Page 26 of Fated
“I’ll see you tomorrow,” he said with a wink, vanishing from the crowd with his new companion.
Lena rolled her eyes but smiled despite herself. Ryker’s absence left her feeling untethered though, his departure removing the last buffer between her and her thoughts of Kai. The banquet hall seemed to expand without Ryker’s familiar comfort. Each laugh and conversation amplified. Each empty space between wolves was a reminder of her solitude. Still, the corners of her mouth lifted when she thought of her friend’s antics. Without him, she would have spent the evening trapped in her own thoughts rather than mingling with her peers.
The sounds of the party had faded, and the heavy weight of the evening settled back onto Lena’s shoulders by the time she returned to her suite. Elara’s restlessness rippled through her muscles now that she was separated from the social distractions.
The room was quiet, the low hum of the lodge settling for the night as wolves retreated to their suites. Lena lay curled on her bed, staring at the ceiling. The soft glow of the moon, filtering through the sheer curtains, cast silver patterns on the walls that reminded her of Selene’s blessing—of the mate bond she could still feel vibrating beneath her skin.
She exhaled deeply, willing herself to relax, but her mind wouldn’t stop racing. Elara ran tight circles within their shared consciousness, each loop bringing flashes of green eyes and broad shoulders. With every circuit, the wolf’s presence pushed closer to the surface, fur rippling just beneath Lena’s skin as memories of his barely contained power triggered answering pulses of her own.
“Mate is strong. Handsome. Ours,”Elara purred.
Lena groaned, burying her face in her pillow. The cotton pressed against her heated skin, muffling her breath but doing nothing to silence her wolf’s insistence. Her skin prickled as if his power radiated across distance and time. She couldn’t deny it. Denyhim. Even in memory, his aura dominated her senses, commanding her attention as effortlessly as he had commanded the room.
She pulled the blanket off her body, but the cool air didn’t quell the fire building beneath her skin. Images of Kai flashed in her mind—his broad shoulders, the sharp angles of his jaw, the way his voice had sent a shiver down her spine even as his words raked against her chest wall.
This wasn’t like fleeting attractions or casual flirtations that burned out after brief intensity. This was bone-deep, soul-claiming. The mate bond reached into her very core, awakening something ancient that had always slumbered there. The stories described the physical pull but never captured this spiritual ache—this void that only he could fill.
Why does he fight it?The question burned, but she refused to accept defeat. They were fated—destined by Selene. She needed to find a way to bridge the gap between them.
As her thoughts spiraled, they kept circling back to their charged encounter in the private room. To the set of his shoulders when he’d been so close, the scorching intensity in his gaze when it had flicked to her, even for the briefest moment. She could still feel the magnetic pull of his presence, the raw energy of his wolf calling to hers.
Her breathing faltered as she imagined him unleashing that power. Not just in a room full of pack leaders, but with her. Alone.
The fantasy struck her like lightning—the image of Kai towering above her, eyes dark with primal need, body caging hers against the mattress as he prepared to claim her. She could almost feel his weight pinning her down, the savage tenderness in his calloused hands as they explored her skin.
Her cheeks burned, and a soft whimper escaped her lips. She pressed her thighs together, but it did nothing to ease the ache building between them.
Elara’s voice was a sultry hum in Lena’s mind.“Call for him. He will come.”
“No,” she whispered to her wolf, the words trembling despite her resolve. “He doesn’t want me... Not yet.”
But Elara didn’t care. Her own body didn’t care. The pulsing in her core was insistent, growing stronger with every passing moment. Without realizing it, Lena’s hand drifted down her stomach, slipping beneath the waistband of her shorts and into her panties.
Her fingers slid through her slick folds, and she bit her lip to stifle a moan. She was soaked, already throbbing with need.
“Kai...” His name slipped from her lips in a breathless whisper as her fingers traced lazy circles around her clit. Her eyes fluttered closed, and she let the fantasy consume her.
She imagined him above her, muscles coiled with barely contained desire, grip both tender and merciless as he pinned her wrists above her head. His mouth would trace the hollow of her throat, burning a path of devotion against her skin as he growled one possessive word:“Mine.”
She shivered, imagining the moment he’d enter her—the exquisite fullness as he pushed into her, giving her body time to welcome him completely. She pictured the way his eyes would darken, and jaw would tighten as he sank deeper. The satisfaction etched across his face as he filled her. Their mate bond would pulse between them, weaving their souls together strand by strand, transforming every touch into a ritual as ancient as the moon itself.
He would start slow, moving deep and deliberate. Each thrust a declaration of his devotion. His hands would guide her hips into their shared rhythm. His voice would be rough with passion as he murmured her name. “Lena. My Lena.”
His emerald eyes would hold hers. Wild and desperate. The pressure would build as his pace quickened, her body arching beneath him. Each movement a testament to his surrender, pouring from his soul into hers with every thrust.
The thought of his knot—swelling inside her, locking them together—made her thighs clench around her fingers.
Could I take him fully?
“Yes,”Elara whispered, her voice a soothing certainty.“We were made for him, and he for us.”
Lena’s breath grew shallow as she imagined the feel of him swelling with his pending release, the way his body would tense and shudder above her as he gave her everything. She could seethe raw emotion in his gaze as he looked down at her, hand brushing a strand of hair from her face.
“I love you,”he would say. “You’re mine. I’m yours.”
Her fingers quickened, tension coiling tighter in her body.
She pictured the moment his wolf would surge forward, fangs grazing her neck before sinking into her flesh. Her back bowed off the bed, as lightning coursed through her veins.
