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  Pain exploded in my head and down my entire body as my skull cracked against the hard forest floor. White stars danced in front of my vision, my cheek pressed against the dirt as I blinked several times. The throbbing behind my temples intensified as the seconds ticked by.

  And then darkness swept over and claimed me.

  ****

  Wolf

  It took everything in me not to go to her, toss her over my shoulder, spank that sweet little ass of hers, and take her back to my home.

  Our home.

  Because she would be mine whether she knew it or not. But I could tell she knew it. The way her pupils had dilated, her pulse beating rapidly beneath her ear. She’d started breathing heavier, faster. Her nipples had hardened, pressed against the thin material of her T-shirt.

  But I let her walk away, watched as she disappeared behind the thick lining of trees. My feet moved on their own, taking me toward her, refusing to let her leave. She needed to see that she was mine, that being with me was what was right. It didn’t matter that she didn’t know me from Adam. It didn’t fucking matter that my possessiveness and obsession bordered on stalking at this point.

  I’d been without a female for far too long—years if I was being honest—and I’d never been interested in one the way I was with this beauty. I just had to convince her that staying with me in the middle of nowhere meant I could still give her everything she needed, everything she desired.

  I was stealthy as I followed her, could even smell the sweet scent of flowers and honey that came from her. It invaded my senses, made me drunk with my need for her.

  And then I saw her go down, not fast enough to get to her before her head cracked on the rock. And then I was kneeling before her, pulling her unconscious, curvy body into my arms, holding her close. She felt perfect in my arms, so fucking perfect that I was never letting her go.

  4

  Ruby

  I felt something cold and wet move along my forehead and I knitted my brows, my eyes still closed. The pain in my skull throbbed and I moaned, hearing that noise fill my head. I was aware of the sound of the fire crackling nearby, the warmth seeping into me.

  Opening my eyes and blinking several times, I stared at the ceiling, the wood slats crisscrossing and making an intricate, almost herringbone pattern.

  This wasn’t my ceiling.

  A drop of water slid down my cheek like a caress, like a gentle kiss. Trying in vain to remember what had happened only had my head pounding harder.

  “Try not to move.” The voice that came through was deep, masculine. It instantly had my heart racing.

  It was the sound of Wolf.

  Turning my head toward the noise, I blinked several more times as my vision started to clear. He was partially obscured by the shadows, the firelight flickering over his face.

  Memories of what had happened slammed into my head and I groaned, lifting my hand and placing it over my eyes, trying to stem off the pain. I’d fallen and hit my head like a fool.

  I didn’t need to ask why I was here to understand what had happened. Clearly Wolf had taken me back to his cabin after I’d hit my head and gone unconscious.

  He brought over a glass of water and I sat up, bracing my hands on the firm mattress beneath me. The blanket and pillow smelled like him, this woodsy, masculine aroma that had my pulse quickening.

  I took the cup from him and brought it to my mouth, drinking half of the contents before finally taking a breath. I hadn’t realized how thirsty I was until he offered me the drink. The fire crackled loudly and a few of the logs fell to the side. I looked over at the hearth and saw the embers and flames flooding up to the chimney.

  Looking at the window, I saw it was already dark out.

  “How long have I been here?”

  He took the glass from me, not answering. He set the cup on the table beside the bed. The cabin was one room, with the kitchen off to the right and the living area off to the left. The bed was in the corner of the room, but close enough to the fire that it stayed warm.

  “A few hours.” His words were gruff.

  I licked my lips and nodded. “I’m Ruby, by the way.”

  He stood there for long seconds, just staring at me. I felt very aware of his presence, not in the literal sense but figuratively. He watched me like he knew me, like he … wanted me as his. I swallowed and squeezed my hands, the blanket partially hiding my physical reaction.

  “Thank you, but I should probably get back to my cabin.” I licked my lips, feeling very nervous and aware. I wasn’t frightened although maybe I should have been.

  “It’s late. You should stay.” His words were short, gruff. An order. I could tell that’s just the way he spoke. It probably wasn’t smart to stay the night, but it wasn’t safe trying to navigate out there now either. Besides, if he had wanted to hurt me, he could have easily done so well before now.

  I nodded, not even about to argue or fight this. It’s not like he was an absolute stranger. Wolf was known around town, and although I’d never personally talked with him, I knew enough about him through the rumor mill to feel relatively safe in his presence. Besides, I had no warning bells going off. Instead my body was on fire, and that had nothing to do with the flames close by.

  It had everything to do with my arousal, which seemed grossly misplaced in this moment, but was totally undeniable.

  “Are you hungry?” he asked and made his way over toward the kitchen area.

  I didn’t know how long I’d been here but before I could ask again my stomach grumbled, responding to Wolf’s question.

  He didn’t say anything but he did look over his shoulder, the corner of his mouth tilting up and letting me know he heard my body’s reaction.

  “I’ve seen you in town,” I finally said, my voice strained but soft in pitch. He didn’t say anything as he started making me something to eat. The sound of a plate and silverware clanging together sounded overly loud in the small room. “I mean, I’ve seen you in town a few times over the years.” My throat tightened and I licked my lips, my mouth feeling suddenly dry. I pushed myself up on the bed a little bit more and rested my back against the headboard.

  I curled my hands around the sheets and brought them up further to my chest. I wasn’t cold but I did want to hide the fact that my nipples were pretty hard at that moment.

  He still had yet to say anything in response, and as he turned around with the plate in one hand and another glass of water in the other, I was struck by the fact this man was brutally handsome. Big and strong, causing me to crane my neck back just so I could look at his face, he resembled a warrior or a barbarian intent on destruction. I was so tiny compared to him. With his bulging muscles and broad shoulders I felt wholly like a woman.

  I pushed myself up on the bed and sat on the edge, my hands curled around the mattress. He’d set the food down on the bed, a plate and cup of water sitting atop a wooden tray. I watched Wolf stoke the fire. The shirt he wore stretched across his broad, muscular back, the material tucked into his worn and faded jeans and showing off his narrow waist. I felt my pulse beast faster the longer I stared at him, the sound of the wind howling outside almost as loud as the beating of my heart.

  I ate in silence, listening to the sound of the fire crackling. Once I was finished Wolf took the tray away and I rested back on the bed, trying to rest. My head still hurt, but with each passing moment it felt better.

  I watched him, this misplaced desire filling me. I should have gotten more rest, but I couldn’t sleep. Although I’d only been here for such a short time—only hours—I felt my need for him grow. He was big and strong and I knew being with him would keep me safe, protected. What I wanted to do with Wolf was not logical, maybe not even realistic.

  I felt like a fiend for him, like my body wasn’t my own, like I just needed to give every single part of myself over to him. It was insane, maybe even delusional, but I wanted it more than I’d ever wanted anything before.

  He stood and kept his back tow
ard me. I licked my lips, my pulse thundering so loud I wondered if he heard. Then I found myself moving closer to him until I could have reached out and touched his back. I saw the way he tensed and wondered if he knew how close I was to him.

  “I can’t let you go,” he said in a gruff voice, his back still to me. He turned around then, the shadows dancing off his face, his body seeming even bigger than before. “I wanted you as mine since I first saw you. Now that you’re here the thought of you leaving isn’t something I’ll allow to happen.” He took a step forward. I found myself moving one back.

  My heart was racing and I started breathing faster and harder. The air in the room became thick, almost suffocating. It was like honey covering my body, coating me. He moved another step toward me, his massive body dwarfing mine, his scent making me feel drunk.

  “W-What?” My voice came out soft, that loan word a stutter. Oh, I understood exactly what he said but he spoke the words with such conviction, such determination that I felt them in every part of my body.

  “You heard me.”

  “I have a home, a job.” Although the very thought of those things in this moment, standing before Wolf, seemed distant and unimportant. Hell, they seemed that way even before I’d been in this situation.

  His expression was fierce, almost stern. He stared into my eyes, the dark depths of his heating me like a fire burning deep within my belly.

  “Materialistic things.” He said those two words in a gruff voice and took another step toward me. “Life isn’t about what we have, but about what we accomplish.” He lifted his hand and gently wrapped his fingers around my throat, his palm so much bigger than my neck. “Connections with that one person who owns every part of you, creating a family with them…” His voice had gone done an octave. “Those are what’s important. That is what life is about.”

  I swallowed, feeling that light pressure of his hand, knowing my nipples were hard and my pussy had become wet. It was all because of that touch.

  It was all because of him.

  “Nothing else matters aside from you with me, Ruby. You are mine.” And then he leaned in close and placed his mouth on mine, devouring me as he slipped his tongue between my lips and fucked me there.

  I gasped at the intensity of that single kiss, at the way he held me, used his body and his hand on my throat to move me backward until the wall stopped me. He pressed his lower body to mine, his erection massive, thick and long as it pressed to my belly. I felt the heat from him and that caused beads of sweat to line my spine and dot the valley between my breasts.

  I was frozen in place at that first feel of his lips on mine. And when he stroked my mouth with his tongue, my clit tingled and my arousal heightened. His lips were firm, full, and the flavor of him reminded me of the wilderness, of the danger that surrounded us. My fingers started tingling and I felt my heart start to jackknife behind my ribs.

  I couldn’t help wanting to submit to him, to let his masculinity overshadow my femininity. I couldn’t stop myself from getting swept away in the kiss. He dipped his tongue in my mouth and I knew I was a goner for this man. I knew I’d give him whatever he wanted because I desired him too fiercely.

  Maybe it was the adrenaline pumping through my veins, or the fact I couldn’t deny there was arousal and definite chemistry moving between us. All I knew was my emotions were high right now, and I didn’t want to come back to reality.

  I braced my hands on his thick biceps, knowing that what I was allowing to happen would forever change the course of things. It would mean I was his irrevocably.

  But right now I didn’t care. God, I didn’t care because I wanted Wolf too damn badly.

  In that moment I knew there was no walking away from this. I knew without a doubt that when he said I was his, that I wouldn’t be leaving; that was the absolute truth.

  5

  Wolf

  She was sweet and so fucking soft against me. I knew from before I even touched her that she was mine, that I’d make that a reality no matter what.

  But when I had Ruby in my arms everything felt right … perfection.

  She curled her nails into my flesh, causing my cock to jerk like it had a mind of its own. I wanted her, wanted to claim her. I wanted my mark on her, my cum in her … my baby growing inside of her.

  But right now I wanted her to admit she was mine.

  I grabbed the back of her head at the same time I stroked her tongue with mine, needing her flavor in my mouth, needing mine imprinted on hers. She gasped against me, her mouth parting lightly, her need evident. I started walking us backward, the primal and possessive side of me rising up and roaring out to take her, to claim her because she was mine in every single fucking way that counted.

  The wall stopped our movements, her back pressed to the wood, her body molded to mine. I groaned into her mouth, my cock hard, demanding, needing to be deep inside of her pussy. I needed my cum filling her, marking her. Shit, I felt like an animal where Ruby was concerned.

  She placed her hands on my chest and pushed me back. As hard as it was, I retreated, giving us space, letting us both suck in great lungfuls of air. Her cheeks were pink, her lips parted and glossy, her pupils dilated. She was aroused, insanely so. Hell, I felt like my cock would tear through my jeans for how hard I was.

  No one will ever have you but me. You’re mine now.

  As she stared at me I found myself making these low, gruff sounds. I moved closer to her again. I placed a hand on either side of her head, caging her in, letting her know that fighting this only made it hotter. But I could see in her face, in her body language, that she wanted this.

  I leaned in so our faces were only an inch apart and inhaled deeply. She smelled so fucking good, like lavender and honey.

  “I bet you’re wet right now, aren’t you?” She started breathing harder, faster. “I bet your sweet little pussy is aching for me.” She gasped and licked her lips. I groaned at the sight and sound. “ Tell me.” It took her a moment but then she did exactly what I said.

  “Yes,” she whispered.

  I stared right in her eyes and moved one of my hands closer to her face so I could run my thumb along the shell of her ear. With her mouth parted and her warm, sweet-smelling breath coming out in swift little puffs of air, all I wanted to do was claim her until she couldn’t walk straight tomorrow. I’d demand she was mine, that she’d stay here with me, at my side, my wife, the mother of my children.

  Did she know how serious I was?

  I leaned in another inch until our lips were close enough that when I spoke they’d brush together. “From the moment I saw you I knew you’d be mine.”

  “God, is this really happening?” she whispered almost to herself.

  “Fuck yes.” I couldn’t stop the low sound that left me. I lifted my hand and pushed the long fall of her hair away from her neck, exposing the slender column. I watched as her pulse beat frantically below her ear, this rhythmic motion that matched my own. I couldn’t help myself. Leaning down, I ran my tongue along her pulse, feeling it quicken beneath my lips, knowing her little heart was racing because of this moment, because she was excited.

  “Make no mistake in thinking you can run from me, that I’ll let you go. I can’t, Ruby. I won’t.” I ran my finger along the side of her throat, her pulse beating wildly beneath my finger. “And if you did run I’d find you. There isn’t any place on this planet you could go where I wouldn’t track you down, make you mine.”

  “This is insane,” she whispered.

  “No. It’s perfection. It’s our reality.”

  I heard her gasp and knew she felt my cock pressing against her upper stomach, digging into the soft skin of her belly. “You feel that?” I asked, but she didn’t respond, just licked her lips. “I’m going to claim you by shoving my big cock so far into you, you won’t know where I end and you begin.” My cock jerked after I said those words and I watched as her eyes widened.

  She was breathing harder, faster.

  I lean
ed back so she could look in my eyes again and placed my hand right over her belly, feeling it move up and down as she all but hyperventilated. “And every single time I take you, I’ll make sure to fill you up with my cum, make you take every last drop.”

  This little sound of desire, of shocked lust came from her and went right to my cock.

  “God,” she whispered, but I could hear that ecstasy lacing her voice, that lone word.

  “I don’t think you fully understand what it means to be mine, but Ruby, baby, you will.” Neither of us said anything for long seconds, but the way she looked at me with wide eyes, the feeling of her body heat slamming into me, told me she was right here with me. “You don’t want to fight this, do you?” I moved my hand to her mouth and ran my thumb along her bottom lip. “You don’t want to fight me.” I whispered those words. “I can see it, practically smell the desire coming off of you in waves.” I added more pressure to her lip, pushing the digit gently into her mouth until she opened up for me and I felt her tongue move along the pad.

  “No, I don’t want to fight you. I don’t want to fight this.” She looked at me with wide eyes. I was intoxicated from her, by her.

  My cock jerked again. I knew I had to sample this female, my woman. I inhaled deeply again, taking her scent, her essence into my body. We were breathing the same air, experiencing the same electricity and arousal.

  “Take me.” She said those words softly, maybe shocked they’d come from her.

  I felt her tremble against me. “Are you frightened of me?”

  She shook her head. And then Ruby reached out, curled her hands around my biceps, and pulled me closer. For long seconds we just looked into each other’s eyes and I had a hell of a time not taking her in the way I wanted: fierce, rough, irrevocably.