One by one, I felt my senses slowly come back to me as I regained control of my mind and body. It was always tough to get back full access immediately considering how stubborn my wolf was, but I figured it was a fair trade since we only communicated during the full moon. I wondered how his night went. He better have enjoyed it because truth be told I wouldn't let him out again for another decade if I had the power. Tonight I lost it, but that would never happen again. Especially now that she was gone-

No, she's not, he spoke, making me roll my eyes at the throbbing he created in my mind. And I don't appreciate your thoughts, Syn. I better be let out next month.

"What do you mean she's not?" I questioned him. He tilted his head down and through his vision, I could see Queen laying on the floor beside him. I was shocked to see her there considering that she died in my arms, but I was even more shocked to see her lying there beside us.

Unharmed.

"You didn't kill her."

He sighed. "No. I love her."

I coughed out loud, making him growl and I cleared my throat. "You just fucking met her!" I watched as he snuggled his head into the crook of her neck, and something in my chest softened. Something that made me want to stay silent and let him believe whatever lie he had concocted in his crazy mind.

"It's almost time for me to go," he said. "Don't be a stranger, Syn. You can't keep me hidden away forever. I'm a part of you that deserves to live just as you do." He closed his eyes, making everything go dark and I relaxed, doing the same.

The tweeting of birds in the distance made my eyes open to see the chaos all over the dining room. I glanced outside the window expecting to see the sun rising, but when I didn't, I frowned. The full moon was still in its same spot as if no time had passed. As I began to come up with reasons as to why I was back so early, I felt a sharp pain in my hand.

I looked down, my eyes landing on Queen who was laying on my arm, and I momentarily forgot about everything else. That was until I heard the familiar growl inside of me and I immediately pulled away from her. "You're still here!" I snapped, wincing yet again as my palm ached.

"Go to her." My body-he was forcing me to move towards her, but my mind fought against it, keeping the several feet of distance I had from Queen.

"Can you fucking stop?" I groaned, my jaw aching as my fangs extended. I gritted my teeth, attempting to focus on the wound in my hand and not my wolf calling for Queen. I pulled the piece of glass out of my palm and watched as the wound began closing. I was thankful that the pain was gone, but now I had nothing to distract myself from all the tugging from him in my body. "What's wrong with you today?!"

"I want her," he said simply.

"Well, you can't have her. If you wanted to be around her so badly then why did you give me control?" When he didn't answer, my mind began putting his actions together and I clenched my jaw. "We are not doing that."

I couldn't risk him marking her. I couldn't control him as is and if he were to claim her...he'd never let her go.

"But we are," he replied. "You know you want to." He was right about that. I did want her, but it couldn't be like this. If Queen were to leave me, there would be a constant war in my mind inflicted by him. With enough shit as I had going on, I didn't need that.

"Why couldn't you just go out and find a wolf lady to do that with? You're fucking shit up for me."

"Because I want HER!" he screamed, making my head pound as I tried to hold him back. My chest aches as my primal instincts fought me, and he laughed a deep laugh. "You can't stop me, Syn. I'm only a mirror of the things you want. The only difference between us is I don't hold myself back."

I ignored him, moving further away from Queen. If I stayed far enough away from her, I could control him for the remainder of the night. I just couldn't get too close-

"Syn?" Queen asked, rubbing her eyes as she sat up. "Are you okay?" She moved towards me and I groaned, holding my hand out to stop her.

"Queen, you need to leave!" I said in a harsh tone, pain coursing throughout my body.

"What's wrong?" She frowned. I closed my eyes, my skin flaming as I began shaking in my spot. I could feel her move closer to me, and her proximity began chipping away at whatever strength I had against him. "Syn."

Her hand landed on my shoulder, and within a snap, everything in me became still. The pain disappeared, my shaking stopped, and the flames inside of me began a full warmth. My wolf's laugh continued in my head and I took a deep breath as he spoke up, "I win."

Fuck.

Syn's shaking stopped at my touch and I leaned toward him to search his face. His eyes were shut, beads of sweat dripping down his head as his hair cling to him. I pushed his dark hair out of his face and noticed the heat in his skin. "Syn, are-"

I was knocked off balance as he wrapped his around my waist and laid me against the hard floor. His lips captured mine in a harsh kiss, which was different from his usual dominating yet tender one, but I still couldn't resist him. I parted my lips for him and he greedily accepted as he grabbed one of my ankles and moved it aside. His hips ground against me, sending waves of butterflies to my lower body.

"Princess," he whispered between the kiss, making my cheeks heat, "tell me to stop."

I could feel his hardness pressing against me through my jeans and I reached between us, my hand grazing the soft skin of his swollen arousal. His body shivered on top of me as he pulled away from the kiss and I bit my lip, looking up at him. "Say it," he whispered.

"No." His eyes flashed a bright red, and I swallowed a lump in my throat. Syn didn't scare me anymore, but he always looked a bit menacing in the light of the moon. Which was now peeking through the red curtains and shining down on us.

With the aggressive flick of his wrist, he tore my shirt open. Not being able to wait for him to undress me, I removed it as fast as I could and unclipped my bra, his eyes on my breasts as I pulled my arms out of the material.

His mouth moved to my neck hurriedly, making me arch my back as he kissed down my stomach and to the waistband of my jeans. His fingers worked at the buttons and he unzipped it, sitting up to pull them down my legs. I helped him move them past my feet and giggled as he threw them to the far corner of the room.

"No underwear?" He whispered, his finger thrusting into my wetness, making me moan loudly. "Were you expecting this?"

"More like hoping."

"I don't think I can wait any longer, Princess," he said, sliding another finger into me as he rubbed my clit.

"Then don't," I breathed out, the pressure between my legs building up. There would be time for foreplay later, but right now, I wanted him in me. I knew this would be the swipe of the tongue that sealed the letter of my doom shut, but I willingly accepted it. In fact, I embraced it because never in my life had I ever met someone that made me want to lose every ounce of control I had in my body. I wanted to belong to him and in turn...I wanted him to be mine.

His hand wrapped around my throat, slightly squeezing and his soft lip returned to mine and I let my hands travel into his hair. My gentle tugs made him groan, his deep vibrato sending vibrations straight to my core, making me wetter than I already was.

He placed a hand by my head, his free arm reaching between our bodies as he aligned himself at my entrance. I sucked in a harsh breath at the feel of his large girth teasing my core, and I placed a hand on his chest. "Is this going to hurt?"

Sex wasn't something I was interested in after being with Justin for so long, and I was worried. Would it be just as bad? My eyes floated to the top of the room as memories passed through my mind, and a tear slipped down to my ear. I quickly wiped it, but Syn had already seen it and sighed.

He flipped our bodies, making me gasp as I caught myself with a hand on his chest. I looked down at him, confused as to what he was trying to do, and he moved a strand of hair behind my ear. "You're on top now. You can go as fast or as slow as you want and if you want to stop, then stop. Okay? I'm not whoever else you've been with. Don't think about them."

The thought behind what he was doing made my heart flutter, but this somehow seemed scarier than him being on top of me. He could see everything now. Nothing could be hidden with the shadow of his body on top of mine. I was now the one exposed to his roaming eyes.

I laughed nervously, putting a hand in front of my face to block our eye contact. "This is embarrassing!" I shrieked softly. "I'm sorry for ruining the moment."

He grabbed my wrist, lowering my hand and looking back into my eyes. "You're not ruining anything. If you wanted to sit like this the whole night and do nothing, I'd still like that." He shut his eyes tightly and groaned, putting a hand over his head. "Fuck!" He cursed.

"What's wrong?"

"I-umm...nothing." He shook his head. "I'm okay, but like I was saying...it's all up to y-" He winced sharply again and my worry increased. "Fucking asshole," he muttered.

"What?"

"Not you." He sat up, placing his palms behind him as he stared up at the dark ceiling. I sat straddled in his lap, eyeing his strange behavior. His Adam's apple bobbed as he took a few deep breaths, and I recalled his tense movements only a few minutes ago. The movements that seemed to stop when I...

I cupped his cheeks, lowering his face to mine and capturing his lips between mine. Almost immediately, he relaxed and I calmed down knowing that for whatever reason, I was helping him feel better.

With my inhibitions gone, I reached between us and gently grabbed the base of his length. I pulled away from our kiss, looking down at him as I positioned myself above his length. "Are you sure?" he asked me.

I nodded, my eyes flicking down to his lips before moving back to his eyes. With my readiness, his large hands grabbed my hips, and slowly lowered me onto his length. I winced at the subtle pain from his size and closed my eyes, laying my hands on his shoulders and letting him take control.

The pain began to fade with each slow thrust, and I moaned. My head rolled back as a pleasure-filled knot began to burn in my stomach, and Syn's lips attacked my exposed neck. My nails dug into his back with every movement he made sending me over the edge and leaving me gasping for air on top of him.

He wrapped an arm around me, slowly laying me on my back and I shivered on the cool floor. My discomfort was long forgotten as his lips found mine, and he pounded into me, making me scream out into his lips. I felt his hand interlock with mine as he guided mine above my head and continued his deliberate movements.

My toes curled as warm tingles flowed through my body down to the pit of my stomach. "Syn," I whispered.

"Say that again," he said, sucking on the sensitive skin below my ear.

I bit my lip, my eyes fluttering as my mind raced with strings of incoherent words. Even if I wanted to say something else, all that would come out of my mouth was, "Syn," I moaned, the butterflies in my stomach becoming a cluster of knots begging to be released.

"Wait for me, Princess," he commanded softly. His thrusts quickened, his deep strokes making me go wild until I was a jerking mess beneath him. "Come," he ordered simply, his one word becoming my undoing. I trembled beneath him as I reached my orgasm, and he groaned, signaling his own.

When we were done, we were a tangled mess on the floor. He laid between my legs, his head resting on my stomach and I was sprawled out on the floor, gently running my hands through his thick hair. "Can I ask you something?" I asked, interrupting the comfortable silence between us.

"What?"

"What's your favorite color?" He lifted his head, raising a brow as he eyed me, and I smiled at him. "What?"

"You can ask me anything in the world, and you're asking me what my favorite color is?" I nodded, and he sighed. "Red." Of course, his favorite color would be the color of blood. It was ironic, to say the least. "And yours?"

I shrugged. " I don't have one."

"Really?" He questioned. "Because for someone without a favorite color, you have a lot of pink shit."

"Pink shit?" I laughed. "I wouldn't call my stuff 'pink shit', Syn. I don't know if it's my favorite, but I do like it. It makes me feel beautiful in a way."

"I don't think you need to be wearing anything at all to be beautiful," he said in a serious tone. I ignored the heat that flashed through my body at his reply and I looked away from him. "May I ask you something now?" He asked as he laid his head back down on me.

"Go ahead."

"How are you alive? I could've sworn I lost you."

I bit the inside of my cheek. "I wish I knew all the details," I admitted. "All I know is that I woke up with a note in my hand from the stalker saying 'you're welcome'."

"Shit," he cursed, pulling away from me and sitting up. "I'm going to fucking kill whoever this is."

"Are they so bad?" I sat up. "I mean, they brought me back. What if they're not-"

"Stop!" Syn snapped at me. My heart sank at his tone, and I was reminded of all the reasons I wanted to stay single. I kept my distance from him as he ran his hand through his hair, obviously in deep thought. "Come here," he whispered, tilting his head to the spot in front of him. When I made no move to do so, he lowered his tone and said, "Please."

I moved to him, and he pulled me into his arms. His finger tilted my chin up to look directly into his eyes, and I waited for him to continue. "I'm sorry for being a dick. And I'm going to apologize for being a dick in advance right now."

"Ugh." I tried to move away, but he held me still.

"Just listen," he said. "If you didn't see the good in people as you do, you wouldn't have gotten yourself caught up with me. That was your mistake, and I want to be your last one. Not only because I'm selfish, but because I need you safe and here with me. That woman, whoever the hell she is has had you kidnapped and has been stalking you for years. I don't understand how you can see any good in a person who brings you so much pain."

As much as I didn't like admitting it, he was right. Whoever was stalking me had hurt me way more than they had helped me. Their little "lessons" did nothing except make the dark look scarier than it already was. I nodded slowly, biting my lip as I looked up at Syn. "You need me?" I asked him with a smile spreading across my lips.

"That's what you got from that?"

"Shh..." I turned myself around and pressed my lips against his. Whatever conversation we were having seemed to disappear from his mind as he hardened under me all over again.