Page 21 of Stolen By the Alpha Hunter (Moonbound Mates #3)

PEACHES

I stare at Javi as he rests his forehead against my knee, his shoulders moving steadily with deep, centering breaths.

I’ve seen him on the brink of almost blowing up so many times over the past few days that I recognize this look—but there’s something different about it, like he’s on the verge of weeping rather than rage.

I reach a tentative hand out to touch him, and he sighs at the small contact.

“As much as I want you, I don’t deserve you,” Javi says.

I hate seeing him suffer like this when he’s so, so wrong. This whole time, I thought he didn’t like me at all…but he’s been keeping himself at a distance out of some mistaken righteousness.

If there’s anything I’ve learned from watching my friends meet their mates, though, it’s that it isn’t ever neat and tidy. Love is messy.

And that’s how I feel about Javi.

I’ve just met him…but I already love him, scars and all.

I shake my head. “You could be the worst man in the world and I would love you anyway.”

He lifts his face to meet my eyes. “Don’t do this.”

I sniffle and wipe the tears from my face with a free hand.

“Javi, I can’t help it. Even if you weren’t my mate, you’ve kept me safe.

You’ve put yourself in the line of fire over and over again to make sure I don’t get hurt.

And you could…you could do terrible things to me and no one would punish you for it, but you’ve resisted every urge. ”

“You shouldn’t love me because I’ve been decent,” he says.

“I can’t decide to love you or not,” I say. “I just do.”

“But you told me you wanted gestures and romance. I can’t do that for you.” He pushes himself away. “This is just the bite and instincts. You’re horny.”

I grab him by the shirt, twisting the fabric in my hands. I gasp when I realize my claws have come out a bit, tearing five tiny holes in the shape of my grip. Javi looks down too, still leaning over me, unable—or unwilling—to escape.

“I’m an omega, Javi,” I say. “I’ve been horny before. I know the difference.”

“You don’t even know me.”

He looks frustrated…but he doesn’t pull away.

“Then tell me about yourself,” I whisper.

Javi comes back slowly, kneeling between my legs, his hands on my thighs. I feel like we’re on the cusp of something—something more than heat, more than lust, more than pure desire.

“I’m a goddamn fool,” he says. “Thinking I could resist. You’re gonna make me fall in love with you, aren’t you Peach?”

My throat constricts and I swallow hard. “Would it be so bad?”

“That’s the thing,” he says. “I can’t fall in love with you. Gideon already has so much power over me, and if I love you…he has everything. He has my whole world held in his fist, and I can’t do anything to stop him.”

“I don’t know how that changes anything,” I start, but Javi cuts me off.

“It changes everything,” he says. “Partners are one thing. They come and go. But lovers…mates? You’re my forever. I can’t risk you.”

His hands stay on my thighs, no matter what he says—and his eyes stay locked on mine. My second bite mark throbs and stings, begging for his touch.

I want him with everything I am—body and soul.

“I think it’s too late for all that,” I say.

He bows his head and presses it to my chest, his tousled dark hair tucked under my chin. It brings him so close that I can smell that seasalt scent, coffee and coconuts. I lean down and inhale deeply, wrapping my arms around him.

“I don’t trust myself with you,” he breathes, his grip tightening on my thighs. “You make me crazy.”

I get goosebumps all over at the rumble of his voice resonating through me, at his proximity, at how close I am to drowning in him.

“Can I ask for one thing?” I whisper.

He looks up at me. “Anything.”

“I’ve never been kissed,” I say. “I’d like you to be my first.”

Javi straightens, and I think for a second that he’s going to say no—that we’re going back to this game of will they, won’t they, that he’s too resistant to letting me in. But he takes my face in his big hands, his thumbs grazing my cheekbones, and he moves closer.

He tilts my head and my eyes flutter shut even though I could keep staring at him for hours.

His breath ghosts over my lips, the hint of a kiss…

…and then the real thing.

Javi tries to be gentle, but we want each other too much.

I moan at the lightest touch and open my mouth to him, and he sweeps his tongue inside like this is where he belongs.

I can taste my arousal on him, the hint of my blood, everything that makes us whole mingling and tangled.

His hands slide back into my curls and he flattens his body against mine, his cock pressing through his jeans against my core.

It feels like I’ve been waiting for him my whole life.

He pulls away and kisses down my neck, his canines grazing and stinging and looking for another place to bite. I groan when he comes up against the neck of the t- shirt, a growl resonating through us both at the inconvenience.

“Take it off,” I tell him, wanting to go further.

He doesn’t need any encouragement.

We’re both in this now.

Javi’s hands shoot down to the hem of the shirt to yank it over my head, baring me to him. He collides with me and pushes me to the bed, crawling over me, boxing me in. I go near feral with desire, reaching for him, and I’m just as surprised as he is when my claws

come out and shred his t-shirt.

I catch his flesh in the process—I come back with my claws bloody.

So he pins my wrists above my head and takes my mouth in a brutal kiss.

Heat pools in my core as he invades my mouth, as we press skin to skin, as he tears our lips apart again to taste every inch of me.

He leaves little, tiny bites all over—enough to leave a mark, but not enough to hurt too much.

On my lower lip, on my jaw, on the other side of my neck.

He stops to drag his tongue over the first bite and I curl my body against him, not wanting anything specific, just wanting him.

Javier Ortega…my mate.

Messy and perfect and mine.

His big hand splays wide across my chest and runs down my body, callouses scraping my skin. He gets more gentle when he reaches my core, his fingers moving slowly against my slick folds.

“You don’t even know the power you have over me, Peach,” he says, his breath hot against my cheek. “I would kill for you. I would tear apart every man on this rig if it was what you wanted.”

“Javi…” I breathe.

“And more than that,” he says, “more than anything else…is the fact that I can make you come like no other man.”

His fingers glide against my folds and I buck against him, letting out a keening wail.

“No one else will satiate your heat like I do.”

Two digits push inside, hook against my g-spot.

“No one else will lick you and finger you and fuck you until you’re satisfied. No one will knot you the way I do…because I’m your mate, Peach. I’m not fighting it anymore.”

“Javi…” I breathe.

Slick coats his fingers, drips down my pussy.

“Say it, Peach,” he grits out. “Say you’re mine.”

“I’m yours, Javi,” I whisper.

He lets go of my wrists to unzip his fly, and my hands return to his shirt, shredding the last of the fabric.

It feels like I’m tearing through his resistance, his hesitations—because as I go feral, he joins me.

He kicks off his jeans and his huge cock is suddenly pressing against my core, sliding over my clit as he lets me feel him.

I reach my hand between us and wrap my fingers around his girth. I know he’s big, and I can feel his knot swollen with desire—but I’m sure I can take him, every big, brutal inch. Javi leverages himself on his elbow, his brow furrowed as I stroke him and experiment.

“I don’t want to hurt you,” he says. “But when I’m inside you…our wolves are gonna do what they want.”

I want him too much to care.

Without a word, I position his cock at my center, pausing just for a moment as I gaze into his eyes with the last vestige I have of my humanity.

“Yes,” I say. “Yes, mate. Claim me.”

He buries himself inside me.

I cry out as his lips fall to my neck and he sucks hard on his first bite.

I cling to him and ride through the pain, pleasure coursing through me in wave after wave.

I’ve never done this before, but I’m so wet with slick that entry is easy and smooth—and my pussy begs for his knot, to lock onto him and keep him nestled inside until he comes.

His knot hasn’t pressed inside yet, and he pulls out and pushes back in as he learns my body.

“Peach,” he groans against my neck. “Fuck, Peach, you feel so fucking good.”

“Mate,” I breathe into his ear. “My mate. My one.”

“Say it again.”

“You’re my mate, Javi?—”

He slams into me and the rest of his name shatters into nonsense, his knot slipping past my entrance and holding him in place. I scream and nestle my face against the crook of his shoulder, pleasure radiating, pulsing, bursting in every nerve.

He stops abruptly, poised on the edge of a cliff.

“Did I hurt you?” he breathes against my neck, his tongue flicking out against the bite.

“No…” I whimper. “Keep going please.”

His hips roll and he holds me tight.

“Take me, Peach,” he growls. “Take it all.”

“Yes, yes, yes…”

A sudden orgasm tears through me, shattering me as I pulse around Javi. I wrap myself as tight as I can and breathe into his ear, and I’m biting down before I can stop myself. He lets out a throaty moan at the pain, letting me sink my teeth in, copper on my tongue.

I need more…I need him deeper.

We roll together until I’m on top, and I pull my legs up so that gravity moves him deeper.

I groan and press my hands to his chest to push myself up, slick gushing out around his cock, his hair mussed up from my fingers twisting it in knots.

His neck is bleeding just below his ear, a small red bite mark the proof that we belong to each other.

I lean down and my tongue darts over the new wound, dragging and tasting salt and copper. His teeth find me again, biting into the flesh of my breast.

Bite marks everywhere—scent, sex, sweat…

I pull away from him, splaying my hands on his chest as I look down at him. His hair and beard are ruffled, his lips red, his green eyes infinite. I can’t even do anything, just feeling how he swells within me, fills me completely.

“Ride me, mate,” he orders.

I nod weakly, but I barely have the ability to even rock my hips. Javi is there, though—always there, even through the harsh words, the gruff attitude—gently taking my hips in his hands, rolling me over him. I fall into the rhythm, pulling at his knot, milking him for all he’s worth.

I won’t be satisfied until he’s put a baby in me.

I won’t be satisfied until I’ve drained him dry.

“Give me everything,” I demand, my words garbled. My pussy pulls him in, works him, squeezes him so hard it must hurt. “I want it all, mate.”

“Fuck, I will, Peach,” he growls. “Ride me. Take what you want.”

I move forward and back, my pelvic bone grinding against his, our bodies sliding and slapping together. I’ve come too many times to count now, my mind in pieces, my body on fire. Our wolves howl together, entwined as we admit what we are.

Fated.

Javi’s brow furrows as he squeezes his eyes shut, his hands clenching my hips. I bounce on top of him, his knot tugging at my entrance, the friction unstoppable. Our breaths come in sharp gasps, our moans melding into something like music.

“I’m…fuck?—”

Those are the only words he gets out before he spills his seed deep inside me, slamming his hips into me with a snarl. I drink him in, my inner walls pulsing and pulling him deeper, making sure I keep any trace of him with me.

He said it himself.

This is forever.

He wraps his arms around me and pulls me to his chest, the two of us stuck together until his knot subsides. I press my cheek against his muscular chest, listening to the pounding of his heart, the mingling of our breath in the night.

“I love you, Peaches,” he says quietly. “And that scares the hell out of me.”

I put my hand over his heart, finding a trace of blood and remembering that I bit him. And it’s strange…

…because now that the bond is reciprocal, I feel that fear.

It has a different flavor to it than mine—not a fear of someone bigger and stronger overpowering you, but of not being able to protect someone.

It’s totally alien.

It helps me understand.

“We’re getting out of here,” I whisper. “Together or not at all.”

He doesn’t say anything in response.

And that scares me most of all—because I’m not sure if he agrees.