Claiming
XANDER pov
Her nod is barely even a movement, but I feel it like a pulse that floods my entire body. The moment she gives it, the very last thread of my restraint holding me together snaps. My hands tighten on her hips, my claws still half–shifted and sinking into the soft flesh as I anchor her beneath me. Her breath hitches at the movement, but she doesn’t flinch. She watches me, wide–eyed, flushed with her pupils blown. She’s too dazed to lie now, too far gone to pretend she doesn’t crave and need this. She’s pure need, laid bare in the moonlight.
She’s mine.
The moment I thrust again, it’s not careful, and there’s nothing gentle about it. She gasps, her back arching off the forest floor as I drive into her, deeper and harder. I’m guided by only the wild hunger that’s clawing inside of me. My wolf is howling, and clawing at the edges of my skin, demanding more, faster, and rougher. Every instinct tells me to take, to claim her.
She fits around me so damn well, almost too perfectly. Her body welcomes mine with a desperation that matches my own. Her scent seems to be only growing stronger, richer and sweeter the longer this lasts. It’s maddening. I’ve fought through blood, through betrayal. I’ve stood in fire, I’ve broken bones, and shattered men, and kingdoms alike. Nothing, though, has ever made me feel like this. Like I’m the one burning from the inside out, unable to stop myself from drowning within her. It‘ s not the usual feeling males get when their mate is in heat.
It’s bizarre and gives me an insight into how she feels right now. Her moans twist into something broken, her hands dragging down my back. She pushes her nails into my skin, and I lean in, dragging my tongue along the shell of her ear before I snarl the word that’s been sitting on the tip of my tongue from the moment I saw her in the trees, from the moment I caught her scent.
“Mine.”
She whimpers, her breath stuttering against my shoulder, and I feel her tighten around me, it’s like her body is answering without her permission. Gritting my teeth, I hold her hips down and slam into her harder. Her body jerks with every thrust, and her cries are raw and open, completely uncontrolled. I can’t stop, I don’t want to ever stop.
Her scent clings to my skin now, soaking into me like smoke, and I am doing everything I can to ensure my scent marks her, to ensure no one else can smell her, because her scent, it’s for me, only me.
Her heat wraps around me like a noose, and deep in my chest something ancient stirs, like it’s been waiting for this, waiting for her and for this exact moment to happen.
She’s the daughter of the man who destroyed everything in my life, she’s supposed to be my enemy. A liar, a spy. So why the fuck does every part of me ache to claim her, to ensure no one else gets her before me?
The question festers even as I thrust again and again, burying myself so deep inside of her that I feel like I’m going to tear her in half. She doesn’t protest, though, she doesn’t plead for me to be gentle. She breaks beneath me, shattered pleasure rolling off her in waves. Her legs shake violently, her body clenching tight. She’s so slick and wet, and utterly fucking perfect.
Her heat pulls at me like a current that I can’t fight or dismiss. My body is so close to the edge that I can barely keep my hands from shifting more. My claws threaten to burst free entirely as my wolf rises, teeth ready and eyes wild.
“Say it,” I growl, my lips press against her throat, and I bite down just hard enough to make her cry out again as my thrusts become relentless. “Say you’re mine.”
She trembles, and her body arches, her lips part and my wolf goes crazy.
“Yours.” Her word is breathless, wrecked but it shatters something that was inside of me.
A low snarl tears from my throat the moment she agrees, and I drive into her harder, needing her to say it again. I need to mark her so every male in this territory knows she belongs to me now. Not yet, I can’t yet. If I do mark her, if I claim her the way my wolf wants…there’s no going back, and no undoing it. There would be no denying the bond.
I still don’t trust her, not yet, even if my body, my wolf and every fucking fibre of my soul is already starting to betray me. I will take this, I will burn through her heat, ride it until she’s broken and soft. Until she’s too spent to remember how to lie, then I will drag the truth from her lips, even if it’s the last thing I do.
My wolf takes over, pushing forward more, controtting my actions like it knows I won’t claim her. Before I can react, I bite her shoulder and this time, it’s hard enough to by Successfully unlocked! deep, right over the spot where the mating mark will live. Her scream tears through the forest, not pain, but from the overwhelming and brutal pleasure that flows. I thrust harder and deeper as blood flows into my mouth, it’s warm, and wild, and something ancient inside of me howls in satisfaction. The bond flares between us instantly, and the mark binds her to me in a way that no words ever could.
She. Is. Mine.
1/2
Claiming
It’s not just a claim, it’s a vow, and a warning. It’s a promise that now, she’s mine, fully and irrevocably, even if I wasn’t willing to let her in.
My hips never stop moving, I only thrust harder and deeper. Each stroke drags her closer to the edge again, and I can feel her body begin to tighten around me. Every part of her is begging to break again.
“Bite me,” I snarl, my voice cracking under the weight of the bond that’s beginning to ignite through my chest. “Do it now,” I
snarl.
Her eyes widen and are wild as they meet mine, her head shakes once, like she doesn’t trust herself, like she thinks it’s some kind of trap.
“It’s not a request,” I growl as my hips slam into hers, my hand grips the back of her neck. “Do it now, bite me back and claim me, Serafine.”
She hesitates for only a second more, then I feel her shift beneath me. Her body arches, and her lips part, I feel her fangs sink through my skin and into my throat just above my shoulder.
Pain sparks, and pleasure roars, quickly silencing it out. My wolf surges forward so fast I almost shift right here, my claws slice more, and grip the floor, slicing through the mud beside her. My cock pulses buried deep inside of her. The bond doesn’t just snap into place; it detonates, and energy instantly pulses between us like roots threading deep into the earth. It wraps around our veins, threading our souls together. Her scent changes immediately, no longer just heat, now she smells like mine.
My mate. The mate I wasn’t supposed to have.
I cry out, hoarse and raw as I spill into her. My hips lock tight, and my whole body shakes from the force of it. The swell begins deep, my knot pressing against her entrance, and I can feel her body react, feel it tense and ready as instinct answers instinct. With a final thrust, I push forward and lock myself inside of her. My knot swells and binds us together the way wolves were meant to be. A perfect, primal seal, and bound.
Her name escapes my mouth, both a curse and prayer. She gasps beneath me, her back arching, breath hitching as her entire body wraps itself around mine like it’s always meant to. Her walls clench and flutter around my knot, and she moans, ↑ a soft, broken and wrecked sound as the final wave of pleasure rolls through her. Her lips are still stained with my blood,
her mark shines bright, red and raw on her shoulder, it’s a perfect mirror to the one she gave me.
We’re both panting, our bodies trembling, skin damp and flush. We’re tangled in the dirt and moss as the bond thrums between us. There’s no other sound than our breathing and the echo of our wolves circling one another, pressing close, claiming and being claimed.
Even now, as the haze finally begins to fade she trembles beneath me, her scent is locked around mine. I can’t stop the thought that coils through the rush. This wasn’t supposed to happen, I wasn’t meant to have another mate, and definitely not her.
As the haze begins to fade and she trembles beneath me, her scent locked around mine, I can’t stop the thought that coils through the rush. Fate doesn’t care, though; it doesn’t care that she is the daughter of the man who murdered my first mate. This feels different, though, more powerful, stronger and weird.
It makes no difference, she’s mine now, knotted to me. Bound in blood, instinct and raw pleasure. No matter what truth she‘ s still hiding, no matter what name she bears, or what lies she tells. I won’t let her go. Ever.
