The wolf in him howled and he had to fight the urge to tear the clothes from her body, forcing himself to look into her eyes.
“I want you in my home.” His voice dropped to a low growl and he tightened his grip on her, pulling her tighter against his naked body. “I want you in my bed.”
Her arousal filled the air, swarming his senses until he thought he’d go mad with it. Her heartbeat thundered in his ears. All he could smell was her decadent desire, all he could hear was her pulse.
“Sorin,” she whispered.
She shifted in his grip and Sorin started as he realized how hard he was holding her. His fingers pressed into the flesh of her upper arms, bruising in their intensity. The pulse of blood through her veins pressed against the pads of his fingers, every pulse echoing in her heartbeat as it thundered in his ears.
His mind threw up the image of her walking away with Claudiu, leaving him bleeding on the floor of his basement. He’d only glanced up away from his wounds once, but that moment had been permanently burned into his brain. A wave of angry possession swept over him and he tightened his grip even more.
“He never deserved you,” he hissed, barely able to force the words out through the maddening heat building in his head. “I fought for you, I shed blood for you. You are mine.”
Gia stared into his eyes and his nostrils flared at the sharp perfume of arousal that filled the air around them. She took a deep breath, drawing his gaze down to the swell of her breasts under the lavender cotton of her shirt. Her nipples hardened under his gaze, pressing against the soft fabric until his mouth watered with the thought of taking the stiff peaks in his lips.
“You let me walk away,” she breathed.
Her voice tortured him with memories of how his name had sounded on her tongue, breathless with passion as he buried himself in her body. It had been twenty-eight endless nights since he’d heard his name on her lips, felt her naked body in his arms. He dragged his gaze back up to her eyes, aroused further by the flicker of defiance in their brown depths.
“You nearly gutted me.” The skin on his stomach twitched at the memory.
“That’s no excuse.”
He smiled, his fangs sliding from their sheaths. “It will not work twice,” he promised softly.
Moving with lightening speed, he released his grip on her wrists and grabbed a fistful of her shirt in each hand, tearing it from her body like tissue paper. She gasped, her body jerking with the force of the disrobing. Her bra remained intact, pushing her breasts up like flesh offerings to his hungry gaze. Before she could recover from her surprise, he stepped into her body, raising his arms behind her back to get a hold of her bra. With one sharp jerk of his arms, the metal loops ripped free and he yanked the scrap of material from her body.
For a moment all he could do was stare. The sight of her naked breasts made his mouth water and his fangs ache. He could already feel the puckered skin of her nipples in his mouth, taste the salt on her skin as he lapped at the valley between the generous mounds of flesh. He leaned down, mesmerized by the image before him.
The sensation of her fist tightening in his hair shocked him. He hadn’t even seen her move. His eyes flicked up to her face, momentarily distracted from the bounty of her chest.
“I didn’t say I forgive you yet,” she said, the teasing light in her eyes belying her serious tone.
Without a word he reached out and grabbed the hem of her jeans. He jerked her up off her feet, falling to his knees as she grappled for his shoulders to keep from falling backwards to the ground. The sight of her breasts bouncing only inches away from his face added a sense of urgency to his movements and his muscles burned as he ripped the denim from her body.
He pushed her back onto the ground so he could pull the damaged jeans from her body, taking her boots and socks with them. In seconds she was lying before him on the grass, her naked flesh glowing under the light of the moon.
She twitched as he locked his hands around her ankles.
“If you even think about moving,” he said quietly, barely keeping the wolf inside him in check, “I will tie you up with scraps of your own clothing and carry you back to my bed like a spoil of war.”
Her arousal thickened in the air and his mouth watered. He began to crawl over her, his gaze raking up her naked flesh as if he could eat her alive with his eyes. As his face passed over her pussy he had the strong urge to dip his head, to taste the sweet liquid between her thighs. The wolf in him snarled at him to keep moving. There would be time for that later. First, he had to claim her.
Her heart thudded like a drum, strong and loud. His cock brushed against her leg and her thighs parted as if of their own accord. The sight of her spreading so willingly for him sent a rush of primal satisfaction up his spine and he groaned as he guided his cock to her weeping pussy.
His wolf howled in triumph as the head of his cock pushed inside her, squeezed by her silken walls so that he had to fight for every inch. He propped his elbows on the ground to either side of her, holding himself up so he could look in her eyes as he entered her body. Her brown eyes shifted to gold as he watched, her beast swimming closer to the surface. He knew his own brown eyes had bled to the green of his wolf’s emerald orbs.
A heavy weight shifted in his body as his beast stretched out to press against the prison of his human form. In his mind’s eye he could see her beast doing the same, each of their wolves trying to get closer, trying to become one. Emotions he’d ignored since she left him bleeding on the last full moon all came crashing down on him like the entire ocean collapsing on a lonely shore. Anger at her abandonment, pain at her loss, and the overwhelming need to claim her as his all pounded into him with bruising force.
“You are mine,” he ground out, plunging inside her body as deep as he could.
She cried out, her hands gripping his shoulders as her legs wrapped around his waist. Satisfaction heated his blood as he watched her face contort in passion, watched her head thrash on the ground as he pulled his cock from her pussy only to thrust back inside her with enough force to rock her body.
“Sorin,” she moaned. Her fingers tightened on his shoulders and her hips rocked with his. “Goddess, Sorin, don’t stop.”
The outrage and loneliness he’d felt in the past weeks clutched his heart and he reached out one hand to thread his fingers in her hair. Her eyes fluttered open as her body continued to undulate against his.
“Tell me you know you’re mine,” he demanded. His voice sounded strained even to his own ears, the passion building inside him making it hard to think let alone speak. Still, some part of him needed her to say it, needed to know that she knew she was his.
Her gaze bored into his and his eyes widened as her hips surged up and her entire body twisted to the side. The world spun around him as he suddenly found himself on his back, his cock still buried inside her. She continued to ride him, easily finding her rhythm as he struggled to reorient himself.
“I am yours,” she whispered. “And,” she added, dragging her nails down his chest. “You are mine.”
The sensation of her nails scratching his chest added a delicious edge of pain to the pleasure roaring through his veins. He watched her ride him with the lightening of desire crackling in her eyes and a dark joy bubbled up inside him. She was right. For as much as she was his, he was hers as well. There would never be a disparity between them, never be a master and a slave. For every inch he fought for, she would fight to take it back.. An endless battle without a loser.
The orgasm hit him with the force of a hurricane and he bellowed his passion into the night air. Gia screamed, the powerful contractions milking his cock telling some small part of his brain that she’d reached her peak as well. Their bodies thrust helplessly against one another as they rode the waves of pleasure. His fingers dug into her hips as he fought to keep the pleasure going, shoving himself inside her and drawing out again. Every press of his body into hers brought a new moan of pleasure from her lips and no music
had ever sounded so sweet. Finally he could take no more and he groaned as Gia collapsed on his chest. He rolled to the side, pulling her into his embrace before surrendering to his post-climactic exhaustion.
She laid her cheek on his bicep and he curled his body around her, protective and aroused all at once. He buried his face in her hair, noticing how much longer it was now than it had been the last time he’d seen her. The smell of her shampoo tickled his nose and he sighed as a wave of peace settled over him.
The tension of the last month leaked bit by bit from his muscles. For the first time since he could remember, he let his wolf truly be heard. He didn’t know what would happen and part of him still feared the worst. Still, his human half had done an abysmal job of keeping his life in order. What more damage could his wolf do?
“Thank you.”
Her voice was so quiet, he almost didn’t hear her.
“For what?” He nuzzled her neck, the affectionate gesture bringing her throbbing pulse to his attention. Thoughts of sinking his fangs into her neck and reinvigorating himself for another round danced in his head. He drew his tongue over her skin and she moaned.
“For issuing the challenge. Showing that kind of dominance will go a long way to earning you the respect of the pack.”
He swirled his tongue over her skin, earning a shiver from her. He smiled.
“I am a man of honor, Gia. It was foolish of me to interfere in your affairs this evening. I could not walk away without making things right.”
Gia’s body stiffened in his arms. “What?”
Her pulse grew stronger, throbbing like a living creature under his tongue. He drew the tip of his fang over the soft swell of her vein, already anticipating the sweet rush of her blood.
“I do not yet have the control I yearn for over my beast. When I saw that arrogant wolf treating you so poorly, I could not help myself.” A pang of regret momentarily paused his desire. “I did not realize my impetuousness would cost you your position. Rest assured I will help you get it back.”
Gia turned around in his arms and he frowned as her shift put her neck out of his reach.
“Wait a minute,” she said slowly. “Are you telling me that the only reason you issued that challenge was because you feel honor-bound to help me get back the position of lupa?”
“It is my fault you lost your position, is it not?”
Confusion distracted him further from thoughts of her blood. He could tell by the way her body pulled away from him that she was upset with him, but he didn’t know why.
“So I’m, what, some sort of duty for you?”
Anger blossomed in her voice, heating her words until they flew at him like pokers from a hearth fire. He tried to pull her closer, but she rolled away from him. He stared at her dumfounded as she stood.
“Gia, what is wrong? A moment ago you thanked me for issuing the challenge and now you act as though I’ve insulted you.”
“Why did you come here tonight?” she demanded.
Annoyed with her abrupt mood change, Sorin stood as well. He stared into her eyes, searching for some sign of what was wrong with her.
“Are you so vain that you need to hear me say it? Very well. I came to you because I could not stay away.” He stepped forward, the faint beginnings of anger heating his words. “I ache for you, Gia. Every fiber of my being calls out for you. When you left, my beast became a ravenous wild thing, beyond my control. I had to come to you.”
“What took you so long?”
He narrowed his eyes. “Excuse me?”
“If your beast wanted me so bad, and you were so helpless to control it, than how did you manage to stay away for twenty-eight days?”
Memories of desperately swallowing mouthfuls of Grigore’s concoctions night after night brought a rush of shame to fuel the anger growing in his belly. He had been nothing but a gentleman tonight. He’d defended her honor, issued a challenge on her behalf. He’d done everything honor demanded he do and now she spoke to him as if he were the enemy.
“Ah, so your need to be dominant has not left you with your fall in rank,” he sneered, giving voice to the venom inside him. “You still feel the need to hold your superiority over me, yes? You want to hear that all my years of repressing my wolf left me helpless against it? You want to know all about my pathetic reliance on Grigore and his alchemy?”
She stared at him in silence, an emotion that looked very much like pain shining in her eyes. Even through his cloud of anger he could practically see the wheels spinning in her head. He crossed his arms, refusing to be moved. He’d given her all the information she deserved, he would not spell it out for her.
“Grigore used magic to keep you from coming to me?”
Such a myriad of emotions clouded her face, Sorin couldn’t tell if she was happy, sad, or angry. He gritted his teeth, frustrated.
“Yes.” She continued to stare at him and he growled. “Until tonight.”
“You told him you didn’t want his help anymore?”
Was that hope he heard in her voice? He frowned. “No. He had agreed to help me for one month.” He laughed, an abrupt humorless sound. “I was certain after a month’s time I would be able to resist you on my own. I was mistaken.”
Gia took a step back, staring at him and shaking her head. Her eyes glistened and the sight of impending tears cracked his stony resistance.
“Gia, what is wrong?”
“You don’t want to be with me,” she said quietly.
The pain in her voice was palpable. His heart constricted and no matter how hard he tried he couldn’t resist the urge to reach for her.
“That is not true. I want to be with you more than I ever thought possible.”
She jerked away from him, her eyes angry and beseeching all at once. Sorin let his arm fall to his side, baffled by her behavior.
“But you don’t want to want me,” Gia protested.
“Gia, you are not making any sense. I have told you that I had to rely on Grigore’s magic to stay away from you, I’ve come back to you with a passion I cannot imagine finding anywhere else, I’ve issued a challenge for a ritual fight to get you back the position of lupa . . .” He threw up his hands in exasperation. “I do not know what you want from me.”
Her face shut down. Her eyes grew hazy and she dropped her gaze, her shoulders slumped, and her entire body seemed a little less alive. Watching it sent a wave of panic over him, though he didn’t know why.
“If you want to be free of me,” she started softly, “you have to find a replacement. Your wolf craves a mate. All you have to do is find a female that satisfies its primal need for survival and the compulsion you feel to come to me will be gone.”
There is no female that could ever replace you. “I don’t want to be bound to anyone.” Sorin shrugged helplessly.
“Than why did you issue the challenge?” Gia screamed.
Sorin’s jaw dropped, shocked at her sudden rage. She glared at him with pain brimming in her eyes and her entire body trembling. It was such an abrupt change from the withering pain of a moment before that for a second, all he could do was stare.
“I cost you your position, honor dictates that I help you get it back.”
“By becoming my mate? Did you forget that fighting the challenge with me would make you lycaeon?”
“As I understand it, there is nothing to prevent us from parting amicably.” His voice lacked the conviction he would have liked, but the vehemence of her reaction told him he’d missed something important.
“So you thought you would fight with me, win, get my position back, and then we would just divorce? All that talk about being lycaeon in front of my pack was just a show for them so you could help me become lupa again?”
The shock on her face made it clear that wasn’t an option. Sorin stood there, silent, unsure of what to say. If he were honest with himself, he hadn’t thought much beyond the challenge. Hell, he hadn’t thought much beyond getting to Gia. When he’d been back in his own h
ome, he’d thought only of getting to Gia. Now that he was in her presence, he felt calmer, able to think. Was he fooling himself thinking he could walk away later? If he left her, would the desperate urge to return to her side come back?
“You are a fool,” Gia said quietly, anger ringing in her words. “Pack law says that once two wolves have joined to fight a challenge, barring an infraction that warrants expulsion, they must stay together for no less than a full year. That law is meant to discourage wolves from pairing up just to fight in the challenge.” She shook her head. “Mating was not meant to be treated so carelessly.”
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