Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 72056 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 360(@200wpm)___ 288(@250wpm)___ 240(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72056 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 360(@200wpm)___ 288(@250wpm)___ 240(@300wpm)
And I realize...my allegiance has already shifted.
In the end, I wouldn’t have been able to choose my sister. I wouldn’t have been able to choose my father. I wouldn’t have been able to choose the Vampire Brotherhood.
My only choice is Rogan.
My mate.
I understand now. I understand his anger, his rage, his animal passion.
He killed two vampires for me. For me, without knowing who I was.
He’d choose me over his pack. When he killed those vamps, he chose me over his alliance with the Vampire Brotherhood.
There's no choice for either of us.
There never was.
45
In his arms…
In Rogan’s arms, his lips on mine, our tongues dueling with the intensity and passion of our…
Love?
I love him. I’ve admitted that to myself.
But does he love me? Or is it only primal instinct for him? The scenting of a mate?
I care…except that I don’t. Not in this moment, at least.
In this moment I care only about this kiss, this amazing and soul-baring kiss.
The flavor of him—spice and wind and wolf and lust. He’s the most exquisite thing I’ve ever tasted, and I don’t ever want this kiss to end.
But it does.
He pulls back, growls, and again I’m not sure whether I’m looking at man or a wolf. My eyes see a man—a beautiful man with emerald fire in his eyes and long dark hair, naked and magnificent, his cock hard and ready.
But my heart? My soul?
They see a wolf. An animal stalking its mate with pure instinct.
“Remove your clothes, princess.” Rogan’s voice is a growl, a rasp, and not quite human.
And I obey.
I don’t want to obey, but on some level, I do want to obey. It’s mind versus body, or mind versus soul. I’m not sure which…or it could be neither.
My body complies. My soul complies.
And within seconds, I stand naked before him, before my wolfman.
My God, he’s gorgeous, and he pulls me into his arms, kisses me again, and this time it’s even more raw, more feral, more intense.
As our lips slide together, our teeth clash, our tongues tangle, I close my eyes and allow myself to be swept away—swept away in the ether with Rogan.
With only Rogan.
Except he’s no longer Rogan, and I’m no longer Hannah.
Somehow we’ve become fused together into one consciousness. I feel him, not just his body but his thoughts. Not in words but in emotion—pure emotion.
He falls back, breaks the kiss, stares at me with his green-eyed intensity—an intensity bordering on madness.
“Hannah,” he growls. “My heart has followed where my body has led me.”
I gulp. “What do you mean?”
“You’re my mate.”
“Yes. I know. I feel it. I know there is no choice now. I understand.”
“Good. Very good.” He pauses a moment. “My heart, Hannah. You’re not just my mate. You’re my love. I love you, princess. I love you with everything in me.”
I nearly melt from his words. This is so not me. Not me at all, but I fall into his embrace, kiss his neck, his sculpted jawline, his full lips.
“I love you too, Victor. So damned much.”
He kisses me hard for a moment and then pulls back. “A mate, for wolves, isn’t always a mate of the heart. It’s of the body, of the soul. It’s a magnetic pulling between two beings—an urge, a need, a yearning.”
“Isn’t that what love is?” I ask.
He shakes his head. “Not for me, it isn’t.”
“How do you know that?”
“Because”—he draws in a breath—“you’re not the first woman I’ve loved.”
I jerk backward, nearly stumbling into the green grass.
No. It can’t be.
I’ve had sex. A lot of sex. But I’ve never had love. Never said the words. Never…
But Rogan?
“I don’t understand,” I finally say.
“Fated mates are uncommon at this point in our lycan evolution. I’ve told you this.”
“So?”
“So…you think we don’t fall in love? That we’re just animals?”
My heart pounds, and not just from the kisses we’ve shared. Fear races through me, but why? So Rogan has loved before. Does that lessen what we have? He loves me now, and above that, he’s drawn to me.
Mated to me.
I sit down on the soft grass. “Tell me.”
“Tell you what?”
“About the woman you loved.”
46
“Princess…”
“No. Sit. Sit down and tell me, or…”’
“Or what?” Rogan growls.
I breathe in slowly, gather my willpower. With everything in me I want to rise, throw myself into his arms, and let him do whatever he wants to me, the nastier the better.
But my head… Damn the pounding in my heart and head!
“You going to answer me, princess?”
“Or…nothing,” I say with a sigh. “I can’t force you to tell me. I don’t want to force you to tell me. I wish I didn’t want to know, but I do.”
He sits then, meets my gaze, and his eyes… His eyes, though still full of fire and arousal, are kind.
“Hannah,” he says, taking my hand, “you’re everything to me. Did I think I’d end up with someone like you? Someone not of my own kind? Hell, no. But I did. I had no choice in the matter, and neither did you. I didn’t want this. You didn’t want this. But we’re here, where our bodies and souls have led us. You’re my destiny. My fate, and I didn’t expect to love you.”