KAELYN

Finding your mate is supposed to be the best day of your life. A day that some werewolves never get to experience. Honestly? I think most werewolves end up never finding their mate. In fact, my parents were the only true, mated pairs I've known personally. Mom died when I was little, and he always talked about his "other half," like she was still here. Father made it clear that the joy of finding her was well worth the agony of losing her.

"When that happens for you, Kaelyn," Father once told me, "not only will it be the happiest day in your life; it will be the happiest day in mine."

And because of that, in this rare moment, I'm glad he's not here anymore.

This day that I have been dreaming of since I was a cub, a day that I honestly wasn't sure would ever come, has become the absolute worst day of my life.

My mate, the werewolf who is supposed to be the "other half of my heart," is Lex Steele, the absolutely bloodthirsty monster who is Alpha of the savage Shadowclaw Pack.

Kaelyn, this is him, my wolf howls. He's the one. The one we've been waiting for. Please, Kaelyn, please.

Lex is sitting back on his knees, head in his hands, his chest rising and falling with deep, measured breaths. He leapt off of me when our eyes locked and we imprinted, and honestly, I don't know how he's able to resist looking at me.

I can't stop looking at him.

Even before we imprinted, I couldn't help but notice every perfectly, sculpted muscle on his naked body. As werewolves, you get pretty used to seeing your packmates naked when you shift.

I don't know if I could ever get used to Lex Steele's marble-chiseled abs or the way the long bangs of his black hair sweep across his forehead.

I sit up from my lying position in the dirt, and I keep my legs closed as tightly as I can. My core feels like a furnace, and I'm pretty sure the fever of my heat has raised about ten degrees. It's a cold night, I'm naked, and I can feel sweat beading my brow.

The wind shifts, and I'm slammed with Lex's scent.

My mate smells like moon-aged driftwood on a lonely beach. He smells like whiskey and leather and bourbon, and it takes everything in me to stop myself from burying my face into his neck right then and there.

"This is wrong. This isn't supposed to happen." Lex's voice is lower and rougher than before. It goes straight to the apex of my thighs. My wolf is whining just from his voice alone.

"You think...you think I'm thrilled about this either, asshole?" It's supposed to come out sharp and angry, but I'm panting, and so it sounds needy and pleading.

I guess Lex's wolf likes my voice too, because his head snaps up from his hands, and I can barely see the blue of his eyes for how wide his pupils are blown. Lex opens his mouth to say something else, but his eyes fall to my lips.

I'm so fevered that I'm lightheaded. Sweat's running down my naked body in little rivulets. Lex's eyes catch a drop that's sliding down my throat. I can feel it painting a little path down to my right breast, running down to the edge of my rosy areola.

Lex doesn't blink. Or move. But when it reaches the stiff, aching peak of my nipple, Lex's hand shoots out to cup my breast.

I gasp, but before I can do much more, he brings a gentle thumb to press the droplet to my skin. I suppress a whimper at the tingling spark that happens when we touch. His ink-black hair hangs in front of his eyes as he meets my gaze, his face dark and intense. Slowly, he swirls a thumb to trace the blushing edge of my areola, to graze the tip of my hardened bud.

I can't help the moan that escapes me, nor the way I arch into his hand.

"Shit, Kaelyn," Lex groans.

I can't help it. I look down between his legs and see that he's so hard it looks painful. His other hand is at the base of his purple, strained erection. His lips are parted, and I swear I can hear his heartbeat slamming against his ribcage all the way over here.

Or maybe that's just mine. I swear my heart's pounding so loud it must be echoing into the woods.

A series of images flashes in my head: of me pressing my forehead to him while I sit on his lap, riding him. Him cradling me while he's above, moving fast and desperate. Of just him and me, lying together, naked.

I'm clenching my thighs together as tightly as possible. But there's not much I can do to hide the flood of my arousal. I've always had sensitive nipples, so when Lex does another gentle circling of the stiff peak, I feel a little trickle of moisture seep from between my clenched legs.

Lex's nostrils flare, and his dark eyes flick down to the seam of my thighs. He gives a low, rumbling growl that I can feel in my core.

"I want to taste you," he croaks, his eyes still locked between my legs.

I'm fighting my wolf tooth and nail because I won't do it! No matter how desperately I want him, no matter how much I'm losing my mind, I can't! He has done nothing but cause suffering for me and my pack for nearly half of my entire life. I hate him. I hate, hate, hate him.

"No you don't," I say between heavy breaths. "You want...you want me dead." It doesn't come out as forceful as I like, but it helps clear my mind. Remember who this monster is, Kaelyn.

Lex's hot gaze snaps up to meet my own. He stares at me for an impossibly long moment.

"I do," he finally says. But he says it softly, and, unless I'm imagining it, sadly.

His hand is still cupping my breast, and, if anything, his thumbpad on my nipple has grown only gentler.

"And I loathe you," I say. I raise one hand to his face as I say it, brushing the hair out of his eyes. A muscle clenches in Lex's jaw, and he squeezes his eyes shut as he leans his cheek into my palm. My other hand is shuffling silently in the dirt behind me, searching desperately for any kind of sharp branch or rock that I can use on him.

"Yes," Lex whispers, opening his eyes. His gaze is a black fire, and I'm so close to burning alive in the flames.

"Then it doesn't matter if we're mates," I say. My fingers close around the jagged edges of a baseball-sized rock. "You and I will never happen." Lex's eyes narrow. "In fact," I continue, "I'll make sure of it."

With all my strength (and the Alpha blood in my veins means that's a whole hell of a lot) I bring the rock up, intending to smash it into the tender spot of Lex's temple.

Eyes still locked onto mine, he catches my wrist, stopping my attack.

"My, my...you really are something, aren't you?" He painfully squeezes my wrist and shakes my arm until I drop the rock. He keeps my wrist shackled and glares at me. "You'd go against your wolf?" Lex whispers, voice deadly quiet. "Go against your soul?"

My heart is slamming so hard against my chest, I'm afraid it'll break my ribs.

Lex leans closer to me, the hand on my breast squeezing. I whimper, and my hips do an embarrassing, involuntary little buck. He smiles coldly, the hand on my breast sliding up, up, up until his large hand encircles my neck.

"You really hate me that much?" Lex's hot breath fans across my face. His eyes are dark and hot on mine. I start to panic when his hold on my throat tightens slightly. Not enough to choke, but enough to let me know he could.

Then he releases me, sitting back on his haunches, putting some space between us.

"Fine." Lex picks up the rock I dropped and hands it to me, then lets his arms fall to his sides. "Prove it." Black wisps of hair graze his brows as he levels me with an intense gaze. "Prove just how much you hate me."

Now, Kaelyn, please. We need him. HE needs us. Stop this. Stop fighting him. Stop fighting me—

"Shut up," I growl under my breath.

"Yeah. Wouldn't think your wolf is too happy about what you're doing. If it's any consolation to her, my wolf isn't too happy about it either." Lex brings his arms behind him, clasping his wrists in his hands. He wants to make sure I know I won't interfere when I try to smash his face in.

Unfortunately, in this position, his gorgeous length is on full display, bobbing impatiently in the air, and his perfectly sculpted pecs and shoulders look even more massive than before.

Doesn't matter. I know what I have to do. I have to end this. This can't happen. It won't happen.

The rock feels slippery in my sweaty grip as I rise on my knees, careful to keep my thighs clenched shut. I shuffle a little awkwardly forward, but it's difficult to do while keeping my legs sealed, so I lose balance.

I fall into Lex, throwing one arm around his thick neck, my soft, full breasts pressed against his bare chest.

Shit.

I can feel his erection twitch against my leg, and his breathing has kicked up a notch.

"Well," he says in a low, rough voice against my curls, "what are you waiting for?"

I raise myself up, keeping my hand on his shoulder to steady myself. I'm losing my absolute mind with his scent, with the feel of his hard muscles underneath my hand, of the hot, hard length against my leg.

I don't trust myself to speak, so I just raise my arm, the rock poised to strike.

Lex's eyes flick to the rock, then back at me. This close, I can see the thin band blue of his iris that's nearly swallowed by his pupils. His eyes are hungry. So hungry. For me.

It breaks me.

I drop the rock and throw both arms around his neck and crush my lips against his.

Finally! my wolf is howling. And, goddess, I'm thinking it too.

And we aren't the only ones.

"You nearly killed me," Lex murmurs against my mouth.

"Damn, I was so close," I say. He growls a laugh against me, and I slip my tongue into his mouth. Lex groans in response and buries a hand in my curls and brings the other arm to circle my waist, bringing me flush against him.

I let my legs fall apart, and he slides me up his lap.

We both groan loudly at the sensation of the underside of his length pressed against my core.

"Fuck." He pulls his mouth from mine to look me in the eye. It's the first time I've seen any kind of vulnerability on his face. "You feel so...and your scent is like..." He looks lost. I love seeing how this plays on his face, his beautiful features open and dazed.

I begin to move against him, grinding his length against me, and I'm already beginning to see stars.

"Lex," I moan, and he gasps at the sound of his name. "Lex, I—I want—"

His large hands find my ass to press me harder against him. Lex is panting just as hard as I am now, and he's starting to move me steadily against him.

"Say it, Kaelyn." His voice is so low and rough it makes my entire body clench. "I want to hear you say it."

"I want—" Even now, I'm still fighting. And losing. Losing terribly. Because I can't believe it. I'm getting close already. Lex moves me faster against him, up and down against his length.

"C'mon—c'mon Kaelyn...I want you so bad. But not until I—I hear you say it." I like how undone Lex sounds, but I'm losing this battle. He leans forward and starts pressing hot, desperate kisses against my mouth, my cheek, my eyelids. "Please, Kaelyn. Please, baby," he pants hoarsely as he moves me even faster and hotly against the entirety of his hardness.

This pushes me over the edge.

"You!" I cry, as I come hard, seized with both ecstasy and even more longing. "You—I want you, I need you!" I gasp, somehow even more aching and empty after my orgasm than before.

"Fucking finally," Lex groans, lifting me up easily then impaling me on his desperately swollen length.

Our cries of rapture echo loudly in the forest. I have never in my life felt so full, so complete, so whole.

"You feel amazing," I gasp, wide-eyed and so blissed-out I forget to pretend I don't like it. I couldn't even if I tried.

"You feel—it's perfect—squeezing me like I've never—" Lex's fingers are digging into my hips hard enough to bruise, and that lost look in his eye is beyond anything I've seen yet. He can't even finish a sentence.

I can feel myself fluttering around him already. I honestly could probably come around him forever and forever, and at this very moment, that sounds like the perfect way to spend eternity.

He's moving deep and steady inside of me, lighting sparks in my belly, sending a hot, electric current through every nerve in my body.

I begin to ride him harder, fighting to have him bottom out in me over and over.

"Yes, Kaelyn. Yes." Lex is growling, and his voice is deeper, rougher, more desperate. There's an amber flickering in his eyes. He leans forward and latches his mouth on one of my breasts, his tongue swirling around my taut nipple.

I fist one hand in his raven hair, pulling at the roots. He groans and his hips surge up, and he slams into me hard and deep.

"I'm close, Lex," I choke.

"Me too, Kaelyn. Me too, my Mate." Lex pulls back from my breast to say it, and his hips pick up speed.

I can start to feel the stars filling my body, the impossible climb, and I'm finding myself wanting things without realizing it. I want Lex to fill me. I want Lex inside me forever. I want Lex.

Our pace is relentless. He slams up into me at the same time as me falling down hard on him. We couldn't be closer, but somehow we're both trying.

"Lex," I breathe, as I tip over the edge. "Lex, Lex, I'm coming." I throw both arms around him, bury my face into the crook of his neck as I clench and squeeze around him over and over.

"Kaelyn," he gasps, "can feel you—I can feel you coming on my—gets me—I'm gonna..." Lex's hands digging into my lips slam me down on him once, twice, then... "Kaelyn. My mate. Mine. Forever!"

Lex roars his completion. His hips surge up into me, and I can feel myself being flooded with something hot, liquid, and decidedly not mine. It immediately gets me close again. As I start to feel my walls flutter, I feel Lex squeeze me to him.

"My mate. Mine." The last word is spoken in not just his voice, but another's: it must be his Wolf's. Instinctively, I whine, churning on his still-hard length, and I bare the side of my neck to him.

Lex opens his mouth, and I see that his teeth are sharper, his canines lengthened, and before I can think about it, he sinks his teeth deep into my flesh, marking me.

Marking me forever.

Yes, yes, finally. Our Mate, Kaelyn! Forever. His forever.

I feel a tidal wave of pleasure as the magic of his Mark floods through me, pushing me over the edge once more.

I crest, blissful, but then, when I fall, I keep falling.

I fall into a bottomless cavern, darkness dancing around the edges until I am swallowed by darkness, finally overcome.