Total pages in book: 139
Estimated words: 131137 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 656(@200wpm)___ 525(@250wpm)___ 437(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 131137 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 656(@200wpm)___ 525(@250wpm)___ 437(@300wpm)
When the hand she’d knotted in his T-shirt released him, Nick peered down and watched as she opened the snap of her jeans and slid her hand inside her panties. Christ. Then she made that moaning sound that drove him fucking crazy. “Shay…” It wasn’t a sound of complaint or censure anymore. It was a plea for mercy. He was drowning in the sensations she was causing and the primal urge to take, to own, to claim. “Baby, you have to—” His sentence was cut off as the hand she’d jammed down her pants rose and inserted one wet finger into his mouth. Her taste exploded on his tongue. Fuck.
In seconds, Nick had shredded her jeans with his claws, lifted her in his arms, slammed her against the wall, and thrust deep inside her. She released his neck with a shocked gasp, raising determined eyes to his. He held himself still, searching for the control to withdraw, because if he fucked her right now, he’d claim her. No question.
Anger…he needed anger—it was a fuel that had always worked for him in the past. He didn’t have to dig for it, not while both he and his wolf were already raging at fate. His hard gaze drilled into hers. If he had to make her detest him so that she’d leave, then that was what he’d do. “Why would you want this, baby? Because you feel sorry for me? Because your conscience is telling you that it’s what you should do? I don’t want your fucking pity. I don’t want you.”
Did he really think she wouldn’t know what he was doing? Pfft. Shaya was well aware that he wanted to piss her off, to drive her away, to make her hate him enough to run out of this motor home and never look back. What an idiot. “I want this because I care about you, dumbass.”
“Care about me?” He didn’t have to force the snort—that was something he truly didn’t believe. “Nothing I’ve done since I got here has meant anything to you. Nothing. The only reason you gave me a chance was because you felt bad about going on a date—a date you never would have gone on if you cared—so don’t give me that shit.”
She ran her fingers through his hair. “It won’t work, Nick. You won’t push me away.”
It pissed him off that she’d seen right through him. That didn’t mean he’d give in. “I already have pushed you away. I did it the second I found you by ignoring you instead of claiming you. It put up a barrier between us, and that barrier will always be there, no matter what.”
She shook her head. “Not true.” That barrier had come down weeks ago, she now realized. She’d just been too bowled over by her insecurities to take this final step. Faced with the idea of him leaving, she realized that being without him would actually hurt more than if she took a chance and it didn’t pay off.
“It is, and you know it.” When she writhed and her pussy tightened around his cock, Nick grasped her hips hard to still her. “We never had a chance of making this work—you knew that from the beginning, I just didn’t want to accept it. But you were right; I get that now, and I’ll leave you to live your life just like you wanted.”
She gave him a gentle but self-satisfied smile. “It’s too late, Nick. I’ve claimed you. It’s done.” She didn’t think she’d heard of a submissive wolf being the first one out of a pair of mates to lay claim. The idea of that made her smile widen. Oh yeah, not only had she claimed a dominant alpha male before he’d claimed her, but she was now going to totally seduce that alpha male. This was a story to pass down to the grandkids—when they were old enough to hear it, obviously. Taryn was going to love it.
“It means nothing if I don’t accept that claim. And I don’t. Do you hear me?” Nick went nose to nose with her. “I don’t want you.” His wolf took a swipe at him for that. Nick didn’t blame him.
“Yes, you do,” she softly insisted, sliding her hands over his tense shoulders. “The truth is that the one misguided here is you. I claimed you for the right reasons. You’re trying to push me away for all the wrong ones.” She clenched her inner muscles around him, satisfied by his thick groan. “You want this, Nick. Stop fighting it.”
“Shay.”
It was a tortured plea that made her chest ache. “We’ll find a way to stop what’s happening to you. There are other healers out there. But you have to be prepared to battle it instead of rolling over onto your back and accepting it. Some dominant male you are.”