Chapter 1 #2
Who? I couldn't tell. My guts felt crushed. Pain took away my breath and reason. My bones shifted. Muscles tore and knit. Silver-white fur pushed through skin. My limbs lengthened—
My wolf was awakening.
Warm fingers sank into my fur. Laiko knelt, cupping my head in both hands.
"Talia, you're beautiful."
The wolf that stayed silent at eighteen chose now to rise. I could finally shift.
In wolf form, everything roared into focus. The whiskey on him, thick and heady. His scent wrapped me like a vine. My heart kicked wild. Heat blazed. Blood wanted to burst from its banks. Instinct begged me to rumble, to roll onto my back and show my belly to him.
His eyes were blown and hazy, but I felt his gaze lock on me. Fear and euphoria tangled. My body shivered. And through it all, a pull from him nearly wrecked me.
What was that strong feeling? Why did I need him like air? Why did every part of me lean toward him?
The heartbeat in my ears cleared until I heard her—my wolf—whispering.
Mate.
Not a crush. Not a wish. A summons written in blood and bone. He was my fated mate.
Fate had jokes. How could someone as low as me be the Luna to an Alpha like him? Shifting hurt like hell, but with Laiko near, I felt safe.
"Don't be afraid." He gritted through the drug and drew me in. "Breathe with me. Easy."
His Alpha scent wrapped around me, steady, commanding, guiding my wolf. I calmed. But I didn't dare shift back. I didn't know how to face him.
He let out a low sound, like something inside him finally clicked into place. Pride and possession colored his voice. "Your wolf recognized me. You're my fated mate, Talia."
His hands were burning. His breathing roughened. He was hanging by a thread. In shifting, I'd shredded my clothes. If I shifted back now, I knew exactly what that meant.
Was it right? Was I enough to stand beside him? His fated mate should be strong and polished like Liriel, not... me.
"Talia, please. Let me see you." His control frayed, but his voice stayed gentle and patient. "I know I shouldn't..."
Shouldn't what? He didn't finish. We were so close I could count his breaths, feel every degree of his heat. The drug, the high of the first shifting, the mate bond—together they drowned out thought.
Under his steady gaze and soft coaxing, I shifted back. He caught me naked against him, and for once I let go of all the shame.
We were made for each other. Like magnets snapping together. The Goddess watched. Our wolves called to one another. We were inevitable. Moonlight washed over us. In that private dark, there were only two heartbeats, two ragged breaths.
"Laiko." I looked into his eyes, love rushing like a tide. "I..."
"I know." He brushed my cheek, desire burning in his stare.
The pull of a fated mate is absolute. It tramples reason, laughs at obstacles. In the moonlight, in our stolen moment, we stopped pretending we could resist.
He kissed me—hot, claiming, all Alpha. My last line of logic snapped. The wolf in me rose, greedy for his touch.
His hands roamed my bare skin with a possessiveness that sent shivers racing down my spine, his calloused palms igniting every nerve as they traced the curve of my waist, up to the swell of my breasts.
The private resting room in his domain was dimly lit by the soft glow of a single lantern, its shadows dancing across the fur-lined walls like whispers from our ancestors.
The air was thick with the scent of pine and earth—his scent, mingled with my own arousal, a heady perfume that made my wolf howl inside me.
I pressed closer, my naked body molding against the hard planes of his clothed form, feeling the evidence of his desire straining against his pants.
"Laiko," I gasped into his mouth as his tongue tangled with mine, dominant and demanding, tasting of wild forests and unbridled need. My fingers fumbled with the buttons of his shirt, desperate to feel his skin on mine, to complete the magnetic pull that bound us.
He growled low in his throat, a sound that vibrated through my core, making my thighs clench with anticipation. In one swift motion, he shrugged off his shirt, revealing the sculpted muscles of his chest.
His eyes, glowing with that primal hue of our kind, locked onto mine as he backed me toward the massive bed in the corner, piled high with soft pelts that promised comfort amid the storm of our passion.
I tumbled onto the furs with him following, his weight pinning me deliciously, but never overwhelming. His mouth left mine to trail hot, open-mouthed kisses down my neck, nipping at the sensitive spot where my pulse thundered.
"Mine," he murmured against my skin, his voice rough with the Alpha's command, and my body arched in response, submitting instinctively to the fated bond that sang in my veins.
My hands explored him greedily, nails raking down his back as I tugged at his belt, freeing him from the confines of his pants.
He sprang free, thick and hard, pulsing with the same urgent need that throbbed between my legs. I wrapped my fingers around him, stroking the velvety length, eliciting a guttural moan that made my wolf preen with satisfaction. He was magnificent, every inch of him screaming power and destiny.
Laiko's hand slid between my thighs, parting them with gentle insistence, his fingers finding my slick heat. I cried out as he circled my clit with expert precision, teasing until I was writhing beneath him, my hips bucking for more.
"So wet for me, my mate," he whispered, his breath hot against my ear, before plunging two fingers inside me, curling them to hit that spot that made stars explode behind my eyelids.
The pleasure built like a full moon rising, intense and unrelenting, my walls clenching around him as he pumped in rhythm with my racing heart.
But I needed more—needed him, all of him.
"Please, Laiko, now," I begged, my voice a husky plea that surprised even me.
He withdrew his fingers, positioning himself at my entrance, the tip of him brushing against my folds in a torturous promise.
With a shared gaze that sealed our souls, he thrust forward, filling me completely in one powerful stroke.
The stretch was exquisite, bordering on pain but blooming into pure ecstasy as our bodies joined, fated mates becoming one.
He moved with a primal rhythm, deep and unyielding, each thrust claiming me anew, our wolves syncing in a savage dance.
I met him thrust for thrust, my legs wrapping around his waist to pull him deeper, nails digging into his shoulders as waves of pleasure crashed over me.
The room filled with our mingled cries, the slap of skin on skin, the wet sounds of our union echoing like a sacred rite.
Sweat-slicked and breathless, I felt the coil tighten low in my belly, the bond amplifying every sensation until it was overwhelming.
"Come with me," he commanded, his pace quickening, hips grinding against my clit with each plunge.
I shattered first, my orgasm ripping through me like lightning, my inner walls pulsing around him, milking him as I screamed his name.
He followed seconds later, burying himself to the hilt with a roar that shook the air, his release flooding me with heat, sealing our connection in the most intimate way.
We collapsed together, tangled in the furs, his arms wrapping around me protectively as our breaths slowed.
Under the moonlight's witness, called by our mate bond, we embraced each other, letting instinct take over. It was as if we were just two souls in love, finally finding each other under fate's guidance.
"From tonight on," he whispered against my ear, "you're mine, Talia. Always."