Page 3

I should push him away. I should tell him this is a mistake.

Instead, my hands find his shoulders as I stand on the tips of my toes, gripping hard as I kiss him back with everything I have.

It feels like I’ve been hungry for years, like I’ve been craving the particular spicy sweetness of his mouth all my life.

And I never want to stop drinking it in.

His hands are everywhere—on my waist, my back, pulling me closer until there’s no space left between us. His heat seeps into me, chasing away every shred of doubt and hesitation. I belong here. This is meant to be.

He’s mine.

When his lips leave mine to trail down my neck, my breath hitches, and my nails dig into his skin.

He lifts me like I weigh a feather, and my legs reflexively wrap around him.

I feel the searing warmth of his hardness, and I know I am coated in slick in between my legs.

The scent of pheromones mixes with the sheer ooze of his Alpha aura.

I’m in heaven, and my wolf is in paradise in his arms.

My hands snake into his hair, and my hips start to grind.

I feel him smile against my lips. He presses me against the bark of the tree, and his hands start roaming down my chest. He cups my breasts, and they fill his hands so perfectly that I moan into his mouth.

His warm hand kneads the cushion of my breast and sends warm tingles all over me.

I kiss him harder, feeling our teeth scrape against each other’s lips. He takes my bottom lip into his mouth and sucks.

Somehow, he manages to get harder, and I feel him throb. Needy. Aching. Without a word from him, I know what his body wants. What his body needs.

My wolf lets out her claws, and I run them down his back.

I feel her howl, and I know she is tangled with his wolf in ecstasy.

His growls into our kiss, and he presses harder against me.

His hand goes over my hips and drags my pants down over my pert ass.

He smacks once, and I feel his impatience spilling over in the intensity of his kiss.

He bites my bottom lip. I whine and yelp into his mouth, but he holds me steady as he maneuvers his pants off. He is naked below his waist now, and I feel the sheer size of his cock against my inner thigh. He’s already oozing, waiting for me .

I feel myself gush all over him where my hip meets his groin. We both can’t wait.

Sunset fades into twilight, and the cool evening breeze does nothing to ease the fire burning between us.

I grind against him, teasing my clit, getting my slick all over him, as if marking my territory, as if making sure that every female that comes even within a mile of him knows that he belongs to me.

“What is your name?” he murmurs into my mouth.

“Hazel,” I breathe, feeling him adjust my hips so he is right at my slippery mound. I can’t breathe. My brain does not remember how to breathe.

The world pauses the second he says my name.

“Hazel,” he repeats, this time plunging his mouth onto mine at the same time he plunges his cock into me.

I yelp out loud, and it turns into a moan.

The sting of my hymen tearing to fit him courses through me, and then it immediately turns into the most mind-numbingly pleasurable thing I’d ever experienced.

“Fuck,” he hisses into my mouth. I hold his face steady and kiss him like my life depends on it. His strokes inside of me are calm and steady, easing all the way out before sliding all the way back in, his path lubricated by my juices.

I hold on tight to him, sensing the urgency building inside me. It tingles all the way from my scalp to my toes. My legs are hooked on the small of his back.

He does not go faster or slower. It's the same pace. Over and over again. He’s driving me up the wall, sending me to places I never knew were possible. The pleasure is making me lose control of my body.

At this point, I’m barely holding on. The only reason I am held up is from the steady support of his hand on my hip and the tree behind me.

Then he slides all the way out, and I hear an agonized scream escape my throat. What a needy bitch I’ve become. And I love it. I love this new animal that I am.

He lifts me up so that I am balancing my hands on his head and my legs are wrapped around his face.

His mouth connects with my wetness and I struggle to stay upright.

His tongue is magic, playing with my bean and sliding into my hole.

I’m a whimpering, leaking mess as I feel my orgasm crash into me.

I leak all over him, and my wolf howls in delight.

Fuck he felt good. Fuck, my mate knows how to fuck.

I can’t think another word as he slides me back down and now, starts fucking me in earnest.

“Good girl,” he says when I tighten around his girth again. That rich baritone of his is like a trigger. I am cumming all over him again.

“Goddess, I’m losing my mind.”

“Hold on, not just yet.”

His muscles tense and I know he is going to cum soon. So, I wait for him, holding my breath, holding out, biting down on my lip. Then I feel it. I feel him. He swells inside me, and I know he is going to fill me with his seed.

He kisses me then and lets go, pulsing and pumping into me as he cums.

“Now,” he orders, and my body obliges, spasming in his arms.

His teeth graze the sensitive spot where a Mate mark would go, and my entire body shudders in response.

“Kieran,” I whisper, my voice barely audible over the rush of blood in my ears.

He freezes, his breath warm against my skin. “Say it again,” he growls, his tone rough and full of need.

“Kieran,” I repeat, louder this time, the name tasting strange and familiar all at once. “My Mate. My Alpha.” The very words sound like treason, but I am too lost in the euphoria of what has just happened to care.

He pulls back just enough to meet my gaze, his blue eyes blazing with something primal, something that sends a thrill racing through me.

“You’re mine,” he says, the words a declaration, a promise, a challenge.

My wolf agrees, but a flicker of doubt seeps into my thoughts. This is moving too fast. It’s too intense. My wolf may trust him, but I’m not ready to hand over everything, to leave everything that I’ve known all my life—not yet.

I press a hand against his chest, feeling the steady beat of his heart beneath my palm. “We can’t,” I murmur, though my voice lacks conviction.

His brow furrows, confusion flashing across his features. “Why not?”

“Because I’m not ready,” I admit, my words trembling but firm. “Not like this. Not yet.”

For a moment, he doesn’t move, his expression unreadable. Then he nods. He pulls out of me, and I immediately miss him. He lowers me to the ground and doesn’t let go till he is sure I’m steady, then steps back slightly, though the heat between us doesn’t dim.

“Take your time,” he says as he dresses himself, his voice low but steady. “But don’t think I’m letting you go.”

Before I can respond, my name tears through the air. “Callister! Where the hell are you?” It’s Rhyne, my troop leader, his tone sharp and impatient. My stomach sinks as reality crashes back in.

I pull away from Kieran, my hands shaking as I try to smooth my disheveled appearance. He doesn’t stop me, but his gaze lingers, heavy and full of unspoken words. I scramble to get dressed as I take one step away from him after the other.

I nod, regret filling me, turning on shaky legs and heading back toward the arena. My wolf expresses her disapproval of the distance, but I ignore her. My heart still pounds, my lips still tingling from his kisses, and my wolf’s satisfaction hums like a low drumbeat in my chest.

The moment I step back into the clearing, the noise of the crowd hits me like a wave. Cheers and jeers echo across the arena, the next match already in full swing.

And then I see my father, Magnus Callister, standing on the elevated platform overlooking the pit, his sharp gaze sweeping the crowd. When his eyes land on me, they narrow, his lips pressing into a thin line.

Disappointment. That’s all I see. That’s all I ever see.

I square my shoulders, forcing myself to meet his gaze even as my chest tightens. But then, the crowd stirs, murmurs rippling through them like a sudden breeze .

Kieran steps into the clearing behind me, his presence commanding attention without a single word.

Magnus’ expression shifts, his disdain melting into something else—something that almost looks like pride.

His eyes flick between me and Kieran, his brow furrowing slightly as if piecing something together.

He must think I have hatched some kind of plan against the Moonfang.

If Kieran weren’t my mate, he would have been right.

The downfall of the Moonfang has been the center of our strategies for months.

I force myself to keep walking, my head held high even as my thoughts spiral. Magnus doesn’t say a word as I pass him, but I can feel his gaze burning into my back.

Rhyne steps forward to meet me.

“Where were you?” The scowl on his face deepens with the question. I scoff in my head. I’m no longer a wolfless child he can boss around.

“Clearing my head.”

He gives me a long look like he suspects something else but doesn’t push further. “Get ready. The next round’s coming up.”

My wolf is restless, her frustration and desire bleeding into my thoughts. But I shove it all down, focusing on the task at hand.

Whatever this thing between Kieran and me is, it’ll have to wait. For now, I have a fight to finish and a father to prove wrong.