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“If this is all I get…” My voice broke, rough and low, as I cupped her cheek. “If this is all you’ll give me, then I’ll make it unforgettable.”

I would be damned if I let her slip through my fingers.

Not now.

Not when I’d just found her.

Not when her body trembled beneath me as if pleading.

She was mine, regardless of what she or anyone thought.

Her hand slid toward the waistband of my briefs, but I caught her wrists in mine before she could peel them down.

I pinned them above her head, my grip tight, possessive, demanding.

She gasped, and I pressed my cock between her thighs, grinding into her heat with just enough pressure to make her writhe.

A soft cry escaped her lips, helpless and breathy.

And, fuck me, it shattered what little patience I had left.

My self-control snapped like brittle glass.

I shoved my boxer shorts down with one hand, freeing myself. Hard, aching, so painfully full, it was maddening. My length trembled between us, and her pulse spurred under my grip, her thighs twitching as I nudged them wider with mine.

She quivered.

And gods help me, I liked that.

The feel of her slick heat against the head of my cock sent a bolt of fire ripping through my veins. I shifted forward slowly but deliberately, dragging the tip over her entrance, teasing, threatening. She sucked in a sharp breath, her body arching just enough to chase contact.

Beneath me, she was a vision of temptation, flustered, panting, eyes like emerald jewels. Her body lay bare, open, desperate. Her gaze locked onto mine, and there was no hiding in it, only hunger and surrender. It made me bewildered.

I angled her leg up with one hand, lifting it to tilt her hips, lining her up perfectly. My other arm braced beside her head, muscles flexed, keeping her pinned beneath me. No escape. No mercy.

And then I pushed in.

Inch by inch, slow and deliberate, never once looking away.

Her mouth fell open with a breathless moan, and I watched every flicker of pleasure cross her face. Her body clenched around me, velvet heat dragging me deeper, and I hissed through my teeth, fighting the urge to just take. To pound into her until she forgot her own name.

But not yet.

No, I wanted her undone, crumbling.

My hands trailed down her arms, fingers gliding over the curves of her shoulders before circling her throat. I didn’t squeeze, just held her there, feeling the frantic flutter of her pulse beneath my thumb. Her breaths came ragged, lips parted, as if the air itself burned her lungs.

I dipped my head to her neck, pressing a kiss to that sweet spot where her shoulder met her throat again.

I lingered there, inhaling her, filling my senses with her scent, her taste, her heat.

Every sound she made, every twitch of her muscles, I memorized.

Branded into me. Something no god or fate could steal.

“I’ll never forget this,” I murmured against her skin, voice low and edged with something dangerous. “You… like this… beneath me.”

My cock pulsed inside her, and her soft moans only pushed me closer to the edge. But I held. Just barely. Because I wanted her ruined before I let myself go .

Sliding my hand down, I cupped her ass, fingers digging into her flesh as I spread her wider, tilted her hips just right, and drove in another inch. Deeper. Slower. Her body welcomed me, walls fluttering around my cock like she was starving for me.

The first time I hadn’t been gentle. I’d let the beast off its leash, fucked her like I needed her to breathe.

But this time? This time, I was going to savor her.

Ruin her slowly.

Make her beg for it.

Because if this was all I’d ever get, I’d damn well make sure she never forgot who made her come undone.

“More,” she begged, panting. I was only halfway inside her, giving her time to adjust. “Please,” legs tightening around my waist, “give me more.”

I shifted between her thighs, the head of my cock aching from the restraint it took not to bury myself to the hilt. But I leaned down, brushing my lips against the shell of her ear, my voice low, and murmured. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

“You won’t,” she mumbled, fierce and sweet all at once. “You didn’t the first time. So claim me again, Adrian. Make me yours.”

She didn’t need to say it twice.

That was all it took to crack me open, to unleash that hunger coiled low in my gut, the fire that made me want to own her with every thrust, every sound I ripped from her throat.

My body responded before my mind could catch up.

My hips surged forward, rough and deep, burying myself fully in one hard thrust. Her slick heat swallowed me whole, tight and wet and perfect.

She sobbed, high, raw, and I froze, a flicker of panic lashing through me, fast and sharp. Did I hurt her?

But then her voice cut through the haze, hoarse and wild. “Why did you stop? Don’t…don’t stop. ”

That demand snapped the leash. My restraint died in her hands.

I moved deep, relentlessly. Our skin slapped together, breath tangling, gasps and groans spilling into the dark like a fevered rhythm.

Every inch of me burned. My hand slid up her throat again, not to choke, but to feel the way her pulse beat like war-drums for me.

I needed that proof. That she was alive beneath me. That I made her feel this way.

My free hand gripped her breast, pinching, teasing, dragging her higher toward the edge. She arched into me, nails raking down my back, sharp enough to sting, to bleed. It felt like worship.

She screamed, loud and unrestrained, as her walls clamped down around my cock, squeezing with such desperate force I nearly came then and there.

Another orgasm tore through her like a storm, wild and beautiful.

Her body spasmed under mine, a vision of crimson skin, shivering limbs, eyes wide and ruined.

Fuck.

Watching her break like that? Watching her fall apart on me?

That was what undid me.

I gritted my teeth, thrust twice more, and then I came hard, deep inside her, moaning her name like a curse, like a prayer. My whole body tensed, hips locked to hers as I spilled into her, claiming her in the most primal way a man could.

I’d never felt so animalistic. So undone. So real.

She stripped away everything, peeling me down to the bone and kissing the monster underneath. She didn’t run. She welcomed him.

She would be the death of me. And I didn’t fucking care.

Because she was mine and I was hers.

Under the dim wash of moonlight, with her body still shuddering around me, I made a silent vow, one I would carve into the marrow of my soul.

I would keep claiming her… again, and ag ain, and again. And gods help anyone who tried to take her from me.

* * *

She was curled against me, freshly showered and gloriously spent, her skin still warm and damp where it pressed into mine. The sheets clung to our bodies, the scent of sex and soap lingering in the air like a memory I didn’t want to fade.

My brain, when not fried by her, might’ve remembered one tiny, inconvenient detail.

Protection.

Yeah. That thing I’d never, ever forgotten in my entire life.

Until her .

Twice.

Fuck.

She short-circuited everything in me. Logic, instinct, even basic biology. I wasn’t thinking like a man anymore. I was thinking like a feral animal. Something that wanted to mark her, claim her, knot her with my seed just to make sure no one else could ever touch her again.

Breed kink? Check.

Therapy? Maybe. But only if I could take her with me and bend her over the couch mid-session.

Still, I figured I should probably ask, even if part of me hoped the answer would give me a reason to pin her down and finish the job nature started.

I leaned closer, lips brushing her shoulder. “I know it’s a little late for this, but… do you take any pills?”

She stiffened, and those wide eyes locked on mine like she’d just remembered the world still existed beyond the two of us.

“Human pills don’t work on us,” she hissed. “I use suppressants made by healers, but…”

She trailed off, avoiding my gaze.

“But?” I pushed, loving how shy she got when things got real. She could bare her body to me without flinching, but this? This had her squirming. Sweet.

“I forgot to bring some with me,” she whispered, staring at her palms.

A slow grin stretched across my face. I should’ve been worried. I should’ve panicked. But all I felt was warmth, raw, dark satisfaction curling in my gut like smoke.

“And what does that mean?” I asked, deliberately keeping my voice low, teasing, like I already knew the answer but wanted to hear her say it.

She hesitated. “They work like the pill. I have to take them daily. The two times we were together… it’s fine. No risk. But…” Her voice dropped to a murmur. “It can’t happen again.”

Disappointment? Nah. I didn’t need to fuck her to ruin her for anyone else. My fingers, my mouth, my voice alone could make her forget her own damn name.

“So as long as I don’t fuck you…” I trailed off, smirking like the devil himself as filthy images danced through my mind. “We’re in the clear, right?”

“Right,” she breathed, cheeks turning deliciously pink. “But—”

“You’re mine,” I said smoothly, cutting her off. “While you’re here, this thing between us? We explore it. No running. No hiding. You gave yourself to me, and I’m not giving that up.”

Her mouth opened as if she wanted to protest, but then she sighed. “Fine.”

Victory tasted better when she tried to resist it.

“Let’s sleep, love,” I murmured against her ear, letting my teeth scrape her lobe. “We’ve got a long day tomorrow. ”

She settled into me, body molding perfectly against mine like she belonged there. Her breathing evened out slowly, and I listened to the soft rhythm of it, syncing with my own.

I brushed a damp strand of hair from her face and studied her—her pale skin flushed in pink, those slightly parted plush lips, the faint sheen of satisfaction still glowing in her features. She looked like something out of a dream I never wanted to wake from.

Right now, she was mine. And I’d make damn sure it stayed that way.