Chapter 15 'Long time no see, sweetheart.'
Aurelia
The bedroom door slammed shut with enough force to rattle the windows.
We didn’t make it two steps before Zhayad’s hands were on me. My back hit the wall with a thud that knocked the air from my lungs.
He caged me in, forearms braced on either side of my head, his massive body pressing me flat, his hips grinding once, brutally, letting me feel every thick, angry inch of him.
His eyes were molten poison-green, pupils blown, his wolf riding so close to the surface I could see fangs lengthening behind his lips.
“My wolf is tearing me apart from the inside,” he snarled. “He heard every insult they threw at you tonight. Every fucking whisper. And he wants blood. I want blood.”
He rested his forehead against mine, his breath hot and ragged.
“I need you to calm him. Right fucking now. Or I swear to the moon I’ll rip this entire pack house down brick by brick.”
I opened my mouth, about to ask him to try taking some tea, but he didn’t let me finish.
His hand shot to my throat, his fingers wrapped snugly around the column of my neck, thumb stroking the fresh bite mark he’d left weeks ago.
The mark that still throbbed every time he looked at me.
“I’m giving you free rein, little mate.” His teeth scraped the claiming scar, making my knees buckle. “Seduce him. Fuck him into submission. Because if you don’t…”
His other fist drove into the stone wall above my head.
The plaster cracked loudly and dust rained down. The impact echoed like a gunshot.
My heart slammed against my ribs, fear and want colliding so hard I couldn’t breathe.
I grabbed his suit lapels, yanked him down, and kissed him like I was trying to save both our lives.
He froze for half a heartbeat, shocked that his trembling, wolfless mate had the audacity to take.
Then he exploded. A guttural growl tore from his chest as he devoured my mouth, teeth clashing, tongue thrusting, claiming every inch like he was starving.
I bit his bottom lip hard enough to taste copper. He moaned, and the sound vibrated straight to my core.
Through the mate bond his wolf roared, a dark, savage chant of ‘mine, claim, fuck, breed, and mark’ that drowned out everything else.
My hand dropped between us, palming the massive, thick length straining against his trousers.
He jerked, snapping his hips forward into my grip.
I stroked him through the fabric with slow, teasing drags, then a firm squeeze that made his whole body shudder.
“Fuck—Aurelia—”
His voice cracked. The next second he ripped his mouth away, his eyes blazing that unnatural, glowing green.
“Get your clothes off. Now.”
I didn’t argue. The dress hit the floor in a crumpled heap. I stood there in nothing but black lace panties, my chest heaving from anticipation.
A glint of silver flashed in his hand. A knife. It was small, but it looked sharp and wicked.
My breath hitched. “Zhayad—”
“Quiet.”
He dropped to his knees in a slow, reverent, manner. Big hands gripped the backs of my thighs and lifted, draping my legs over his broad shoulders until I was pinned between wall and wolf, completely open for him.
The cold steel kissed the delicate lace at my hip.
“Eyes on me,” he ordered in a voice that sounded like thunder rolling in. “Do not look away. Do not flinch.”
I nodded, trembling. The blade moved, precise, but careful, slicing the lace away in one smooth motion. Cool air hit my bare, dripping sex.
Then his mouth was on me. He hadn't even given me a warning.
He sucked my clit straight into the wet heat of his mouth, hard and greedy, like he was trying to drink me alive.
I cried out, my head slamming back against the wall.
My fingers knotted in his hair, pulling, begging.
He growled against me, I'm vibrations ripping through my core, and thrust his tongue inside me, fucking me with it while his thumb circled my clit in ruthless little strokes.
The knife clattered to the floor. Both hands gripped my ass now, lifting me higher, spreading me wider so he could devour me deeper.
I was shaking. Burning. My whole body trembled from his wicked ministrations.
The mate bond screamed as his wolf howled inside him.
But he didn't seem to be satisfied. He pulled back just long enough to rasp against my swollen folds:
“Come on my tongue, mate. Drench me. Give my wolf what he needs.”
Then he buried his face again, sucking, licking, biting, relentless, starving, until my thighs clamped around his head and my scream echoed off the stone walls.
I shattered so hard the world went dark. And still he didn’t stop. He licked me through every aftershock, growling like he was tasting victory.
When he finally rose, lips glistening, his eyes still blazing that feral green, he looked like a god who’d just been fed ambrosia.
He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand slowly and smirked at me.
“My wolf is calmer,” he said roughly. “But I’m not.”
He palmed my ass, lifted me clean off the floor, and carried me toward the bed like I was already his sacrifice.
He was lining his cock against my entrance when a loud knock interrupted us.
Zhayad groaned, then leaned over me and cupped my breasts. “We're far from finished, Aurelia.”
He went to the door to open the door for the urgent knocker.
“Witnesses at the border confirmed that Cassian Varkis’s men are kidnapping lone shifters in the woods.” The voice said gravely.
Without another word, Zhayad slipped away. I rose from the bed slowly, trying to remember the message that had just been delivered.
A shadow moved over the glass windows and I turned my head quickly, squinting at the note fluttering outside.
I went to the window, pulled it open and grabbed the letter.
It said, “Long time no see, sweetheart.”
I slapped a hand over my mouth, not believing what I'd just read.
I'd never imagined this, not in a million years.
My father had somehow managed to drop a message for me. I knew, because no one else called me sweetheart other than him. And he only ever called me sweetheart when he was planning something catastrophic.
But how did my father manage to send a letter? How did it get up to the window?