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7

CODY

“Am I still on drugs?” Riley murmured, her eyelids fluttering open. I’d just given her more orgasms than she could take, and her body was limp and heavy with the pleasure of it.

My cock throbbed with need, but I wasn’t about to pull it out. Not with a virgin half my age. Especially not with one I drugged and tied to the bedframe in my cabin. Not with my mate before she was ready, no matter what she said or how her body creamed for me.

“No, sugar. You’re in orgasmic bliss.” I untied her wrist, kissing the chafed skin, feeling guilty as hell for disrespecting my mate that way. She wasn’t running now, that was for-fucking-sure, but she didn’t need reddened and sore skin as a reminder. What we’d done hadn’t been real punishment, and the only part of her that’d be reddened and sore was her ass.

But she’d enjoyed it. There was no doubt in my mind that I’d given Riley what she wanted.

She pushed up onto her elbows and tried to peer at me through heavy lids. Her t-shirt slipped to cover her gorgeous tits. Ones I had yet to savor.

“Cody?” I heard tons of apprehension in the way she said my name.

“Yeah, sugar?”

“I want you to take my virginity.”

I went still while my wolf howled in delight at her filthy little beg while she had her legs spread around my shoulders, pussy swollen and clit poking out. Fate knew I wanted to. I wanted to pop her cherry. I also wanted to mark her with my fangs. Make her mine forever.

“So you feel it?” I studied her. I wasn’t sure how much a human could register the pull of a fated mate. Wolves knew immediately from the scent. Humans’ sense of smell wasn’t nearly so refined. But she must feel something–her body’s response to me was undeniable. “You recognize that I’m your mate? ”

Her brow wrinkled slightly. “You’re the one I want to take my virginity.”

I frowned. Warning bells were going off. Yes, her body was on board–hell, was it–but I suspected her mind wasn’t… yet. She felt the attraction, but didn’t understand what it meant. She wanted me to be the one. The person to be her first. Nothing more.

It was clear that she didn’t know the depth of what I wanted from her–no, needed. She understood that I was her mate. She didn’t understand what being mated meant or that wolves mated for life. That if I didn’t mark her with my scent soon, I could go moon mad. She didn’t know that once I marked her, there’d be no getting rid of me. She’d be stuck with me for the rest of her much-longer life.

As much as I wanted to fuck her, my conscience demanded I made sure she understood what was going on here. She was barely an adult. She’d never had sex. It would be so easy for me to steamroll her, but I wasn’t going to do that. Plus, she never knew shifters existed until earlier and mates only a few minutes ago.

“No.” I grit out the word.

“ No ?” Her eyes went wide. Her mouth opened and closed a few times before she finally said, “What do you mean, no? ”

“I mean I’m not going to fuck you.” If my wolf could harm me, it would claw out my insides for saying that.

“What?” She tried to scootch back, but I gripped her bare thighs. “Wasn’t that why you brought me here?” It was her turn to study me, her expression one of confusion and slight alarm.

“I don’t drug women for sex,” I practically snarled. Her question alone was another bit of proof that she had no idea the depth of this situation.

“Let’s do it,” she continued. “You said I’d been with boys before. I want a real man to fuck me for the first time.”

I tipped my head to the ceiling. Groaned. “You’re killing me, sugar.”

Sure, this was what I wanted, but it wasn’t enough. I wanted it all with her. Her lack of understanding was frustrating as hell, especially when she painted me as a creep or pervert. Or an asshole. Her quick one-eighty also proved she wasn’t thinking about the big picture. She saw it as sex. Satisfaction. Then… bye?

A one-fuck thing? A punch to her V-card? Not happening.

Was I glad she wanted that with me? Fuck, yes. The question was, if I denied her, would she go to someone else ?

No fucking way.

Her eyes were on the thick outline of my dick pressing into my jeans and probably a pre-cum stain that was growing by the minute.

I waited until her gaze met mine again. “I’ve got your taste and scent. My wolf loved satisfying you. So for now, I’m good.”

“But–”

“No,” I repeated, more for my wolf than for her.

She tipped up her chin. “If you’re not going to have sex with me, then take me home.”

She was bare from the waist down. Her pussy was slick and swollen, and she wanted to go home? I was never going to forget how she came on my tongue. The way she tasted, looked, sounded. Giving my fated mate satisfaction for the first time was one of my life’s goals.

“I promise I won’t tell anyone about Tyler. About what happened. We can forget everything. You don’t have to mind wipe me or whatever.”

“All because I won’t fuck you?”

She shrugged. “Yeah. You make no sense. What guy doesn’t want to have sex? Maybe I’m–”

“You’re not,” I said before she talked bad about herself again. Fuck, was I making her doubt how hot and arousing she was? Was I worse than those boys?

FUCK .

“You drugged me,” she reminded. “Brought me to a flipping cabin in the woods. Are you going to keep me a prisoner for the rest of my life?”

I frowned at the stupidity of the question. Although if all she saw about kidnapping was on TV shows, then maybe she would draw that conclusion. She wasn’t afraid of me though. I’d just eaten her out, for fuck’s sake.

“Of course not. I just brought you here to…” I trailed off. My reasoning wasn’t all that clear. My wolf instinct drove me to bring her somewhere secluded. Somewhere I could have my way with her. Mark her. But she wasn’t ready for that, and I’d been kidding myself that she was. I wouldn’t take her until she understood completely. Until she wanted me as much as I wanted her… and not just sexually.

She was my mate. I knew she was the one for me. I just needed to get her to see it, too.

“To tie me up and make me come?”

My lips twitched. “Well, yes, that.”

She frowned. “But you aren’t having sex with me. I’m a sure thing, Cody.” She waved her arm around. “No strings attached.” She had the audacity to eye the rope still attached to the headboard. “Or not any longer. ”

“You want to… what? Fuck and then I take you home? Is that what you think this is about?”

“Yes. We fuck, and you take me home.”

Holy hell, I messed this up.

“I forget you drugged me and planned to mind wipe me because I saw Tyler turn into a wolf,” she added. “I’ve promised not to tell.”

“This a new bargain, sugar?”

She might be able to bargain with me, especially when I gave her orgasms from the arrangement, but there was no compromise with Rob Wolf. She either got claimed by me, or she got her mind wiped. Period.

She shrugged.

If we had sex, based on her response, she’d be done with me. Not happening. She wanted sex. Wanted my dick, not me.

There was no bargain here. I had to concede everything. Except sex. She wasn’t getting it now, not until she knew everything and wanted to be mine. Begged for me to claim her.

I wouldn’t deny her pleasure–fuck, watching her come was one of the most erotic things ever–but she wouldn’t get my dick. I had to get her to see her life now was with me, but taking her to the cabin wasn’t the way I should’ve done it. I needed to be patient, which sucked. I thought I was a patient man, but Riley made me practically rabid.

“If you don’t take me home, my dad will find out.” That was a threat I hadn’t considered. It was also a good one.

“Shit.”

She was an adult, but she was still Kyle Abbott’s little girl and wouldn’t want me sniffing around her, let alone eat her out. I was too old for dealing with that kind of challenge.

I sighed. “With what I–eventually–plan to do with you, your dad will definitely shoot me.”

“Well, good thing for you, he’s in Bozeman testifying in a trial for the next few days.”

Thank fuck. I had a reprieve from being shot–and healing from a bullet wound. I needed time to court Riley. Woo her. Give her enough orgasms to understand she was my fated mate, to understand that she was my forever.

I was risking a lot. I sure as hell couldn’t let someone mind wipe her. I would have to hide the fact that I didn’t do it from Rob until I could mark her. I would have to teach her about shifters, giving her the knowledge that she could use to destroy the entire pack. I would have to satisfy her sexual needs without compromising, no matter how much I suffered from blue balls. I had to get her to be mine before her father came home. Before Rob found out.

“Fine. I’ll take you home.” I shifted off the bed, reached down and grabbed her leggings.

She looked at me, skeptical, as she took them. As if I hadn’t drugged her, kidnapped her, and tied her to the bed only to let her go. “No mind wiping?”

“No mind wiping. No telling anyone,” I warned.

With a shake of her head, she said, “I won’t.” Sadly, she started to put her leggings back on.

“No fucking other guys just to ditch your virginity.”

“You won’t take it,” she replied mulishly.

“I’ll take it, but we’ll have fun first.”

Her eyes lit with interest. “Really?”

“That’s a promise, sugar.” I circled my finger in the air. “‘Til then, this is all a secret.”

She considered it. “Yeah, you’re probably right. We’re a secret.”

I leaned in to kiss her, loving that she let me. I took her hand and led her out of the bedroom and to my Jeep.

The nearly full moon rose in the sky like my benevolent goddess. The deity who just granted me a wish I hadn’t even dared to make.

I opened the door for her, helped her in. When I went around and climbed in the driver seat, she peered at me. “Who else is a wolf?” Before I could answer, she gasped. “ Wolf Ranch! Oh my God! Is everyone at Wolf Ranch a shifter, too?”

Fuck. Not only did I have to convince Riley to be mine, I had to convince Rob, too, that she was mine. Because he was going to kick my ass for not getting her memories altered, that she was starting to put together who else in Cooper Valley might be shifters. He was going to lose his shit knowing that her knowledge could bring danger to his ranch.

He was also going to kick my ass for going down on the human instead of following his orders. He would understand when he found out she was my mate. At least, I hoped to fate he would.