NOTE: For the next week or two I'm going to try uploading the daily chapters a little earlier (4:00 and 5:00pm, Pacific) to make the content available to the East Coast readers at a more convenient time. On AllNovelFull, little details like upload times can have an impact on income, so this is an experiment to make sure I'm not hurting Elreth & Aaryn's audience. I'll let you know if it changes again!

*****

AARYN

He didn't know if it was Tarkyn's gaze on Elreth, the events of the day, or just the way he reacted to being alone with his mate, but when Aaryn turned from barring the door in the cave, his Alpha clawed and howled, urging him to take her, to own her, to mark her with his scent, to show the world that she was his, and he was hers, and none would come between them.

He shook with the force of his desire for her, but he forced himself to slow. She was still new to this, and though she'd proven to be up for any adventure so far, he could feel the strength building inside him, the force of his Alpha yearning not only for release, but for possession. He didn't want to scare her.

Wolves were notorious for their… abandon in mating. He'd been careful so far, focused on showing her his heart.

But tonight he ached to own her.

When she smiled though, backing away from him as if teasing, the predator in him began to hunt. And when she popped the last button on her leathers and asked him in that husky whisper what she should do, he'd let himself go.

He didn't bother with buttons, just yanked his own shirt at the neck to tear it off and free his own skin, letting the tattered cotton drift to the floor as he grasped his belt. It clinked as he tore at it, then shucked his leathers off, while Elreth stared at him, wide-eyed, her own leathers unbuttoned, but still on as she raked him from head to toe. Her eyes painted his skin and his skin tightened in response.

Then she dragged her gaze back up and locked on his and if Aaryn had been a cat he would have purred.

Her pupils were massive so he almost couldn't see the color in her eyes.

With a low growl of approval rolling in his throat, he buried one hand in her hair, fisting it to tug her head back and bare her throat.

She shivered, but didn't fight him as he dragged his nose up the cord of her neck, nipping at her collarbone, then that spot where her pulse fluttered. "Mine," he whispered. "Remember it, Elreth. Know it tonight, remember it tomorrow when you step out of here and under the eyes of other males. You are mine, and I will kill any male that tries to say otherwise."

"Aaryn, I would never—" she started, but with that growl still rolling in his chest, he took her mouth bending her backwards over his arm and pulling her in at the waist so they were skin to skin.

She gasped and put one palm to his chest, her fingers tense and digging into his pec. But she kissed him enthusiastically, her breath coming faster already. Her other hand slapped to the back of his neck as she caught herself.

But he shook his head, growling again and pulling her hand away. He would take her weight, keep her on her feet. She was his. He would show her.

Aaryn began to worship, one hand clasping her waist, the other exploring every dip and valley of her body—such a delicious combination of soft and firm, curvy and smooth. He devoured the skin at her throat, his tongue flat against the hollow where her pulse had begun to throb.

He trailed demanding fingers from the nape of her neck, down her spine, to cup her ass and pull her hard against his arousal so that she gasped again and her hips arched in a way that made him hiss with pleasure.

Then he touched and kissed, stroked and laved, finding every spot that made her shiver, and every stroke that made her pant, until she was warm and fluid in his arms, her eyes closed and head dropped back to give him access, her body writhing, seeking more.

Not just hers.

His breath rasped in his throat. His heart pounded against his ribs. His hands trembled on her skin. He yearned for her with such hunger he was afraid he might hurt her if he didn't hold himself back.

Then he found that slick warmth between her legs that spoke volumes about her desire for him and he groaned, nipping at her neck as she shivered and writhed.

He lifted one of her legs and hooked her knee over his hip, opening her to him and pulling her hard against him with the other hand as they both sucked in when their bodies found each other warm and needy.

They were standing in the middle of the Great Room, one of his hands cupped under her knee, the other at the back of her neck, supporting her as she leaned back and he lifted his head to stare down at her. She had arched so her nipples pointed for the ceiling and he couldn't resist curling over her to take one in his mouth.

Her breath caught and her body jolted at the twin sensations of his mouth on her breast, and his hardness grinding against her.

They rolled together for what seemed like mere seconds and endless hours, their bodies lighting up with sparkling heat, Elreth whispering his name, her eyelids fluttering. Her hands clasped either side of his waist and she pulled him harder against her, her body beginning to tremble with her rising need.

Then, knowing that if he didn't make a decision quickly, he'd be too far gone and he'd simply take her and be done—far too fast, far too easily—he forced himself to straighten. He kept the pressure between them where she was beginning to arch harder, higher, trying to take him in to fill the ache within her. But he clenched his teeth and made himself wait, until she was crying out with every pass of his arousal over her most sensitive places.

"Aaryn… please…"

"I'm right here, baby," he breathed. "Are you ready?"

"Yes!" she cried. "I can't… I need…"

"I know exactly what you need," he growled then with his teeth gritted, flipped her in his arms so her back was to his front. She froze, shocked, as Aaryn flipped her hair aside and laid his mouth open on the back of her neck.

******

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