The Wolf of the Prophecy Read online

Pausing to take a breath, they broke the kiss. The rumble of his wolf protested loudly in his chest. She panted for breath as she searched his face. Her lips, red from the intensity of their kiss, beckoned Aric to taste them again. It took everything he had to wait and find out the reason she had pulled back.

  “I…I need you,” she whispered in the sexiest and huskiest voice Aric had ever heard. “I don’t understand why.”

  He knew why.

  “Fate,” he whispered before he ducked his head and sealed his lips over his mark on her shoulder. He sucked at his claim on her, and she mewed loudly in his arms. If he had lacked restraint, that wound would have been enough to get him off. Thankfully, it only fueled his need for her.

  Divina’s head flew back, and she clawed at his shoulders. “Aric,” she whimpered.

  He grazed the mark with his teeth. His wolf urged him to bite her again and again, wanting to mark his territory.

  Her thighs tightened around his hips, and it was then that he smelled the potency of her arousal. It drove his wolf crazy within him. Aric growled in enjoyment. He needed his female, his mate, in the most primal way.

  Aric lowered Divina to her feet. Cupping her face, he gave her several quick kisses before stepping back to look her over. With his body inches from her delectable form, he took a moment to bask in her raw beauty. It took his breath away, as though she glowed in her feral need to have her mate.

  Having wasted enough time, he covered her mouth once more, kissing her like a starving man enjoying his first meal. He ran his hands over her chest and down her belly to find the hem of that T-shirt. Thinking better of it, Aric reached up to the neckline with both hands. He broke their kiss only so he could watch her face, a sly grin growing on his lips. The pair panted as he ripped the T-shirt, and satisfaction blossomed within him hearing the fabric tear. Throwing it to the side, he brought his mouth down on her right breast. She’d gone braless, and he reveled in the lack of barrier between Divina’s skin and his mouth, focusing on her responses.

  Divina’s moans filled his ears while he lathed his tongue over her salty flesh. She slid her hands down his sides and found the hem of his ringer tee, smirking when his teeth pressed into her followed by a deep sensual groan. He hadn’t broken the skin yet, only applied pressure. He brought his head up, positioning his leg against the apex of her thighs to hold her up as she removed his shirt. He looked down at the heat in her eyes as she drank in his bare chest. That look of pure need and hunger caused his jeans to tighten that much more. Oh, how he wanted his female.

  Palming one breast, Aric brought his teeth down on the peak of another. Divina arched her back, pushing her chest into his mouth and fisting the sheets of the bed as he rolled the other nipple between his thumb and forefinger.

  Aric kissed his way to a spot between her breasts. He traced a figure eight with his tongue before settling his rough, paw-like hands over both tits, kneading her flesh while he trailed a line of kisses down her belly. Divina raked her fingers through his hair and sent tingles down his spine. He circled her navel with his tongue, and she bucked her pelvis up into his chest. Aric laughed.

  Reluctantly, he pulled his hands from her breasts and undid the button of her jeans. Teasingly slow, Aric dragged down the zipper. Divina watched him with the light eyes that stole his soul.

  “I need you to fuck me,” she hissed, standing with her back to the wall.

  He grinned up at her.

  With a massive tug, he slid her jeans down to her knees. In doing so, he also pulled her from the wall, and she gasped. All it took was another forceful yank of her pants, and then the only thing that stood between Aric and his mate was a pair of purple cotton panties. He tapped one calf and then the other, prompting her to step out of her jeans. Aric kept his eyes on her as his lip curled up into a devious smirk. On his knees before his female, he’d only have to lift her little bit to get her legs over his shoulders so he could devour her. When she reached for him, he shook his head.

  He turned and pressed a soft kiss to the inside of one thigh and then the other. As he trailed his tongue along the crease where her leg met her hip, he heard her exasperated sigh. Thud. The sound of her head hitting the wall stirred a wicked amusement in him. Aric’s mate was delightfully frustrated with his teasing. He had driven her to the point of madness in her arousal, yet he hadn’t even gone near her sex. His wolf panted within him, eager to sample their mate. Wickedly, he debated making her wait longer. He wanted to taste her again.

  “Jesus fucking Christ,” Divina whimpered. “I need you inside me. Please!”

  Oh, that was too much for his wolf. He’d taste her another time. He had a lifetime to take her, to have her, to devour her mound. Right now his mate was desperate, and he’d be an asshole not to give her what she wanted.

  Hooking his fingers into her panties, Aric pulled them down while simultaneously stepping from between her legs. Divina’s hands shot forward for his jeans. If Aric didn’t know better, he’d have thought she had the speed of a shifter. Her nimble fingers made quick work of his fly, and it wasn’t long before she pulled at his pants with her small hands. She removed her panties, and Aric tossed them aside as he stepped out of his jeans.

  Aric’s cock sprang forward. The swollen purple head held a bead of precum as it strained for his mate. He stood for a brief moment, deciding just how he would take his mate. Her eyes locked on his erection, and he couldn’t help but snort. To his surprise, Divina leaned forward. When her soft pink tongue grazed the slit of his cockhead, Aric’s knees buckled. The feel of her silk tongue sampling him pushed him into action.

  Crouching down, Aric cupped the perfect globes of Divina’s ass. Confusion crossed her features as she met his gaze. With a wolfish grin, he lifted her when he rose to his full height. With her back against the wall and her legs once more wrapped around his hips, he took one hand from her backside and slipped it between them.

  Grasping of his erection, he positioned it at the opening of her sex. The blunt end of his cock slid toward the soft, moist, and silken folds of her pussy. Returning his hand to her ass at the sound of her groans, he took it slow, allowing just the tip of his cock to slip into her wetness.

  He locked eyes with her as she wrapped her arms around his neck. “Please,” she begged in a voice he wouldn’t have heard if he weren’t a shifter.

  “Since you asked nicely,” he responded in his own husky voice. Then Aric thrust upward.

  Eyes wide, Divina’s breath caught in her throat. The feeling of Aric’s cock driving into her, stretching her to the point of a sweet burn, had robbed her of all ability to breathe. Snaking her hand up the back of his neck, she fisted his hair.

  He didn’t waste a beat before he withdrew and pushed into her again. Throwing her head back, she finally let out the breath.

  “Aric!” It burst from her lips without her even thinking.

  Tightening the muscles in her thighs, she drove her heels into the small of his back. She moved her hands to his shoulders, digging into him. Again, he pulled out only to drive himself deep into her, and she cried out in response.

  The pull to Aric was something she couldn’t explain—nor did she want to in that moment. All she wanted was more.

  He lowered his mouth to the crook of her neck. Astutely aware of his teeth coming down again on the mark, her body quivered as her stomach fluttered. The bite mark he had given her. It was the mark that had bonded them together.

  The pressure of his teeth against her flesh sent a wave of pleasure and pain through her. For a fleeting moment, she feared him biting her again, but it was gone with the jolts of euphoria converging in her core. Squeezing her eyes shut, she raked her fingers down his back.

  Aric pistoned in and out of her, the long, fast strokes dragging along her G-spot. She hung so close to the edge but couldn’t quite fall over. Pushing her hips up, she rolled them to meet each thrust. The pain of his teeth in her shoulder caused her to shriek. It hurt but in the most amazing way. Her entire bod
y exploded then. As fireworks danced before her eyes, she shook beneath him, losing her breath as he groaned.

  The urge, like nothing she had ever felt before, pushed her. She didn’t know why it was there, or what inspired it, but Divina couldn’t stop herself.

  She lifted her head, still unable to focus, and stared at his shoulder. As her body trembled, she licked her bottom lip.

  As if he knew, Aric pressed their chests together, bringing his shoulder closer to her. Her breasts smashed against his hard muscle, his fingers digging into her ass as he held her up. His head rested on her on shoulder, leaving his neck bare and accessible. His rumbling groans only pushed her further into an unfamiliar, feral state.

  Pulling her away from the wall, he carried her, still buried deep inside, and fell over her as the two landed on the bed. Without breaking contact, Aric continued to pound into her. He rolled her hips, changing the direction of his entrance, and dragged her legs up higher over his hips.

  “Oh God!” Divina cried out, and then she did it. Divina sank her teeth into Aric’s flesh. She closed her eyes and tasted metallic saltiness. She didn’t know why, but she sucked.

  “Fuck!” Aric yelled. Jackhammering into her, he picked up his pace to a rawer coupling than she’d expected.

  His blood in her mouth, his flesh against her teeth, sent her to an almost hallucinogenic place. Divina nearly drowned in the ecstasy that tingled through her body. A thousand times better than any orgasm she had ever experienced, she swore she left her body. A faint image of a tether appeared in her mind, but it felt like it was somewhere else in her body. She felt it reach for Aric. As she brought her arms around him and tugged him closer to her, she watched as another tether came from him. The two met, spun almost in a dance, and entwined.

  Divina broke then, her eyes wide and her mouth open as she shrieked. The blinding white vision and the pleasure touching every part of her body were almost too much for her to bear. Every muscle locked at once. Then they released in an earth-shattering explosion of ecstasy.

  With reckless abandon, Aric fucked Divina. If he didn’t hold her so close, she was sure he would have bucked her off the bed. Removing her mouth from his shoulder, she fell back. He tensed and squeezed her tighter, almost pushing the air out of her lungs.

  Trying to breathe, she felt his cock pulse as his seed sprayed deep within her. She couldn’t see his face but felt the contortion of his orgasm against her shoulder. She twitched as a second wave of orgasm, much lighter than the first, washed over her. It was his. She’d felt his orgasm within her. The intensity wasn’t what he felt, more like a shadow of his pleasure. She had felt what he had, and that blew her mind.

  Is this mating?

  CHAPTER 24

  Aric’s body became a dead weight on top of her. He slumped his head and breathed heavily. If it weren’t for his ragged breathing, she would have been sure he’d died. However, it was hard for her to breathe, and she needed him to roll off her.

  In an attempt to send the message, Divina rocked her hips slightly left and right. He outweighed her by more than she could guess, and it wasn’t easy. Licking her lips, she finally found her voice.

  “I can’t breathe.” She struggled to get out from beneath him.

  “Shit,” he hissed and rolled off her. On his side now, he pulled her against him and kissed her forehead.

  Divina looked at the two dotted crescent marks forming not quite a circle on his shoulder. The metallic taste of blood in her mouth reinforced what she’d done. She winced and lowered her eyes. She’d done that. She’d hurt him during sex. Blood, his blood, was in her mouth. Her bite had been so hard it drew blood. Her stomach churned at the idea of biting someone that hard.

  “I’m sorry,” she said, unable to make eye contact. It didn’t make sense to her. She’d never bitten anyone before—she had never had the urge to bite anyone before. Surely something was wrong with her.

  “For what?” he asked, crooking a finger under her chin and coaxing her to look at him.

  Meeting his soft hazel eyes, Divina swallowed. The taste of his blood remained in her mouth. There was a glow there on the edge of his irises, a golden glow she’d seen much more intensely before. “I…I bit you,” she stammered.

  She didn’t understand why, but Aric smiled at her. He kissed her forehead again and stroked her hair. “I know,” he responded cryptically.

  “I’ve never done that before,” she admitted quickly, not quite understanding his happiness. “I don’t know what came over me.”

  Aric’s tight-muscled body shook with a chuckle. He wrapped his arms around her tight and hugged her. “I don’t mind.”

  He didn’t mind. Of course he didn’t mind. He had bitten her. Why would he mind? Biting was his little fetish, after all.

  Divina searched his features for what he wasn’t telling her. Looking content, he smiled at her with an air of possession. There was something else in his eyes. Affection, sure, but something more shone brightly, though she couldn’t put her finger on what else it could be.

  “Remember when you asked me about the pain?” Divina nodded. “I told you the only way to break the bond was for one of us to die.”

  She again nodded but eyed him with skepticism. What new thing would he reveal to her now?

  He took a deep breath but kept smiling. “Breaking the bond isn’t the only way to get the pain to stop when we’re apart.”

  Almost afraid to ask, Divina knitted her eyebrows together as she studied him. “What’s the other way?”

  “Get the bond to fully form,” Aric said, dropping his gaze and studying the sheets.

  There was more to it than that. There had to be.

  When he didn’t continue, she gulped. “I think I need more information.”

  He cleared his throat and took a deep breath, tracing circles on the sheets with one hand while the other twirled in her hair as if of its own accord. “You had to claim me for the bond to fully form. As it stood, it was weak because I claimed you, but you hadn’t reciprocated.”

  “I’m sorry, what?” she asked, narrowing her eyes at him. He wasn’t about to say she’d claimed him somehow. He couldn’t be saying that. She wouldn’t even know how to do that.

  “You marked me. First with your scratches,” he said with a smile, bringing his gaze up to hers.

  She had lost her goddamn head when they had sex. It was like she wasn’t in control of her own body. When they screwed, she felt like a more savage version of herself.

  “But scratches aren’t enough. Don’t get me wrong, they are sexy as hell,” Aric quickly added. “And I’ll wear them with pride. But to fully claim and cement the bond, you needed to bite me.”

  She gasped, her eyes widening as she looked at him. “You’re fucking kidding me,” she barked.

  He nodded. “Our bond is fully formed. We shouldn’t experience pain when separated anymore unless it’s for a long period of time.”

  “Bonded,” she repeated, as if the word were in another language.

  He nodded again and tried to pull her to him.

  She resisted. She had bonded to him. Divina had committed to someone, and without even knowing what that meant. She didn’t even know the man.

  His dejected look was hard to miss, but she needed time to process.

  Again, with more force, Divina pushed against him. He released her. She rolled away, pulling the sheets up over her naked body. Desperately, she tried to wrap her mind around everything.

  “Nothing’s changed,” Aric said to her back. “I won’t force anything on you. If you don’t want to be together, I won’t make you.”

  Divina turned to him. “You lied to me. You didn’t say anything about my claiming you. You made it so I didn’t have a choice.” Clenching her jaw, she ran it over in her mind. At no point in time had he let her know she could have ended this with her own actions. “You should have told me. As it is, this whole thing—the prophecy, Rori, Ember Witches—nothing is mine. It’s all someone else’
s decisions. And now you.” She waved a hand at him. “It’s like my body chose to do this without my mind.”

  The hurt expression on his face struck her, doubled by the ache in her chest that didn’t feel like it was from herself. It felt like his pain. It was his, from her rejection. She didn’t want to reject him. Hell, she barely knew him. She just wanted autonomy. She wanted control of her life.

  She took another deep breath. “With the prophecy and this mating thing, it just feels like someone or something else is dictating my life.”

  Aric tilted his head at her but said nothing. Sure, he didn’t understand. She lacked the words to explain it any better.

  Shifting her position on the bed, she faced him full-on. She held the sheet up against her chest. It offered her some comfort. “I want to be the driving force of my life. I don’t want it to be some prophecy or witches or…or a mating bond.”

  He reached for her hand. Allowing him to take it, she held the sheet with the other. He observed her, assessing her features, and then locked on her hands. Pulling one toward his face, he pressed delicate kisses to each finger. “Speaking as someone who is half animal, I’m more accustomed to allowing my instincts and feral nature to dictate certain parts of my life.” He lifted his gaze to hers, and she almost melted. “I never thought to question it. Whether it was the wolf or me, something drove me to it, and as long as it made me happy, I didn’t think it mattered how I got to it.”

  Divina watched his Adam’s apple bob when he paused to swallow.

  “What do you feel when you’re around me?” Aric asked.

  Searching his beautiful face, Divina took a deep breath to take stock. “At war.”

  He tilted his head again with his lips drawn together. His eyes remained soft, studying her, but he said nothing. He seemed to be allowing her space to fully process his question.

  Shifting under his focus, she glanced around the room. “Part of me is so pissed off at you for lying, or at least not telling me the truth, for biting me and not giving me a choice.”