Awildfire.
I gasped, staggering slightly, and Wolfe was there before I could fall. His arms wrapped around me, grounding me as the fire bloomed under my skin. I clutched at his shirt, burying my face in his chest as my body began to ache.
Hunger.
Need.
Pressure building like a wave I couldn’t outrun.
“I’ve got you,” he murmured, holding me tighter. “I’ve got you, Rowen. Let it come.”
The bond between us thrummed, no longer just a thread. It was alive, pulsing, snarling with every beat of my heart.
“Oh fuck,” I gasped. “I feel it.”
His lips touched my temple. “I’m here.”
And I knew—this wasn’t just a choice. It was a promise. A promise to each other. A commitment that we were both ready to make.
The blanket fell as I pushed away from him; my skin was too tight, my breath too shallow. Every nerve sparked. Every inch of me screamed for him. My body felt restless. Dear Goddess, this was a hundred times worse than any time before.
“I think the druid hates me,” I said between clenched teeth as I tried not to crawl out of my very skin. I looked at Wolfe, who was running his eyes over me, his bottom lip between his teeth. The sight catching my attention and holding it. He looked so damn sexy. “What?”
“That fucking nightdress should be destroyed,” he groaned as he looked at me. “You almost killed me the first night you wore it, and you’re fucking killing me now.”
I pushed my hair over my shoulder as I met his heated stare. “This time you don’t need to hold back.”
He had me in his arms in two strides. His scent was everywhere. Leather, pepper, oakmoss and power. I pressed my face into his neck and groaned, desperate and humiliated by the sound, but incapable of holding back.
“I need you,” I rasped, already trembling, already soaked with sweat and something far hotter. “Wolfe?—”
He growled—deep, low, possessive—and I barely caught the blur of motion before he had me pressed against the wall, his hands already dragging my nightdress over my head, his mouth hot at my throat.
“You sure?” His voice was shredded.
“Don’t ask me that now.” I raked my nails down his back, arching into him. “You’ve felt the bond. You know what this is.”
His mouth crushed mine. It wasn’t gentle. It wasn’t careful.
It was claiming.
Teeth. Tongue. Hands everywhere. My legs wrapped around his waist as his fingers skimmed over my legs, growling when I didn’t wrap them around him fast enough. I felt the scrape of the wall at my back, the cool air on my skin, and none of it mattered. Nothing mattered but him.
“You smell like mine,” he snarled against my neck. “You feel like mine.”
“I am,” I gasped. “I’ve always been.”
His hips ground into mine and I cried out, my head hitting the wall as he pinned me with his strength, his body, his power. One hand fisted in my hair, angling me for a deeper kiss, the other gripping my thigh hard enough to bruise. His tongue moved against mine, expertly teasing me, building the fire inside me. I kissed him back, my body feeling reckless, wild. I needed him to feel what I was feeling; I wanted this to never end. Wolfe’s mouth was at my neck, his tongue tracing the line of my pulse, nipping at my skin.
The bond was roaring now. Alive. Pulsing between us like a third heart.
The need for him to fuck me was building between my thighs. I needed him inside me, needed to feel his skin against my skin.
“Say it,” he growled, voice like gravel, as if he could read my mind. “Say you want me.”
“I want you,” I panted. “I need you.”
He pushed inside me with a groan so guttural it shook me. His hips moved once, twice, and I shattered.
