Chapter 16
Chapter
Sixteen
Fane’s intimidating presence choked the bathroom, and heat swelled against the gray walls and white tiles. His anger zipped back and forth through the bond, intensifying my own.
“Get out,” I growled, my pupils thinning into black diamonds.
Fane ignored me and stalked in my direction until my back hit the edge of the counter. Thankfully, the three stalls lining the opposite wall were empty, so no one would witness the fight brewing on the horizon.
“You can’t just run away when I say something you don’t like, Teague.” His lips curled back, showing his teeth. “And I only said the truth. I’ll never be the perfect mate, while I’m sure Saint is very capable of that.”
I shoved his hard chest, but he didn’t move. “Who said I wanted perfect, Maverick? Hell, I’m far from it, so why would I expect that from you?”
He gave a lazy shrug even as the tension in his shoulders grew. “Maybe you’ve been settling with me, and now that Saint is your fated, you’ll see just how lacking I am.”
I seriously couldn’t believe the bullshit coming out of his mouth. We’d been through so much, fought so damn hard, and he really thought I wanted someone else. He might not remember our first year together, but he felt my emotions. He knew very damn well how deep my feelings for him ran.
I loved him, for shit’s sake. He knew that.
So why would he say these things?
A dark and twisted thought occurred to me, sending an invisible fist into my gut. Was he doing this on purpose?
He only claimed me to save me. He didn’t do it because he wanted to be with me so badly that he couldn’t stand the thought of losing me.
“I’m beginning to think this is your way of getting out of the bond.”
His brow arched. “How’s that?”
“Now that Saint is my fated, you figured this is your shot to break our connection and finally be rid of me.” This time when I shoved him, he took a few steps back. “You never wanted this, and now you have a way out.”
Fane’s irises began to shrink into impenetrable black lines. “You think I want to leave you? You think I want to give you up?”
“Yes.” There was no hesitation, and even though I tried to mask the agony with anger, he must have felt the pain this realization caused me. “You would rather give me to another than keep me.”
He could be free now.
Instead of admitting it or at least leaving me alone in my misery, Fane eviscerated the distance between us and slammed his hands on the counter behind me, rattling the faucets.
“The thought of someone else touching you sends me into a blind rage.”
“And yet you keep pushing this thing with Saint.”
Fane’s nostrils flared, and the sound of his talons ripping gouges in the counter sent chills down my spine. “If you think I actually want to give you up, that my beast would ever willingly deny his claim on you, you’re sadly mistaken.”
“If that’s true, then why the hell are you trying to push me toward him?”
His Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed hard. “I just want you to be happy.”
Tears burned in my eyes again, and my bottom lip wobbled. “But I’m happiest with you.”
“What if that changes?”
I gripped his shirt, inhaling his scent with every breath. “I’d rather be miserable with you than happy with anyone else.”
He rested his forehead on mine. “Misery loves company, fiera mika.” He released the counter and gripped the hair at the base of my neck, angling my head back. “So you still want me even though the universe picked someone else for you?”
“The universe can get bent for all I care.”
A sinister grin twisted his lips. “Such a dirty mouth for a pretty woman.”
“I have a dirty mind to go along with it.” My hands lowered to the waistband of his jeans, a hard bulge already straining against his pants.
The door suddenly swung open, and two female shifters screeched to a halt when they saw Fane and me. Hell, they could probably smell the sudden arousal mixed with fury in the air.
“Get the fuck out.” As soon as Fane’s vicious growl burst out, the two stunned women scurried from the bathroom, hopefully warning everyone else to stay away. I didn’t want any more interruptions.
Fane jerked my head back even more, my scalp burning. “You’re mine, fiera mika, and I’m going to make damn sure you know that.”
Flames spilled through me as the demon shifter’s mouth covered mine, his tongue plunging inside and exploring. He tasted like cinnamon and fire.
Like sin and lust.
Danger and addiction.
“This won’t be slow or sweet.” His harsh whisper had my knees shaking. “My beast wants to claim you, and my control is slipping with every moment I’m not inside of you.”
“Take me any way you want me, Fane.” I tore his black t-shirt off and ran my hands down his chest to find the symbol our bond created right over his heart. “Remind the universe who claimed me.”
The primal snarl that slithered between his teeth awoke my every nerve ending, like a field of flowers all blooming at once to soak up the sun.
Fane delivered another brutal, punishing kiss before he jerked me around and shoved my chest down on the counter his talons had ripped into. “No time for games. I need to be inside of you, or I’ll shift and tear this bar apart.”
The images of his beast going wild all because he wanted me so badly had moisture collecting between my legs. Hell, my underwear was already soaked, my body ready and aching for him.
Fane yanked my jeans and underwear down to my knees, and another savage rumble erupted from him as my arousal scented the air. “You’re always ready for me, aren’t you?”
I wiggled my hips, practically begging him to touch me. “Please, Fane.”
His ominous laugh had goose bumps rising across my flesh. “Be careful what you wish for.” Thick fingers plunged into my entrance, and I moaned at the flood of desire rushing through me.
“Fuck, Tate.” The sound of his zipper, like an erotic purr, mixed with my whimpers. “I need you right now.”
His fingers vanished from within me, but seconds later, his hard length drove in so hard and fast that I screamed.
“That’s right, Tate.” Fane’s hips slammed into mine at a brutal pace, taking me like a beast. “I’m the only one who gets to hear you scream.”
I gripped the counter, trying to keep myself in place while he railed into me. “Yes, Fane, I’m yours. Only yours.”
His hand laced my hair, and he yanked my head up to look at our reflection in the mirror. The image of such a beast of a man—shredded muscles, stark black tattoos, jagged scars, and wild ebony hair with eyes like a demon—had lust flooding every inch of me.
Fane Maverick was like no other, and I’d never let myself be this vulnerable or this honest with anyone.
I couldn’t imagine letting anyone else see me like this.
Only Fane.
“Don’t stop,” I begged. “Show me how much you want me.”
His lips curled back, baring his teeth as he continued to savagely take me against the counter, my hip bones crashing into the edge with each vicious thrust. I would definitely be bruised tomorrow.
“I don’t think I could ever do enough to make you understand how much I want you, how much I would crumble without you.” Fane used his other hand to shred my shirt to pieces and then jerk my bra off.
A deep moan burst out of my mouth as he twisted and tugged on my nipples.
The erotic sounds of our bodies crashing, our heavy breaths, our moans, and the arousal choking the air had us both in a tailspin. At this point, I didn’t care if everyone in the bar heard us. I was completely lost in lust and pleasure as my mate claimed and marked my body.
The pleasure-pain that we both craved washed over me. As I watched Fane in the mirror, his muscles strained, and the savage, blissful expression on his face sent electrical waves rippling through my center.
“Fane, I can’t hold on any longer,” I cried. “I’m going to?—”
He lowered over me, his teeth sharpening. “You want to come, fiera mika?”
“Yes! Please.” Tears pooled in my eyes as I tried to hold off, the feeling so torturous I almost collapsed. “I’m begging you.”
His grin already had me trembling. “I love it when you beg.” His head darted forward, and he sank his teeth into my neck tattoo, shooting a bolt of electricity right to my core.
Ripples of pleasure erupted through me, and my scream was so loud and forceful it could have shattered the mirror. Wave after wave hit me like a violent ocean slamming against the shore. I cried and whimpered, Fane still slamming into me.
“Do you want this always?” Fane asked as I rode the bliss.
“Always.” No hesitation from me, and it seemed to please Fane. “ My body is yours to claim whenever you want, to take whenever you want.”
A growl vibrated his chest, and he ripped his teeth from my neck. “You’re mine .” The roar he released as he came rattled the mirror, and I had no doubt every shifter in the bar felt it.
He did it intentionally, like announcing that I was his and no one else’s. Could I blame him for wanting to hammer that point home after finding out I had a fated mate?
After several moments of us floating back to reality, Fane turned my head toward his and covered my mouth, kissing me so sweetly after brutally ripping that orgasm from me.
It was such a contrast, like fire and ice. Steel and silk.
“You’re mine, Tate.” His deep, rough voice sent a shiver over my spine. “I will never let someone take you from me.”
I licked his bottom lip, my tongue flicking his hoop piercing. “Not a damn soul has the power to do that.”
The sun warmed my fur as I darted through trees and underbrush, my paws sinking into dead leaves and pine needles. The loamy scent of soil mixed with the sharpness of winter air, and the trails of a few animals crisscrossed the ground.
Being able to shift and run was like ripping off heavy chains that had been locked around me for years. How had I lived more than twenty years without unleashing this other part of me? Even though I’d been born human, this wolf presence had always been inside me, waiting for something to wake it up.
Fane Maverick had been that something.
His bite brought me into this world and changed my life forever. It was hard to believe that I used to hate him for it. I’d despised him for ruining all my carefully laid plans as a raven. As it turned out, this had always been destiny.
And no one else could have put me on that path except Fane.
Saint might have been my fated mate, but Fane had always been my soulmate .
A small streak of tan fur ran past, stealing my attention, and I lifted my nose into the air.
Squirrel.
I changed directions and followed the small animal’s trail, the wolf in me locking onto the scent. As much as my wolf side wanted to hunt and eat the squirrel, my human side gave a big fat no. I just planned to chase it for a minute.
My paws dug into the ground, the bloodlust growing. As I darted between two large oaks, the woodland area suddenly swirled out of focus, and the trees became black silhouettes against an even darker backdrop…
Instead of running on all fours, I was in human form again, sprinting on two legs.
I was being chased.
They were gaining ground.
Fear pumped through my veins, and sweat soaked my torn button-down shirt.
My bare feet slipped on the pine needles, and as I fell, I caught myself on my hands. Black tattoos covered the backs of them, including my fingers.
“Damn it!” I hissed in a masculine voice. “I need to get back to?—”
Their presence closed in.
I scrambled up, my pulse racing, and took off again.
They couldn’t catch me again. If they did, I was done for…
I stumbled, back on all fours as myself in my wolf form.
Son of a bitch.
My steps slowed, and I let the squirrel go. He must have felt fear like the poor guy in my vision. Even though I’d seen a quick flash of tattoos on his hands, it wasn’t enough to identify him. Plenty of shifters had ink, and I could barely remember the shapes now.
As I neared the spot where I’d left my shoes and clothes, the wind blew through the pines and brought a familiar flowery scent. My hackles raised, and my teeth curled back just as a black wolf emerged from the underbrush.
Marissa’s irises shone with a murderous gleam in the shadows of the forest. If she had a chance to kill me, she wouldn’t hesitate.