Chapter 3 #2
The rational part of my mind had always known the truth.
My mother’s relationship with Uncle Asher wasn’t what had brought me into the world.
It was the one night she’d spent with the man she’d always called a deadbeat, while working late at the bar.
She had simply loved the wrong man at the wrong time—and I was the consequence, the child everyone else assumed belonged to someone else.
But Dimitri knew.
We shared no blood. His father wasn’t mine. We were connected only by the tangled knots of adult choices made long before either of us existed.
But guilt didn’t care about timelines or biology.
It clung to me anyway, like a second skin I couldn’t shed.
Because even though my mother had done nothing wrong, I still felt like I represented something broken in this family.
Something that shouldn’t exist. And wanting Dimitri—wanting him the way I did, with this consuming, desperate need—felt like another sin to add to a list I’d been born carrying.
Dimitri stood abruptly, the chair scraping back. In two strides, he was in front of me, towering over me with his height. His hands came up to cup my face, tilting my head back to force me to meet his eyes.
“It is not your fault,” he said fiercely. “Do you hear me? None of this is your fault.”
My wolf welcomed the scent of him, the fire his touch spread through my body. She rose quietly but insistently, brushing against the edges of my control, eager for Dimitri to close the distance completely.
His gaze flicked to my lips, and for a heartbeat, I saw the conflict in his eyes.
Anguish, desire, and something far too raw to hide, all at once.
He swallowed hard, voice low, ragged. Desperate.
“I’m trying to protect you, but I can’t fight this anymore, Isabella.
” His thumbs caressed my cheeks as he leaned closer.
“Dimitri—” I whispered, my breath hitching.
“Tell me to stop.” His voice was ragged, desperate. “Tell me this is wrong. That I’m your boss, your stepbrother, that this can’t happen. Tell me, Isabella, because…I’m out of reasons to stay away from you.”
My wolf stirred at the sound of my name on his lips. She pushed against my control, wild and unashamed, urging me closer when I should’ve been stepping back.
I should tell him to stop. I should push him away, protect us both from this mistake. But my wolf didn’t understand restraint. Or right and wrong. She only understood him. And this wave of desire which could only be soothed by him.
So, when I opened my mouth, different words came out.
“I don’t want you to stop.”
Something broke in his expression. It contained relief and surrender and hunger all at once.
He lifted me effortlessly, setting me on the edge of his desk. His hands held my hips as he stepped between my legs, close enough that I could feel the heat radiating from his body.
“You’re so beautiful, Isabella,” he whispered, leaning forward until our noses touched. “So goddamn beautiful.”
Then his mouth was on mine.
It wasn’t gentle. Wasn’t tentative or testing. It was seven years of denial and longing and desperate need, all combusting at once. His mouth claimed mine with a hunger that made me breathless.
And then I felt it.
A snap. Like something clicking into place deep in my chest—a thread pulling taut between us, thrumming with energy and recognition and rightness.
My wolf, usually so quiet and subdued, surged forward with a howl of pure joy that echoed through my entire being. Every cell in my body hummed with recognition, with completion, with the overwhelming certainty that this—he—was what I’d been waiting for my entire life.
Mate.
I gasped against his lips, pulling back to stare at him in shock.
His eyes were wild, pupils blown wide, staring at me with the same stunned realization.
“It’s you,” he breathed, his voice a mixture of awe and terror. “You’re my Mate, Isabella. My Fated Mate.” His hands framed my face, trembling slightly. “You’ve been mine this whole time.”
I felt the bond pulse. My wolf was singing, purring, practically dancing with joy. After twenty years of feeling incomplete, of feeling like something fundamental was missing—this. This was what I’d been lacking. Him.
Dimitri growled low in his throat, the sound vibrating through me.
My breath hitched as he lifted me. I instinctively wrapped my hands around his waist, and he palmed my ass to hold me in place as he walked us backward to the soft leather chaise lounge in the corner of his study.
He continued to kiss me, to devour my lips as though he’d been starving for years.
To my surprise, I matched his rhythm—no, not rhythm, because the kiss lacked any coordination.
Every nerve in my body felt alive, hypersensitive.
He felt like a drug, highly intoxicating, and I was getting to the point where I couldn’t think about anything other than him touching me in places I never thought I’d ever be touched, of being fucked by him.
His hands were everywhere—in my hair, on my waist, sliding under my tank top to feel bare skin.
Hungry and impatient, each touch left a fire in its wake.
He pulled back just long enough to strip away every piece of clothing I had on.
When I stood bare before him, he didn’t move—just stared.
Heat crawled over my skin under the weight of his gaze.
I’d never been naked in front of a man before.
I was certain Dimitri had been with many other women.
They were always throwing themselves at him, bragging about what it felt like to be with the Alpha heir.
What if I didn’t measure up to those women? What if I wasn’t as beautiful? What if my breasts weren’t as full as theirs?
He caught the flicker of doubt in my eyes and smiled. “You’re very beautiful, Isabella.”
Then his mouth was on my breast, his tongue swirling around the hardened peak while his hand cupped the other, rolling my nipple between his fingers. The dual sensation had me gasping, squirming beneath him. But when he dipped his hand between my legs and rubbed my clit, I let out a loud cry.
Dimitri immediately covered my mouth with his, drowning my moan in his kiss. He growled against my neck as his hand dipped lower, swallowing the wanton sounds spilling from my lips. “Fuck, Isabella,” he rasped. “Look how wet you are for me.”
I’d never been touched like this. I didn’t think I would ever get to experience what pleasure felt like. It was overwhelming in the best way. I couldn’t think of anything other than the sensations coursing through me and how much more I wanted.
I could tell that Dimitri was feeling the same way, too as he pressed down on me, letting me feel the bulge of his erection. I gasped at how hard he was.
Seconds later, he climbed away from me to yank off his shirt, revealing his lean, muscular body, which I’d ogled whenever he was taking a swim in the mansion’s pool.
When he removed his pants and boxer briefs, I froze. Dimitri was…huge. I’d overheard girls in college giggling about size, but I’d never actually seen a man naked before.
He noticed me tense, and something flashed in his eyes. Uncertainty.
He knelt beside the chaise, bringing himself to eye level with me. “Isabella.” His voice was gentle now, controlled despite the desire still burning in his gaze. “Are you a virgin?”
Heat flooded my face, but I nodded.
Panic crossed his features. He started to pull away, but I sat up quickly, cupping his face in my hands.
“I want this,” I said firmly. “I want you to be my first, Dimitri. You’re my Fated Mate. You’re the only person I’ve ever wanted.”
His eyes searched mine, looking for doubt, for hesitation. When he found none, he nodded slowly.
“I’ll be gentle,” he promised, kissing me softly. “I swear it.”
He climbed on top of me, careful not to press his full weight down on me. One hand braced beside my head while the other guided his cock to my entrance.
“Look at me,” he commanded softly.
I met his eyes as he pushed inside of me slowly, carefully. The stretch burned, foreign and uncomfortable, and I couldn’t help the small gasp that escaped.
He froze immediately. “Breathe, Isabella. Just breathe through it.”
I focused on his face—on the reverence in his eyes, on the way his jaw clenched with the effort of holding still, giving me time to adjust. The bond pulsed between us, warm and reassuring, and slowly, the discomfort began to fade.
“Can I move?” he asked, and I nodded.
He did, slowly, watching my face for any sign of pain. Each movement sent new sensations through me.
I wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling him closer, and he groaned.
“You feel incredible,” he murmured against my ear. “Perfect. Like you were made for me.”
Because I was. My wolf whispered. We were made for each other.
His pace gradually increased as my body adjusted to him, as discomfort gave way to pleasure. When he shifted the angle slightly, lifting one of my legs over his hip to sink deeper, I bit down on his shoulder to muffle my moan.
“That’s it,” he encouraged, his voice strained. “Let go for me, Isabella. I’ve got you.”
The pressure was building, coiling tight in my belly. And when my orgasm hit, it was like nothing I’d ever experienced. I clapped a hand over my mouth to muffle my cry as pleasure crashed through me in waves, my body clenching around him.
“Fuck,” Dimitri groaned, his control finally snapping. His pace increased, became almost frantic, and then he was burying his face in my neck, muffling his own groan as he came undone.
We collapsed together, breathless. He carefully rolled to his side, pulling me with him so I was sprawled across his chest. His heart thundered beneath my ear, gradually slowing to match the rhythm of mine.
For a long moment, neither of us spoke. The bond hummed contentedly between us, satisfied and complete. My wolf was practically purring.
But in no time, reality was creeping back in. Cold and unavoidable.
What had we done?
“Isabella.” Dimitri’s voice was rough when he noticed I’d gone still. “What’s wrong? Did I hurt you?”
I shook my head against his chest. “No. I just…” My throat tightened. “What if Lady Maia finds out? About us? About what we did?”
His arms tightened around me. “I’ll handle my mother.”
“How?” I pulled back to look at him. “She already hates me, Dimitri. When she finds out we’re—that we’ve—”
“I’ll tell her the truth.” His hand cupped my face. “You’re my Fated Mate. The Moon Goddess herself chose you for me. She can’t argue with that.”
I wanted to believe him. God, I wanted to believe him so badly.
“And the pack?” Fear crept into my voice. “We’re technically step-siblings, Dimitri. And you will be engaged soon. The pack will see this as—”
“I don’t care what the pack thinks.” He tilted my face up, forcing me to meet his eyes. “You are mine, Isabella. The bond chose us. Nothing will change that. Do you understand? Nothing.”
But I could see the doubt flickering behind his eyes, and could feel the tension in his body despite his confident words.
People like me didn’t get to keep good things. We weren’t allowed happiness for long. Reality always came crashing back down.
And I was terrified that if I let myself believe, if I let myself get completely wrapped up in him, in this, I would get hurt.
“Listen to me.” He cupped my face in both hands, forcing me to focus.
“I’m going to protect you. Against the pack, against my mother, against anyone who tries to come between us.
” He kissed me softly, sealing the promise.
“I swear it. On my life, on my honor as Alpha, on everything I am—I will never hurt you, Isabella.”
Tears blurred my vision, but I blinked them back and nodded. I wanted to believe him. My wolf certainly did—she was satisfied, content, trusting completely in our Mate.
Dimitri pulled a throw blanket over us, adjusting our position on the chaise so I was tucked against his side, my head on his chest.
“Sleep,” he murmured, pressing a kiss to my forehead. “I’ve got you.”
And despite everything—despite the fear and doubt and the little voice whispering that this couldn’t last—I let myself relax into his warmth. I allowed myself to hope.
In his arms, with his scent surrounding me, I fell asleep feeling safe. Complete.
Tomorrow would bring reality crashing back. Tomorrow would bring complications and consequences.
But tonight, he was mine and I was his, and nothing else mattered.