there. I know he felt it too. “Why don’t you ask your bear if it was a mistake?”

“That’s the problem, Michaela. I let my bear take control tonight.”

“But you acknowledge the connection? Jase?—”

“Mic.” His voice was cold. Final. “You’re gonna wake the others. Go back to bed.” He turned and walked away—leaving me naked and used in the dark silence.

I couldn’t bring myself to move. I stood there, frozen in hurt and confusion, staring out the window once more. A moment ago, my face had been flush with pleasure. Now it was cloaked in sorrow.

A look I was all too familiar with.