2. Nico

CHAPTER TWO

NICO

T he breeze licked at my chest and thighs and face, cool and soothing against my fevered skin. How long had it been since I’d felt anything but the relentless burn of my wolf’s rage? Days? Weeks?

Months?

Time had lost all meaning in the haze of fur and fang and blood. But now, staring at the naked female before me, I felt... human. That was the word. Human, for the first time in longer than I could remember.

She was a fucking goddess. Fierce and wild, with fire in her eyes. Her sleek brown hair clung to her cheeks. Water droplets rolled down her chest, between her perfect tits. I wanted to chase them with my tongue.

“Who the fuck are you?” she snarled.

My nostrils flared as her scent hit me. Thunderstorms and wild heather, electric and powerful. My cock hardened instantly, desperate to claim her, to fuck her, to make her mine.

Some distant part of my brain registered her words—demands for answers, threats. But all I could focus on was the way her nipples pebbled in the cool night air. The way her throat worked as she swallowed. The slight tremble in her hands as she fisted them at her sides.

I took a step forward. Then another, and another. My wolf knew it in a heartbeat—that she was the one we’d been searching for our entire lives. That it was s he who could finally quiet the chaos in our mind and make us whole again.

I didn’t question it. I didn’t question much of anything anymore.

She lifted her chin, matching my steps by wading deeper into the stream. Water lapped around my ankles. Rippled around my calves. Closer to her. Always closer.

Her eyes widened, pupils dilating as they raked over my body. The scent of her arousal hit me like a freight train, and I had to bite back a growl. My wolf paced restlessly beneath my skin, howling mine mine mine .

Her back met smooth rocks, and she had nowhere else to go. She still didn’t lower her eyes. Defiant even when cornered. Fuck, I loved her fire.

My hands moved of their own accord, ghosting up her arms. She shivered, goosebumps erupting in the wake of my fingers. A small gasp escaped her parted lips, and I wanted nothing more than to swallow the sound.

“Don’t fucking touch me,” she warned, but there was no real venom behind it. Not with the way her nipples pebbled against my chest, how her hips canted ever so slightly toward mine.

I dragged my fingers over her collarbone, then down down down. Between her tits. Across her flat stomach. Over her hip and between her thighs.

She whimpered as I circled her clit with my thumb. Her eyelids fluttered closed, and I could almost taste her surrender on my tongue. She was wet and hot and slick under my fingers, her hips bucking against my touch.

But then panic flashed across her face. She shoved me hard, sending me staggering back.

A low growl rumbled in my throat. I caught her wrist before she reached the bank, spinning her back toward me. My wolf surged beneath my skin, snarling and snapping to be set free.

Mine.

Bright gold eyes dragged from where I held her, up my arm, and glared straight into my soul.

She matched me growl for growl, her other hand reaching up. I flinched, expecting a strike. Instead, her palm flattened against my chest. Her touch scorched through my veins, burning away the last vestiges of my control.

I yanked her against me and claimed her mouth in a bruising kiss. She melted into me with a groan, her lips parting to let my tongue sweep in. Her hands wound up around my neck, tangling in my hair. She tugged hard enough to elicit a pained hiss, but fuck if I didn’t love that edge of pain.

We crashed together, teeth and tongues and lips. I wanted to devour her. Taste every inch of her perfect fucking body. Lose myself in her over and over until I remembered who I was.

With a growl, I pinned her against the mossy bank. My face hovered inches above hers, chests heaving in unison. Her eyes were wild, pupils blown wide with lust and fury and confusion.

My hand gripped her jaw, forcing her head back. I sucked a line of bruises down the column of her throat. Salt and earth and woman. I groaned at the taste, wanting more. Needing more.

She bucked beneath me, using the momentum to flip our positions. Her thighs bracketed my hips as she straddled me, a triumphant smirk playing across her swollen lips. She raked her nails down my chest, and I hissed, the sharp sting of pain mingling with pleasure.

“Who the fuck do you think you are?” she demanded, grinding against my aching cock. “You can’t just... touch me like that. I don’t even know your name!”

Her words were a challenge, and my wolf answered. I growled, sitting up to capture a pink nipple between my teeth. She gasped, back arching as I flicked my tongue over the tight bud.

I caught her chin, forcing her to meet my gaze. My voice was rusty from disuse and barely more than a gravelly rasp, but I managed to grate out a single word. “Nico.”

“Nico,” she breathed, testing the name on her tongue.

Hearing my name— my name —fall from her lips snapped something inside me. I needed to hear her scream it. Needed to see her face flushed with pleasure as she came around my cock.

With a snarl, I flipped her onto her back. My wolf howled with satisfaction as she lay beneath me, chest heaving and legs splayed wantonly. I could smell her desire, thick and sweet and so fucking delicious.

Mine.

I buried my face between her thighs, feasting on her. A strangled moan tore from her throat as I devoured her. Sucking and licking and lapping up every drop of her sweet pussy.

She tasted like heaven and sin and home.

Her hands fisted in my hair, alternating between pulling me closer and trying to push me away. I dug fingers into her hips, holding her still as she squirmed beneath me. She tried to close her thighs around my head, but I forced them open.

“Fuck, Nico,” she whimpered, hips bucking against my mouth. “I can’t... I shouldn’t...”

I redoubled my efforts, determined to make her forget everything but the pleasure I was giving her. My name on her lips drove me wild, and I wanted more. So much more.

She tugged sharply on my hair, and I growled in response. I lifted my head long enough to shoot her a warning glare, and the sight made my cock throb.

Cheeks flushed. Eyes bright with her inner wolf. Back arched in utter ecstasy.

With another groan, I dove back in. And another sharp tug pulled me from my feast.

She rolled us over again, shoving me onto my back. I snarled in frustration, but the noise turned into a moan as her thighs bracketed my head. Her mouth descended on my aching cock, swallowing me down in one swift movement.

Fuck yes.

Her tongue swirled around my tip, flicking against the sensitive underside. She hummed around me, and I had to fight the urge to thrust into her mouth. I dug my fingers into her hips as she bobbed up and down, taking me deeper and deeper each time.

Fuck, she was good at this. I squeezed my eyes shut, savoring the sensation. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d been touched, but this? This was worth every second of waiting.

I grabbed handfuls of her gorgeous ass, holding her steady as I returned the favor. I feasted on her pussy, swirling my tongue over her clit as she sucked me. I fucked her with my mouth, dragging her closer as she rode my face.

As the pressure built, coiling tighter and tighter in my gut, my wolf clawed at my insides. I wasn’t going to last if she kept this up. I wanted to feel her come around my cock, not my tongue. And I was close, so, so fucking close.

With a snarl, I shoved her off me. She tumbled onto the soft grass with a yelp of surprise.

“What the fuck, Nico?”

Frustration and confusion warred in the narrow glare she shot me. But beneath it all, I could still smell her arousal. Could see the way her thighs pressed together, seeking friction.

I reached for her, intent on claiming her fully, fucking her into the mossy earth until she screamed my name. She scrambled backward, but there was no real fear in her scent. Just excitement. Anticipation.

But her back hit a tree, and she had nowhere left to go. She growled up at me, teeth bared, eyes blazing gold. The threat sent a rush of blood to my already rock-hard cock.

I wanted her to fight back. To submit to me. I wanted her nails and teeth and screams.

I bent my head, inhaling deeply. That heady mix of rain and wilderness had me seeing stars. I brushed my lips over hers once. Twice.

Her hands tangled in my hair, pulling me close. The kiss deepened, heat and lust and hunger dancing between our joined mouths.

But it wasn’t enough. I needed more. Needed all of her.

Our tongues battled for dominance as I lifted her off her feet. Her legs wrapped around my hips, and I slammed her back into the rough bark. I thrust into her without breaking the kiss, filling her completely.

Fuck, she was tight. I hadn’t had a woman in so fucking long, I’d almost forgotten what it felt like to be buried inside one. Especially one as hot and wet and tight as this one.

I gripped her ass, holding her steady as I slammed into her. I wasn’t gentle; I wasn’t even sure I remembered how. But she didn’t seem to mind. She threw her head back in ecstasy, her back arching against the tree. Her nails scored down my shoulders, leaving thin lines of fire in their wake.

Every thrust rocked us both. She cried out as my cock hit that spot deep inside her. The one that made her walls tighten around me, and her eyes roll back.

“Fuck, Nico. Fuck, right there...”

Her breathless voice sent a bolt of pure lust straight to my cock. I growled, nipping at the tender flesh of her neck.

I slammed into her over and over, skin slapping against skin. We were a tangle of teeth and nails and raw animal need. I lost myself in her scent, her taste, her tight cunt squeezing my dick.

She pushed off the tree, sending us both to the forest floor. I rolled, ready to flip us again, but a snarl and a shove to my chest stopped me in my tracks. Her wolf was strong—almost as strong as mine.

Fates, she was glorious. Wild and fierce, fucking me like her life depended on it. Like she owned me.

She threw her head back, and her gorgeous tits bounced with every roll of her hips. I couldn’t resist. I sat up and caught one in my mouth, sucking hard on her hard nipple.

She gasped, rocking faster. Fucking harder.

I thrust up into her, matching her rhythm. I dragged my mouth from one breast to the other, never staying too long, teasing the other nipple with my calloused fingers. It was like we’d done this a million times before, like our bodies already knew each other in every possible way. I’d never felt this connection, this white-hot fire burning inside me every time we touched.

“Fuck, Nico. I’m close. So fucking close,” she panted. She fisted her hands in my hair and forced my head back to meet her gaze. “I’ll kill you if you stop again.”

I bared my teeth in a feral grin and slipped a hand between our sweat-slick bodies. My thumb found her clit, and her body tensed. She moaned, her movements growing jerky and frantic as she neared her release. It was too much, too fucking good.

And it only intensified when she sank her fangs into my shoulder.

My release roared through me like wildfire. I wrapped an arm around her waist, pinning her to me as I spilled inside her. White hot, blinding pleasure pulsed through me as I rode the wave. My vision blurred and my senses dulled. My wolf howled his approval, basking in the connection with our mate.

Mine. My mate.

For a brief, blissful moment, nothing else existed. Just her, and me, and the roaring flames consuming us both.

Her fingernails dug into my skin as she ground against my thumb, riding the wave of bliss until her hips finally slowed and she collapsed against my chest.

The forest came back into focus around us—the wind rustling through the leaves, the stream trickling beside us, the sounds of night creatures stirring from their nests.

But none of that mattered. None of that compared to the feeling of her breath on my neck, and her heart thudding against mine.

I cupped her cheek, thumb brushing across her lower lip. “Mate,” I rasped.

Because that’s what she was. The only thing that made sense in the whirlwind of chaos that was my mind. There were so many chunks missing in my head, but not her. She was the crystal fucking clear destruction of the jagged rage and agony encasing my organs.

I hated the horror that dawned on her features as her eyes met mine. It was as though some terrible realization had snapped into place, and she hated herself for it. Hated me.

“Fuck.”