“Lindon, what is this?” I ask, leafing through the pages, shock rising in me as I start to figure it out, but don’t dare to believe it. “Is this your—”
“It’s a rough draft,” he says, turning around with folded arms. Back straight and rigid, neck turning pink from embarrassment.
Happiness goes through me as I read through it. Probably only fifty pages so far. “So you’ve been writing this since when?” I ask.
“Since we got here. I thought it would be a good distraction from the stress to just start a new project. But I’ve always been a person who stays too caught up in their head and doesn’t listen to their subconscious or their drives. I think that’s why I missed that I’ve been fated for you all along.”
I set the papers aside, desperate to read them, but more desperate to hear what he’s about to say.
“That night, after we fought, I went back to my room to write. I thought you were safe. If I had known…”
“I know,” I say. “Don’t worry, you did enough. You were there in time.”
“Thank heavens, because I probably would have died if I hadn’t. I can’t go through that again,” he says quietly, facing the window now.
“Go through what?” I ask.
“Losing someone who means everything to me,” he says. “Didn’t you read the book?”
“What there is of it, not that I understand.”
“Hmph. Go to the second to last page. There’s a paragraph there that explains it.”
“Okay,” I say, flipping through it.
“I wrote that when I was trying to figure things out. Trying to come to terms with what I had always thought about Ava not being true. Trying to figure out how much I’d been hiding and missing, and how I really felt about you.”
“Ah,” I say, pausing in turning the pages to listen.
“Anyway, that night, reading what I was writing, it became clear to me. It was like being hit by a sword, straight through the center. All I could see was your face, at various times and various moments, from the first time we met. All I could do was think of the rage I felt when another male was close to you, and how much I wanted to pick you up and take you back to my room and finish what I started.”
He shakes his head. “I was looking for you to tell you that when I found you were gone. It was like the world stopped turning in those minutes. I was so worried I’d be too late.”
“But you weren’t.”
“Ironic, right? That trying to keep myself from being hurt almost led to me being hurt. And worse, you being hurt.”
“Not worse in my mind. There’s nothing I can think of more horrible than sitting there watching you suffer like you did.” I blink back tears at the thought of his pale face. “I couldn’t stand it.”
“Do you really love me?” he asks quietly, still facing away.
I can feel heat move up my neck into my cheeks. “Yes. You heard that?”
He nods. “I heard some things. I couldn’t tell what was real and what was a dream. But when I heard that, I hoped it was real. I felt my heart beat extra hard, almost with an echo, and I think that’s what started me on the way back.” He waves a hand. “But read what I wrote. I think it’ll make more sense after that. Sorry it’s not romance. I’ve been writing thrillers for almost my whole career. I wrote Sylvester’s book ages ago. Though I can write another romance for you, if you like.”
I grin at that, unable to believe how lucky I am to have found him. I flip through the pages until I see the underlined section. It’s marked in red, by hasty hands that are clearly freaking out as they see what I see.
“He couldn’t get her out of his mind. When he was asleep, when he was awake, she tormented him. Like the universe was reminding him of how much he couldn’t have, how much he’d never have again.”
I turn the page, blinking back tears again. I feel so emotional, so fragile lately. But also, more alive than ever before.
“But it was in one of those moments where she was there in his mind that it occurred to him that maybe she wasn’t the taunt of something he’d never have, but a hint of promise for the future.
A haunting beam of light guiding him toward a hope he’d never thought he’d see again.
Maybe she didn’t make him uncomfortable because she reminded him of what he couldn’t have. Maybe she made him uncomfortable because she made him want to reach for something more.
Because he had come to love her.”
A tear falls on the papers and I set them aside and fold my hands in my lap. I’m unable to keep back a little sniffle, and he turns, eyes widened in shock and horror.
“Did I hurt your feelings? Let me explain.”
I wave a hand. “No, I’m just emotional lately. A lot has happened. It’s not a bad thing. Lindon, that’s just so…”
“So…?” He takes another cautious step forward, eyeing me with suspicion, like he thinks I might attack him.
“Beautiful!” I say, throwing my arms around him and pulling him onto the bed on top of me.
“Is that a yes?” he asks, brushing hair back from my face. “Because I do love you, Misty. That’s why I think we’re fated. I wanted to take care of you from the minute I met you. I just think we were meant for each other.”
“Me too,” I say. “Not that that made it easy.”
“True,” he says, kissing my forehead lightly, and then my cheek.
“I thought you were only trying to mate me because you thought we were fated.”
He gives me a wry grin that makes the dimple in his cheek appear. “Come on, Misty. You know I’m too stubborn to let a little thing like fate stop me if I do or don’t want something. It just took me a little while to realize it.”
“Ah.”
“So when I jumped in front of you, it was reflexive, and yes, confirmed what I already knew about being fated with you. But at the same time, the reason I was running up that hill in the first place had nothing to do with fate, and everything to do with being willing to give my life for you. Because I love you.”
“I love you, too,” I say, nuzzling his nose. “Isn’t that crazy?”
“Yes,” he says. “And cheesy. Gosh, I feel like Hawes or something. Can we please get on to the fun stuff?”
“Hey,” I say, “a girl needs romance.”
“I’ll buy you a pack of your favorite donuts after,” he says, giving me a rakish wink.
“I’ll think about it.”
“You…” He growls and tackles me back against the bed, pinning my wrists above my head. The mood in the room changes instantly, and his glowing gold eyes look down into mine for confirmation.
“Yes,” I say simply.
He grins.
He kisses my hands, the tips of my fingers, sucking one into his hot mouth and laving it with his rough tongue. Then he trails down my sensitive wrists and kisses his way down my arms, pausing at the elbows and then making his way down to my shoulders. It’s like he wants to mark every part of me with his mouth. I sigh and writhe against the sensation, so intense I can barely stand it, especially with the feel of his hot thighs pressed against my hips as he straddles me. But his hold on my hands keeps me from writhing away from all of the pleasure he can give me.
When he lets my hands go to cup my face and bring me up for a hard kiss, my hands come up to curl into his short hair and pull him forward as our hot tongues intertwine. Finally we can be as hot for each other as we have been from the moment we first kissed.
Finally he’ll be mine.
I start trying to take his shirt off, anxious to get my hands on those rippling abs and he lets out a low growl and catches both of my wrists in one of his hands. I look up at him guiltily and he waves a stern finger at me.
“I told you, I like control,” he says. “I want you to take all of the pleasure you can, and then some. I want you to not be able to get away as I show you everything I can do to you. With you. For you.” His eyes darken to a lustful dark gold, and he steps off the bed and goes to the clos
et. When he comes back, I see two designer ties in his hands, and my eyes widen.
I scoot back against the headboard, turned on and also apprehensive about trying this.
At the same time, the image of him crawling over my body, doing whatever he wants to me while I’m totally helpless, is so hot that I can’t even think as he comes closer, a small grin on his perfect face.
“Is that a yes?” he asks, holding up the tie.
I gulp and nod.
His grin widens. “Great. I’ve been wanting to do this since I met you. Tie you up and let that sassy mouth say whatever it wants while I make love to you until you’re senseless.”
I bite my lip. It’s hot and kind of offensive at the same time. But that’s Lindon from the start.
“The safe word is Sylvester,” he says, with a small wink.
I laugh, flushing. “You want me to say your character’s name during sex?”
“It would definitely snap me out of any lust-filled haze if you needed me to, so yeah.”
“Okay,” I say. “Sylvester it is.”
He nods and takes one of my hands. He gently ties the tie around my wrist and loops it around the bedpost on the other side. I pull against it. It’s not super tight or uncomfortable. And oh, the things Lindon can do to me. He does the same with the other hand. I have some movement. But I can’t run away from him. Not unless I say the safe word.
“Do you always like it like this?” I ask.
“Hon, this is mild bondage. Not that kinky. I’m pretty vanilla. I mean, I don’t need fancy things to make you feel like heaven. But at the same time, this first time, I just need to be able to watch you. Please you. Feel you.” He leans forward and licks a line from my belly button up between my breasts, pushing my shirt out of the way as he goes and drawing a sharp gasp from me.
“Why does it all feel so good?”
“Because I love you,” he says simply. “And you love me.”
I nod. It’s the only explanation, even if it seems crazy after so little time together. Then again, I had years and years to fall for someone else, and I didn’t. Maybe some of us really are meant to be with one person, and we just have to find them.
Or maybe some of us are just broken enough that when we find someone else who is broken, who fits with us to make us whole, our hearts decide in a single moment.
I groan and bite my lip against the pleasure as he removes my bra and takes my nipple in his mouth. He works it gently, his hands running up and down my arms. I wonder if he’s going to do what he did before to me. As if he can read my thoughts, he gives me a confident smirk and pulls off my pants and then my panties.
I let out a heady sigh and his eyes flick to mine.
“Forever, Misty. After this, you’re mine forever,” he says.
“I’m already yours,” I choke out, as he lowers his head between my legs. “Oh Lindon!”
It’s even more intense since I can’t move, and I writhe, leg muscles clenching, trying to stave off the release that is building incredibly quickly as his tongue works expertly over me. “Oh, oh, Lindon…I…” I can’t finish my sentence as my eyes roll back and I swear I can see fireworks behind my eyelids as my body feels showered in sparks and I convulse from the center outward. So much pleasure it’s more than one person can take.
But before I’m even finished, Lindon is going again, and he takes me over the edge before I can take even another breath. I scream this time, happy no one can hear us now that we’re alone. It feels good to scream out against the intensity, kind of like it feels good to scream on the falling part of a roller coaster. It feels so intense you almost need to scream to distract yourself enough to stand it.
I wriggle, pretending to try to get away and he pulls me back with a little growl and plants his mouth over me again. This time aggressively. I moan and wish I had my hands free so I could touch him. My whole body is so tense from being in this position, from him owning me completely, that another orgasm rushes forward like a freight train, turning to a gentle ocean wave as it hits me, carrying me up on a wave of sheer pleasure as my body writhes and I cry out to him.
The smell in the room is stronger. My body is aching so hard for him that it physically hurts. He seems to sense this and unties my hands. I come forward, clutching his shoulders. Trying to press him as close to me as I can. Silently begging him for something I know we both want.
“Shh…” he says, stroking my hair. “Soon. I need to make sure you’re ready.”
I bite my lips and whimper, and he straddles me as he reaches down with one finger, and then two, reaching inside me with a delicious pressure and stretching gently. I look up at him, embarrassed at how ready I am. I’m so ready.
He just laughs. “All right then. Oh Misty, I can’t wait to be inside you. You’re all mine.”
“All yours,” I say, still overcome from the orgasms he made come fast and furious. Still lightheaded with desire for what’s coming next.
He removes his clothing, first his tank, exposing beautiful tanned, square pecs and a perfect, rippling abdomen with cut obliques. The muscles in his arms bulge as he reaches for his pants. He hooks one thumb in the waistband and raises an eyebrow at me, a confident smirk on his beautiful face.
“Yes, please,” I say.
He grins and takes the pants off, and my eyes widen as I see him. He’s so beautiful, all of him, and all mine now.
I take a few deep breaths as he lowers himself over me and brings my legs up to a bent position. “Will it hurt?” I ask.
He frowns. “I’ll try not to let it.”
“You’re huge,” I say, grumbling.
“Thank you.” He smirks and then turns serious. “I could never hurt you. If it hurts, we’ll stop.”
“You better not stop,” I say. “Not until I’m all the way yours.”
“Your wish is my command,” he says. He kisses my lips, gently, and then presses inside with his tongue, stroking and relaxing me as I feel him at my entrance. And then, with one long stroke, he pushes inside.
I gasp at the full sensation. I look up at him, eyes bulging, and he strokes my hair.
“Relax, relax and get used to it. Does it hurt?”
“No,” I say, calming as I feel my body adjust to the shock of accommodating him. “But it feels… It feels unlike anything I’ve ever felt.”
“Good,” he says. “I want to be the only one to ever make you feel like this.”
“Somehow, I think that’s a certainty,” I say.
When I’m relaxed, he begins to move, and my body tightens up again as his stroke brings him up against a sensitive area inside me that makes me light up with sensation. “Oh gosh, what’s that?”
He just grins. “I guess we’ll see.” He continues to move and I dig my hands into his shoulders, his back, moaning as the pressure builds. I watch his face, handsome in concentration as he focuses on pleasing me.
He’s controlled and careful, and I can see concern in his eyes as he moves slowly. But I can also see lust, want, that animal inside him calling out to the animal in me. We’re mating, and soon we’ll be claimed.
He increases the speed and I whisper against his ear in a hoarse, urgent voice, telling him to keep going. Telling him how good it feels.
I let my head roll back against the pillow as the pleasure builds, it feels like lightning is about to strike and I can’t hold off anymore. The he lowers a hand between us and touches me in the sensitive area he was stroking before and I go off, like a rocket, leaving my body behind as my soul floats on waves of unbearable pleasure.
Going with him inside me is something else entirely. I can see forests and trees, mountains and streams. Wolf cubs and Lindon, out with me in a home of our own.
As my body writhes I dig my hands into his back.
“Hold on,” he says, continuing to move. “Almost there.” He increases speed and then plunges deep inside me. Then he throws back his head and lets out a howl as his wolf claims mine. The feel of him going is incredibl
e, surging against me as my body is still contracting from the pleasure of seconds ago. I want to howl with him, but my wolf is exhausted. It’s enough to know that he came, with me, and that he’s mine forever.
That it’s over but it’s only just begun.
“Oh my gosh,” he says, looking down at me with glowing eyes, face flushed from exertion. “That’s unlike anything in the world. I can’t…I could never write something like that into words.”
I nod at him. “You don’t have to. As long as you never stop writing it on my body.”
He nods. “I’ll write it all over you. Forever. I love you, Misty.”
I close my eyes and hold him as he collapses against me. Chest to chest, stomach to stomach, thigh to thigh. So right.
This is our happy ending.
Epilogue
Even though Lindon doesn’t write romance, he likes using me as a beta reader. And since I like reading just about anything, I’m happy to oblige. I also manage his social media presence, help him answer fan mail, and love him like crazy whenever I want.
Occasionally we hear from one of the guys. It’s only been a few weeks since the alpha challenge ended, and I hope they’re all doing well. Lock still hasn’t been found, and there’s no word on what happened with Jack at the tribunal.
And no word from whoever killed my folks. But I have to thank them. For saving my life so I could be with Lindon. Even if I resented them at one point, I know now how unselfish they were being. Being with Lindon has forced me to grow.
Today, we’re going to go back to the bookstore I used to work at so I can return some things, talk to Lacy about my new mate and let her know I’m doing fine.
I’m happy now, more than I ever thought I could be, and it’s worth it for the adventure I had along the way. In fact, Lindon’s been encouraging me to write my own book, about a girl who has ten alphas compete for her but chooses her charming protector instead.
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