Page 14 of Rituals & Runes

My stomach quivered with excitement and my center throbbed with his blatant words. I had never heard anyone be so bold, so direct. I didn’t want to admit it to him because he already had too much power over me, but his words excited me and brought back those images of our bodies intertwined in bed. Rutting like two wolves overtaken with furious need.

I shifted under his muscular weight that I secretly relished. My wolf preened to have him so close. She trusted him without hesitation. His body against mine filled her with a sense of security and safety. And drove her to a trembling state of need for him. My human body betrayed my rebelling mind. I wasn’t supposed to be attracted to a man who brought me here against my will to die.

I wasn’t supposed to hunger for him with my entire being.

“Doesn’t it matter to you that I’m half-human and from the enemy pack? My pack cursed yours to die a slow, painful death. Caitlin already explained.”

His hand traced down my body between my breasts. He sat up again and straddled me, placing his swollen head at my entrance. “You feel something when I’m around, Wolfling? Something different you never felt around another male?”

My mouth watered at his girth, at his plump crown that I needed inside me. I alternated between spying on his massive hard-on and staring into his mesmerizing emerald eyes that hooked me with their heat-filled gaze. I jutted my chin out. “Doesn’t take a genius to know I’m almost in heat.”

He caught me glancing at his cock. “You like what you see. You want it. Inside you.”

“Your dick must have gone to your head,” I strangled out, though he stripped away my reasons by the second. “And your alpha dominance has you convinced I want it. It’s only my heat, Kaden.”

He collared me then crushed his lips to mine in a toe-curling kiss that sent shivers down my spine and branded my soul. His tongue thrust into my mouth, taking complete control of me, making his intent crystal clear.

To claim me. In every sense of the word.

“You’re already mine, Wolfling,” he said in a smug tone, his lips brushing against my mouth. “I own you and can make you come with a single touch. Now tell me how much you want it.”

My thighs clenched. My heart stuttered. I didn’t want him to be right. I didn’t want him to know my not-so-secret desires.

He had me pinned. Vulnerable. And needy.

And ready.

Not meaning to, I blurted out, “Of course, I want it. Everyone wanted Kaden Stone when we were teenagers. But not now, I could take any male to solve this problem.”

He snarled. His cock pressed against my damp inner thigh. “You wanted me then? You do feel it. You want my cock. And more than that, I suspect Dan is right.”

“About what?”

“You sense we’re fated mates, don’t you, Wolfling?”

With his hard heat so near, my resolve was slipping. I used every ounce of my strength not to position my hips until he was where my wolf wanted him. At my entrance, ready to drive into me.

My mind knew I shouldn’t be this aroused given the circumstances, but my wolf and a growing part of me no longer cared. Besides kidnapping me, he’d taken care of me and hadn’t harmed me. He’d shielded me from others, and made sure I had all my needs met.And a whisper of something else. Something I’d suspected by my wolf’s behavior. I never considered a fated mate. Not since my survival had depended on avoiding shifters. I never imagined I would find someone but since we’d met, there had been little signs that it could be true. Like this intense need to be near him.

“I do feel it, Kaden. My wolf has reacted to yours since we met. But why does any of that matter?”

His hand slid between my thighs, inching toward my throbbing core. He swept his tongue along my chest until he reached my pebbled nipple but his mouth only hovered above my breast. His hot breath fanned against my sensitive skin. My aching body screamed for his touch. “You’re almost in heat. I can smell it on you, smell your sweet arousal. You want me to touch you, don’t you, Aila. You crave my company, my touch. You need my cock inside these wet walls.”

I squirmed against him, my oversensitive skin rubbing against his, creating friction, where our bodies still met. Friction that filled me with all-consuming need. When I spoke, I was shocked at how hoarse my voice had become. “Yes, Kaden. I’ve never been touched but my wolf needs you. She needs your company, needs your caresses.”

My past tugged on me, murmuring not to let myself get near anyone. I’d been bullied by my former pack. Rejected my father and a supposed mate, Paxton. I had lived alone for so long since being betrayed, that I didn’t know how to move forward. Except he’d done nothing but good things for me since I’d arrived. Well, besides the curse situation. That wasn’t his fault.

My wolf nudged me forward. Told me in her wolf instincts he would never hurt me the way my pack and my former mate had.

He traced his finger up my sensitive skin to my slit, tracing his finger around my opening until my thighs trembled. “Only your wolf? I could compel you to let me mount you now. Or maybe I should punish you by not touching you, Wolfling.”

My hips surged off the ground with a hunger that left me breathless. “I need you. I can’t deny you as my mate.”

He plunged a single finger into my channel setting my veins on fire. I arched off the ground and gasped as a pleasure mixed with a twinge of pain hit me. My muscles clenched around his finger.

“The chase you gave excited me. Made my cock so hard it hurts. You say you’ve never been touched but your body is so ready for me. So wet and tight. My wolf and I love that I get to be the first man to touch you, Aila. My cock is hard and ready but I need you to be ready. Do you want me to continue?”

My eyes widened. My hips twisted to gain more access to his hand. Did he mean to go all the way? My juices coated my thighs and my body screamed for more. So, much, more. If I had been with any other man, at any other time, I would have been embarrassed. I’d never had anyone be so intimate with me—but with Kaden, I felt none of that. He’d only touched me with a single finger and my mind had gone blank.

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