Chapter 16

Ren

I'd given my mate a proper tour of the manor—of the home I built for her. To know she enjoyed it, that it pleased her immensely, had pride swelling my chest. I'd taken my time showing her as much as I could before I felt her hunger, and my need to provide for her overrode anything else.

And here we were, dinner finished, my mate seated across from me, the whole atmosphere lethargic in the best way… in the way that told me she was satiated by her meal and her surroundings.

And I could smell her desire.

She was confused by it, a scent in my nose that tingled. She didn't understand why she felt this undeniable and extreme pull toward me. I knew that, even though she didn't speak the words out loud.

Mikalina was unsure why her body softened toward me without so much as a touch from me. She wondered why she was aroused, her pussy soaked and sensitive—something I could very much smell with approval. She kept squirming on the chair, her little nipples hard as diamonds under her top.

Christ, just thinking about her being primed for me, ready to let me claim her—my need to mark her—under the full moon, had me nearly snarling, baring my canines. I let my gaze drop to her throat, stared at the slender, pale column of her neck. My mouth watered to pierce her flesh, to let my Lycan canines slide right into her skin, leaving my mark so all males of my species would see whose mate she was.

Mine.

My body started reacting on its own once more for what felt like the hundredth time since seeing her just days ago. My chest rose and fell as I tried to take more oxygen into my lungs. My heart was beating harder to pump more blood through my veins. My nails started turning into claws, my body getting bigger, my Lycan rising to the surface as preparation to take the only woman who would ever satiate me.

I'd waited years—centuries—for her, for the moment when I'd part her thighs and slide into her, fill her up, make her take every single part of me. And in return, I'd take all that she had to offer.

She'd never have to want for anything, never have to worry about who would protect and provide for her, who would keep her safe.

That was my job, my pleasure, my honor.

She sat across from me, the table seeming even longer than it was. I needed her closer, wanted her on my lap, feeding from my hand. A low growl erupted from me, and I saw the way her eyes widened.

I sent the staff home after we finished our meal and they served dessert. I wanted to be alone with my female, even if technically we weren't really alone, not with a Lycan slowly going mad in the basement.

"Did you enjoy your meal?" I tried to keep my voice level, but it was deep, harsh from my arousal, and I could tell it affected her by the way she shifted on her seat. The fire behind me crackled as the flames licked over the wood.

"Everything was incredible. Thank you for tonight." She brought her hand up and curled her tiny fingers around the stem of her wine glass, bringing the crystal to her lips and taking a long pull of the red alcohol. I noticed her hand slightly shook, her emotions and the sensations moving through her pronounced.

My cock throbbed behind the fly of my slacks, and I reached down to discreetly adjust it, although all that did was make me gnash my teeth from the short contact. When she set the wine glass down, I realized she downed the whole thing. I felt a smile form on my lips. "Another?" I gestured to the crystal, then to the bottle sitting in the center of the table.

"I better not." Already, her cheeks were pink, her breathing a little increased. She'd had two glasses, and I could see it already affected her.

I tilted my head and picked up my glass, finishing off my bourbon. I really shouldn"t be drinking, not when liquor did nothing but inflame my senses even more, and with Mikalina right here, the scent of her desire for me growing by the second, that was a dangerous combination.

I tried to start light conversation, attempting to make her more relaxed, but she seemed tense, and the scent of her confusion, and the fact that she was trying in vain not to let her desire for me consume her, only made me want her more. Which seemed an impossible feat as it was.

"Look at me, Mikalina," I coaxed in a deep voice meant to stroke along her senses. She lifted her head, her pupils dilated, her lips redder from the increased blood flow. "Tell me what you want, and it's yours." I leaned forward, anticipating her response, holding my breath for her.

For long seconds, she didn't say anything, just licked her lips and smoothed her finger along the bottom of the wine glass. "I can't," she whispered.

My heart thundered at those two words. "No?"

She slowly shook her head.

"Just say the words." My voice was a husky purr now, one that I hoped had any reservations she felt vanishing.

Her chest rose faster and harder the longer we stared at each other.

"It's too soon."

I groaned, not even holding off the sound. "Too soon for what, sweetling?"

"To want the things I want… with you."

I curled my hands around the edge of the pine table, my nails digging into the wood, the force causing a loud creak to sound. I could have snapped the fucking table in half right now.

To want the things I want… with you.

Ah gods, she was killing me with her innocence.

"Come here, my female." I didn't hide the roughness in my voice, didn't try to pretend I wasn"t an animal. I didn't even censor my endearment, didn't bother stopping those proprietary words, and Mikalina didn't correct me on it. I assumed maybe she'd instinctively—from her human side—tell me she wasn't mine. I would have told her otherwise, over and over again, that she was, in fact, all mine.

And when she stood without any hesitation, when she came forward, I all but purred in pleasure and approval.

Mikalina stood before me, and the very sight and smell of her had my eyes dropping to half-mast, had my body tightening further, and caused my cock to thicken impossibly more. The massive, thick length dug against the zipper of my slacks, and I didn't try to adjust it. Tonight wasn't about claiming her. No, that would be done on the full moon, when I was at my highest, most concentrated animal form, when there would be no stopping us… when she'd be just as frenzied and mindless with need for me as I would be for her.

And it would happen. I could smell her desire pouring off of her, this sweetness that saturated the air and made me drunk from it.

I let my gaze linger along her face, then was shamelessly looking her over. I took in the delicate arch of her collarbones, went lower still to watch how her breasts rose and fell under the thin material of her shirt. My mouth dried at how hard her nipples were, the peaks stabbing through the shirt as if seeking my mouth.

And still, she stood there, knowing I was checking out every perfectly curvy inch of her, letting me have my fill.

Her eyes were hooded, her pupils dilated. Sweet Jesus, she was so aroused right now.

My cock throbbed again and again and again. The fucker jerked once more, the tip getting wet with pre-cum, the prelude to the massive explosion I'd no doubt have as I came and filled her up.

"What are you thinking about?" she asked softly, her voice huskier from her desire, although I gave her credit for trying to act like she wasn't just as affected in this moment as I was.

I let my gaze travel back up her body until I was looking in her eyes. "I'm thinking about when I first saw you, something in me awoke." I let those words hang between us. I wanted to tell her who I was to her, what she was to me, and the fact that she'd never be without me.

The need to explain about my Lycan side—my animal as much a part of me, maybe even more, as my human side. The words were on the tip of my tongue to explain that although I wasn't immortal, I lived centuries upon centuries, and that once I gave her my bite, she'd stop aging, never growing old until the time I faded away and went back to the earth. It was the way of my kind. She needed to know this before I claimed her, because Christ, I needed her to consent to this wholly.

I needed her to tip her head to the side and bare her throat, knowing what she was asking for, knowing she'd experience a world unlike she'd ever dreamed.

And no, I wouldn"t think about her denying me. I wouldn"t worry about her running from me. I'd give chase, of course. Always. But I'd never force her. I'd just keep trying, and trying, and trying.

I want to tell her she'll never be alone, that she'll always have a protector.

"You"re just for me, all for me, female." I let my gaze linger on her lips, so soft and red and full. "I won't let anyone else have you. Never." I knew how possessive those words were, and they were the truth. Even if she denied me, told me she didn't want the mating—which would be the hardest, most devastating thing I'd ever experience in my long life—I'd never let another have her. I'd destroy any male who thought they could touch her, have what was mine.

And Mikalina would always be mine.

She gasped, maybe from my blunt honesty, maybe because she felt that truth deep in her soul.

"The instant I saw you"—smelled the sweet scent of knowing you were my mate, an aphrodisiac the likes of which I'll ever experience from another—"I knew I had to have you." Because you were already mine, female. "Something that called to me in the most primordial way." You were made for me and me alone. The same as I am for you. "You make me feel alive, Mikalina."

She stepped closer as if she couldn't stop herself, and I groaned in approval, coaxing her closer.

"I've never felt anything like that, and I knew I couldn't ignore it." All because we are meant to be together.

I didn"t stop myself from lifting my arm and smoothing a finger over her bottom lip. She made a sweet, soft sound of pleasure.

"Tell me you feel that way too." I stared at her mouth, wanting to kiss her, nip at the bottom swell, stroke my tongue between her lips.

"It's true," she gasped, and I gently pulled her bottom lip down, the flesh so very soft under my thumb, like silk and velvet, and everything else that was pleasurable to the touch. "It's crazy," she moaned, and her eyelids fluttered down.

It's fate, my darling.

She moved another step closer, and I snagged her around the waist and had her on my lap seconds later, her legs straddling either side of my thighs. It was my turn to close my eyes in pleasure. The feel of her on top of me, the hottest, most intimate part of her right up against the hardest, thickest part of me, nearly having me coming right then. I rolled my hips up involuntarily, grinding my cock against her, and she gasped, pressing down.

Gods. Yes.

"There isn't anyone or anything that'll ever keep me from you." I should've censored my words, knowing I might scare her away, push her, cross lines. She wasn't from my world, maybe knew nothing about the supernatural. She probably thought it was all in books and movies, not real, big, breathing, and currently holding her close. "Does that frighten you?" I could smell she was still very much aroused. There was no fear, no worry… nothing but, dare I fucking say… acceptance?

She wanted me more than she wanted to worry about how fast this was moving, or how confused she felt because she was so drawn and connected to me.

And when she slowly shook her head, staring into my eyes, I looked at her mouth again, knowing she could feel how hard my entire body got. I wasn't tensing from the shock of her accepting me and this. I was hardening because my Lycan was so close to the surface.

And when she gasped, I knew she'd seen my eyes change color, the whiskey shade morphing briefly to the blue of my inner beast.

"Your eyes," she whispered, and I closed them and shook my head.

"It's nothing," I assured her and only opened them when I felt I was more in control. "Don"t worry about them." But fuck, I was losing this battle, and I knew they flashed right back to blue the moment I locked gazes with my mate.

Her brows furrowed, and then she shook her head, closing her eyes and exhaling slowly.

"What is it?" I asked gently, coaxing her to share anything with me, because I was starved for it, hungry for every little piece of information about my female.

"It's silly," she whispered and opened her eyes again.

"Nothing you have to say would be construed as that to me. I assure you."

She gave me a ghost of a smile, her fingers curling slightly on my shoulders. I gritted my teeth to hold off my desire. "It's just that Mini, the owner of the cottage I'm renting, spoke about these creatures in the woods with glowing blue eyes." She lifted her hand and ran a finger right below her own blue eyes—ones the same shade as my Lycan's.

My heart was racing now, the truth on her lips, but she thought it nothing more than fable.

"It's silly. I know. Wolf-like creatures roaming the woods of Romania, these animals that are part-man, part-wolf, living in the Carpathian Mountains."

If only you knew, my female. But you soon will, and I fear I'll frighten you so badly you'll run from me.

"Sometimes, the truth in this world is far stranger than what we could ever imagine."

Her vision cleared as she stared into my eyes. "Yes," she murmured, then placed her fingers on my cheek. "I feel myself focusing on other things though… things that may not make sense." Her brows dipped low again before she slowly shook her head. "I feel this… connection with you, Ren, one that makes me not want to question anything, because this all feels so right." She was looking into my eyes now, her arousal climbing higher as her mind pushed away everything else but this moment with me.

Yes. Gods, yes, Mikalina. The same as I feel for you.