“We will fight tomorrow evening.”
Sorin bowed slightly. “I look forward to it.” He glanced at Gia. “That is, assuming my mate desires to fight with me?”
Gia looked at him, a swell of gratitude finally freeing the tears to fall from her eyes. “I will.”
The tears in Gia’s eyes glistened like diamonds, nearly blinding Sorin with their radiance. Her face took up his entire world so that he was only barely aware of all the eyes watching them. He raised his hands to her cheeks, slowly lowering his head until his lips brushed hers. She came to him willingly, returning the kiss with all the tenderness he offered.
His body stirred as the taste of her mouth brought back his earlier desire. From the moment he’d taken her in his arms, his beast had gone from snarling demon to a contented wolf. It was as though a part of him had been missing and its absence had turned his world inside out. With Gia in his arms, he felt whole.
Waves of peace rolled over him as he pulled back from their kiss and gazed into her eyes. Taking her hand in his, he gently led her through the throng of werewolves toward the door. All eyes in the room bored into him and his wolf growled. He straightened his spine, looking into every set of eyes with the confidence of a man who knows he’s going to be alpha. One by one, the werewolves backed down, some just averting their eyes and some actually bowing their heads. He didn’t turn around to face Byron—that moment would come soon enough.
When they finally left the cabin, Sorin drew a breath of air into his lungs, inhaling the sweet perfume of the forest. Green life filled the air with its fresh scent, overlaying the moist earthy aroma of the dirt and leaves covering the forest floor. His nose twitched as it sorted through the myriad of scents.
“Since Rhianne is technically lupa now, this cabin is hers.”
Sorin winced at the sad tone in Gia’s voice. He cursed himself for getting so caught up in his own contentment that he forgot what she’d just been through.
“Gia, of course you are welcome to come back to my home.”
The corners of her mouth tilted up. “It’s possible that some of my brethren may come looking for me to try and talk me out of fighting with you. I would hate to bring that down on your home.”
Something primal reared its head inside him and a surge of protectiveness flowed like molten lava through his muscles. Sorin stopped walking and jerked around to Gia. She gasped at his sudden movement and he took advantage of her surprise to grab her arms and pull her body to his. The denim of her jeans grated against his tender flesh, reminding him that while he was naked, she was still fully clothed.
The wolf in him howled and he had to fight the urge to tear the clothes from her body, forcing himself to look into her eyes.
“I want you in my home.” His voice dropped to a low growl and he tightened his grip on her, pulling her tighter against his naked body. “I want you in my bed.”
Her arousal filled the air, swarming his senses until he thought he’d go mad with it. Her heartbeat thundered in his ears. All he could smell was her decadent desire, all he could hear was her pulse.
“Sorin,” she whispered.
She shifted in his grip and Sorin started as he realized how hard he was holding her. His fingers pressed into the flesh of her upper arms, bruising in their intensity. The pulse of blood through her veins pressed against the pads of his fingers, every pulse echoing in her heartbeat as it thundered in his ears.
His mind threw up the image of her walking away with Claudiu, leaving him bleeding on the floor of his basement. He’d only glanced up away from his wounds once, but that moment had been permanently burned into his brain. A wave of angry possession swept over him and he tightened his grip even more.
“He never deserved you,” he hissed, barely able to force the words out through the maddening heat building in his head. “I fought for you, I shed blood for you. You are mine.”
Gia stared into his eyes and his nostrils flared at the sharp perfume of arousal that filled the air around them. She took a deep breath, drawing his gaze down to the swell of her breasts under the lavender cotton of her shirt. Her nipples hardened under his gaze, pressing against the soft fabric until his mouth watered with the thought of taking the stiff peaks in his lips.
“You let me walk away,” she breathed.
Her voice tortured him with memories of how his name had sounded on her tongue, breathless with passion as he buried himself in her body. It had been twenty-eight endless nights since he’d heard his name on her lips, felt her naked body in his arms. He dragged his gaze back up to her eyes, aroused further by the flicker of defiance in their brown depths.
“You nearly gutted me.” The skin on his stomach twitched at the memory.
“That’s no excuse.”
He smiled, his fangs sliding from their sheaths. “It will not work twice,” he promised softly.
Moving with lightening speed, he released his grip on her wrists and grabbed a fistful of her shirt in each hand, tearing it from her body like tissue paper. She gasped, her body jerking with the force of the disrobing. Her bra remained intact, pushing her breasts up like flesh offerings to his hungry gaze. Before she could recover from her surprise, he stepped into her body, raising his arms behind her back to get a hold of her bra. With one sharp jerk of his arms, the metal loops ripped free and he yanked the scrap of material from her body.
For a moment all he could do was stare. The sight of her naked breasts made his mouth water and his fangs ache. He could already feel the puckered skin of her nipples in his mouth, taste the salt on her skin as he lapped at the valley between the generous mounds of flesh. He leaned down, mesmerized by the image before him.
The sensation of her fist tightening in his hair shocked him. He hadn’t even seen her move. His eyes flicked up to her face, momentarily distracted from the bounty of her chest.
“I didn’t say I forgive you yet,” she said, the teasing light in her eyes belying her serious tone.
Without a word he reached out and grabbed the hem of her jeans. He jerked her up off her feet, falling to his knees as she grappled for his shoulders to keep from falling backwards to the ground. The sight of her breasts bouncing only inches away from his face added a sense of urgency to his movements and his muscles burned as he ripped the denim from her body.
He pushed her back onto the ground so he could pull the damaged jeans from her body, taking her boots and socks with them. In seconds she was lying before him on the grass, her naked flesh glowing under the light of the moon.
She twitched as he locked his hands around her ankles.
“If you even think about moving,” he said quietly, barely keeping the wolf inside him in check, “I will tie you up with scraps of your own clothing and carry you back to my bed like a spoil of war.”
Her arousal thickened in the air and his mouth watered. He began to crawl over her, his gaze raking up her naked flesh as if he could eat her alive with his eyes. As his face passed over her pussy he had the strong urge to dip his head, to taste the sweet liquid between her thighs. The wolf in him snarled at him to keep moving. There would be time for that later. First, he had to claim her.
Her heart thudded like a drum, strong and loud. His cock brushed against her leg and her thighs parted as if of their own accord. The sight of her spreading so willingly for him sent a rush of primal satisfaction up his spine and he groaned as he guided his cock to her weeping pussy.
His wolf howled in triumph as the head of his cock pushed inside her, squeezed by her silken walls so that he had to fight for every inch. He propped his elbows on the ground to either side of her, holding himself up so he could look in her eyes as he entered her body. Her brown eyes shifted to gold as he watched, her beast swimming closer to the surface. He knew his own brown eyes had bled to the green of his wolf’s emerald orbs.
A heavy weight shifted in his body as his beast stretched out to press against the prison of his human form. In his mind’s eye he could see her beast doing the same, each of their wolves trying to get closer, trying to become one. Emotions he’d ignored since she left him bleeding on the last full moon all came crashing down on him like the entire ocean collapsing on a lonely shore. Anger at her abandonment, pain at her loss, and the overwhelming need to claim her as his all pounded into him with bruising force.
“You are mine,” he ground out, plunging inside her body as deep as he could.
She cried out, her hands gripping his shoulders as her legs wrapped around his waist. Satisfaction heated his blood as he watched her face contort in passion, watched her head thrash on the ground as he pulled his cock from her pussy only to thrust back inside her with enough force to rock her body.
“Sorin,” she moaned. Her fingers tightened on his shoulders and her hips rocked with his. “Goddess, Sorin, don’t stop.”
The outrage and loneliness he’d felt in the past weeks clutched his heart and he reached out one hand to thread his fingers in her hair. Her eyes fluttered open as her body continued to undulate against his.
“Tell me you know you’re mine,” he demanded. His voice sounded strained even to his own ears, the passion building inside him making it hard to think let alone speak. Still, some part of him needed her to say it, needed to know that she knew she was his.
Her gaze bored into his and his eyes widened as her hips surged up and her entire body twisted to the side. The world spun around him as he suddenly found himself on his back, his cock still buried inside her. She continued to ride him, easily finding her rhythm as he struggled to reorient himself.
“I am yours,” she whispered. “And,” she added, dragging her nails down his chest. “You are mine.”
The sensation of her nails scratching his chest added a delicious edge of pain to the pleasure roaring through his veins. He watched her ride him with the lightening of desire crackling in her eyes and a dark joy bubbled up inside him. She was right. For as much as she was his, he was hers as well. There would never be a disparity between them, never be a master and a slave. For every inch he fought for, she would fight to take it back.. An endless battle without a loser.
The orgasm hit him with the force of a hurricane and he bellowed his passion into the night air. Gia screamed, the powerful contractions milking his cock telling some small part of his brain that she’d reached her peak as well. Their bodies thrust helplessly against one another as they rode the waves of pleasure. His fingers dug into her hips as he fought to keep the pleasure going, shoving himself inside her and drawing out again. Every press of his body into hers brought a new moan of pleasure from her lips and no music had ever sounded so sweet. Finally he could take no more and he groaned as Gia collapsed on his chest. He rolled to the side, pulling her into his embrace before surrendering to his post-climactic exhaustion.
She laid her cheek on his bicep and he curled his body around her, protective and aroused all at once. He buried his face in her hair, noticing how much longer it was now than it had been the last time he’d seen her. The smell of her shampoo tickled his nose and he sighed as a wave of peace settled over him.
The tension of the last month leaked bit by bit from his muscles. For the first time since he could remember, he let his wolf truly be heard. He didn’t know what would happen and part of him still feared the worst. Still, his human half had done an abysmal job of keeping his life in order. What more damage could his wolf do?
“Thank you.”
Her voice was so quiet, he almost didn’t hear her.
“For what?” He nuzzled her neck, the affectionate gesture bringing her throbbing pulse to his attention. Thoughts of sinking his fangs into her neck and reinvigorating himself for another round danced in his head. He drew his tongue over her skin and she moaned.
“For issuing the challenge. Showing that kind of dominance will go a long way to earning you the respect of the pack.”
He swirled his tongue over her skin, earning a shiver from her. He smiled.
“I am a man of honor, Gia. It was foolish of me to interfere in your affairs this evening. I could not walk away without making things right.”
Gia’s body stiffened in his arms. “What?”
Her pulse grew stronger, throbbing like a living creature under his tongue. He drew the tip of his fang over the soft swell of her vein, already anticipating the sweet rush of her blood.