Page 58 of Clashing With The Grumpy Wolf

The revelation crashes through me like a wave breaking on shore, washing away the last of my hesitation.

I lean forward and press my mouth to his, pouring everything I can't say into the kiss. All my fear, my gratitude, my need. Adrian responds immediately, his hands moving to cradle my face as his lips claim mine with equal fervor.

The kiss deepens, heat building between us like kindling catching flame. Adrian's control slips, a growl rumbling from his chest as his wolf rises closer to the surface. When I pull back slightly to catch my breath, his eyes have already begun to glow that unearthly emerald green that makes my blood boil with desire.

"Adrian," I whisper, my heart pounding against my ribs. "I want the mating bite."

Adrian goes completely still, his body rigid with shock. For several heartbeats, he doesn't move, doesn't speak, just stares at me with those luminous eyes.

"Julia," he finally says, his voice rough. "Do you understand what you're asking for?"

"I think so." I meet his gaze steadily.

Adrian takes a deep breath, his hands still framing my face.

"If I give you the mating bite, I will never take another mate. I will never look at another woman. Not tomorrow, not in a decade, not in a hundred years, if I was to live that long."

The intensity of his words sends a shiver down my spine.

"And you," he continues, "you'll be bound the same way. Being apart too long will cause us physical discomfort, then pain. A true mating is not like human marriage, Julia. There's no divorce from this. It's permanent, irrevocable."

I absorb his words, feeling their weight settle around me. The permanence of it should terrify me. I've never even lived with a boyfriend before, and now I'm considering binding myself eternally to a man, a werewolf, I've known for barely a week and a half.

But when I look into Adrian's eyes, I don't feel fear. I feel certainty.

"We can wait," Adrian says softly, his thumbs stroking my cheekbones. "We have time."

"I don't want to wait," I reply, surprising myself with my conviction. "I've never felt this way about anyone, Adrian. I know it sounds crazy, but I want this. I want you. Forever."

A tremor runs through his powerful frame, his control visibly slipping. His eyes burn brighter, pupils narrowing to slits.

"Are you sure?" he asks, voice barely human now.

In response, I move to straddle him, settling myself in his lap. I can feel his hardness through the thin fabric of his sweatpants, pressing against the bare skin of my thighs beneath his borrowed shirt. Adrian's hands move to my hips, gripping tightly enough that I might find bruises tomorrow. The thought sends a thrill through me.

"I'm sure," I whisper against his mouth. “Take me, mark me.”

That's all it takes for Adrian's restraint to break. He captures my lips in a kiss that's almost violent in its intensity, all teeth and tongue and hunger. His hands slide beneath the flannel shirt, exploring the contours of my body with desperate need. When he encounters nothing but bare skin, he groans into my mouth.

"You're killing me," he murmurs, his fingers tracing patterns up my sides. He slowly works the buttons of the shirt, popping them open one by one, kissing newly exposed skin as he goes. The scratch of his stubble against my collarbone makes me shiver and sigh.

The shirt falls open, then off my shoulders entirely, pooling around my hips. Adrian stares at me like a starving man at a feast, his gaze hot enough to burn. The cabin air feels cool against my bare skin, pebbling my nipples into tight peaks. Adrian leans forward, taking one into his mouth, and I arch against him with a gasp.

Without warning, he stands, lifting me with him. I wrap my legs around his waist instinctively, clinging to his shoulders as he carries me through the cabin to his bedroom. Our eyes never break contact, even in the dim light of the hallway.

Adrian lowers me gently onto the mattress, then steps back to undress. I watch unashamedly as he pulls his shirt over his head, revealing the muscled expanse of his chest and abdomen. When he hooks his thumbs into the waistband of his pants and pushes them down, I bite my lip at the sight of him, fully naked and aroused.

Adrian joins me on the bed, his weight dipping the mattress as he moves over me. We kiss deeply as his hands explore my body, mapping every curve and hollow. I do the same, running my palms over thebroad plane of his back, feeling the shift and play of muscles beneath warm skin.

Something primal stirs within me, an instinct I don't fully understand but somehow can't ignore. I break the kiss, then turn over, rising to my hands and knees on the bed, presenting my bare back to Adrian. I glance over my shoulder to find him frozen, his eyes now entirely wolf, burning with a hunger that should frighten me but only fuels my own.

A growl rumbles from deep in his chest, something ancient and untamed.

"This is the mounting position," he explains, his voice barely recognizable. "What my wolf prefers. But I want to pleasure you first before—"

"No," I interrupt, feeling wild and shameless. "I don't want to wait. I want you inside me. Now."

Adrian moves behind me, his large hands spanning my waist. I feel the blunt head of his cock pressing against me, testing my readiness. Finding me wet and wanting, he pushes forward slowly, filling me inch by agonizing inch until I feel impossibly stretched around him.