Total pages in book: 73
Estimated words: 70338 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 352(@200wpm)___ 281(@250wpm)___ 234(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70338 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 352(@200wpm)___ 281(@250wpm)___ 234(@300wpm)
“This is who you are,” she murmurs when she breaks it.
I fill my hands with her ass and yank her over my hardened cock. “What about you? Is this who you are?”
Lauren rocks her hips, rubbing her clit over my root. Her lips hover and dance over mine. “No.”
I try not to show the savagery her answer inspires. My wolf thrashes jealously beneath the surface.
“This is…something new. What I am with you is completely different.”
I barely remember to breathe. “Different, how?”
She tilts her head to the side, considering. “I hardly remember who I was before my mom died, but that girl is never coming back. And for the last year, I’ve been…flat. The only time I felt real emotion was when my dad attempted suicide, and that was complete despair.”
I suck in a breath like she punched me. “Your dad attempted suicide?” Fuck. That selfish prick. He has two kids who fucking need him.
Her chin wobbles, and she blinks rapidly. “There you go again. You’re the only one who can make me cry.”
I wrap my arms tightly around her and draw her against my chest in a fierce hug. “I’m sorry, princess,” I whisper. “I’m so fucking sorry.”
“That’s why we moved to Arizona. My mom loved it here. My dad had that house built for her, but she didn’t live long enough to enjoy it. Lincoln and I hoped living here would help him feel closer to her. Plus, we’d be able to leave the emptiness of our old lives behind.”
My lips find the hollow of her throat, and I kiss it. “I had it so wrong. I thought you two were stuck up rich kids who thought you were better than us.”
Lauren lets out a mirthless chuff. “Well, that might have been true. But mostly we don’t care about or want to have a social life here. Our job is to keep a close eye on our dad. Keeping him alive is our only goal this year.”
My eyes burn for a moment.
Fuck. I want to howl at the moon goddess for the cards Lauren and Lincoln were dealt. I want to dedicate my entire life to standing guard over their dad, so she can go back to living. I want to be her hero–to vow to keep the one parent she has left safe for her.
I kiss down her neck. Along her jaw. “I’m so sorry,” I murmur.
My words don’t help anything, and I fucking hate feeling helpless. “What can I do to help?”
Lauren burrows her fingertips through my hair, and my entire body shudders with the pleasure of it. “You have helped. That day a ghost-eyed wolf charged me at the edge of a cliff changed my life. It was like you put jumper paddles to my chest. Life went from black and white to color again. Only the colors are far more rich than I ever noticed before.”
Intensity plows through me. Without thinking, I throw Lauren to her back. I’m already pushing inside her when I realized my canines have descended. My wolf wants to mark her as my mate, right here, right now.
It’s not happening. It can’t.
But I’m powerless to stop the pure animal-like instinct to claim her. It’s a good thing she’s on the pill because I didn’t stop to put on a condom.
Lauren’s gaze is startled pleasure. Her lips–puffy from our kisses–part with a moan.
Too late, I check for permission–in the pretend-forced way she likes it. “I’m gonna fuck you so hard, princess, you’ll never go numb again.”
She reaches for my hips, lifting her knees up to take me deeper. “Do it, wolf-boy.”
“Not a boy.” I hold her shoulders down to pin her in place and pump in deep, bottoming out against her inner walls.
Her cries grow louder. More agitated.
“Lauren…Lauren,” I chant her name, not sure what I’m even saying. Like she’s a goddess I’m invoking rather than a slip of a human I’m in danger of splitting in two with the force of this fucking.
Don’t mark her. Don’t mark her, I remind myself.
To slow down, I dive onto my back, keeping our bodies connected, so she can ride me now. I grip her hips and do the work for her, lifting her up and down over my rock-hard cock, then forward and back.
She throws her head back, her long coppery hair shimmering in the lamplight. Her ripe breasts shift with each bounce.
“Beautiful,” I growl. “Beautiful little human. You drive me fucking mad.”
Her gaze returns from the ceiling to my face. “Do I?” There’s an interesting, almost shifter-like glint of light to her eyes. They’ve darkened. Rounded. Like she loves knowing she has power over me.
She’s all goddess again. The powerful, beautiful female responsible for my daily torture.
I’m blinded again, my eye muscles burning through my skull.
“Insane,” I mutter. I’m incapable of denying it. Incapable of denying her anything.