Page 10

Ivy

I paced the length of my reinforced prison, likely close to wearing a hole in the flooring.

Four days.

Four insufferable days trapped in this room, with only short escapes from boredom when Briggs dared to enter my domain.

Not that I wanted his visits.

Far from it.

I didn’t want to see his handsome face.

Or his hard body.

Or feel my skin heat under the intensity of his perusal.

Each encounter was a near repeat of the last and ended with me telling him to leave.

Or go.

Or get out.

The difference since the first morning was my voice.

I kept it flat.

Devoid of emotion, hiding the simmering boil of pent up hurt and fury and lust.

Gods, so much fucking lust.

It was getting worse by the day.

Hell, by the hour.

What did I do to warrant such a punishment from the Goddess?

Multiple times a day I could feel him prodding at our bond, seeking connection, seeking to restore it.

I slammed down my mental walls as best I could.

Rieka had helped me figure out how to hold off his mental intrusions.

I’d never thought I’d need to learn since he’d never tried before, not until I was forced to return to Darkwood.

I still couldn’t believe he’d sent Baylor after me, not when he had Ruby.

Speaking of, I’d neither heard nor scented the female at any point since my arrival.

He should at least have carried traces of her on his clothes and skin.

It was strange.

Briggs's scent, however, lingered in the air and weakened my resolve.

So I paced. Back and forth, back and forth, like a caged animal.

Four days of being held hostage, of inhaling his scent, of my wolf lifting her head to seek traces of Onyx, of fighting every fiber of my being not to strip naked and bare my neck in submission.

Gah! Fuck biology and fuck fate.

My wolf sighed.

They fucked us first, Rieka!

The door creaked open, and I stiffened, gritting my teeth.

"Hello, Ivy," Briggs greeted.

"Alpha McClellan.”

“Briggs.”

As usual, I ignored the correction. “How much longer are you going to keep me locked in here?”

“As long as it takes.”

I was close to my breaking point, terrified of not being certain which way I’d break.

“And how long do you think it will take for me to forget what you did? How you so cruelly ensured I knew, under no uncertain terms, you were choosing that harlot? That you wanted someone else to be Luna? Wanted her so badly you had no trouble rejecting your true mate?”

He flinched. "It wasn't like that, Ivy.

I hate how much I hurt you.

"

"Yet you did a superb job of it, didn't you? Better than anyone else possibly could have."

Briggs reached out, his fingers grazing my arm. I took a step back, out of his reach, rubbing at the trail of heat he’d left behind.

His hand fell to his side, a flash of pain in his eyes.

Good. Let him hurt. Let him feel a fraction of the agony I’d suffered over his actions and words.

"I'm sorry," he whispered.

It was the first time he’d given me a sincere apology. There was a rawness to his words that almost made me believe him.

Almost.

My jaw clenched so tight it ached. "I don’t care if you’re sorry.

"

I blinked and we were chest-to-chest.

“Oh, Ivy, I think you do.”

I had to tilt my head back to meet his gaze. His eyes were stormy today, swirling with emotion.

My hold on the bond was slipping. Rieka was annoyingly quiet, curled up like she’d been for most of the past few days.

Briggs’s hand cupped my cheek, his thumb brushing over my skin. I shivered, hating my body's traitorous response, how it came alive with the faintest touch.

"Let me make it right," he murmured, his breath ghosting over my lips.

For a moment, I wavered. For a moment, desire took over my hatred. Fated mates weren’t supposed to be apart. We were designed to succumb to the pull.

I hated how I wanted to sink into his touch, to let him erase the pain with pleasure. It would be so easy.

But then I remembered. I remembered the shattered pieces of me still scattered at his feet.

Wrenching away, I stumbled back until my spine hit the wall. If I gave him an inch, he would take a mile.

"No," I choked out. "You can't make this right. You can't undo what you've done."

Briggs' eyes darkened. "I can try.”

Then his mouth was on mine, hot and demanding. Strong arms secured our bodies together.

I resisted at first, my lips unyielding beneath his brutal assault. But as his tongue swept into my mouth, tasting and claiming, I found myself kissing him back with equal fervor.

It was a battle, and for a moment, I lost myself in the searing heat of it.

His hands roamed my body, skimming over curves and planes, igniting a fire in their wake. I arched into his touch, a moan catching in my throat as his fingers dipped beneath the hem of my shirt.

"Fuck," he rasped against my lips, his voice rough with need. "Let me touch you. Let me taste you."

Somewhere in the recesses of my mind I knew I shouldn't. But the ache in my soul was joining forces with the ache between my thighs.

Both were growing more insistent with each passing second, and I was tired. So damned tired.

Rieka?

She ignored me, caught in her own conflicting desires. My wolf wanted to punish the human as much as she wanted to mate the wolf.

I made a last futile effort to tamp down the bond and failed spectacularly when I came up against the force of his desire pushing through the other end.

I was lost to the sensation, nearly mindless to craving. Couldn’t I let myself have just this one thing? I could beat myself up later.

Suddenly, the bond battered away what was left of my will, as it was designed to do to stubborn wolves.

Briggs must have taken my silence as approval because his mouth began a sensual assault down my neck. Lifting up my shirt, he gave a rumble of male satisfaction finding me braless.

What was the point? I never left the room and I refused to don any of the nighties and sexy underthings stocked in the drawers.

A large palm covered my heavy breast. His mouth latched onto the other and sucked. Hard.

I gasped as his hands roamed lower and ripped my leggings in half. He hooked a finger into the waistband of my panties, teasing along the edge of the fabric before sliding it lower, caressing my slit.

“I love how wet you are,” he said against my chest.

Abruptly, he was gone, tearing away the white cotton underwear between us. And then his mouth was on me, his tongue delving into my folds, lapping at me like a man starved.

I cried out, my head falling back against the wall as pleasure coursed through me in sharp, electric jolts.

“Heaven,” Briggs praised between licks. “Your pussy tastes like fucking heaven.”

He worked me relentlessly, his fingers joining his tongue, thrusting and curling inside me until I was writhing against him, my hands fisted in his hair.

Tension coiled tighter and tighter in my core. The pressure built until I thought I might shatter from the force of it.

"Please," I panted, my hips rocking against his face. "I'm going to … I can't …"

He doubled his efforts, his tongue flicking over my clit as his fingers pumped faster and harder. And then I was flying, my body convulsing as the orgasm ripped through me, a scream tearing from my throat.

Briggs worked me through it, his touch gentling as the aftershocks subsided. I sagged against the wall, my legs trembling, my breath coming in ragged gasps.

He rose to his feet, his eyes dark with desire as they met mine. For a long moment, we simply stared at each other, the air between us hot and thick—much like the engorged flesh behind his zipper that was currently pressed against my stomach.

Briggs nuzzled into the crook of my neck, his stubble grazing my sensitive skin.

"This is what I want," he murmured against my ear. "What I’ve always wanted. You in my arms. Claimed. Marked as mine."

His teeth grazed my throat. A thrill zapped straight through me. For a fleeting moment, I wanted nothing more than to surrender, to let him consume me entirely.

But then my gaze fell on the bite mark marring his shoulder. Not just any bite. A claiming mark.

A claiming mark that wasn’t mine. What the hell was I doing?

Reality crashed down, shattering the fragile illusion of connection. Rieka finally rose and helped push back against the weight of the bond, her heartache and bitterness mixing with mine.

“Stop.” I shoved him away with the knowledge I’d let it go too far.

Briggs's eyes widened, a moment of surprise crossing his face before it hardened into a mask of frustration. "Ivy, please. I'm trying to make things right between us."

"You think going down on me makes anything about this right? You think you can just have me kidnapped and brought back against my will and I’ll just go along with your plan to claim me as your mate when you already have a fucking mate?! "

I was shouting by the time I finished. My eyes burned.

Briggs stared at me for a long moment. I half expected him to argue, but he turned on his heel and stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind him with a resounding bang.

The tears I'd been holding back finally spilled over, in hot, salty rivulets. I hated him for making me feel this way, for awakening a desire that I couldn't control.

But even more, I hated myself for letting it happen. For still wanting him. For craving his touch. His affection.

His love.

The reinforced door shuddered as Briggs's roar reverberated through the entire cabin. The selfish ass had no right to act like the injured party.

Muffled voices drifted in from the hallway. I crept closer, straining to listen.

"She thinks she hates me, Colten, but she doesn’t, not with how she just reacted to my touch," Briggs argued.

My cheeks burned with shame and anger. How dare he discuss our intimate moment like some conquest to be bragged about?

The Beta’s reply was too low to make out, but Briggs's response rang clear. "No. Ivy stays with me. Period. End of story.”

I rolled my eyes, leaning against the wall, wondering what other nonsense he was going to spew.

Colten's voice rose, a touch of exasperation in his tone. "Briggs, you can't keep her locked up like this. It's only going to push her further away."

I pressed my ear to the wood, straining to catch every word. Colten was right, of course. Being held captive was hardly conducive to rebuilding trust.

Not that I was going to allow the rebuilding of trust to happen.

But Briggs, stubborn as ever, refused to see reason. "I won’t risk losing her again. My mate belongs at my side, whether she accepts it or not."

He didn’t lose me. He cut me loose. Big difference. Huge difference, in fact.

Colten sighed heavily. "Giving her some freedom might be the only way to earn back her trust. If you keep treating her like a prisoner, she'll never come around."

I had to cover my mouth to stifle the incredulous noise threatening to escape. The notion of Briggs giving me freedom was ridiculous.

Rieka was far more tempted than I was to submit, thinking more about Onyx than Briggs.

I could hardly blame his wolf for the actions of his human but there was no way to separate them.

I won’t submit without your blessing , she assured. But we could be happy. Eventually. After we kill the blonde bitch.

Hmm. That could potentially bring me joy, but I wouldn’t claim Briggs simply because I’d removed the obstacle in my way.

I stepped back from the door, my head spinning. I was tired of thinking about it.

The hall fell silent, and for a moment, I allowed myself to breathe. A whiff of my skin reminded me I needed to wash him off of me.

Before I reached the bathroom, I was halted by the sound of the bedroom door slamming against the wall.

Briggs stood there, his pale blue eyes sparking with amber, wild and desperate. Onyx had taken over his human.

"Yield to him," Briggs’s wolf commanded abruptly. “Let me have my mate.”

Rieka became very alert. She cautiously watched as Briggs wrestled control back from his beast.

He ran a hand through his short black hair, frustration etched into every line of his face. His mouth opened, then clamped shut.

We remained in an awkward standoff until he dipped his head and said, “Goodnight.”

Then he was gone.

I would not let Briggs McClellan break me. No matter how much it hurt, I would fight the bond.

Even if it meant living with this emptiness forever.