Page 15 of Urban Gladiator

My stupid eyes lifted at his command. Our gazes clashed, but the connection sizzled between us. What was I thinking? Pleasure had fried my brain. Because I looked into his eyes and felt myself falling into him. Man or beast, it didn’t matter. I couldn’t deny the connection.

That truth was my undoing.

I felt his essence beyond the gruff exterior determined to make me beg. Beyond the warrior and heir to the throne, to the heart and soul of the man beneath.

And I knew in that precise moment if our world were different, if it wasn’t divided into us versus them, we might have a real chance. It wasn’t to be, though.

But it was that connection combined with knowledge and the way he hammered my pussy like it could save the universe that catapulted me over the ledge. The climax shattered me.

I came so hard I bucked beneath him, straining the bonds holding me prisoner. His thrusts increased, driving into me so hard I was shocked the bed still held together. I mean, we had already destroyed a dining room table.

And then his visage flashed between wolf and man. He tossed his head back, issuing a roar. Hot jets of his seed flooded my spasming pussy. He thrust as his balls emptied, filling my channel.

Then he collapsed on top of me.

He lifted his head with victory swimming in his eyes. “I knew you’d break.”

“It means nothing. It’s simply a physical response to stimuli. But I’m neither addicted to your cock”—that’s a damn lie—“nor did I beg you.”

His gaze narrowed. He leaned in and murmured beside my ear. “Give it time, witch. I will break you yet.”

Then he shoved off me and undid my restraints. I curled in on myself, glaring daggers at him. He could threaten all he wanted, but I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of being right.

“Get some sleep.” Then he slammed out of the room without a backward glance.

I rolled onto my back and stared at the ceiling. What the hell was I going to do about him? Even the strongest person couldn’t withstand such a full-scale assault.

And he was right. I would break. But I wasn’t ready to launch my plan yet. I needed to get the lay of the land before I cast. From this room, I couldn’t even tell where north was. To cast a ritual of this magnitude, I needed to call the corners. I needed to be outside in the elements to do it.

And as I headed into the bathroom, needing a bath to wash away his scene, I worried I’d bitten off far more than I could chew.

6

Kissing the witch had been the wrong angle. Even though it worked. That little witch came so hard on my cock, I thought her pussy would flatten my dick. And then it milked my cock until I emptied every drop of cum into her tight pussy. I’d come so hard I almost blacked out.

And I learned a startling truth. One that left me fumbling for my next steps.

The witch was my mate.

How could the gods gift me with a mate that I would only get two weeks with? How could my mate be a witch?

The irony of my situation wasn’t lost on me. It’s why I sat in my office, not seeing the numbers on the computer screen. Who cared about the stock market when I’d finally met my mate?

Only to lose her—and soon.

I wouldn’t claim her. I couldn’t. Because then we would be bound forever. It would relegate me to a lifetime of loneliness without offspring to inherit. The only woman who could bear a wolf shifter’s offspring was our mate. And the bond was soul-deep between mates.

Maybe I was wrong, and she wasn’t my mate. Tonight, I would try again and then would see. If she was . . . fuck, I had no answers.

The barrier between our world and the outside one was fading. Just last week, my scouts came across three humans camping in a tent. They were lucky it was shifters that spotted them and not some of the other beings in Avalon. If it had been goblins or orcs, they’d be dead. Instead, with the help of the fairies, we moved their encampment outside of the barrier, and the fairies wiped their memories of the event.

No one knew how bad the barrier was except me, my father, and the heads of the other clans.

It’s why, regardless of whether Ember was my mate, she would die in two weeks’ time at the bloodletting ceremony. There was no other way to reinforce the barrier, and I couldn’t allow the people of Avalon to suffer needlessly.

At least, there were none I knew of. But perhaps if I sent my scouts out searching for a dark witch who could take her place at the bloodletting, that would suffice. Because the ritual called for a witch’s blood—all of it—to reinforce the barrier. Dark witches had the same blood in their veins. It had never been tried before. But it would be risky. Dark witches weren’t known for having agreeable natures. They could just as easily eviscerate my scouts.

But if Ember truly was my mate, I had to figure out a way to save her.

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