Until he dismissed me like I was some servant and not his equal on the battlefield.
Until I saw him walk off with her.
My mate.
I captured her mouth in a searing kiss and backed her against the wall. She was mine.
Claim her.
Yeah, that sounded good to me.
Our tongues mated and writhed, our teeth clashing. There was nothing pretty or even seductive about this. It was pure need with a side of acidic jealousy. I ripped off her glove and planted an open mouth kiss on the mating mark that declared she was mine.
The mark she was going to reject in a matter of days.
She whimpered, her hands in my hair as she pulled my head back down to hers. I didn’t just kiss her, I consumed her, taking her breaths, her sighs, her throaty little moans and keeping them for myself.
Her breasts were in my hands, her nipples straining against the silk of her gown as my thumbs teased and twisted.
Her mouth was just as hungry as mine, her hands just as desperate as she tugged up the skirts of her gown. That was all the invitation I needed. I only paused to unbutton my leathers and unzip, my cock springing free, hard and ready.
I lifted Avi, and she wrapped those sweet legs around my waist, our mouths never parting, the kiss spinning as out of control as we felt. The energy between us burned bright, the bond a living thing that only seemed to grow as I braced her back against the wall, steadying her ass with one hand as I reached between her thighs with the other.
“Tell me you’re ready for me,” I growled, palming her pussy.
“So ready,” she answered. “Please, Hawke, don’t make me wait.”
I shoved the silk of her panties to the side and found an even warmer, hotter silk waiting beneath for me. She was drenched. “Thank fuck.”
I pumped two fingers into her, and she moaned, muffling the sound against my shoulder. Then I brought those fingers to her clit and stroked that little bud until her moans turned to keening cries, her hips bucking against me.
“Hawke!” she demanded.
I brought the head of my cock to her entrance and then thrust home, taking every inch of her with one hard stroke. Scalding. Slick. Tight. Mine.
She cried out, her nails biting into my shoulders.
“Mine.” The growl rumbled through my chest as I fucked her into the wall with long, hard strokes. There was no pleasure that compared to this. “So fucking good.”
“Mine,” she replied, lifting her head to kiss me.
I cushioned the back of her head with one hand and gripped her hip tightly with the other. Logic told me to ease up, to be careful not to bruise the female I loved.
The primal, urgent monster within me squeezed a little harder, pulling her into every thrust as I pounded into her relentlessly.
I both fought and savored the spiraling coil of need that gathered within me, determined to make this last. Then she squeezed me tight and fucked all my plans. Only Avianna could strip me of my control with a single move. Hell, even the haze of lust in her eyes tipped me toward the edge. The female could probably make me come with a damned glance.
“Mine. Mine. Mine.” I repeated the word with every thrust of my hips.
She inhaled sharply, her fangs punching down, and through the bond I felt another type of hunger. Thankfully, I’d been able to feed regularly since that night at the penthouse, the night I’d accepted my feelings for her, which meant I could provide everything Avi needed.
“Take what you need.” I guided her mouth to my throat, my hips driving us both toward our pinnacles.
She struck.
I fought against the drowning pleasure of her bite, but the demanding pulls at my throat met the acute, electric bliss of each thrust of my cock into her tight little pussy, and I was fucking lost. I thrust harder twice, rubbing against her clit, and she toppled over with me, her cries muted against my neck.
My knees threatened to buckle, but they held strong as wave after wave hit me. I poured myself into her, and the beast within me purred in contentment. She’d smell like me the rest of this night.
Chest heaving, I held her against that wall as she finished feeding.
That was my blood in her veins. My body sustaining her life. Just as it should be.
And yet, we were in another male’s home as she prepared to be another male’s wife.
The wrongness of it was a fist around my heart, squeezing with grating pressure until the pleasure of the moment faded into the pain the future was swiftly bringing.
Avi licked her bite closed and let her head fall back.
“I have never seen a more beautiful female.” I cradled her flushed cheek and her spectacular eyes fluttered open.