Once Mated, Twice Shy

“Raise your gown.” My breath catches at Demetrius' command. “What?” I whisper. “You’re in heat, Talitha.” He says, voice low yet edged like velvet-wrapped steel. “Though you may deny it with your tongue, your body is more honest. It aches, it hungers, and it seeks relief. I can smell how badly you want it, Wildling. How badly you want me.” My fingers curl into the linen of my shift, knuckles blanching, as a tremor runs through me. “I-I thought you were angry with me.” “I am. By the Goddess, I am fucking livid.” He growls at once, guttural and strained. “But as much as I would love to punish you to my heart's content, I will not have my mate writhing before me in agony while I stand here pretending as though I do not want to pin you to this damn wall and claim you until the bond between us is unbreakable. To fuck you until your legs can no longer bear your body weight, talk less of aiding you in trying to escape me again.” ••• Found as a pup with an unknown bloodline, Talitha grows up in an Alpha household until the Luna bears her own child, and Talitha becomes disposable. When the Goddess grants her a mate, Cain Lukoji, Talitha dares to dream of freedom. Instead, she is betrayed, brutalized, and rejected, forced to flee while pregnant and utterly alone. Years later, Talitha is living quietly and peacefully with her daughter until Alpha King Demetrius Yarrow arrives, claiming her as his fated mate. Furious to find she’s already a mother and has built a life without him, Demetrius refuses to let her go. Now Talitha must decide whether fate is finally offering her salvation or condemning her to a far crueler yet gilded cage.