27. Havoc
Havoc
My mate doesn’t need to ask me twice.
I’m already moving, kicking away the rest of her clothes as I pick her up in my arms.
Her hot pussy presses against my stomach as I walk us to my king-sized bed, my cock bobs beneath her, slapping against her sweet ass with every step I take.
Every instinct I have is locked onto her.
Her heat.
Her scent.
The way her arms tighten around my shoulders like she can’t stand the few inches between us any more than I can.
I am keenly aware of our bodies. Of the heat radiating off her. The growl reverberating through me.
Monster is right fucking there, riding me hard, demanding everything she just offered.
Mate.
Claim.
Knot.
Mine.
But underneath all that feral need is something bigger.
She chose us.
That thought damn near brings me to my knees.
Gabriella moans as I lay her on the bed, and I crash my mouth against hers. This is not a gentle kiss. This is hunger. This is tongues and lips, and teeth mashing. This is me memorizing her taste. Stamping myself all over her.
She meets me with the same desperate need, fingers tangling in my hair, keeping me close.
Like I might actually try to go somewhere.
Not a fucking chance.
My hands trace lines down her body. She is so fucking soft. So perfect.
I slow for half a second despite the madness burning through me. Because I need to look at her.
Really fucking look.
Her dark hair spreads across my sheets. Her amber eyes are bright with heat and emotion. Her skin is flushed, her gorgeous body laid out in the middle of my bed like she was always supposed to be there.
But it’s the trust on her face that fucking destroys me. After everything she told me.
After a male who should have protected her treated her body like something he owned, traded, and controlled.
She’s giving herself to me.
Not because she has to. Because she wants to. Because she chose me.
My throat tightens.
This woman is a survivor, every scar a badge of honor, and I am so fucking proud she is mine.
Not mine like those bastards thought she could belong to them.
Mine, because I’m hers right fucking back.
There’s a difference. There will always be a difference.
Hunger and awareness run through me like wild horses, but even desire is no match for the rush of emotion I feel.
Fuck. It hits so hard I stop breathing.
I love her.
Jesus fucking Christ.
I love Gabriella Santos.
I don’t know when it happened.
Maybe the first time she gave me shit at The Joint.
Maybe when she looked at me with those exhausted amber eyes and still smiled at her son like she had everything in the world to give him.
Maybe it happened one stubborn piece at a time while I sat at Dick’s nursing one fucking beer for hours just because being in the same room with her settled Monster.
Maybe there was never going to be a single moment.
Maybe it was always going to be her.
Our eyes meet, and I know she sees it.
Feels it.
The matebond is wide fucking open between us now, burning like firelight in my chest, carrying things I don’t have the words for.
Her breath catches. My chest tightens in answer.
For one vulnerable fucking second, neither of us moves.
Then she cups my cheeks and pulls me back for another kiss.
No questions.
No fear.
Just acceptance.
Fuck me.
My Honey Girl feels it too.
“Fuck, Gabby, I need you,” I growl, and she nods. Frantic hunger rising once more.
“I know.”
Those two little words nearly wreck me.
Because she does. She knows what I am now.
Not just the Wolf. Not just the True Alpha. Not just the asshole everyone calls Havoc.
She’s seen Rowan.
She knows the worst fucking parts of me are there. And she still asked me to stay.
Still asked me to knot her.
Still chose me to be part of Matteo’s life.
Still chose me as the male she might make another child with.
My child.
Our child.
Monster surges at the thought, but I hold his ass back long enough to search her face again.
I need to be certain. Even now.
Especially now.
“Honey Girl.”
Her hands remain against my face.
“I know what I asked for, Rowan.”
Fuck.
“You sure?”
“Yes.”
No hesitation. Her amber eyes hold mine.
“I’m sure.”
Something inside me settles.
Not the hunger. That gets fucking worse. But the last little piece of fear that maybe I’m taking something she hasn’t freely given disappears.
I press my forehead to hers, breathing her in.
“Mine,” I whisper.
Her fingers tighten against me.
“Yours.”
The matebond flares.
Then she whispers against my mouth, “And you’re mine too.”
A rough fucking sound tears out of me.
Christ, does she know what she’s done? Does she know how damn dangerous it is for her to give herself to me, to Monster, like that?
I won’t ever let go now. I only hope she can understand that.
“I’m yours, Honey Girl. Always.”
“Good. Now, take me. Please, Rowan. I need you.”
I lift up and roll her over, pressing her head down to the soft mattress, I position myself behind her lifting her ass and spreading her thighs.
“Need to taste,” I growl, and bend down to lick her sweet juices. She’s like ambrosia. I can’t get enough.
She keens as I lick into her. But it’s not enough.
Nothing is enough.
Not her taste. Not her scent. Not the heat pouring off her skin or the way the matebond is blazing between us now, so fucking bright I swear I can feel her heartbeat alongside my own.
More.
Monster wants more.
Fuck, so do I.
I kneel behind her and fit my cock to her dripping entrance. Gabby pushes back, begging for my dick, and really who am I to refuse her?
“I got you,” I growl, holding her still with my hands on either side of her hips, then I press forward, filling her to the brim with my entire length.
A sound tears out of me, half growl, half roar, and I feel it happening.
The knot.
My whole body tightens.
This isn’t like last time.
Last time, the knot took us both by surprise. Instinct grabbed hold before either of us understood what the fuck was happening.
But now?
We know.
She knows.
More importantly, she chose this. I pull out, look down, and I can see it swelling at the base. Gabby moans, watching me over her shoulder. Our eyes meet.
Fuck.
For one suspended second, neither of us moves.
Her amber eyes are bright, her cheeks flushed, dark hair spilling wildly around her face. But beneath all the heat and hunger, I see something else.
Trust.
Absolute fucking trust.
And suddenly the enormity of what she’s offering me nearly overwhelms Monster, the Alpha, and the man all at once.
“Honey Girl.”
It comes out rough.
Almost broken.
She knows what I’m asking without me saying another word.
Still sure?
Her expression softens. Then she gives me everything.
“Do it, Rowan. All of it. I want you to knot me. I want you to claim me. Please.”
I don’t think anymore. I just ram forward, stuffing her full of me. Only me.
The thought makes me feral. I hear the pop, my knot locking us together, and I grind into her.
She feels so good. Better than that. She feels like fucking home.
“That’s it, Honey. Squeeze me. Milk me with your sweet pussy,” I growl, reaching around her hips to find her hot, swollen and so damn slick for me.
“Rowan,” she gasps, panting as her channel tightens gloriously around my cock.
Fuck. This feels—she feels, fuck, she’s so—she feels like mine.
I slide my fingers through her folds until I brush against her hard little clit and my mate goes wild. She screams, her pussy tightens, and I swear, my cock gets bigger, pressing deeper inside than ever before.
I can feel my knot swelling. That desperate desire to fill her with my seed, for it to take root, is burning in the back of my mind.
I growl and bury my face against her shoulder, kissing her, tasting her everywhere I can while our bodies move in tandem towards a completion I fear might have me blacking out.
I can’t stop moving. Shallow thrusts that have both of us clinging to each other as our pleasure grows and grows.
“Rowan, I’m coming!” Gabby keens, and fuck, I follow her right over the edge.
Mutual simultaneous climaxes take hold—and that’s when I strike.
I bite her on her right shoulder, swallowing her blood and making Monster howl in victory. The second my teeth break her skin, the world fucking explodes.
Not around us.
Inside me.
The matebond that has been growing since the first moment I recognized her scent suddenly tears wide open.
Heat rushes through me.
Fire.
A bite of pain.
But mostly, it’s her.
Gabby.
Mine.
Her emotions crash into mine so fast I almost lose my fucking breath.
Need.
Relief.
Joy.
Fear too, because of course there’s fear. My Honey Girl has spent years learning that giving someone power over her means getting hurt.
But she gives this to me, anyway.
Her trust.
Her body.
Her future.
Herself.
And the Wolf inside me doesn’t rage.
Monster goes still. For the first time since I was eighteen fucking years old, there is absolute silence inside my head.
Not because he’s gone. Because he’s home.
My eyes burn.
Fuck.
I wrap an arm around Gabby’s middle and pull her more tightly against me, careful of the place where my teeth marked her.
Mine.
But that word means something different now.
She isn’t something I own. She’s the woman who chose me. And with that choice comes a responsibility so fucking sacred it settles into my bones.
Protect.
Provide.
Love.
Stay.
Our bodies continue to writhe—and feel.
Pleasure pulses through us, and it’s amazing. We’re like things of instinct now. Instinct, need, lust, and one more thing—love.
The realization isn't frightening anymore. It feels inevitable.
Like I’ve been fighting my way toward this woman my whole goddamn life without knowing she was waiting at the end of it.
Then her trembling hand finds mine. Our fingers lace together.
“I love you, Rowan,” she pants, and fuck, my heart is so full.
For a second, I can’t answer.
Me.
She loves me.
Not Havoc, the asshole firefighter. Not the True Alpha. Not Monster.
Rowan.
The male who nearly lost control once and spent years believing the safest thing he could ever do for everyone else was stay the fuck away.
Gabriella Santos just destroyed that belief with four words. I hold her to me, my front pressing into her back as her channel continues to milk me.
My lips brush the unmarked side of her shoulder. Then her temple. I need her to hear me.
Need there to never be a single fucking doubt about this.
“I love you too, Gabriella.”
She squeezes my hand. I close my eyes and breathe her in.
Mate.
Family.
Home.
“I will always love you.”