by C. R. Jane
When he pushed it open, he stepped inside and waved for me to join him. The hallway lit up from the sunlight behind me, revealing a grand staircase heading upstairs. It was modern, simplistic, white walls, fancy moldings, and a metal chandelier. Exactly what I’d expect from a bachelor pad.
He shut the door behind me and swung into a living room. It was the bare essentials in there, no images or paintings on the wall, not even a television. Just a coffee table, black leather couch, and a bookshelf covering one wall.
I walked over to the window, staring out at the quiet street, the sunlight making it appear like another gorgeous day where everything was perfect.
“Talk,” I said, folding my arms over my chest, glad he decided to sit on the corner of the couch, legs parted, his hands on his thighs, and far enough from me.
“How much do you know about wolf shifters?” he asked me in a soft tone.
I shrugged. “Same as every other shifter I’m sure. Lycans live in the shadows of humans, mainly controlled by the moon. Some can’t shift outside those three days a month.”
“But there’s many who’ve managed to gain control of their wolves without the moon,” he added.
I nodded, having seen Alistair and others in his pack often going for hunts outside full moons to ensure they held control of their wolves.
“Why are you giving me a history lesson?” I asked, not sure where he was going with this.
“Rune, babe, are you aware that there are four wolf shifter breeds in the world?”
I blinked at him, unsure I heard right. “What do you mean by four? I’d been taught that Lycans were the only ones, the superior race.” My breath caught in my lungs, and my voice came out slightly scratchy from the shock of his implication.
Wilder got to his feet and came over to where I stood and took my hand. He led me to the couch. “Sit.”
He flopped down and eyed me to do the same, which I reluctantly obeyed.
“What did you mean by four wolf breeds?” I pressed.
“Four types exist in our world. You’re familiar with the Lycan because you came from a Lycan pack.”
My heart sank at what I was hearing. Four wolf breeds. No freaking way. Was there anywhere I could go that would be safe if there were that many out there?
My parents, Alistair, everyone I’d grown up with…they never talked about anything but the Lycan. How could no one have told me there were other kinds? I’d lived in a bubble, in a vacuum, completely blind to the world. I felt my chest tighten, and I hugged my middle.
“I’m a Lycan too,” Wilder said, interrupting my thoughts gently, drawing my attention back to him as he leaned closer, elbows pressed against his thighs. “We’re the most powerful of all the breeds. We’re pretty unstoppable when we battle.” There was a cocky look in his gaze, and I rolled my eyes.
“What about Daxon?” I asked with a frown. I just knew he wasn’t a Lycan, not with the way Wilder was explaining this. He just seemed…different.
“He’s a Bitten. They aren’t controlled by the moon, and they have full power over their wolves. They’re extremely powerful healers when they’re injured. There’s not much known about their breed historically though. I once heard that the Bittens might be the first original wolf shifter breed, but who knows.” Wilder shrugged his shoulders as if he couldn’t care less.
I was frozen in place, my mouth hanging open. The world seemed even more intimidating with all of this news. Alistair treated me as his puppet, locked away from the world, and I cursed him for still making my life shit even when he wasn’t around.
“The third kind is a Totemic wolf. They’re created when a human is bitten by their kind, or transformed by magic. And last are the Fenrir wolves, the most aggressive of the four kinds and definitely the breed you want to keep your distance from at any cost.”
When he looked at my confused face, his expression was sympathetic. I couldn’t pull my gaze from his. “Your pack and Daxon’s live in this town, don’t they?”
He nodded. “He resides across the river, and my Lycans are on this side. We’ve worked out a way to live in harmony. The territory on their side of the river belongs to them, and this side past the town is my jurisdiction. The town is a safe zone for everyone.” He paused, studying me. “I know this is a lot to take in, and when we have more time, I want to understand more about how you don’t know any of this.”
I stayed quiet for a long moment, studying his face, trying to take in everything I’d discovered. Of course it made sense that there would be more breeds in hindsight, but my jaw clenched with how much I’d been lied to all my life.
Wilder watched me. “Are you okay?”
I stood up. “It’s just a lot to take in. Maybe I should go.”
His gaze never left me, and I shivered thinking of how out of touch I felt in the world. I didn’t belong anywhere. Not with my pack, as Alistair made sure of, not with the humans, and definitely not here.
Alistair had once labeled me an outcast, and I felt that more now than I ever had.
“Okay, four kinds of wolves aside, why can’t I leave here? I obviously grew up knowing our kind has to be kept secret,” I told him bluntly, part of me expecting him to respond with a cryptic message, giving me nothing.
He stood alongside me, and I tried not to think of how small I was compared to him. “To keep you protected.”
I snorted. “Right. You’re keeping me prisoner to keep me safe. That makes perfect sense.” I laughed bitterly. “Thank you, but I think I’m good.”
“You need us.”
His expression gave absolutely nothing away, but his words were a warning, a threat to me.
“What I need is to leave,” I said.
He slid a finger under my chin, and my skin heated up everywhere he touched me. His thumb stroked over my lips, pulling at the flesh, and he stared down at me with hunger building in his gaze that seemed out of place for the situation.
My body reacted so quickly, it surprised me at the intensity of the thumping desire that came from his touch.
“We aren’t finished,” he told me. “There’s so much more I want you to understand. Your wild is beautiful, Rune, but your stubbornness is only going to get you into trouble. You’re not going anywhere.”
His voice was calm but firm, and I couldn’t work out if he was referring to me not leaving the town…or his house. An elated feeling spread through my veins with his touch. I couldn’t explain how part of me wanted to strangle him, but another part couldn’t stop looking at his lips, craving them.
“Why do you care what happens to me?” I asked, genuinely curious. Since arriving in town, we’d been two forces constantly at war. Everything between us had been…difficult, but the man standing before me right now was different.
Was this all part of the game?
“Do you want me to spell it out?” He ran his thumb over my lips again, but he never gave me the chance to respond. Because his mouth pressed against mine.
I shuddered in his arms, my body softening against him, and all my determination to keep him at arm’s length now floated away.
He kissed me with the intensity of an inferno. He was fire and I was his flame, igniting, roaring to life. I pressed closer, grasping onto his tee, kissing him back, pushing myself up on my toes to reach him easier. The world faded around us. Nothing else mattered when my body buzzed with this overwhelming energy. I was lost, consumed, feelings I didn’t understand shooting through me.
How could I feel so much so quickly for someone like Wilder?
When he broke from our kiss and I drew in sharp, shallow breaths, I couldn’t remember anything but us.
“Yes. Say it,” I ordered, answering his earlier question. “What exactly do you want from me?”
His arms scooped under my knees and back, and he had me off my feet, his lips on mine again.
“I want it all, Rune. Everything you’ll give me,” he growled against the seam of my mouth.
He walked us out of the
room, up the stairs, and into the first room. The room was empty except for a large bed with blue sheets beneath a huge window overlooking the whole town. He laid me gently down on the mattress. His body followed and laid over me, our mouths clashing once more. He moaned, and I closed my eyes, letting myself fall under his spell. Any chance of forcing him away was no longer possible, and I looped my arms around his neck and lifted my head to get closer, knowing I’d been yearning for this since we first met.
Rolling onto his side next to me, his hand traced down my jawline, over my collarbone. With a softness I hadn’t known he was capable of, he ran his fingers over the tops of my breasts, teasing me. A growl rolled from his chest, and he smoothed his palm over my breast, my nipples so tight, so hard, they hurt in the best possible way. He squeezed and kneaded my breast as I kissed him deeply, squeezing my thighs together.
I craved him and begged for him to bring to life that insatiable feeling he’d brought out in me every time we crossed paths.
His fingers trailed over my ribs and found the line of bare skin between my top and shorts.
I moaned, refusing to give name to this urgency that I had to be with him.
He flipped open the button to my denim shorts, tracing his fingertips across the top of my underwear elastic.
My breath raced, and I held onto him tightly, ready and nervous at the same time. I’d only ever been with Alistair…and those weren’t times I wanted to think about right now. Or else I wouldn’t be able to do this.
“I won’t hurt you,” he murmured, as if he could read my mind. His mouth found the soft flesh under my earlobe. “Please?” he asked desperately, and relief drifted through my veins that he was asking for permission.
I nodded, unable to find my voice at first. Then I whispered, “Yes.”
The smile he rewarded me with was filled with delicious promises I was desperate for him to keep.
He tugged my earlobe into his mouth as his fingers slipped under the elastic of my underwear, sliding down to where I was soaking wet
When he found the entrance, he dipped his finger into me, sliding in and out, then he added another.
I cried out, chasing the feeling I was desperate for. Tilting my head back in the pillow, I moaned, my hips rocking with the movement of his fingers working in me as his mouth claimed the side of my neck, licking and kissing me.
If I could freeze time, it would be this moment…when I got lost in Wilder.
When he pulled free, I groaned with protest, and he gave a light laugh, clearly enjoying my reaction to him.
“You’re going to be the end of me,” he said softly as he pushed himself up. His gaze danced down my body, studying every inch of me and making me squirm.
“I’m going to claim you, baby. Imprint myself on your skin. After today, you’ll never forget me.”
I licked my lips, unsure how to respond when my initial instinct was to scream out, yes. As if sensing my eagerness, he bent forward, and in one swift move, he lifted my ass and yanked off my shorts and underwear. Pulling them off my legs, he tossed them aside, his eyes never leaving me.
“Show me everything. Take off your top,” he ordered, a hint of his alpha power threading through his voice and only sharpening my lust.
To my surprise, I didn’t hesitate and pulled the tank top up and over my head. When I went to unlatch the lace bra, he took my hand. “No leave it on.” He reached over and tugged down the lacy cups, freeing my breasts. They bounced from his roughness. He grabbed one, squeezed it, and pinched my nipple. “Even more beautiful than I imagined,” he said hoarsely.
There was something empowering about having someone like Wilder stare at me like I was the most incredible thing he’d ever seen.
He climbed back onto the bed, parting my legs, and positioned himself between them. I shifted to accommodate him. His gaze was riveted between my thighs, taking all of me in, and he smiled cockily like he knew he’d won.
Before I knew it, he leaned down, bowing before me, and his mouth latched onto my most intimate spot without a hint of hesitation.
“Oh my goddess.” I arched my back as he licked me, his tongue taking short, fast flicks that drove me wild. The sounds he made, the savagery with which he ate me, left me panting for breath.
I’d never had a man go down on me, and his tongue was velvet against me. He groaned like a beast as his fingers pried my legs open wider.
My whole body tensed, goosebumps breaking out over my body, excitement building and building. I’d never felt this turned on.
I felt raw, exposed, but somehow, it didn’t hurt like it had with Alistair.
My body was at the breaking point when he suddenly broke away. I lifted my head and looked at him like he was insane as he licked the glistening juices from his lips.
Holy shit, this man was hot.
“Why did you stop?” The air rushed out of my lungs so hastily that it left me dizzy.
The need and smile on his face told me he knew exactly what he was doing. “I can’t give you everything you want so easily,” he teased. That look crossed his face, the one where I could see he got pleasure out of making me squirm.
I narrowed my gaze at him and pulled myself to sit up, drawing my legs closed. He tsked softly.
“I’m nowhere near finished with you,” he growled out, his hands on my knees, parting them again. “Stay like that for me.”
I shouldn’t have listened to him, but my sex fogged mind wasn’t thinking logically. “You can be a real ass sometimes, you know that?”
He laughed, and damn him for making me love the way he sounded. He yanked off his shirt, throwing it behind him, then his hands fell to the belt on his jeans. He unbuckled it, then popped open the button on his jeans. In no time, he dropped them to the ground and stepped out.
I’d never seen a more delicious sight as I did now watching Wilder stand in front of me, palming his cock. I gasped at the size. That thing wasn’t fitting in me. Alistair hadn’t been well endowed at all, thank goodness, a lucky thing for me.
Wilder was muscles and smooth skin…perfection.
“Y-you’re so big.” The words spilled from my lips.
“Umm, thank you,” he said with a laugh.
“It’s not going to…” I glanced down my body and closed my legs, then back at him. “I mean, it’s not the first time, but will it hurt?”
Another chuckle burst from his mouth as if he never expected me to ask such a question.
“It’ll probably hurt a bit at first, but then I’ll have you crying out for more. Open up for me, baby.”
He was definitely a man used to getting his way, and while part of me toyed with the notion of ending this now just to make it clear he didn’t control me, my words refused to come. My body was refusing to listen to my mind, because logic had nothing to do with this. What we had between us was pure animalistic, raw hunger.
His hands touched my knees, making me feel things I’d only read about in books, things I’d only imagined were possible. “Open for me,” he repeated. “Don’t make me ask again.” He gripped my knees gently, pushing them wide as he crawled between them and over my body. His hands were pinned against the mattress on either side of my head.
I breathed heavily, enthralled with the feeling of him claiming me.
“I still hate you,” I said suddenly, wanting him to know that while I wanted him badly, I still hadn’t forgiven him.
“I hate you too,” he said almost tenderly. But then his mouth was on mine, kissing me with unrelenting passion.
He knew exactly what he wanted and how to take it, and I was the prey to his predator. My body hummed beneath him. He leaned forward, my legs forced wider, his chest deliciously pressed against my breasts.
I tingled all over, my breath speeding up in anticipation.
“My gorgeous Rune, this makes you mine,” he growled out as his erection pressed against my entrance, causing me to gasp in anticipation of his size. The tip of his cock was burning hot. He pressed his b
row down to mine, our quickened breaths merging. “You ready?”
“Yes,” I squeaked, my voice betraying me.
Finally, he pushed into me, taking it slowly, stretching me with his girth. My fingernails dug into his flesh.
“Scratch me, bite me, baby. Show me you want this. Do whatever you want, but I’m taking you hard today.”
He pushed deeper into me as a deep-rooted groan came from my throat. He smirked, clearly loving my response.
The pain was there as he stretched me, but the pleasure was too.
“Let me in, sweetheart,” he murmured.
“Wilder, please go slow,” I choked out. I adjusted my hips slightly to better receive him. He moved deeper, until he was buried in me and we were one.
When he started to pull out and go back in, he fell into a rhythm. Slowly at first, as if getting me used to him, but it wasn’t long before he moved faster, almost frantic in his movements. A groan vibrated against his lips when he kissed me.
The bed rocked, and our moans grew louder as they filled the room. I lost myself to Wilder, clutching him to me, my hips rocking to meet his. He pushed into me over and over, leaving me gasping in pleasure and knowing I would be feeling him for days after this.
A thundering growl escaped his lips. In this moment, he was truly the dominant alpha staking his claim. It was undisputable in his gaze.
I should’ve cared, but how could I when I felt like this? I wrapped my legs around his hips, clinging to him. He slid a large hand under my ass, lifting my hips slightly, going deeper within me.
My moans morphed into cries for more.
His mouth was on my neck, teeth grazing across my flesh. “I’m not ever going to let you forget you’re mine,” he said roughly.
Euphoria consumed me, a force so powerful, I stood no chance of making any kind of logical response. I moaned louder, my body tensing with the burning climax that was so close, I could taste it. He slid his hand between our bodies, his thumb finding my clit, and strummed it.
