Page 19 of Shifting Hearts 1
His snarl shakes the night as he flips me, pressing me onto my knees, my chest against the damp earth. His claws rake lightly down my back before he fists my hair, yanking my head back so his teeth can drag over the mark he’s already left.
“You’re fucking perfect,” he growls, slamming into me from behind, deeper this time, brutal and unyielding. My scream echoes through the trees, mingling with his roar.
The bond crackles, surging hotter, tying us tighter together. My panther purrs inside me, sated and wild all at once, finally whole now that we’ve been claimed.
My fangs bury in his skin, returning the mark, and claiming him as mine. He howls into the forest, the bond snapping something inside him. He doesn’t stop thrusting into me, feral sounds falling from his lips as he buries himself deep inside me. Even when I’m a shaking, sobbing mess, clenching around himwith another overwhelming orgasm, he keeps driving into me, rutting like he’ll never get enough. Like there’s no such thing as enough.
Because there isn’t. We will never get enough of each other. But I am his. Entirely. Finally.
And the way he takes me…. It’s raw, feral, and endless. Every thrust is his way of claiming me over and over, branding himself inside me and locking us together forever. Heart, body, and soul.
TWELVE
Unbreakable
Paris
The morning after the bond feels different.
The air tastes sharper, and the sunlight feels warmer. Every breath I take hums with him inside me, every beat of my heart synced to his. Ranger is sprawled beside me on the furs we dragged back into the cabin after the forest, his hand heavy on my waist, his bite fresh and burning on my throat.
I should be exhausted. Instead, I feel alive. Whole. Complete for the first time in my life. Finally at peace.
But peace doesn’t last.
The knock on the door comes just before noon, sharp and demanding. Ranger stiffens instantly, his claws half-shifting as he scents the air. His lips curl in a silent snarl.
I smell it a second later and my stomach cramps with the painful memories the scent brings.
Gabriel.
The bond inside me snarls, my panther rising with rage.
Ranger is already on his feet, shirtless, scars and muscles bared, his grey eyes glowing with the storm that always lives inside him. He throws the door open with a growl, and there Gabriel stands. With his perfect fucking hair and that damn smug smile I hate so very fucking much. His eyes widening when they land on me.
“Paris,” he breathes, like I’m some miracle he almost lost. “You’re alive. I’ve come for you. I want to bring you home where you belong.”
Ranger laughs. Dark and dangerous, the sound curling around me. “You’ve come for her? After what you did, you think she’dwantyou?”
Gabriel ignores him, stepping forward like Ranger isn’t even there. His gaze drags over my throat, over the mark still red and raw where Ranger claimed me and his face twists with distaste.
“You let him fucking touch you?” He questions. His voice is sharp and angry. “You lethimmark what was mine.”
I stand, bare feet planted, my head held high. “I don’t belong to you, I never did. You lost any claim to me the moment you rejected me.”
His jaw tightens, his eyes flicking between us. “I was wrong, Paris. I see that now. I was…. angry. I didn’t want you as my mate, but I’ve realized I was wrong. I made a mistake. But we’re mates. We can still….”
Ranger moves with stealth and precision.
In the blink of an eye, he’s between us, his body a wall of fury, his snarl vibrating the floorboards. “Say one more word,” he growls, claws sliding free, “and I’ll rip your fucking throat out.”
Gabriel sneers, but I see the flicker of fear he tries to hide. Still, he tries to hold his ground. “You can’t just claim her. I was her fated mate first. That bond….”
“The only bond she has,” Ranger cuts him off, his voice low and deadly, “is with me. I marked her and she marked me back.She is mine for as long as she’ll have me. But know this, if you try to touch her,” His fangs snap together with a click. “You won’t leave this cabin alive.”
Silence falls between us, heavy and suffocating.
I step forward then, pressing my palm to Ranger’s back, letting the bond hum through us both. He glances at me, the storm in his eyes softening for me alone.
