Page 39 of Rejected by My Shadow Alpha (Mate to the Fallen #1)

Raven

The door of the elevator was almost fully shut when the wolf caught up with me, using his hand to keep it open.

My heart threatened to give up as I locked gazes with the wolf glaring down at me.

I didn't know him. I was certain. There was no way I would have forgotten a face like that.

Towering over me with a hulking physique, the wolf had thick, shoulder-length, wavy ink-black hair framed by dark, mysterious hazel eyes and a face so perfectly symmetrical and chiseled that he seemed almost unreal.

The elevator door sealed shut behind him and the wolf reached out to halt the movement of the elevator by hitting the emergency button.

I shouldn't have tried taking the elevator to throw him off my scent before escaping into my car. I should have just run.

Now I was trapped in here with him.

I tried to make my voice work.

“W…what do you want from me?”

The wolf ignored my words, a distant almost glazed-over look in his eyes as he closed the distance between us, driving me up against the steel wall of the elevator.

“You,” He growled, his voice thick and guttural as he grasped my chin surprisingly tenderly.

His skin burned beneath mine, the brush of his fingertips sparking a sensation unlike anything I'd ever felt.

I froze.

What the hell?

His golden gaze latched onto mine and our surroundings blurred to nothing until all I could see was him. The wild glint in his eyes, the curve of his lips, the way his chest rose and fell too fast.

The air between us seemed to thicken with something… something intangible but undeniable that drew us to each other.

It felt inevitable for the wolf to lean in, tracing the top of his nose across my sensitive skin before burying his head in my nape.

“Goddess, you smell so—” He trailed off, a feral grunt escaping him.

The sensation of his cool breath on my neck had goosebumps breaking out across my skin, and my knees becoming so weak that only his hold was keeping me upright. I trembled, set ablaze with wants that seemed too much for my body to handle.

What was going on?

All my kisses with Elias combined hadn't elicited even a fraction of this reaction from a single embrace with this stranger.

The thought of Elias felt like a splash of cold water jolting me awake from whatever trance I had begun to fall into.

How had I forgotten Elias's betrayal and my reality in a matter of seconds? This stranger was dangerous. The unfamiliar emotions he triggered within me even more so.

I had to get out of this elevator.

“Let go!” I snarled, slamming my fists against his chest and raising my knee to hit him between his legs but he easily blocked my attack, his hand pinning both of my hands above my head.

I panted, my heart racing hard in my chest, his scent overwhelming me as he drew nearer. Goddess, he smelt divine. The salt of his sweat melded with a base scent of citrus, cedar, and an edge of something so intoxicating that my trapped hands twitched with the insane urge to pull him closer and—

No. No. I didn't want him close. I didn't. Right?

But my mind and my body were in disconnect because I found myself closing the space between us, pressing my lips hungrily to his skin.

The wolf stiffened, his free hand fisting my hair as he forced some space between us, baring my neck in the process.

I bucked against his hold, trying to fight off the onslaught of need cresting within me, only to freeze when I felt his warm, wet tongue glide across my nape, tasting my skin as though he was trying to figure out what I was.

I lost my struggle, a small desperate whimper escaping me, my thighs pressing together as a surge of desire hit me. The wolf stiffened and his lips left my skin. He inhaled deeply as though he could scent my arousal and my core clenched reflexively.

His liquid gold gaze met mine, and for a moment, it felt like the entire world was suspended.

I realized something at that moment. Regardless of what I’d believed in the past, I'd never known true want and desire before.

Not until now.

That was my last lucid thought.

His lips claimed mine the next moment with an authority that undid me, his tongue entering me, pushing in and sliding against mine. He was fire and my body was dry kindling, igniting with a single touch.

I gasped into the kiss, unraveling, my nipples pebbling beneath my shirt, and he—

He backed away ending the kiss, a silver of confusion entering his gaze dark with arousal.

He let go of my hands and took a step back, but I was moving with him, my body moving without my consent as I went on my tiptoes, dug my fingers into his silky hair, and pulled his lips back down onto mine, my hands ripping at his clothes, at mine.

I'd never felt this way before. Never lost control like this. Never felt so helpless against a ferocious desire that overrode my common sense and threatened to consume me.

He was too far, too close yet not close enough.

I wanted. I needed. I desired. I yearned for something only he could give me.

The wolf let out a growl and took over the kiss once more, whatever restraint he had gone as quickly as it had appeared.

I trembled uncontrollably as his hands reached beneath my shirt over the smooth skin of my belly, his hand cupping one of my breasts.

His lips swallowed every moan that left me as his calloused thumb stroked my tender, sensitive nipple. My hips moved on their own, grinding against his thigh, soft pants escaping me as his lips left mine to trail dangerously arousing kisses all over my nape, his teeth nipping at my skin.

At the sharp ding of the elevator door opening, followed by an embarrassed cough from an older lady, the wolf pulled back, his hand steady on my waist, guiding me out of the elevator.

My mind was shot, my body craving his within seconds of our separation.

I needed our kiss to continue. I wanted his hard body against mine, his hands between my thighs— I pressed my body to his, uncaring of where we stood, who we were, and if anyone else was in that corridor.

The wolf pulled me right back into his arms, his lips finding mine.

I had no idea how we made it to his room.

The world could have burned over for all I cared and I wouldn't have noticed as long as he kept touching me.

His sheets smelt like him. A crisp citrusy cedar scent with an undercurrent of something dark and undeniably masculine that made my inner thighs slick with arousal.

My pants were already gone when he tugged my shirt off— no that was me.

I tugged my shirt off, the cool air hitting my nipples until he leaned in and took my right nipple into his mouth, sucking hard enough to bruise my skin, before he pulled back to stare at me with a gaze so intense that it completely undid me.

His dark hair fell over his chiseled cheekbone as he leaned in, teasing out the lower lip I'd been biting on.

“You are perfect,” He whispered and somehow those words reached beyond the haze in my mind.

Perfect. That was a word I would never have thought to use to describe myself.

Me so broken and unworthy that no one I loved ever stayed.

“You…. You mean that,” I breathed, a single teardrop finding its way out of the corner of my eye.

A slightly confused frown marred the wolf’s face as he leaned in to kiss the tears off my cheek.

“Perfect,” He repeated, his lips on my skin. “Perfect.”

Something fractured within me.

I turned and pressed my lips to his with a desperation that surprised me as my fingers frantically clawed, grabbing at him.

The wolf matched my pace easily, his hands burning a hot trail down my body.

I moaned, grinding my hips more fervently against his thigh, only for him to shift so that he braced himself above me, and then his fingers found my entrance.

I gasped, trembling in his arms as he expertly stroked my clit between my thighs. At the dizzying sensation that accompanied his touch, I placed my hand over his, to stop him or to keep his hand against me. I wasn't quite sure.

“I…I haven't…” My voice was barely above a whisper but the wolf's movement stilled, his golden gaze finding mine, his lips inches from mine.

“Do you… want me to stop?” He rasped softly against my skin, voice wrecked, his other hand gripping the sheets hard as he waited for my response.

My lips parted but I couldn't answer. My breaths came faster as I shivered helplessly in his arms, not knowing what to do with my body that burned with so much heat and need—

He pulled away, his body trembling with the effort of turning away from me.

“No,” The words left me in a rush without a single coherent thought as I embraced him from behind, stopping him. “Please.”

He paused uncertainly.

“Please,” I whispered again, unsure of what I was begging for, my hands tracing down his bare chest to his pants and a very intimidating bulge.

The wolf stiffened at my touch and that initial fear shifted to something almost smug and delighted. I couldn't stop myself from stroking him through his pants and—

The wolf turned to face me, a growl on his lips as he pushed me back onto the bed, settling between my legs as he slid his fingers along me, wetting them with my arousal before pushing them into me.

I gasped, fisting the sheets around me, my hips undulating against his fingers as his thumb found my clit.

He stroked his thick fingers within me, and broken needy sounds fell uninhibited from my lips as his fingers found a sensitive ball of nerves within me, his thumb rubbing my clit back and forth, leaving me a wet mess.

His lips found the juncture between my neck and my shoulder, his teeth nipping at the delicate skin almost obsessively, his fingers still stroking within me.

I trembled, feeling something build up within me, but before I could reach it, he was pulling away, his veined hands tugging away the last of his clothes.

I stared at his perfectly ripped body, eyes hooded with desire, my gaze dropping to his erection and my body tingled with both anticipation and anxiety.