Chapter 10
Jack
The darkness of the room was heavy, a physical weight pressing down on my chest, but it was nothing compared to the weight of the girl sleeping in my arms.
The foreground was her.
Eloise was curled into my side, her head resting on my good shoulder, her hand splayed flat over my heart. Her breathing was slow, even, puffing warm against the bare skin of my neck. She was wearing my t-shirt, which had ridden up to her hips, leaving her legs tangled with mine.
Skin on skin. Fire on fire.
I lay there, staring at the ceiling, paralyzed by a terrifying cocktail of exhaustion, pain, and a lust so violent it felt like I was being eaten alive from the inside out.
She said she loves you, the Wolf whispered, prowling the edges of my consciousness. She loves the monster. Keep her. Claim her.
I squeezed my eyes shut, fighting the urge to roll over and bury myself in her.
I was a man of discipline. I was the Captain. I was the future Alpha. I lived my life by a strict code of control because I knew what happened when I lost it. People got hurt. Bones broke.
But Eloise Vance was dismantling my control brick by brick, and she wasn't even awake.
She shifted in her sleep, letting out a soft sigh. Her knee slid up my thigh, brushing dangerously close to my groin. I was already hard—painfully, brutally hard. I had been hard for four hours.
"Jack?"
Her voice was a whisper, thick with sleep.
I froze. "Go back to sleep, Mouse."
"You’re awake," she murmured. She lifted her head, blinking in the darkness. Her hair was a chaotic halo of platinum. Her lips were swollen from earlier.
"Headache," I lied. It was the truth, but not the whole truth.
"Liar," she whispered.
She moved. It was a small movement, just a shift of her hips, but it brought her center directly against my hip bone.
I hissed, my hands gripping the sheets to keep from grabbing her.
"You’re trembling," she noted, her hand moving from my chest to my jaw, her thumb tracing the stubble. "Is it the concussion?"
"It’s you," I groaned, opening my eyes to look at her. Even in the dark, I could see the blue of her eyes. They weren't sleepy anymore. They were dark. Aware. "Eloise, you need to stop touching me. My control is... it’s gone. I’m running on fumes."
"Good," she said.
The word hung in the air, defiant and shocking.
"What?"
"I said good," she repeated, pushing herself up so she was hovering over me. The t-shirt slipped off one shoulder. "I don't want your control, Jack. I want you."
"Eloise, we talked about this," I rasped, my voice sounding like gravel. "I don't have protection. I can't... I can't risk it."
"Why?" she challenged. "Because of the 'breeding' thing? Because you think I’m fragile?"
"Because biology isn't a suggestion for my kind," I snapped, the wolf bleeding into my tone. "It’s a mandate. If I mate with you... if I finish inside you... I knot. I lock. I fill you with everything I am. And humans... humans aren't built for shifter pups. It’s impossible. It doesn't work."
"Impossible," she repeated. "So, if it’s impossible... then there’s no risk."
My brain stuttered.
Logic. She was using my own twisted logic against me.
"That’s not—"
"If humans can't carry shifter babies," she interrupted, trailing her hand down my chest, over my abs, "then we don't need a condom. We just need to want it."
Her hand brushed the waistband of my sweatpants.
My hips bucked. Involuntary. Animal.
"Jack," she whispered, leaning down so her lips hovered inches from mine. "I am a twenty-one-year-old virgin who just told you I love you. Do not make me beg."
That broke me.
The word virgin combined with the command. The submissiveness wrapped in a demand.
The Wolf roared, shattering the cage.
"You won't have to beg," I growled.
I moved. Fast.
I flipped us over, pinning her to the mattress. My weight settled between her legs, my forearms bracing on either side of her head. I looked down at her.
She didn't look scared. She looked triumphant. She looked ready.
"Are you sure?" I asked one last time, my voice trembling with the effort to hold back. "Once I start, Eloise... I’m not stopping. I’m going to ruin you."
She reached up, wrapping her arms around my neck.
"Ruin me," she whispered.
I lowered my mouth to hers, and the world narrowed down to the taste of her.
I didn't kiss her gently. I kissed her like I was starving. I devoured her mouth, my tongue sweeping in to claim every inch of her. She tasted of sweetness and surrender, a flavor that drove me insane.
My hands tore at the t-shirt she was wearing. I didn't have the patience for fabric. I pulled it over her head and threw it across the room.
She lay beneath me, naked, pale, and perfect in the moonlight filtering through the blinds.
"Beautiful," I breathed, my gaze racking over her. "So fucking beautiful."
She shivered under my gaze, her nipples peaking, hard and pink.
I lowered my head, worshipping her. I kissed the hollow of her throat, feeling her pulse hammer against my lips like a trapped bird. I moved lower, to her breasts. I teased the peaks with my tongue, swirling, biting lightly, making her arch off the mattress with a gasp.
"Jack," she moaned, her fingers digging into my shoulders. "Please."
"Patience," I murmured against her skin. "I want to taste you everywhere."
I moved lower, kissing the soft curve of her stomach, the dip of her navel. My hands gripped her hips, my thumbs pressing into the soft flesh, leaving marks. My marks.
When I reached the junction of her thighs, she tensed. Instinctive modesty.
"Open for me, Mouse," I commanded softly. "Let me see."
She hesitated for a split second, then relaxed her legs, opening for me.
The scent hit me—pure, concentrated arousal. Vanilla and honey and heat. It was intoxicating.
I groaned, burying my face against her inner thigh, inhaling deeply. "You smell... god, Eloise. You smell like mine."
I kissed her there. Intimate. Wet.
She cried out, her hips jerking.
"Easy," I soothed, my hands stroking her thighs. "I’ve got you."
I used my tongue. I learned her. I found the little bundle of nerves that made her breath hitch, the spot that made her toes curl. I played her like an instrument, listening to the music of her gasps and whimpers.
"Jack, please," she sobbed, her head thrashing on the pillow. "I need you. Inside. Please."
"Tell me," I demanded, looking up at her. My chin was wet with her. My eyes were glowing gold. "Tell me what you want."
"I want your cock," she cried out, shameless in her need. "I want you to fill me."
That was it.
I crawled back up her body. I shucked my sweatpants and boxer briefs in one motion, kicking them away.
I was naked. Fully exposed.
I hovered over her, letting her see me. Letting her see the size of me. I was big. Shifter big. Thick and veined and pulsing with a need that was bordering on painful.
Her eyes went wide. She swallowed hard.
"Oh," she whispered.
"Too big?" I asked, a flicker of worry piercing the haze. "We can stop."
"No," she said quickly, reaching out to touch me. Her hand wrapped around the base, tentative and curious. "No. I want it."
I groaned at her touch, my hips snapping forward.
"Don't touch unless you want me to lose it," I warned, grabbing her wrist and pinning it above her head.
I interlaced our fingers, holding her hands down. Dominating her.
"Look at me, Eloise," I commanded.
She looked. Her blue eyes were locked on my gold ones.
I positioned myself at her entrance. She was wet, ready, but she was tight. So tight.
I pushed in. Just the tip.
She gasped, her body tensing.
"Relax," I whispered, kissing her forehead, her nose, her eyelids. "Breathe, baby. Breathe for me."
I waited. I let her adjust. I let her stretch.
Then I pushed again. A little deeper.
I hit the barrier. Her virginity.
I stopped. I looked at her.
"This is going to hurt," I whispered, hating myself for it. "Just for a second."
"Do it," she said, tears in her eyes. "Just do it."
I kissed her hard, swallowing her cry as I thrust forward, breaking through.
She went rigid. A muffled sob into my mouth.
I stopped immediately, holding perfectly still, buried deep inside her.
"I’m sorry," I murmured, stroking her hair, kissing the tears from her cheeks. "I’m sorry, Mouse. I’ve got you. I’ve got you."
"It’s okay," she sniffled, wrapping her legs around my waist. "It’s okay. Just... don't move yet."
We lay there, locked together. The feeling of being inside her was... indescribable. It was like coming home. It was like finding the missing piece of my soul. It felt right in a way that nothing in my life had ever felt right.
After a moment, she relaxed. Her body adjusted, accepting me.
"Jack?"
"Yeah?"
"Move," she whispered.
I withdrew slowly, almost all the way out, then pushed back in. smooth. Deep.
She sighed, a sound of pleasure replacing the pain.
"Good?" I asked.
"So good," she breathed.
I began to move. Slow, rhythmic thrusts. I was holding back ninety percent of my strength. I wanted to pound into her, to take her with the ferocity of the wolf, but I forced myself to be the man.
"Look at you," I praised, watching her face as pleasure took over. "Taking every inch. You were made for this, Eloise. Made for me."
"Jack," she moaned, her head thrown back.
"Good girl," I growled. "You’re such a good girl for me."
The praise hit her like a drug. She writhed beneath me, her hips meeting mine, matching my rhythm.
The friction was building. The heat was rising.
I picked up the pace. Deeper. Harder.
"That’s it," I encouraged. "Feel that? That’s me claiming you."
"Yes," she panted. "Yes, claim me."
I pulled my hands free from hers and slid them under her hips, lifting her to meet me. The angle deepened. I hit a spot deep inside her that made her scream my name.
"Jack! Jack!"
She was close. I could feel her walls fluttering, clamping down on me.
And that was my undoing.
The sensation of her tightening around me triggered the biological switch I had been terrified of.
Rut.
It slammed into me like a freight train. My vision tunneled. The gold took over completely.
I couldn't stop. I couldn't pull out. I didn't want to.
Breed her, the Wolf roared. Fill her. Knot her.
I drove into her, hard and fast, abandoning all gentleness.
"Jack, I’m close," she cried. "I’m close!"
"Come for me," I growled. "Come on my cock, Mouse."
She shattered.
Her body convulsed, milking me, her scream echoing in the quiet room.
And as she climaxed, I followed her over the edge.
I buried myself to the hilt, groaning as I poured myself into her.
But it didn't stop there.
At the base of my cock, the knot began to swell.
Panic flared in the back of my mind—No, don't, too big, you’ll hurt her—but it was too late. The instinct was too strong.
I swelled inside her, locking us together.
Eloise gasped, her eyes flying open. "Jack? What... what’s happening? You feel... bigger."
I collapsed on top of her, supporting my weight on my elbows, panting like a dying man.
"The knot," I choked out, burying my face in her neck. "I’m sorry. I couldn't stop it. I knotted you."
"Is that... bad?" she asked breathlessly, still trembling from her orgasm.
"It means we’re stuck," I whispered, kissing the pulse point behind her ear. "For about thirty minutes. Until the swelling goes down."
She went silent. She could feel it. The sheer fullness of me stretching her.
"Does it hurt?" I asked, terrified I had ripped her.
"No," she whispered. "It feels... full. complete."
I let out a shuddering breath. "Okay. Okay."
We were locked. There was no pulling out. No escape. I had just filled the Dean’s daughter with seed that my rational brain said was harmless, but my wolf brain knew was potent.
And I didn't care.
I felt a savage, possessive joy radiating through my chest.
Mine. Mine. Mine.
I kissed her softly, tasting the salt of her sweat.
"I’ve got you," I murmured. "I’m not going anywhere."
"Literally," she giggled weakly.
I chuckled, the sound rumbling against her chest.
We lay there in the dark, limbs tangled, bodies fused. The afterglow was warm, heavy, and perfect.
"Jack?"
"Yeah, baby?"
"You said... you said humans can't carry shifter pups," she whispered, tracing a scar on my shoulder.
"That’s what the elders say," I mumbled, closing my eyes, floating in the endorphins. "Different chromosomes. Different magic. Just doesn't take."
"So we’re safe?"
"We’re safe," I lied to myself.
"Good," she sighed, snuggling closer. "Because I don't think I could handle a baby wolf right now. I have Nationals."
I kissed the top of her head.
But as I lay there, feeling the pulse of the knot inside her, feeling the deep, ancient connection of the mating bond settling into my bones... a tiny, terrifying thought took root in the back of my mind.
What if they’re wrong?
My grandfather had always said the bond finds a way. And looking at Eloise—my fated mate, the one woman in the world designed perfectly for me—I had a sinking feeling that biology might just take a backseat to destiny.
But the knot held fast. And I held her.
And for the first time in my life, the silence in my head wasn't lonely. It was peace.
"I love you, Jack," she whispered, drifting off to sleep.
The words wrapped around my heart like a vice.
"I love you too, Eloise," I whispered back to the darkness. "God help us both."
The sun was creeping through the blinds when I woke up.
The knot had released us hours ago. Eloise was asleep, her back to my chest, my arm draped possessively over her waist.
The reality of what I had done hit me with the force of a slap shot to the face.
I had claimed her. I had taken her virginity. I had knotted her without protection.
I looked at the ceiling, panic rising in my throat.
I was the Captain. I was the responsible one.
And I had just risked everything—her future, my pack, our secret—because I couldn't keep it in my pants.
But then she shifted, snuggling backward into me, her soft sigh filling the room.
And the panic receded, replaced by a fierce, protective determination.
If there was a consequence... if there was a baby... I would handle it. I would fight Rurik. I would fight her father. I would fight the Council.
She was mine now.
And nobody touched what was mine.
I tightened my arm around her, buried my nose in her hair, and let myself fall back into the dream. Because the waking world was going to be a nightmare soon enough.