LUCAS
My everything hurt. Every single cell in my body screamed at me that it wasn’t safe, I wasn’t rested enough, the sky was bright and ready to burn me. But Briar stood before me, shivering, wrapped in a blanket that smelled of me. She was here, in my rooms, and something was very wrong.
“What’s happened?” I asked, wrapping her in my arms and holding her tightly. “You’re shaking like a leaf.”
“It’s cold as a tomb in this house.”
I tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear. “That’s not why. Now tell me what’s got you spooked.”
She buried her face in my chest and let out a shuddering sob. My heart ached for her sadness. I could feel it rolling off her in waves.
I didn’t say anything then, simply scooped her into the cradle of my arms and carried her back to my bed. I laid her in the very spot I’d been sleeping, dreaming of being with her. Then I climbed in behind her and pulled her close. Her smaller, curvy frame fit me perfectly.
She continued to cry, her sobs turning to hiccups before finally dying into slight sniffles. I thought she’d fallen asleep; her breaths had calmed to an even, slow pattern, but she rolled over and faced me. My room was pitch black, but I could still see her. I could see everything.
“Tell me?” I asked.
“I left.”
My smirk was ill-timed but unavoidable. “I’m aware. Why?”
“They showed their true colors. They will make me marry Nik whether I want to or not. So I left. I will not be used for their gain. I am not a puzzle piece they can fit to finish their grand picture.”
“Then stay with me. I won’t let them come for you.”
She laughed and reached up to run her fingertips over my cheek. Just a small gesture, but it sent longing through me.
“I think…” she started, but the words faded away, and uncertainty crept into the depths of her eyes.
“What is it?”
“I’ve never felt like this.”
Pulling her closer, I inhaled the scent of her hair, took in the soft warmth of her skin, and let the words I swore I’d never say pour from me. “Like you’re in love? Because that’s what I feel. I wasn’t supposed to fall in love with you. I’m supposed to destroy you.”
Tears welled in her eyes, and I wanted to kiss the sadness away. “I’m bound by law to hate your kind.”
“But you love me too.” I stated it as fact because there was nothing else it could be. She was my mate.
“I do. I’ve tried not to, but it’s…you’re irresistible.”
“I feel the same. Even when I tried to stay away, you found me.”
She pressed her lips to mine and sighed. “What do we do now? Run and live in fear of being found and punished by my pack?”
I shook my head. I would not slink off into the night with her. “No. I will give you my bond. Make you my mate. Then we will tell our families. What’s done cannot be undone.”
“And you think my father will accept this? That he won’t simply kill you? There has to be another solution. We can’t bond without them knowing. They’ll never accept it that way.”
“I think you’re wrong. But I’ll wait until you’re ready.”
“Nik won’t take it well. He’s an alpha. They’re possessive to the point of violence.”
“I will defend you until my heart stops beating.”
I ran my thumb over her lower lip, and she caught the pad between her teeth, the slight pressure making my cock harden so rapidly it hurt. “Fuck, Briar,” I groaned.
She released my thumb and threaded our fingers. “You’re my sin, you know? The one temptation I struggle to resist.”
“The world is made of sinners and saints. But sinners have far more fun. Let us sin together.”
She wriggled next to me, hand trailing over my torso and hip. “I need, Lucas.”
“Tell me how to please you. Tell me what you want.”
“I…I just want you. Whatever that gets me. I need you inside me, coveting me, giving your love to me, taking away any fears that try to creep in.”
I sat up and raked my hands through my hair, working to control the throbbing desire in my blood. I would do all those things and more.
“Take my body tonight; you already have my heart. Claim me as a husband and mate should.”
Her beautiful thighs parted, and she closed her eyes, a tremor running through her. “Are you afraid?”
“Yes.”
“Don’t be. I will never hurt you. You have my vow.” I fit myself between her legs and braced my body over her. “Open your eyes. Let me see you.”
She did, and I ran my palm down her belly before sliding my knees back and dipping my head to the juncture between her thighs. A sharp gasp filled the air, and she brought her hips up to meet me. I tasted her, teased, opened her until she was ready, quivering and begging me to let her find her release.
“Lucas, stop teasing me.”
I backed away just enough to say, “The buildup is half the fun.”
“It’s killing me.”
I sucked her needy little clit into my mouth and filled her with two fingers, curling them in a come hither motion until she let out a muffled cry, presumably into my pillow. With her walls still fluttering, I removed my fingers and positioned the weeping head of my erection at her wet and ready opening. “Look at me, wild wolf. Watch while I take what’s mine.”
Her eyes found mine, and then we both watched as I slowly entered her for the first time. Nothing would ever be the same after that moment. We both knew. She gripped both of my hands and winced as I pressed on, not stopping until I was fully seated inside her. I was trembling with the effort not to give in to my desire and rut fast and hard. Not this time. Not the first time.
“I need you to move,” she murmured. “I’m so full of you.” She bit her lower lip as I pulled out and pushed all the way back inside. “Yes, Lucas. Do that again.”
I could smell the blood of her virgin barrier mixed with arousal in the air. I couldn’t help it, my fangs descended, and hunger reared its head. But I pushed it away. This was about her. About us. It wasn’t time for me to claim her as my mate.
Then she pulled the rug out from under me. She wrapped her thighs around my waist and flipped us over until she sat astride me. Her groan of pleasure had me bucking up into her, but she pressed hard on my shoulders and shook her head. “Let me. I need to…control this. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t apologize for knowing what you want. I’ll gladly spend every night under you if that’s what you desire. Use me as you wish. I’m yours.”
She rolled her hips, sending waves of incredible sensation through me. I wouldn’t last much longer sheathed in her tight heat. Her breaths came in harsh gasps, which in turn changed to growls. A small curl of fear settled in my chest as the magic in the air between us turned volatile. “Lucas,” she groaned.
“Are you there, love? Are you ready?” I gripped her thighs as she kept riding me to her climax.
“My wolf,” she protested. I knew it. I knew she was holding back because of her need to shift.
“Let go. Let me come with you.”
“I’ll change. There’s too much wild magic in this room.”
I grabbed her hips and moved her over me, digging my fingers into the flesh of her arse. “Lucky for me, I’m nearly immortal. Mark me if you have to. Remember,” I grinned. “I like pain.”
Her eyes flashed, and she planted her hands on my chest before her pace became frantic as she chased her orgasm. Pain burned from the points of each of her fingers against my skin as claws replaced her nails, and she came apart around me. I let out a guttural moan of her name as a golden wave of pure ecstasy washed through my entire body.
She fell across me, her hair splaying over my throat, arms loose by her sides, body still housing my cock. “Are you all right?” I asked, taking my fingers and trailing them down the length of her spine.
A soft giggle left her, and she said, “I want to do that again.”
BRIAR
The last thing I should have been doing was standing outside in the pouring down rain, but I needed fresh air and a moment to think after everything Lucas and I had just done. I could have killed him, ripped his heart straight from his chest with my claws. I’d never felt my wolf so strongly, but she wanted me to mark him, to give him some of what made me…other. She recognized her mate the same as I did.
“What are you doing out here?” Lucas’ low and tender tone soothed me as he came up behind me and wrapped me in his arms.
“I like the quiet of the rain. It helps me think.”
“About what?”
“Our next move. The future. How we are going to make this work.”
His lips brushed my shoulder, making me shiver with arousal. “We will. Have a little faith.”
I smiled softly, leaning back against him. “I almost tore you to ribbons in there.”
“And it was worth every scratch.” His dark chuckle rumbled from deep in his chest.
I turned in his arms. “I’m serious, Lucas. My wolf wanted to mark you. That doesn’t come without its share of blood.”
“In case you’ve forgotten, I am a vampire. Blood doesn’t make me squeamish.” Strong hands ran up my arms. “You’re soaking. Not that I mind. My white shirt does nothing to hide your beautiful body like this.”
My wolf stirred and pressed for me to pay attention to her.
“Briar? Your eyes are brighter and the air tastes of magic. Tell me what you need.” Lucas stared at me with intensity in his eyes.
“I need to mark you.”
“Didn’t you already?”
“No. I need to give you my mark. My mating mark. It’s the only way she’ll calm down.”
He smirked, and part of me wanted to slap him for his cocksure attitude. “Of course she does. She’s a smart wolf. She knows what’s good when she sees it.”
“Maybe she does. I’m glad I listened to her.”
“You shouldn’t be out here, you know. I wouldn’t put it past your pack to have spies in the woods, not to mention, my family could come home at any moment. Do you want them to see you out here, soaking wet, nipples hard, clad in nothing but my shirt?”
A thrill ran through me at the tension in his voice. Like he couldn’t contain the arousal that possibility stirred in him. “What if I say I don’t care who sees me?”
“Even if they see you being fucked against the balcony rail? Even if I strip you bare and take you right here?”
“What if I’m the one who takes you?”
He let out a hum of approval and leaned into me. The hard length of him pressed along my belly. “As you wish.”
I snaked my hand down his bare chest and over the bulge in his trousers. “You can’t have me yet. Not until I give you my mating mark.”
“How?”
“Get on your knees.”
Heat flared in his eyes. “Yes, mistress.”
That twisted something delicious low in my belly. “Hands behind your back.”
He did all I asked, and he looked like a perfect offering, nude from the waist up, barefoot, glistening with rainwater coating his skin.
I had no clue what I was doing, but I knew him well enough to realize this was something he needed. Perhaps not all the time, but frequently. I let instinct guide me, closing my eyes and waiting for my wolf to tell me what to do, what to say. Walking behind him, I stroked his shoulders and reveled in his soft groan.
Then I slipped out of his shirt and let the wet fabric fall to the stone floor of the balcony. Cold radiated up my thighs when I knelt and my knees met the surface, but I needed to be close to him for this. Everything in me was screaming for contact. I pressed my bare chest to his back, and he shuddered in pure relief, shoulders losing some of the tension he’d been holding.
“A mating mark is more than a bite or scratch, Lucas. It’s a vow.”
He nodded. “I understand. I want it, and I want to bind you to me too.”
I slid my palms down his arms until our fingers entwined. Nuzzling my face between his broad shoulders, I layered soft kisses on the skin there, teasing with my tongue and making his breath hitch as he tried to stay still. “Where do you want it?” I asked.
“Wherever pleases you.”
I released his hands, and he made a noise of protest but didn’t argue. “Stand.”
He was on his feet, muscles tense again, and waiting for me to deliver whatever came next. “I’m going to mark you here.” I touched the now fully healed place where I’d scratched him on his side and lower back.
“Yes,” he whispered.
My hand shifted into claws, and I drew a line of blood across his perfect skin. To his credit, he didn’t move. Then I knelt at his side and licked the blood from the scratch, feeling some of his power wash over me. It was heady, not unlike arousal. I cut my own wrist next and pressed it to his skin. “Etched in blood, sealed together, I give my power, my love, my faith, to you, Lucas. My mark will be yours alone as long as we live. My heart will be yours alone for eternity. My soul bound to yours until time stops.” Power flowed through me, and where the scratch had been, a rush of golden energy burned bright, making Lucas hiss in pain.
My head swam at the intensity of the moment, and I fell backward, but Lucas was there, catching me in his arms before I could hit the stone floor.
“Are you all right?” he asked, concerned gaze locking on mine.
I nodded. “Yes, just dizzy. That was…more than I imagined.”
“The last part hurt like the dickens.” He smiled at me, pride shining in his eyes. “But I felt it. You claimed me.”
He put me on my feet and reached around to run his fingers over where I’d left my mark. A raised scar of script in the shape of a crescent moon.
“What does it say?” he asked.
I trailed my own fingers over the scar and read the French words, which meant bound by heart, soul, and blood.
“The vow. The claim.”
A swell of pure emotion swarmed me without warning. “I love you, Lucas.”
“And I you.” He wrapped me in his arms again and rolled his hips. “That was the most sensual thing I’ve experienced.”
His hard length pressed into me, and all the arousal I’d been repressing while marking him came roaring to life. “You’d better take care of that.”
“Would you like it if I did?”
“Yes, Lucas. Use me like you threatened you would.”
He made quick work of his trousers and spun me around, bending me over the balcony rail, hand in my hair. I moaned when he kicked my feet to part my legs, then found my wet core with two long fingers. “Ready for me, I see,” he growled into my ear.
“It was just as sensual for me.” I had to force the words through a tight throat. “No toying with me. Fuck me now.”
He did. He slammed into me hard enough I worried I might fall over the edge of the balcony, but his grip on my hair and my shoulder was tight, and even at his fevered pace, he had control.
“I need…” he said as he moved inside me. “I need to mark you. I can’t claim you yet, but I can mark you so they’ll know you’re mine.”
“Yes,” I breathed. “God, yes.”
His hips faltered as he pulled me back until I was standing, and he was thrusting up into me. He fell to his knees, bringing me with him, and both of his large hands palmed my breasts. I was so close to something perfect and explosive. I needed him to keep going. “Harder, Lucas. Like you’ll never get to do this again.”
“Fuck,” he groaned. Then pain blossomed across the juncture of my shoulder and throat, followed by the exact thing I’d been craving. My release hit me with blinding pleasure, and I screamed his name as he pulsed inside me.
“Well, well, what an interesting show,” a male voice said from behind us.
Lucas released my throat and wrapped his arms protectively around me before bringing us both to our feet. “Cashel, what are you doing in my rooms?”
“I heard screaming. Thought I might see what kind of fun you’d gotten up to.”
I wasn’t ashamed of my nakedness, but I knew Lucas wouldn’t want to share my body with his brother’s eyes. I bent and retrieved the shirt I’d been wearing before covering my body with the fabric. Cashel smirked and cocked a brow.
“She’s bleeding. You should know better than to make a mess, brother. You’re not bonded. She’ll attract…attention.”
“No one will touch her.”
Cashel laughed and shoved his hands into the pockets of his tuxedo. “You do remember we are hosting the Stockholm clan tonight, yes? You’re late for the party, though I’m sure they know you were busy. We could all hear you.”
The question was, did they see us? My cheeks burned, but arousal built between my thighs too.
“Ah, a little exhibitionist. Does she like a bit of pain too?”
Lucas put me behind him and snarled, “She’s mine. Lay a finger on her, and you’ll regret it.”
Cashel ran a hand through his slicked-back hair and sighed. “Yes, yes, fine. I wouldn’t bring your little shifter to the party tonight. She’s too decadent. Run along home, wolf. I’ll take care of him.”
Lucas turned to me and said, “Go home. Make things right with your family before we tell them everything. I will come for you at moonrise, and we will tell them together.”
My heart clenched, but he was right. It was done. My mating mark ensured they couldn’t force me to marry Nik. They would have to either accept it or shun me. I knew deep in my bones my parents would never hurt me. And that meant they wouldn’t hurt my mate either.
We should try to make them see before we simply abandoned everything we knew. He pressed a crushing kiss to my lips, and the two of us walked inside where I found a black silk dress waiting for me, draped across the sofa. I slipped it over my head and stepped into the shoes sitting on the floor. Not a perfect fit, but they’d do.
“Cashel, distract them so I can see her out?” Lucas asked.
He shrugged. “I’ve nothing better to do. You’d better be quick. Father is already suspicious.”
Lucas linked our hands, and we took a secret passage from his rooms to a hidden staircase. It opened into the music room via a false wall, and while he told me he never took advantage of it, tonight, I was grateful it existed. Together we escaped unseen into the gardens.
“Tomorrow night?” he asked.
I nodded. “It seems like a lifetime away.”
He cupped my cheek and ran his thumb over my lips. “I love you.”
“Goodbye, Lucas.” We held hands until I walked far enough away he had to release me, then I stripped and shifted, leaving the black dress floating to the ground as I ran into the woods. I had to face my family. Convince them to accept the truth and figure out a way to keep them and my mate.