Chapter 12

Chapter

Twelve

HEL

" G host," I moan his name as his fingers trace my collarbone, his tongue on my neck, leaving me shivering with need. The hunger of his touch melts through me, leaving my knees close to buckling.

"Tell me what you're thinking." His tone is rough, strained with control as he pulls back to stare at me, his face so close that his breath flutters over my cheeks.

I laugh shakily. "Bold of you to assume I can think right now."

"Try." His thumb traces my lower lip, and my whole body shudders. "I want to hear your voice."

"I'm thinking…" I swallow hard. "That this is probably a terrible idea. That this is going to end with me hurt. That I should run."

"But?"

"But I don't want to." I force myself to hold his gaze. "And that terrifies me more than you do. I've only ever been with one other man in my life."

He makes a sound low in his throat, something like a growl. "I wish I'd found you years ago, made you mine, so I was the only man you'd ever feel."

"It's time to start working on a time machine!" I try to smile, but it fails as he continues to run his fingertips along the low neckline of my dress, leaving me breathless.

"You're trembling," he says.

"Really? I hadn't noticed." My voice shakes too. I'm a complete mess when he stares at me with that sinful expression when I'm in his hands.

He steps closer, and I swear the temperature in the room spikes.

"Always with your sass," he murmurs, his breath hot against my ear. "Even now."

"It's part of my charm." Despite my words, my nerves are in overdrive.

His hands slide down my arms, leaving trails of fire in their wake. "You're not in trouble here."

"No?" I laugh, but it comes out breathy. "Then why does it feel like I'm about to do something incredibly stupid?"

"Because you think too much." He finds the hem of my dress. "May I?"

No , my brain screams. Yes , my body answers. And I nod, not trusting my voice.

The fabric whispers over my skin as he lifts it away, leaving me in just my underwear. The cool air hits my bare back, and I resist the urge to cover myself.

"Absolutely beautiful." His gaze inhales me as it travels down my body, pausing a bit too long on my breasts, his tongue slipping out, dragging across his lower lip. "I've been dreaming of this moment, little flame. Jerked off dozens of times just thinking of claiming you."

"Dozens, you say?"

He chuckles while my nipples tighten as if in command to his reaction, and I catch the grin tugging at the corner of his mouth… He noticed, too.

My heart's fluttering so hard now, and the fire between my thighs is a pool of desire. He moves in closer, leaning in, and his mouth grazes mine. I press against him, needing this, craving it.

His kiss is possessive and dominant, just like him. Fingers tangle in my hair, tugging my head back as his mouth claims mine, and my hands are fisting his shirt. I gasp against him, never having been kissed this way before—tender yet so full of passion that it leaves me dizzy. His other hand grips my waist, drawing me firmly against him.

I'm falling hard for him, so much so that I won't be able to escape. Maybe I don't want to. Maybe it's my turn to finally find something good for a change.

His tongue presses into my mouth, tangling with mine, and I suck down on it, shuddering at how much I love the sensation of hearing him groan against me with pleasure. His cock is so fucking hard against me, only thin fabrics between us, and I feel him throbbing for me.

He breaks the kiss, only to trail down to my neck once more, taking long licks and mock bites.

"Ghost," I breathe his name.

"Too late," he whispers against my skin, sending me trembling. "I'm not stopping now."

"I want more."

He lifts his gaze, then his body, smirking like the devil.

"My good little flame. That's the right answer."

His mouth captures mine again, more demanding, more dominating, and I surrender to his darkness. With his hands on my shoulders, he pulls away, then turns me to face the wall, sweeping my hair over one shoulder.

His lips find my neck, and the moan that escapes me is beyond needy, my thighs clenching tight. Then he goes still, his body tensing behind me. A low growl builds in his chest.

"Is everything all right?" I ask, glancing over my shoulder at him, but he's got his gaze lowered on me, brow furrowed deeply.

"What are these scars on your back?"

My heart stops. Those marks are from my bastard husband. I try to turn, but Ghost's hands hold me firmly in place. His fingers trace the raised lines gently, but each touch brings back flashes of memories.

The whistle of leather through the air. The crack of the belt. "This is for your own good, Hel." His voice thick with arousal as I tried to crawl away. The sharp bite of metal when the buckle caught my skin.

"Hel," Ghost's voice pulls me back.

"It's nothing," I say automatically. Don't complain. Don't let it get back to Jarl. He'll make it worse next time.

I hate that those thoughts still linger…

"He did this to you." It's not a question. The heat of Ghost's body behind me has turned from arousing to protective, his hands now cradling me.

"Can we skip the part where you pity me?" I sigh, hating this moment. Hating that I told him about my husband in the first place, about the forced marriage. Hating the weakness that crept into my voice when I did. "I've got enough issues without adding that to the mix."

He turns me around, and I stare at his chest, my arms crossed protectively over my breasts.

"Look at me," he says gently.

I peek up through my lashes, expecting sympathy, condescension, disgust—any of the usual reactions. Instead, I find tenderness. His good eye burns with it.

"I'm going to get off this fucking island," he growls. "And when I do, I'm going to?—"

"You won't?—"

"I'll destroy the motherfucker. I'll take my time, too. Make it last."

"Ghost, it's not that simple…"

"Don't worry, sweetheart. I'll make sure he suffers."

"He's dead." My words pour out. "He's gone. There's nothing left to fix. Just me, with all these shit memories and ugly scars."

His hands cup my face, staring at me intently. "You think that matters to me? You are the most beautiful thing I've seen, gorgeous just as you are, and you're mine to protect now. Don't ever think you're anything but perfect."

The possessiveness in his voice should frighten me. Instead, it makes that heat flare higher. I feel like things have moved so fast, and he's already overly captivated with me. I can't deny that I'm struggling to think of him not being at my side, too.

Ghost doesn't say anything, just holds me tighter as years of pain finally break free. I tremble in his arms, and he strokes me, kissing my brow.

When I pull back, it's only far enough to tilt my chin up. His tongue traces the tear tracks on my cheeks.

"You taste like electricity," he murmurs. "Like a storm about to break."

"Smooth talker." I half grin as the heat under my skin pulses in time with my heart. My wolf is restless, wanting more of Ghost, wanting everything. For the first time since I arrived on Nightmare Island, I truly feel like maybe I belong here.

Maybe that should scare me more than it does.

"I'm sorry he did that to you, but I promise to make you feel like the queen you should be."

I'm smiling, still struggling to believe that something good might be happening to me for a change.

Ghost lifts my chin with his finger and kisses me again, gently at first, then rising to a crescendo of sucking on my tongue and my lips, coaxing a purr from me… a sound I've never made before.

"You're such a good girl," he whispers, and those words have me purring more.

I lean into his kiss, holding on to him like he's my world, my everything. It's so strange to think that hearing his sweet praise gets me more excited to be with him than anything I've experienced.

"You like it when I call you that?" he asks softly, his hands falling to my hips, his thumbs slipping under the elastic of my panties.

I nod, breathing heavily, knowing I'm completely drenched for him. Of course, that's when he tugs my underwear down my legs, kneeling in front of me, leaving a trail of kisses on the way—down the valley between my breasts, my stomach—then he has his mouth right where I'm burning up.

I step out of the underwear as he presses his nose against my pussy, deeper still, taking a sharp intake of breath. His fingers slide between the crack of my ass, the sensation overwhelmingly incredible.

Gasping, I weave my hands through his hair while his hands slide up my inner thighs, nudging them wider. He's relentless, pushy, and unstoppable. And I love it.

"You have no idea how long I've been waiting to have your sweet cunt all over my face, to tongue-fuck you, to make you come on me, covering me with your creamy orgasm."

A moan spills past my throat. Grasping his hair, I stare down at him. He glances up, winking.

"Don't tease a girl now."

He abruptly lifts me off my feet, his powerful arms circling around my thighs and carrying me to the bed.

"If I'm going to eat, I need it spread out for me."

I laugh at him as an excited shiver races down my spine, all the way to my core, where my pussy quivers for more.

"I've never had anyone lick me down there before," I admit, feeling stupid for saying anything.

Ghost's eye lights up, and his grin is sinful. "I'll be the first mouth, first tongue, to devour your cunt?"

I nod, laughing at him.

He moves even faster, and in seconds, I'm lying flat on the bed, my ass on the edge of the mattress, while he's spreading my legs.

My face blushes.

He doesn't even notice, as he has eyes only for my offering. He kneels in front of me beside the bed, preparing for his meal.

"Are you ready for me to take care of you?" he drawls.

I nod, holding my breath at how desperately I need him. It's as though I've been ready for him from the first moment I laid eyes on him.

He leans in, and there's no pause… his tongue is on me, traveling between my lips, pushing deeper into my folds. My body arches, a loud purr in my throat. I never expected it to feel so amazing. He wastes no time licking me all over.

I need more. My hips rock with the tightness building inside me while my Alpha lowers his mouth to my entrance, where he goes wild, the tingles driving me crazy. I cry out as his thumb is on my clit, and he's rubbing me like a wild man. It's tingly and so sensitive, that I'm wriggling beneath him.

In moments, I'm fisting the blanket harder, riding his face, and screaming from the orgasm tearing through me.

He's licking me savagely now, my thighs trembling, my breaths labored. My pussy is swollen and so unbelievably wet. I glance down at Ghost, who's pulling back, staring at me with a grin.

His mouth and chin are glistening with my juices. Yet, his fingers never leave my pussy, one of them pushing into me like he can't let go.

It feels incredible, and I'm floating.

"The prettiest cunt I've ever seen, so greedy, too, sucking down on my fingers. She wants every inch of me, doesn't she?"

"Yes," I breathe, tilting my hips. "It's yours."

"All of you is mine." He moves two fingers to my clit, rubbing it in a clockwise manner, slowly at first, then building.

I may have just exploded all over his face, but the addiction is returning like a storm. The tempo of his strokes quickens, and I shudder all over, the slow build of pleasure inside me taking over.

"Would you like me to stop, sweetheart?"

"Only if you want me to haunt your dreams forever," I answer between ragged breaths, coaxing a laugh out of him.

He's on his feet. "Good, because I'm about to fuck your brains out, little flame. Give you something you'll never forget." He unbuttons his pants and drops them, revealing that he's completely naked underneath.

He steps out of them, and my sight is caught on his huge cock. I didn't know they grew that big, the tip reddish and glistening, a thick vein running down the shaft. I swallow hard at the pulsing length of pleasure that I desperately need inside of me.

"It's fucking big."

Ghost grins as he reaches out and palms himself a few times, his eyes almost rolling back into his head.

"It's all yours, sweetheart."

He leans forward, and I scoot up onto the bed. When he kneels between my legs, his body covers mine, his hands on either side of me.

"You taste even more delicious than I expected, but now I need to be inside you. My balls are so fucking tight. Are you going to be a good girl for me?"

"Yes," I gasp, struggling to form words when I'm floating, and all I can think about is being fucked.

This is what I've missed my whole life—someone to show me what it's like to be adored, a protector, a safe place.

A real Alpha.

He leans in, his tongue dancing up my neck to my earlobe, then he's kissing me, sucking on my tongue. My hands curl around the back of his neck, drawing him closer.

The bulbous tip of his cock slides over my pussy, pushing into my entrance, and he's huge against me. But he's not going slow. He's shoving into me, and I'm moaning loudly.

"Fuck, sweetheart, you have a tight cunt. Now, be a good girl for me and take a deep breath."

I nod while my breaths are speeding. There's a pulsing from him, and I realize it's his huge vein pulsing as he pushes into me.

"This is where I want to be, cock-deep in your little cunt, telling you how beautiful you are."

My heart flutters at his words. "Who would have thought you'd be such a sweet talker?"

He howls with laughter, then starts to fuck me… like, really fuck me. There's no buildup with Ghost, just him shoving into me, hard and fast, and I scream from the sudden pain but also from the pleasure that doesn't want him to stop.

There's no pause, just his hips jerking violently, rattling me, making the room spin. I've dreamed of being with someone I can cling to, stare into his eyes, knowing that it's something we both want. And I'm living my fantasy.

"Such a good girl, taking all of me." Then he's kissing me. "Is this what you've wanted? For me to fill your belly with my cum, to bring out your true Omega?"

I don't know what he means by the last part, but I'm too consumed by him, my voice raspy from my cries, and I can't focus on anything but him claiming me.

"Don't stop… I need more." There's no sarcasm in my voice for a change, but more dirty arousal.

He's building up, going faster, and I'm screaming now, my second climax crashing through me viciously, my thighs closing tight against his hips.

Head back, I'm shuddering and rocking with Ghost as he unleashes a thunderous growl, and hot cum starts to spurt out inside of me. I feel the warmth, the sensation, along with his cock's knot expanding inside me.

"Such a good girl," he growls, his brow glistening.

My heart's pounding, my thighs quivering, and I can't find my voice. My body seems to have come to the decision that I'm at his mercy, and now my brain is struggling to catch up.

Ghost is grinning at me, buried deep, purring, pumping into me.

"This is how it's meant to feel," he tells me as though he's having a conversation with himself. "Like we are one, like I can't bear to take a breath if you're not with me. This… fuck, this…" He unleashes a thunderous growl, then he kisses my neck, a rumble in his chest vibrating against me.

"Do you feel the connection?"

My stomach trembles, I'm sweating, and fuck, I sense my body changing, every inch of me burning up.

"Yes. What's happening?"

Every time he growls, my chest arches to be closer to him, and the vibrations all over me are centered around my core.

"You're starting to go into your heat, sweetheart, and I'm going to fuck you for as long as you need, knot you, breed you, show you what it's like to bond with a real Alpha."

The hackles on my neck rise, as his words terrify me. "Wait, what?"

"Has no one explained going into heat, little flame?"

"Of course I know what it is, but I'm not…" Suddenly, I remember the strange feelings in my body recently, my reaction around Ghost, the burning up. "No, it's too early. I'm not…"

He kisses my brow. "You're ready. I promise you." There's no harshness in his expression, just this handsome Alpha ready for my heat, more than me. All Omegas experience heat—a time when their bodies prepare to match with their Alpha, preparing for babies.

Panic curls through me because my life is chaos, and it's as if I'm watching my future unfold in front of me from a distance.

My womb suddenly cramps, then tightens, as I stare up at Ghost.

"No, you're wrong. That's just your knot."

He huffs with a grin. "If you say so." Suddenly, he peels back his lips over his teeth, sharper than normal; he's taken on part of his wolf teeth.

I'm not a fan of where this is going, yet that masculine scent of sex is strong, smothering me. Another tug of fire deep in my gut.

A sign of an Omega following her true Alpha's command—I know this, yet I fight it, meeting his gaze with steel in mine.

"There's only one way you're going to accept the change coming," he purrs, running his tongue over his top teeth, his canines gleaming dangerously sharp in the dim light.

"Ghost, don't think about it." My voice wavers.

"You're already mine, but now we need to seal it to lessen the pain of your oncoming heat."

"It doesn't have to happen now." My pulse hammers, and sweat trickles down the back of my neck. "Maybe next week? Your schedule must be packed with other Alpha things to do!"

"I made you a promise that I will protect you, so you need to trust me now."

I want to scream, to tear that self-assured smile off his face. The urge builds inside me like a storm about to break… until he leans in and his lips find my neck. The fight drains from me because I know he's right, but I fucking hate it. Am I ready to be locked to him for life?

A moan escapes before I can stop it, my body betraying me as my nipples harden and my heart races. The call of the Alpha is too strong to deny, and here I am, clinging to him, completely betraying myself.

His teeth graze my skin. "I don't want to do it against your will, but you must see that this is needed?"

"I fucking hate this! And yet I'm going to say yes, as it seems I don't have a better choice," I relent, loathing that he's correct. Having seen it firsthand back in Denmark when girls went into heat. They experienced excruciating pain, where nothing truly sated them like their fated mate—fucking her, knotting her until her cycle of heat eased, and marking her as his.

When his fangs finally pierce my flesh, the pain is sharp and clean. I cry out, my fingers digging into his shoulders.

An addictive sensation flows through my veins like liquid, each heartbeat spreading the feeling through me until I'm convinced I'm floating. My eyes are shut, fluttering, my body shaking.

Ghost's scent surrounds me, and I crave him savagely. The bond snaps into place like a lock finding its key, and I shudder at the force that binds me to him. I cling to him and take deep inhales of his scent, unable to get enough.

My fear is still there, though, simmering beneath the surface, but it's joined by something I've never felt before—an overwhelming new emotion of being truly wanted, truly chosen by someone.

I'm not used to this sensation.

"Mine," Ghost growls against my neck, his tongue laving the bite mark. The word echoes through our bond, and I can't tell if I want to laugh or cry.

The world starts to blur at the edges, overwhelming and powerful, and darkness is creeping in. The last thing I feel is Ghost's arms tightening around me.

As consciousness slips away, one thought follows me into the darkness—I never stood a chance.