Page 20 of Forsaken Desire (Ruthless Wolves #1)

I tapped my fingers against the desk with my hip leaning against the side of it. The evening shift was nowhere near as busy as the morning one, but after our rendezvous in his office a couple of hours ago, I was ready to slide into bed.

After I’d untangled myself from my Lucian, I fixed my clothes, and limped back down to my station.

Despite him trying to stop me, I slid behind the desk, bliss playing along my nerve endings.

A weight had fallen off my shoulders with dramatic ease.

I loved how comforted he made me feel. I loved how I trusted his promise: nothing would change, no matter what I told him about myself.

I’d been hyping myself up to tell him tonight . . . or maybe tomorrow.

Yes, tomorrow would be best. I sank my teeth into my lower lip, spacing out as I thought of my mate.

“I recognize that look,” Sasha tittered. She spoke low enough that no one other than those who were behind the counter could hear. Galina elbowed her side.

“Stop,” she hissed.

“No, I’m not going to stop. Who does she think she is, coming in and taking the Alpha after our true Luna has been keeping our pack afloat?”

I curled my fingers into a fist. The swirling in my stomach was making me ill. She spoke about me like I was a homewrecker, and I couldn’t help feeling that way.

“Sasha.” The rest of Galina’s whispered words were too low for me to hear.

I’d spent enough time around catty dominance games to know their talking wouldn’t stop.

Prison had been full of issues like this, but it was worse because there was no going home at the end of the day.

You were stuck in the same place as them.

I took a deep breath and slowly turned. Galina was still whispering to Sasha.

I may not know much about what we were and how packs worked on the inside, but at the very least, Tate had made it clear, fated mates were a gift, most especially for Alphas.

I’d also gotten into a few fights. They’d served a purpose and gotten me left alone. Now it seemed I would have to pull the same move.

“She came strutting out smelling like him like?—”

“He’s mine,” I snapped, “obviously I smell of him.”

Sasha scoffed and pulled away from Galina’s grip. Her chin tipped up, and she got close. Her dominance pulsed from her, but being mated to an Alpha allowed me to fight against the urge to look away.

“Cierra, the Luna , used to smell like that,” she spat, baring her teeth. A growl slipped from my lips, and I stepped closer, needing to tip my head up to keep my eyes on her. I fought dirty, she wouldn’t win this.

“Do not speak to your Luna like that,” Lucian boomed through the lobby.

I flicked a glance around. Thank Moon, there weren’t any humans around. I exhaled and shook my head to push away the cobwebs of anger. I would have thrown a punch right here, right now, in the middle of my job.

My face flooded with heat, and I dropped my shoulders.

“Lucian,” I murmured. He was already around the counter.

Rage contorted his features, and a darkness I’d never seen morphed his features.

When he’d attacked the male in the community center, he’d been a wolf, but the look in his eyes was similar.

A glaze over the hazel eyes that seemed almost evil. A chill traveled down my spine.

I grabbed his arm before he reached Sasha, who’d huddled into herself, her shoulders curved so much that it looked like it hurt.

“Lucian,” I whispered.

The sneer on his lips didn’t change. I tugged at his arm, and he finally turned. The change was visible. His expression smoothed, and he cupped my jaw, his thumb caressing my cheek.

“Let’s go.”

“My shift?—”

“Josephine,” he warned, low. There was no inflection or anger, or even chastisement. It almost sounded fond. I peeked at Sasha and sighed.

“Okay.” I nodded. He curled his arm around my back and shuffled me toward the glass doors. I risked a peek behind me, and Sasha glared at my back.

It wasn’t done with her. She would challenge me on the Blood Moon . . . Challenge? Blood Moon?

How did I know that?

Lucian swept me through the doors into the cold night air. His car idled at the curb. The valet, Corwin, stood near the door, holding the passenger door open. Lucian took the keys and jerked his head to the side.

Corwin shuffled away.

“Get in,” Lucian said gruffly. I licked my lips and hesitated.

“I’m sorry,” I breathed.

His dark eyebrows winged down.

With his free hand, he grabbed the back of my neck, forcing me to stagger into him. He chuckled, and it vibrated against my front. The hair along my arms rose, and I sank against his chest.

He was mine . . .

Sasha’s comments swirled in my thoughts.

“You’ve done nothing wrong, Princess,” he soothed, the top of his chin settling on my head.

A vibration originated from his pocket. I breathed in his vanilla scent, reveling in the hum of our bond.

Whenever we touched, it was like electricity traveling through my bloodstream.

Comfort, desire, and the violent urge to bury myself in him all battled together.

The phone stopped for a moment and then set off again.

“Are you going to answer?”

“No.” He sighed into my hair. “But I have bad news.”

I stiffened, my entire body preparing. My heart thumped while my breathing elevated. I worked to get my pulse under control.

His hand slid down to the small of my spine.

“We have to go to a charity event.”

The phrase was one I never thought would be directed at me.

“We?” I asked, my words muffled against his chest.

“We.”

I squeezed my eyes shut. This was the kind of thing I’d have to learn to live with, being with him.

“When?” My voice was unsteady.

“Tonight.”

I pulled back, gawking up at him.

“I, but I’ve never been to something like that. What even is a charity event?—”

I cut myself off, his confused look stopping me in my tracks. By his odd expression, I imagined a ‘charity event’ was something everyone should know about.

“I just, what would I wear?” I murmured.

His smile was soft.

“I have a dress for you. The event is being held at The W. I have a room for us to get ready.”

“Oh.”

A dress? I barely contained my pursed expression. Dresses meant heels, and heels meant discomfort, and then ending up walking like a chicken . . . how did I know that ?

I frowned so hard my eyebrows furrowed.

I must have worn them in the past. My memories, they were coming back? I grinned up at him.

“Let’s go,” I chirped, hopped in the car, and buckled my seat belt. I raised an eyebrow at him, still hovering outside the door. The corners of his lips twitched, and he leaned his large, oversized body into the car, enveloping me in sweet vanilla.

Just as quickly, he was out of the car, closing the door. I wiggled in the seat as his lean, muscled body strode across the front of the car. My mate was so damn hot.

I was lucky to have found him.

The view was miraculous from the highest floor of The W Hotel and Resort. The faint light coming from the lamp on the nightstand beside the bed caused the slightest glare, making me squint.

It was suddenly extinguished, allowing me to see the night sky with the bright moon hanging effortlessly.

It looked like I was on top of the city.

A shiver crested down my spine. The moon was a beauty, its draw tickling through my veins. Shifters are children of the moon .

Another memory. That wasn’t something Tate had taught me.

“Are you okay, darling?” Lucian pressed his front against my back, his hands skimming down my bare sides. I figured he’d stepped out of the bathroom based on the light turning off, but I hadn’t been able to pull my attention from the miraculous view. A view I couldn’t have imagined before now.

As someone who lived their current life having only seen the pale, bland walls of prison, this was magnificent, no, otherworldly.

From up here, the golden lights illuminating a beautiful courtyard looked like a children’s toy.

The artfully arranged flowers spread around the circular roof of the pavilion flowed around it, too far for me to make out more than white blooms.

Lucian nipped the shell of my ear, wrenching me out of my thoughts. I leaned back into his embrace.

He hadn’t put a shirt on, so my bare skin pressed against his bare chest. I craned my neck to look up at the smooth line of his jaw leading to his aristocratic features.

His gaze was fixed on the swell of my breasts being pushed up by the new bra.

Just as he’d said, when we arrived at the suite, both our clothes had been waiting for us.

Every article I could think of. Not only that, but a bag with all sorts of shit I had no idea how to navigate.

From facial creams to various foundations.

I did my best with the knowledge I had and applied the mascara and dabbed foundation on .

. . but the rest would require more time on my end, more education.

I couldn’t deny the small thrill of the thought. All this was so new, but he was at my side; I would be okay.

The hyperfocus of his gaze sent shivers down my spine. He looked hungry .

I sucked my lower lip into my mouth, not fighting the wave of desire.

“We’re going to be late?” I whispered.

“I don’t care if we are.” His husky words forced me to clench my thighs together. Otherwise, I would have pressed my palms to the pulsating spot between them to soothe the need.

His fingers grazed the top of my breasts, leaving behind raised flesh. I exhaled harshly, causing my hair to flutter. After bathing, I’d used a diffuser on it and it pulled out the natural waves of my hair. He dipped his hand into the cup of the bra, lifting the weight in his palm.

“Lucian?” He ignored the question in my voice and pulled my breast out.

“Fuck,” he groaned. I was riveted by the pale of his skin against my darker skin tone. His thumb swiped across my pebbled nipple.

I gasped, arching my spine, grinding against the hardness pressing against me. His other hand lifted from my hip and slid into the other cup, pulling my breast up similarly. With both hands, he squeezed gently.

Unable to contain my whimper, I wiggled my hips back against him.

“Lucian . . . "

“Yes, Princess.” His husky voice pulsed another wave of desire between my legs. He was so damn hot it felt sinful. “What does my mate need?”

I wet my lower lip, mustering up the courage to spit out what I wanted.

“You,” I whispered, my eyes drooping to the skyline.

His chest expanded against my back, and a half-growl, half-groan vibrated his chest.

“You have me. Always, Princess.” His hands left my breasts sitting on the cups of my bra in a lewd, propped manner. Lucian slid his hands down, oh so slowly, and one left my body.

In the same quick movement, he dragged down my new panties, exposing my ass to the cool air. The tips of his fingers trailed over the swell and down the cleft. I gasped at the graze past my ass. He groaned.

“I’ll make every part of you mine, Josephine,” he murmured in my ear. Without allowing me a breath, his finger curled, and he slid it into my pussy.

I cried out, my spine arching to get more of his digit inside me.

My hands slapped on the glass, and I pushed against it to grind back into his fingers.

Lucian rubbed the pad of his finger against the wall of my core, while his thumb curved up to press against my clit.

I jolted like I’d been electrocuted, but that didn’t stop him.

My breath fogged against the pane. The heat of the puff barely had time to disappear when I was moaning my next.

I shook, my hands splaying against the glass.

The shaking of my legs worsened, forcing his arm to brace me around the waist. I couldn’t stop the collision.

The gentle rub of his fingers didn’t slow.

“My precious mate,” he rumbled. “Come for me again.”

He shoved his fingers deeper, and I screamed, my body stiffening. He worked another finger inside me and growled. The low intonation reached through me and pulled free another throbbing release. I twitched against him.

“Good mate,” he praised. The squelch of his fingers thrusting inside me told me just how wet I was.

He pulled out, and I went limp against him, the back of my head rolling against his chest. Through half-lidded eyes, I watched him lift his hands to his lips. My need glistened on his fingers, and he sucked them clean with a moan.

My channel throbbed like he’d touched me. We are going to be so late .