Chapter Twelve

Madelyn

Madelyn wasn’t thinking as she took Xavier’s cock down the back of her throat far enough to make herself gag on it. Now that she knew the truth about what he was, his size made sense, and she had wanted to do this from the moment she had seen it in the video he sent her. Going down on a guy was one of her favorite things, and she wasn’t about to pass up this opportunity, even if they were in an alley.

It wasn’t like her to do something like this in public where anyone could walk out the back door and see what the two of them were up to, but she wasn’t in control of herself. Xavier had said everything that she had ever wanted someone to say to her, everything that she had spent her whole life craving, and that struck something deep inside of her that she had thought was irreparable.

For reasons she couldn’t understand, he wanted her, and, as much as she hated to admit it, he was right, and she wanted him too. It didn’t seem to matter that everything inside of her said that it was wrong or that she still wasn’t sure she believed in the whole ‘soulmate’ thing. But she had meant what she said, she was done fighting this. Whether she was really his fated mate or not, there was something here, and fighting it wasn’t worth it anymore.

The weight of that acceptance hit her like a ton of bricks as she forced her throat to relax so that she could take him deeper.

“Fuck, Madelyn. Eyes on me, baby,” he growled. Even though she hated being told what to do, she lifted her gaze to meet his and watched as his lips parted in a gasp. “That’s it, just like that. I want to see your face as I fuck your throat.”

The dirty words made her moan, the sound vibrating down his shaft, as she squeezed her thighs together around her wet panties. There was something about hearing him use such vulgar language that did it for her, and she wanted to return the favor.

Madelyn scraped her teeth gently along the underside of his cock, the cool metal of his piercing clicking against her teeth, and he groaned in appreciation. The sound turned her on more than any form of foreplay, and it made her feel sexy and powerful even though she was the one on her knees for him.

As she hollowed out her cheeks and increased suction, Xavier gasped, and his face tilted back toward the sky. When he looked back down at her again, his eyes were glowing brighter than she’d ever seen before, a hot sort of carnal look reflected from him.

His fingers tightened their grip on her hair, and his thrusts became frantic and punishing. Even though she braced her hands against his jean-clad thighs, he still ended up making her gag a few more times, but she didn’t mind. It turned her on.

Even though her throat wanted to fight the invasion, and her eyes watered, no doubt smearing her mascara, she continued to take it. She was enjoying the fact that he was finding pleasure in her, and she had every intention of finishing him off with her mouth. Xavier seemed to have other ideas though because he suddenly yanked hard on her hair, pulling her off of him with a pop.

Her shoulders heaved as she fought to catch her breath, but she never took her eyes off him. No one had ever looked at her the way he was looking at her now, like she was the most precious thing in the world, and it made her heart squeeze in her chest. His thumb brushed against her swollen lips before dipping inside and pressing against her tongue. Closing her mouth around the digit, she gently nipped at the pad. His eyes blazed as he pulled his bottom lip in between his teeth and moved his hand to grab her jaw instead.

“Fuck. I need to be inside you. Right now.” Without giving her time to respond, he pulled her to her feet and slammed his mouth against hers, his lips bruising and his erection pressed against her belly.

“Xavier,” she whispered, though she wasn’t sure what she was trying to say.

This wasn’t what she was expecting when she came outside to talk to him, but her body seemed to agree with him. She needed him to be inside her.

Xavier lifted her into his arms and pressed her against the side of the building, protecting the back of her head with his hand as he did. Sometimes his actions contradicted his harsh and demanding personality, but she was beginning to realize that it was all a part of who he was. With her heart beating an unsteady rhythm against her chest, she wrapped her legs around his waist as he pulled her panties off to the side and lined his cock up with her entrance.

“Don’t worry, baby,” he murmured, smiling against her mouth. “I’ve got you. But this is going to be fast and hard. You okay with that?”

Her lips parted as she nodded. She hadn’t expected it to be anything other than fast and hard for a couple of reasons. One was they were in public, and the other was that they both seemed to need this.

Xavier slammed into her in one swift move, once again stretching her far beyond her limits. She cried out at the sudden invasion, but his mouth muffled the sound so she wouldn’t be heard. It hurt, but only for a second, and the pain helped to remind her that this was real, that he wanted her. She was wanted, which was everything to her.

A shudder ran through his body before he braced a hand on the wall and began pounding into her at a punishing pace. The rough brick tore at the skin of her back, his hips slamming into her hard enough that she knew would bruise, but she was too lost in the moment to care about either of those things. She could hear the sounds of everyone else still back in the bar. The music, the laughing, the clattering of glass, everything was continuing like normal while she was getting banged in the alley. And maybe it was the risk of getting caught, but she found it exhilarating and hot as hell.

Madelyn clung to his neck as he moved her on his shaft, the angle pushing him deeper than before. Her walls clenched as he groaned against her mouth, and his hand came down off the wall to circle her neck. She gasped as he applied a little bit of pressure against her throat before he dragged his teeth along her jaw. The sounds of their fucking filled the alley, drowning out everything else.

All of a sudden, the back door to the bar opened, and one of the bartenders stepped outside to throw away a bag of trash. Madelyn gasped and attempted to climb off of Xavier, but he just covered her mouth with his hand as he slowed his movements instead. He continued to fuck her slowly and silently, the sudden change in pace creating a fire in her lower abdomen that slowly grew with each thrust of his hips. She watched with wide eyes as the bartender lifted the lid to the dumpster and tossed the bag inside while scrolling through his phone. He was completely oblivious to what was going on just a few feet away, and within a matter of seconds, he was back inside the bar, none the wiser.

The second the door shut behind him, Xavier began slamming into her again with renewed vigor. His soft grunts sounded in her ear, melting her into a puddle as her breath lodged in her throat. The fire in her abdomen exploded, igniting her entire body as her walls began tightening around him once more. With a few more thrusts of his hips, she found herself teetering on the edge but still unable to go over completely.

“Time for you to cum, little dove,” he demanded softly.

Before she realized what was happening, his sharp teeth bit into the curve of her neck, breaking the skin, and his hand came up to cover her mouth as she screamed. That sharp bite of pain was enough to send her flying over the edge in an orgasm that shook her down to her very core.

Xavier’s jaw tightened on her neck with a low, deep growl, pushing his teeth deeper into her flesh, as he stilled inside of her. She felt every pulse of his cock as he emptied himself into her. Her body trembled, her limbs going limp, and every ounce of energy she had was sapped. Still, Xavier continued to hold her as though she weighed nothing at all.

For what felt like an eternity, the two of them remained locked in their embrace, her legs around his waist and his face buried in the side of her neck. Reality came flooding back to her all at once, and her cheeks heated as she realized what she had done. She had once again slept with her stalker, in public no less, and had even told him that she’d be willing to give them a try when, just a couple of days ago, she told him to leave her alone. Something had changed between them now, and she wasn’t sure she liked it.

“Don’t do that,” Xavier said, finally releasing her neck and lifting his head to meet her gaze. She realized that he must have sensed some kind of change in her demeanor because she could see the worry in his eyes. “Don’t start doubting this already.”

With a gentle push to his chest, Madelyn climbed off of him and back onto her own feet, though she was surprised he let her. She winced as he slid out of her and braced a hand on the wall until her legs were steady enough to hold her up on their own.

Instead of responding right away, she busied herself with readjusting her clothing. She hated the fact that she didn’t have anything to clean herself up with and was now going to have to go back inside with a pussy full of cum, but it wasn’t like she had many options.

“Madelyn,” Xavier pressed as he tucked himself back into his jeans.

“I meant what I said,” she replied at last, once her mind was clear enough to form actual thoughts. “I… I am willing to give this a try. But, Xavier, I don’t believe in soulmates. And I think that, once you realize how broken and messed up I am, you are going to change your mind about me.”

“And when I don’t?”

Madelyn just sighed and shook her head. He sounded so sure of this, of them. Meanwhile, she had never been sure of anything. Her life was a rollercoaster that she was still trying to navigate. She didn’t know how she was supposed to do this.

“Look, I get it,” he began, brushing her hair out of her face. “You aren’t a shifter, so you don’t feel the bond the same way I do. You probably feel some attraction and the desire to be around me, but nothing much stronger than that. For me? It’s entirely different. It’s… it’s an obsession, an addiction. My wolf is devoted to you and you alone. There will never be anyone else for me. Nor do I want anyone else.”

That was probably the most she had ever heard him say all at once, and it was a lot to take in and unpack. She pressed her lips together and looked up at him. “One of these days, you are going to have to tell me more about this whole shifter thing.”

“What do you wanna know?” he asked, the corner of his lips tilting up slightly.

Madelyn leaned against the wall and folded her arms across her chest before letting out a breath. She had so many questions that she didn’t even know where to begin. She knew Melanie and the others were waiting for her to return, but she couldn’t pass up the opportunity to finally get some answers. All of this had been driving her crazy for weeks.

Deciding that her friends could wait a little while longer, she figured she’d start with an easy question. “Were you born a shifter?”

With a nod, he settled against the wall next to her before he stuck his hands into his pockets and propped his foot up on the wall behind him. “Yes.”

“How many of you are there?”

“I have no idea,” he admitted with a shrug of his shoulders.

“But there are others; it’s not just you, right?”

“Right. Rogue shifters are lone wolves though, meaning we don’t run with packs or with any other shifter. I became a rogue after I killed my father, but I had been born into a pack. There were sixty-five of us in that pack, though there are dozens more all over the world.”

Madelyn nodded, taking in that information. That was a lot of shifters, and the fact that no one knew they even existed was mind-boggling. “How have you guys remained hidden for so long?”

“Easy,” he said. “We learn to control our wolves at a very early age. We stick to small towns that are surrounded by woods so that, when we do let our wolves out, it’s not so conspicuous, and it’s easier to hide. We stay away from cities where it’s harder for us to let our wolves out, and if someone did stumble across one of us, while we were in the middle of shifting or something, we’d just take care of them.”

“Meaning you killed them,” she clarified.

He nodded again. “They’d be considered a threat, so yeah. We killed them. We’d make it fast though so they didn’t suffer, and then we’d either make it look like an accident or make the body disappear entirely. Packs never killed lightly though. They’d try talking to the person first, explaining the situation, and assessing the risks.”

“Do, uh, do I need to be worried?” she asked hesitantly, not sure she wanted to know the answer. By all accounts, she would be considered a threat now since she knew about the existence of shifters.

Thankfully, Xavier shook his head and she was able to relax a bit. “No, little dove. You do not need to be worried. You are my mate. You were going to find out eventually. Many shifters take human mates. They just have to make sure that their mate is in a position to accept them and their secret before they tell them.”

“But you didn’t do that with me,” she muttered. “You didn’t wait.”

“I tried, but I wasn’t given a choice, no,” he explained. “Colby threatened you. And then that junkie tried to kill you. Your safety is my number one priority because, if anything happens to you, I die. That’s how strong the bond is for me. So, I took the risk, even knowing there was a possibility that you could expose the existence of my kind.”

When she found out what he was, she had been angry that he had kept it from her, especially since they had slept together. But after taking the time to really think about it, she realized it made sense. It was a big secret, one that couldn’t be trusted to just anyone.

So, her being angry with him for not trusting her had been completely unwarranted because he had trusted her. He had shown his true self to her before he knew if she was ready to hear it, which made her feel like a jerk for ignoring him for the last two days.

“Tell me more about the fated mate thing,” she said after a while.

If he was getting annoyed with her questions, he didn’t let on. “To be honest, I thought it was a myth. It’s been a long time since I’ve heard of a shifter finding their fated mate, but since I don’t really associate with any others of my kind, it makes sense that I hadn’t heard anything. When a shifter sees his fated mate for the first time, he knows it immediately. It’s this strong, undeniable pull that leads you to this person, and a bond forms between you and them, one that’s said to strengthen over time. It’s like a flashing neon sign that screams that this is the person you are supposed to spend the rest of your life with. The one person who’s your absolute perfect fit.”

“Soulmates,” she whispered.

Xavier looked at her and nodded. “Yes. And that person? Our soulmate? They become everything to us. They become our life, our will to live, and we would do anything and everything to protect them. They are all that matter in the world. And because shifters are mainly social creatures, we can’t be away from them for too long, or we start to lose our minds. We go feral and have to be put down, or we become a menace. And if they reject us? It’s an instant death sentence.”

“Which is why you started stalking me,” she sighed, thumping her head back against the wall. The more she learned, the more everything seemed to fall into place. The more it all made sense.

Xavier wasn’t trying to be creepy or weird. He just couldn’t stay away from her without losing his marbles. Granted, he could have approached her like a normal person and struck up a conversation, but considering the way he was brought up, he probably didn’t have much by way of social skills.

Looking over at him, Madelyn gently took Xavier’s hand in hers. “Thank you for being honest with me. I appreciate it.”

“I’ve never lied to you, little dove,” he stated, giving her hand a gentle squeeze. “I may have kept things from you, but that was only because I needed to be sure. Now that you know the truth, I won’t keep things from you anymore.”

“Good, because I’m going to have more questions for you.”

He chuckled softly. “I’d expect nothing less.”

“And you need to stop stalking me too,” she added as the thought crossed her mind. “If you want this to work, you need to start acting like a normal person. Take me out on dates and stuff.”

A panty-dropping smirk splayed across his lips as he yanked on her hand, pulling her toward him. “Do you want to start tonight? Do you want to take me inside and introduce me to your friends then?”

Madelyn laughed and shook her head. “Uh, no. Not tonight. I need to figure out how to tell Melanie about all this first.”

“So, you are just going to go back in there after disappearing for a half hour, all by yourself, and with a fresh shifter mark on your neck and a pussy full of baby batter?”

His words made her wince and her nose crinkled in disgust. She had heard it called many things, but that was by far the worst of them all. “Ew, don’t ever call it that. That’s just gross.”

His chest rumbled with his laughter as Xavier pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “Alright, sorry.”

“Wait,” she said after a moment, “What do you mean ‘shifter’s mark’?”

His smile grew as he reached up and brushed his fingers along the bite mark on her neck. “This is a shifter’s mark. Because each bite mark is unique to the shifter that gave it, shifters bite their mates as a way to claim them as their own.”

“So, you marked me.”

“Yes.”

Pressing her lips together, her eyes narrowed at him. “I oughta slap you.”

“You tried that once already. Remember how it turned out?” he teased playfully.