Page 5 of His Mark

Could it be her?

I clenched my jaw, pushing the thought aside. No. Lia was long gone, probably swallowed up by the city or still somewhere living in the forest. She wouldn’t be here, in my camp, captive and waiting for me to decide what to do with her. The chances of that were so close to zero that it wasn’t even worth thinking about.

Deep inside me, though, the same instinct that had told me to spare a little girl in the ruins of Denver all those years ago whispered that I was wrong.

I studied her, the way the firelight kissed her skin, the way her lips pressed together in defiance even now. There was a quiet, beautiful tension in the way she held herself—like a blade honed sharp over years of hardship.

Not fragile. Not delicate.

Butfierce.

“Can I take off the blindfold now?” she said, a bit of a challenge evident in her tone. It made my wolf rise to the bait.

“You won’t like what happens if you do,” I warned, and she stood there for a second with her chin held high, but I heard her quick intake of breath anyway.

I’d gotten to her, and I couldn’t help but smirk right back at her.

My pack was still tense, still watching, but I barely noticed them anymore. The scent of burning wood coiled through the cold air, but beneath it, something else reached me then.

Her.

A warm, intoxicating scent, tempting and a little wild, laced with something unmistakable.

Desire.

It hit me like a lightning bolt to the chest, and I had to school my expression before anyone noticed the way my breathing changed.

She was aroused. Not in fear. Not in panic. But inanticipation.

I swallowed hard, my body tightening against my will.

What the fuck was wrong with me?

I shouldn’t be thinking about how good she smelled. I shouldn’t be wondering what she would look like if I pressed my fingers beneath her chin and tilted her head back, forcing her to bare her throat to me. I really shouldn’t be fantasizing about what she might look like on her back as she writhed beneath me, coming over and over again as she took my knot deep in that needy little pussy.

I exhaled slowly, grounding myself. She was a trespasser. A possible spy.

My mind blanked out the second the breeze shifted, and I caught another wave of her scent, mingling with my own.

Fuck.

A low growl rumbled in my chest before I could stop it. My hands curled into fists at my sides, nails biting into my palms as I fought against the rush of heat crawling up my spine.

I didn’twantto react like this, but her scent was seeping into me, threading through my blood like wildfire, latching onto something instinctual buried deep inside me. I swallowed hard, my pulse hammering.

All at once,I knew.

It slammed into me like a lightning bolt, fast and merciless, setting every nerve on fire. The realization hit with the force of a war drum, reverberating through every part of me, making the world tilt, making my wolf snarl inside my chest in brutal, unshakable recognition.

She wasn’t just some trespasser.

She wasn’t just another human.

She was mymate.

I took a step back, inhaling sharply through my nose, trying to shove it down, trying to fight the way my body reacted to her, the way my blood surged toward her like the tide being pulled by the fucking moon.My own arousal was rising to meet hers, low and slow like a fire smoldering in my gut.

No.

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