Page 75 of Crossed Fates

Now he rolled his eyes. “Fated mates are not temporary.”

“My kind doesn’t do fated mates!” I said for the thousandth time. “We have five stages. They are specific and have to be followed for that”—I pointed at thedarkeningbrand on his pec—“to happen.”

His hand slid from my cheek to the back of my neck. “Rules don’t seem to apply here, sweetheart.” He kissed me again, his calmness seeping in through ourbond. Which meant he could feel my anxiety, too. Yet he countered it with a sweep of his tongue across my mouth, demanding I open for him.

I clamped down my jaw instead.No.

He growled and nipped my lower lip in response. “You run, I chase. And, baby, that just turns me on more.”

My wolf spun in a dizzying circle inside me, liking the sound of that.

No,I repeated.

I shoved him away again, and he allowedme to flee with a laugh, clearly unbothered. He stood from the bed, momentarily distracting me with his tight, sexy ass. Then he disappeared into the bathroom, and the fog of lust dissipated.

I dropped my face into my hands and groaned.It’s not supposed to happen like this.

“Like what?”

I froze for a second, then my head popped up and I stared at the bathroom door in disbelief. “I didn’t say that… no. No! No, no, no! You can’t be in my head!”

Totally in your head, sweetheart.

This wasn’t right. I shouldn’t have heard him in my head. “Impossible. Impossible. This is impossible!”

You know, Bitten mates don’t usually have telepathy.

A growl of frustration escaped me, and I mentally snapped, I’m not talking to you.

Hmm, well, if you’re not talking to me, could you speak to yourself a little more quietly? You’re giving me a headache.

I grabbed a pillow from the bed and screamed into it, only to hear him laughing in my head.

The next thing I knew, the pillow was torn from my hands and Alaric stood directly in front of me in all his naked glory. I tried really hard not to think about dirty things and how turned on I was at the sight of him, but his devilish grin told me I’d epically failed.

He captured my hand and tugged me off the bed and into the bathroom, filled with steam from the running shower. “If those are the kinds of thoughts you are having about me, this telepathy thing might not be so bad,” he said with a grin, and he pushed me into the hot spray.

Or I could stab you again,I thought darkly.

He tsked. “Hmm, now, I thought we covered proper knife play last night.” He grabbed a bar of soap from a nook on the wall and began lathering his hands. “Or do you need another lesson?”

Alaric

Makayla sputtered beneath the water,her thoughts vacillating between want and denial.

Yes, please.

No. Not happening.

But last night—

Cannot. Be. Repeated.

My lips twitched. “You let me know when you’ve worked all that out, sweetheart.”

She glared in response, the water dampening her beautiful red hair to a ruby shade that matched her ring. I set the soap aside, then ran my hands over my body as a taunt. Her pretty eyes followed the path of my touch, her pupils dilating with a desire her mind adamantly fought.

No. We can’t be mates. We just can’t. I don’t want a mate!