Chapter 16 Nova #2
She launched forward, joy and hunger colliding as we gave chase. His scent streamed through the trees, heady and addictive. It clung to the back of my throat, making every inhale feel too full.
He glanced back, tongue lolling out in a teasing grin that sparked heat in my belly before he darted faster.
The sound of his paws drummed against the forest floor in a rhythm I couldn’t ignore.
The chase changed, becoming something else, something that got the blood pumping and my mind running wild. Something… intimate.
Heat surged beneath my fur, and heartbeat synced to the pace of his. Even knowing it was play, my wolf wanted more. Not just to catch him, to claim him.
The land shifted, familiar terrain rising in my mind. I angled off, herding him toward the glen, a hidden hollow wrapped in waterfall mist. Perfect place to corner him.
I darted close enough to nip his flank, my teeth grazing fur. He twisted, dodging, breath puffing white in the cool air. Each dodge drew a spark, each brush of movement a promise.
He broke through the clearing, skidding to a stop just before launching himself into the air, heading for the pool of water to escape me. I leapt after him without hesitating.
Bones cracked and twisted midair, fur giving way to skin.
I collided with him, tugging him to the side, rolling in the air until our bodies slammed into the damp grass of the water’s edge.
His fur was so soft and lush, I wanted to sink my face into it.
The strength of that sudden desire nearly made me forget what I was doing.
His weight pressed into mine, solid and burning hot even through the cool night and dense fur. My knees braced on either side of his ribs, my breath tangling with his. For a heartbeat, all I could feel was heat and pulse and skin. Got you.
A tremor rippled through him. Black fur receded like smoke, leaving sun-warmed tan skin beneath my palms. Sweat glistened along the lines of muscle carved by motion and moonlight. My gaze lifted and locked onto familiar brown eyes, wide with shock.
Nick.
His name fractured something within me.
Heat surged from my wrist, shooting through my veins with the heat and strength of a wildfire. The mark blazed, its burn delicious and somehow alive. My body ached with it, every nerve attuned to him. His scent deepened, wrapping tighter around us until I could taste it on my tongue.
Don’t you dare, I warned myself, but the thought came and went with the wind.
My fingers dug into his wrist, grounding me in the moment’s fragile edge. My voice came out rough. “Why were you following me?”
His eyes flickered, voice a low rasp. “I—I don’t know.” Shame and confusion threaded through his words. “Something inside me just… took over. Then I was there. Watching you.” His chest rose and fell, then he whispered, “He was… called to you.”
The space between us pulled taut, humming with instinct.
That warmth I’d been fighting at my wrist coiled low, molten and alive.
My gaze betrayed me, caught on the stubble on his jaw, the damp hair sticking to his forehead, the curve of his throat as it bobbed.
The urge to lean down, to taste, burned through me.
His pupils dilated, lips parting, breath mixing with mine.
“Is this… normal?” His voice was soft, unsteady. “Does this happen to all of you?”
That one word, you, snapped something inside me. Did he really think he wasn’t part of us now?
His cock pressed against my thigh, the heat of it searing my skin, and my breath caught.
My wolf took that moment to flood my mind with visions of tangled limbs, grass beneath bare skin, and the scrape of bark against my back.
My thighs trembled, my exhale shaky as I tried to get a grip on myself.
Every muscle in my body coiled tight, ready to spring.
"Sometimes.” I gulped. “It's normal for us wolves to let our instincts help make our decisions, to lead us to the right outcome.
" The words came out steady even though my nails were digging crescents into the earth.
I bit back the truth. I didn't want to tell him that I'd never lost control before, not when it felt like I was about to lose it now.
My arms trembled. Sweat beaded at my temples. In the back of my mind, my wolf's voice rose to a howl. Take him. Now. Here.
"It's just instinct?” The desperation in his question had me tilting my head before he added, “Something that doesn't mean anything else?"
His gaze dropped to my bare chest, lingering there. His tongue darted across his bottom lip, there and gone in a heartbeat. Between us, his cock twitched, and I realized what he meant. Ahhhh. So, he has a hard time sifting through his wants versus his wolf’s.
“No,” I said, wanting to see what he would do if I gave him an out. “It doesn't need to mean anything beyond what it is."
*The lie tasted bitter on my tongue. I could practically feel my wolf rolling her eyes at me.
My chest tightened, ribs constricting around lungs that suddenly couldn't get enough air. Everything in me knew whatever happened next would change things, but the blood thundering in my ears drowned out the warning.
His jaw worked. His fingers flexed at his sides, curling and uncurling. The tendons in his neck stood out like cords.
I had started to pull back, not into being with someone who didn’t want it, when I heard him growl, "Fuck it."
His hand shot behind my neck, fingers threading through my hair, then he yanked me down hard and fast. Our lips crashed together, opposing waves in the ocean, violent and unyielding.
He tasted like desperation, longing, and something darker I couldn't quite put my finger on. Whatever it was, I devoured it. Pressing closer, I tried to swallow what haunted him and replace it with the heat building between us. My wolf surged forward, clawing its way through my control.
I ground my hips against him, already slick and aching for more. A growl rumbled up from his chest, vibrating through my mouth and straight down my spine. My eyes fluttered as I swallowed it, keeping it for myself.
My wrist pulsed, sharp, insistent, demanding my attention. Just as I was going to look, he slipped his hand between us, gripping himself before dragging the head of his cock across my clit. Slow. Deliberate.
More. The thought exploded through me. All of him. I want it. I need it.
Nick's hands clamped onto my ass, lifted me up before I had a second thought, and slammed me down onto his cock.
Stars burst behind my eyelids. My spine arched, head thrown back. The stretch burned, pleasure and pain twisting together until I couldn't tell where one ended and the other began.
A phantom ache from last night flared. Zeth's name flickered through my mind, and I could sense the pesky feelings of pain and hurt flaring up. Before any feelings could settle, Nick thrust up, rough fingers finding my clit, slamming all those feelings back into the box that held them.
His hoarse voice barked out, "Don't think of anything else but me. It's my dick you're on."
The words scraped out of him, raw and possessive. Zeth's image sank back into my memory, and I focused on the warmth blooming in my chest, unfamiliar and… terrifying.
He grunted, and I looked down, falling into those eyes full of dark fire.
A rich, smoldering brown that caught the light like burnished mahogany.
All I could think about at that moment was how badly I wanted those eyes.
I wanted them to see me as more than the Rossey boss, more than just the women on top of him.
I wanted more from him. I wanted him to be—
“Fucking mine.”
Nick moaned, “Yes,” and my eyes flared. Did I say that out loud? His fingers dug into my hips hard enough to bruise as he grunted, “Yours. Fucking yours.”
My body froze, heat rising from my cheeks as my heart kicked against my ribs.
His smile was all teeth, sharp and joyless. "At least for right now, right?"
That thump in my chest crumpled. I forced my lips to curve, forced my hips to move. I am not about to look like the weak one in this situation. Instead of speaking, I ground down on him until his eyes rolled back and his breath stuttered.
“Yeah. You're mine... for right now. As long as this,” I eyed his chest, running my hand down it, digging my nails into the grooves, “lasts.”
His whole body clenched underneath my touch, and before I could say another word, he flipped me. My back hit the ground, knocking the air from my lungs. His cock drove into me, hard, fast, relentless.
“You're fucking mine, too.” Each word was punctuated by a thrust. "Don't. Forget. That."
His fingers clawed at the ground. The earth crumbled beneath his palms, turning to powder. He froze mid-thrust, staring at his hands like they belonged to someone else.
Hooking one leg around him, I dug my heel into his ass, pulling him deeper inside of me to wake him the fuck up or distract him from freaking out about the fact that he was now a monster. "Harder. Fuck me harder."
Lost, uncertain eyes met mine, and, for a second, I felt for his predicament. It wasn't easy for your life to get turned upside down, but now wasn't the time to wallow. Now was the time to enjoy the perks of being a supe.
Rocking myself up, I cupped his face and bit his lip hard. Tangy copper took over my tastebuds before I swiped my tongue along his lips. Just like when you fought, sometimes you needed to draw some blood to get you to focus.
His fingers swiped at his mouth, dragging crimson across his chin. "What did—"
I caught his lips with mine, tongue digging into the spot where I'd bitten him. Caught up in the mix of his blood in my mouth and his scent in my lungs, my pulse stuttered.
“You're a werewolf now.” I ran my thumb along his lip and showed him the lack of blood. “Your skin heals fast.” Staring at his mouth, my core clenched, and I licked my lips. “Losing a couple drops of blood is nothing, but it can satisfy the animal inside you.”
His gaze locked on mine, searching, but I didn't look away. Didn't hide the predator that laid beneath these eyes. He needed to see the truth.
While I didn't want him to see me as his boss, I also didn't want him to see me like some of the weak human women he had likely bedded in the past. I could handle the animal he kept locked up.
His head bent down, hips rolling slow and deep while his mouth made a thick, wet trail up between my breasts. Once he got to my collarbone, my weak spot, I let out a small whimper. His lips curled along my skin, then he bit down. Hard.
The sharp sting dissolved into heat in a flash. A raw moan tore from my throat. His tongue swept across the wound, tentative at first, then he lapped at it, drenching my pussy.
The sound of his heartbeat thundered in my ears. Between my legs, his cock swelled harder, and my lips curved. There it was.
“Let him out,” I whispered into his ear. “Fuck me like you've wanted to. Like you've dreamed about." His rhythm stuttered. “You know I can take it. All of it.”
He slid out of me fast, and I cried out at the emptiness. I was about to tell him I was disappointed when he lifted and turned my body like I was weightless, slamming my top half to the ground, leaving my ass in the air.
His hand pressed between my shoulder blades, pinning me down, and my instincts came up, demanding I kick at him and shove him onto the ground.
Seconds away from doing just that, his fingers slid inside me, and my mouth dropped open.
His thumb circled my clit, spreading the wetness around until my hips bucked and writhed beneath him.
All thoughts of getting back at him dissolved into the pleasure that overrode it.
"I'll give you what you want, Nova." The head of his cock pressed at my entrance. My breath caught. Blood rushed in my ears. "I'm going to fuck my ma—" He paused, and his hand clamped down on my hip harder. The punishing pressure of his grip sent fresh wetness pooling between my thighs.
His chest was on my back, lips brushing the shell of my ear as he cooed, "Even if this is only for tonight, you won't forget it. Won't forget me. I'll make sure of it."
Those were his last words before he drove into me like a madman. No build-up, no hesitation. A few hard thrusts, then he found his rhythm, brutal and relentless. Lightning shot down my legs. My muscles turned liquid. My eyes rolled back, my jaw slack as he pounded into me again and again and again.
Skin slapping against skin echoed off the rocks. The sound bounced back to us, amplified.
"Fuck, Nova. Your cunt’s so fucking tight. Goddamn." His palm cracked across my ass. The sting rippled through me, stealing the breath from my lungs.
Everything sharpened. The mineral scent of soil. The distant roar of falling water. The bruising grip of his hands that marked deeper than any cut. The coil in my belly wound tighter and tighter, making it hard to think about anything else but him fucking me until I couldn’t take it anymore.
Claws raked down my back. Skin split open. A howl tore through the air, and I almost laughed. Yes. I want it all. Give it to me.
The pain and pleasure crashed together. My body convulsed, spine arching as I screamed, "Oh, fuck. Nick. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck!"
He hissed as I clenched around him. His hips jerked, rhythm breaking as he pumped his cum deep inside me like it never belonged anywhere else.
"Nova," he cried out. The husky, ragged sound was filled with something that made my chest ache for more, but of what, I didn’t know.
As my orgasm came to its crescendo, I collapsed against damp earth.
When the chilled soil kissed my overheated skin, the burn at my wrist cooled, and I sighed.
Nick kept fucking me at a slow and steady pace as I spasmed around his cock.
His lips pressed a soft kiss to the center of my back before he crashed down beside me, chest heaving.
With other wolves, I'd always stayed on top and kept control. Even when my appearance was masked with magic, I never let anyone have the opportunity to wield that kind of power over me.
But Nick was different.
Maybe he didn’t trigger my territorial instincts because he was a turned? Maybe it was the tattoo pulsing at my wrist, reminding me that not only he but Zeth and Conrad seemed to be able to pull this side out of me.
All I knew was having him pin me down, rutting me into the dirt, using my body until we shattered… it ignited something inside me.
Something I wanted to believe in again.
First Conrad, then Zeth, and now Nick. I covered my eyes with my palms and sighed.
I'd never had boy problems. That was Aniyah's territory. Maybe I should call her and get some advice because, right now, I couldn't walk away from any of them, and if this tattoo could talk, I bet it would tell me I shouldn't let them slip through my fingers.
I didn’t have time for this.
Fuck me.
* Bad Choices by Kode