Chapter 2 #3
He was so massive. I was so much smaller than him.
He could snap me in half with nothing more than his hands.
There was a scar across his left eyebrow, a jagged mark left behind from a blade that had gotten too close.
His furrowed brow made him seem even more fierce than he already was.
A thick beard covered his chin, a bit wild and untamed.
It was dark, like woodsy mahogany. The hair that covered his scalp was trimmed and well kept, but it was the shadows in those gray eyes that scared me the most.
My fingers trembled with fear, but it was the rest of me that reacted with visceral intensity. His sheer overpowering dominance surrounded me. With every breath, it grew more overwhelming until it was the only thing that consumed my thoughts. His fingers reached for me, grasping my chin lightly.
I expected him to strike me, but he didn’t. Instead, he was gentle.
The fiery tendrils of his touch set my skin ablaze. My heartbeat quickened, but it was my pussy that reacted the strongest.
My panties had dampened the moment he walked into the room, but now that he was close enough to touch me, they were absolutely drenched. His heavy-handed threat has caused my pulse to surge, and I glanced down at the thick leather belt around his waist.
A part of me wanted to stand up and fight against him, to show that I was strong enough to stand toe to toe against him and come out the victor, but I was smarter than that. Challenging him like this in front of everyone watching would be foolish.
He could pin me over the table and lift my dress. No one in the room would stop him. Intervening during an alpha claiming was forbidden. To do so would be a direct challenge and going against someone like Elijah would mean most certain death.
I didn’t want anyone to see me taken like that.
I stood no chance against a man like him. He was so much bigger, so much more experienced, and so impossibly strong that it would be sheer stupidity to push him further.
“Do you really mean that?” I breathed. There was no challenge in my voice.
“I do,” he whispered firmly. His thumb grazed across my cheekbone and the sheer size of his hand against my face settled me. I didn’t want to find out what it felt like as punishment in front of my father and all of his men.
This was a battle I wasn’t going to win. Not like this.
I swallowed my pride. I would get out of this in some way; I just had to wait for the right time. My destiny wasn’t with him. I just knew it.
“I’m sorry, Elijah. Please punish me in private.
Not here,” I whispered and the glower of victory that crossed his face made my anger flare at the same time my clit throbbed with anxious arousal.
I wanted to reach out and slap him, but I didn’t want to tempt him any further here in front of all of these people.
As if he could sense my disquiet, his grip tightened only slightly.
It didn’t hurt, but somehow it felt comforting in a way.
“Good girl,” he murmured, and my pussy tightened with irrevocable excitement. His praise did something to the frigid expanse of my heart, but I refused to face it. I pushed it away with as much force as I could muster. This was just a temporary situation. That was it.
I would figure out some way out of it.
Elijah released my chin and my flesh burned long after as if he was still touching me. I licked my lips and I looked up into the sinister depths of his gaze.
“I’m going to take you away from here now, Ashleigh. I will make you a promise. As my mate, I will give you the world,” he declared quietly, and my heart squeezed. I did my best to ignore it.
I said nothing as he leaned down and wrapped his arms around my waist. With an air of daunting effortlessness, he tossed me over his shoulder.
My backside felt impossibly high in the air, and I squealed with distaste, but he smoothed his hand over the backs of my legs, just glancing against the bottom curve of my cheeks.
I stilled.
No one had ever touched me like this before.
“Put me down,” I shrieked. The sheer ferocity in my voice echoed throughout the room. No one said anything in return.
His hand slapped my ass, hard. The sting that followed was sharp and terrifying.
My left cheek pulsed for several moments before the sensation descended deeper into my core.
My hand rushed to cover my mouth and hide my resulting cry, but the sound had pierced through the air anyway.
He pulled at my sundress suggestively, as if he was warning me that he could flip it up and bare me right then and there.
I didn’t dare lift my head for fear of seeing anyone else’s reaction to him smacking my ass like that. I couldn’t bear it.
“I’m sorry,” I said quickly.
His enormous hand settled over my ass, and I stilled. My pussy was practically convulsing at the proximity of his massive fingers, and I quaked beneath him. I didn’t want to think about how I wanted those thick fingers pressing in between my thighs.
“Please, not here,” I begged.
His hand squeezed in warning.
“Then you will do well to remember yourself, little wolf,” he snarled.