Total pages in book: 39
Estimated words: 37590 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 188(@200wpm)___ 150(@250wpm)___ 125(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 37590 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 188(@200wpm)___ 150(@250wpm)___ 125(@300wpm)
“I’ve got you,” he said.
He filled her to the hilt. He wasn’t small at all, and she thrust up against him. The pain was there, but it didn’t consume her. It was nothing more than a memory.
This was right. This was what she wanted, what they both needed.
In and out he took her. “You feel so fucking good. So tight.” He groaned. His face went to her neck as he rode her body.
The pleasure washed over them. She closed her eyes and gave herself over to him, to the full moon, to being mated. To all of it. This was what she’d wanted and hadn’t even realized it. She couldn’t believe they’d waited so long.
****
The waves lapped at their feet, and Lucas stared at the ocean then down at his woman. All night long, he’d been making love to her. Wiping out the first memory of the pain, leading into a second, then a third.
Several times, he’d been tempted to mark her and finally claim her as his own, but he held himself back. She wasn’t ready to belong to him.
Being mated and fucking were two very different things.
Mabel frowned and opened her eyes.
He tensed up. He couldn’t help it.
There was a smile on her lips, but it didn’t quite meet her eyes.
In his gut, he knew. There was no doubt about it—she regretted what had happened last night. He got to his feet and he heard her get to hers. They were both naked.
“I’m going to head to the house.”
“Wait,” he said.
He spun around to look at her, and sure enough, she had an arm across her tits and a hand in front of her pussy. His scent was all over her. He’d marked her and yet, here she was, trying to rid her body of everything that was him.
“Don’t,” he said.
“I need to get to the house. I want to go and change.”
He put his hands on his hips, keeping himself open and exposed for her to look at. “Do I look like I’m running away?” he asked.
Her gaze traveled down his body, and she quickly looked up into his eyes.
“You’re fighting this,” he said.
“Last night—”
“Don’t fucking say it.” He ran his fingers through his hair. “I knew this was going to happen. You just can’t stand it, can you? You can’t stand that you may have feelings for me, and how dare you even want me for a second, right?”
“I don’t know what came over me last night.”
“Bullshit. It’s the same thing that’s coming over you now.” He didn’t give her a chance to pull away as he wrapped his arm around her waist and drew her close. “You may fight this with your mind, but there is no denying what your body wants, what you crave. You can keep giving yourself these orgasms, but they’re nowhere close to the real thing. You want me, plain and simple, but you’re too fucking proud to even give yourself that.” He shook his head. “I gave you what you asked for last night. Don’t you dare start acting like a victim to me.”
Slamming his lips down on hers, he pushed her away and stormed toward the house.
“How dare you.” Mabel rushed toward him and she managed to move in front of him, putting a hand on his chest. “Last night was the moon and the wolves.”
“No, it wasn’t. I refuse to believe that everything we think and feel is down to that goddamn ball in the sky. It’s not, and you can’t keep blaming that. It’s childish. It’s not true, and it’s time for you to grow up and realize you’re going to have to claim me too.”
“Wait? What?”
“I’ve watched mated couples, Mabel. I’ve been around them all my life, but the last three years I’ve made it a point to keep an eye on them. It’s never a one-sided affair. There are always two in a couple to a mating, not one, not none. Two. You and me. Last night, I didn’t take. You begged. I gave you what you wanted, and if you must know, it was the best night of my life. Being inside you… My imagination never did you justice.”
He reached out, cupping her face and resting his head against hers. “And the truth is, I never want to stop. I hunger for you, Mabel. This has nothing to do with the mating. All that did was help me to see clearly. If you need something to blame then do that, but don’t for a second believe this isn’t real. It is very real. You and me. Us. This. It is happening, unless in ten months, you declare that you want to end it.”
After kissing her lips, he stepped away and entered the house.
His body was covered in the scent of her. The taste. As he made his way toward his bedroom, flashes of the previous night entered his head. They’d both been so heady on the run, Mabel hadn’t felt the pain as he took her virginity. He’d wanted to take her, to bite down on her neck, and fuck her hard, but all night long, he’d been gentle, careful, giving her what she needed.