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TWENTY

Xander

This can’t be right. It’s impossible. Alexia already chose her mate. She went through the cleansing, felt the pull to Kai; fate chose him . Yet here she is... in my bed, her wolf giving glimpses of itself that should be reserved for only him.

Unless it’s for a cleansing ceremony, it’s impossible for anyone who is not moon-bonded to shift in any capacity unless they’re under the beams of the full moon. And we just cycled all the way through the phases, so this should not be happening again for another month.

Except it is. Our bodies are catching up to our souls, and our wolves are coming to the surface.

Every fiber of my being knows she is mine. It’s as natural as breathing. I don’t know how I got through thirty-seven years of life without her.

Alexia Rush is my mate.

My moon-bonded mate.

Her black and white speckled wolf flickers in and out on her features, like a hologram over her beautiful face. And her eyes... I’ve never seen them shine so brightly, the rich brown glow a vibrant amber. Everything about her is stunning.

“You’re mine,” she says with the utmost certainty.

I’m lost in her declaration, hearing it over and over in my head. “I’m yours,” I repeat, feeling dazed.

“I don’t know how this is possible, but right now, I really don’t care,” she says, placing her hands on my chest and gently pushing me onto my side. I roll over to my back, following her lead as she climbs on top of me.

I’m still rock-hard, and I want more than anything to be back inside her. And by the look on her face, she wants that too.

“All those times I wished it were you,” she whispers, leaning down and dragging her soaking wet slit up my cock, drawing a hiss from my lips, “and it was. The whole time. How the hell did I get it wrong? I thought I was going to have to live the rest of my life wondering what it would be like to belong to you. For you to belong to me. And now, it’s true.”

I grip her hips before she has a chance to sink down on me, because once she does, I’m going to be done for and there will be no more coherent words. “You didn’t get it wrong.”

“What? What do you?—”

“That day, during the ceremony, when you stopped in front of the other wolf.”

Her breath catches and I squeeze her hips tighter. “Yeah, wh—wait. You’re saying?—”

“I’ll never forget that moment as long as I live.” I lift my hand to her face and brush her damp hair out of her eyes, tucking it behind her ears so I can see all of her. “It was me,” I whisper.

Her lips part, shock evident in her expression. Tears fill her eyes, making them burn even brighter. “It was?”

I nod and sit up, pulling her close to me as she buries her head in my chest. “Yeah,” I murmur, fighting off the emotion clogging my throat. “You have no idea how bad I wanted you to choose me.”

Alexia lets out a sob and squeezes me tighter. “Xander, how is it possible I moved on from you? I—I’m so sorry,” she cries, surprising the shit of me.

“It doesn’t matter. Whatever it was that drew you to him, your heart and soul have known this entire time that they are the match to my own. And I now feel it too. I was blinded by my own self-doubt. It made it impossible to read this all-consuming emotion. I’ve known the entire time. I was just too afraid to admit it.” It rips me apart knowing that I was a coward. I spent too much time trying to rationalize my feelings for her, and I refuse to do it anymore. They will never add up or have scientific reasoning. What we have was created outside of this realm. Yet it makes perfect sense to us.

She captures my lips with hers and pushes me back on the bed. “I’ll make it up to you,” she whispers against my mouth.

I chuckle. “That’s unnecessary, but I won’t stop you.”

With a smirk, she grabs my cock and with no other warning, slides it inside her. This woman, my woman, is so ready for me. I watch as she rides me, taking me in and out of her body. The way she slides over me is enough to have me digging my fingers into her hips, urging her to move faster. As much as I love the sensual rhythm she has set, I need more. I have an uncontrollable need to be deeper, to take her harder, to fuck my mate.

I lift her off me and turn her onto her stomach. Her perfect ass calls to me and I bite into the soft flesh as I hoist her onto her knees. “Grab the headboard,” I growl into her ear.

“Oh,” she groans, the sound of her pleasure just winding me up tighter.

Like the animal that resides within me, I take her from behind, thrusting into her with no mercy. “So. Fucking. Perfect,” I say, picking up speed, and she clamps down on me with each thrust.

I grab her long hair, twisting it around my hand and pulling so her neck arches back and I can see the side of her face. Tears are running down her cheeks and all I can do is keep pounding into her and lean closer, kissing them away. “Alexia, are you all right?” I manage, forcing myself to think about anything other than the way I fit so perfectly inside her.

“Yes,” she gasps, nodding emphatically. “Yes, yes. You feel so good, please don’t stop.”

She is the only force in this universe that could make me. I’m lost in her heat, finding true bliss in the way she tightens around me. Nothing has ever felt as good and right as rutting into her.

The feral urge to bite makes my teeth ache. I know that once I have her delicate skin in my mouth, I won’t be able to hold back. My mark would be exquisite on her—pink and purple. Other shifters would see it and understand that she belongs to only one. But I hold back my carnal desires, not wanting to hurt her.

I look down and watch as I piston into her. My mouth waters at the glistening sheen she leaves on me. “I was right; this pussy was made for me, little wolf. I could watch the way I fuck you all night.”

“I want to see,” she whines, craning her neck to try to get a better view.

I chuckle and raise an eyebrow. “Look to your right, Alexia.”

She turns her head and meets my gaze in the full-length mirror on my closet door. Our whole bodies are on display, and I’m thrusting harder than ever. She watches our naked forms, and the lust in her glowing eyes flares brighter.

“Oh, god,” she groans, throwing her head back and clenching harder around me before looking back at where we’re joined.

“It’s not a god or goddess who’s making you see stars right now,” I growl into her ear. “Say my name when I’m claiming you.”

She gasps and looks at me over her shoulder. “Yes, daddy. Is that what you want to hear?”

My hand swings down, smacking her ass. The little brat loves playing me with her sweet sass. But I can dish out the punishment she needs. “Say it again,” I demand.

“Yes, daddy.”

For good measure, I spank her one more time, leaving my handprint on her. “Good girl.”

She moans, and I’m unsure if it’s from the pain or from the praise. My little wolf is full of surprises, and I enjoy revealing them all. In fact...

I pull Alexia’s hair and bring her to kneel upright. Her head rolls onto my shoulder, exposing her neck and the wild need to bite her returns. I grip her hips, keeping her in place and descend on the curve where her neck and shoulder meet, avoiding the nearly healed cut from last night. The sound that escapes her as I bite down has me on the verge of spilling inside her. My teeth sink into her skin and the coppery taste of blood fills my mouth.

“Xander,” she cries, reaching up and hooking her unbandaged arm around my neck, gripping my hair in her fist. “Xander, I’m going to come.”

I lick at the bite mark I’ve just made, knowing that I am right on the edge with her. As soon as I feel her coat me with her sweet release, I’m finished.

“Come for me, baby, I’m right there,” I whisper in her ear, reaching up and running my fingers through the blood dripping down her neck. I bring them to her hardened nipple and paint it in red as I squeeze, drawing a cry from her lips.

She cries out my name one more time and I feel her throb around me, soaking me with her release. Her whole body convulses against mine and I have to lower us back onto the bed to keep pumping into her because she’s quivering so violently—so deliciously.

As my release grows nearer and nearer, the sensation is unlike anything I’ve felt before. The pressure along my shaft grows so intense that it takes my breath away. Yet, I have this all-consuming desire to continue, to make sure Alexia takes every single inch of my cock.

I look between us and groan, seeing the rounded and swollen base of my dick. Pride builds within me at the sight of my knot—another sign of our bond—a way to ensure I breed her when the time is right. For now, it will be another way to bring my mate pleasure.

I run my hand down Alexia’s spine. “I need you to be a good girl and take a little more for me. Can you do that?”

“Yes. I want more,” she says, practically begging.

“You are too good to me.” I ease her onto her back and lift her hips, sliding a pillow beneath her exhausted body.

I nudge my way into her slick center, and her slender fingers dig into my sheets. With patience I can’t believe I possess in this moment, I push my knot inside her. She whimpers as I stretch her, but she never tells me to stop.

“Look at you taking your mate’s knot,” I say, arching my hips back and feeling her tug against me.

Her sharp intake of breath makes me even harder, even though I’m not even sure that’s possible. “What? Really?” She sounds mystified, like it’s something she never thought she’d experience.

I brush her hair from her face. “Yes, Alexia. You are mine in every way.”

“I’m yours. All yours. Forever,” she murmurs, lifting up and capturing my lips in a searing kiss, and that, of all things, is what sends me over the edge.

“Alexia,” I gasp, grabbing her hands and pinning them above her head, burying my face in the crook of her neck as I empty myself inside her. And she takes every drop, contracting around me as she comes again.

It’s such a strange but glorious feeling; I couldn’t pull out even if I wanted to.

“I thought I’d never know what this felt like, but it’s even better than I could’ve imagined,” she whispers, lifting her pelvis against mine like the little vixen she is.

I pump my hips, loving the pull on my cock as we are locked together. “Trust me when I say that you will know this feeling as often as possible.”

“I like that idea,” she says, shuddering beneath me.

“And what do you think of the idea of me pushing it into your pretty ass?” I need to know the answer. The only thing I want her to tell me is that she is mine in every way. I want every part of her, yes. More than that though, I’m dying to know that she trusts me with all of it. Not only with her body but her heart as well.

Her eyes widen and her lips part. She looks scared, but the way I feel her drench me at the mere idea tells me all I need to know. But still, she says what I want to hear, as if she knew what I was thinking. “I want you to claim it all. Every piece of me is yours.” She draws her bottom lip between her teeth and raises her eyebrows as she lifts her hips to meet mine. “Besides, you’d be the first and last one to ever touch me there. How do you feel about that?”

That wolfish pride explodes in me again. She has a way of making me feel like every inch of this world is mine to command. And it isn’t the world I want at my beck and call, it is her. I want to rule her body’s pleasure. I want to find my own in her happiness. This woman owns me. Completely has me on my knees for her.

“I feel like a king knowing you’re giving me every piece of you,” I say.

Alexia locks her gaze on me, and it becomes obvious that she truly does have control over me. I would say or do anything she asked, no matter the consequences, just to make her happy. So when she looks at me, I’ll be damned if I look away from her. She reaches up and runs her thumb over my bottom lip. “Xander. You are the king. Or at least, you will be.”

My eyes widen. “I don’t want you to think that was ever what this was about. Kai could have the throne. For fuck’s sake, Carrington would turn our kingdom into self-absorbed fashionistas but let her do it. I just want you, Alexia.”

“I don’t think that, but you would make a phenomenal king. You were made to wear that crown, to care for our people. I can’t picture a better shifter for the job.”

I snort a chuckle at that. “Do you want to be queen?”

“I want to be wherever you are. Period. End of story.”

My body returns to normal, and I gently pull out and roll off her, bringing her to my chest. I kiss her forehead, then her nose, then her lips. “Let’s not think about that tonight. This is all that matters to me. Every problem will be there tomorrow, and I’ll face them all with you.”

“Okay,” she says, giving me the brightest smile I’ve ever seen, and it fills every single empty spot in my heart.