Lord, he looked fierce. Green eyes flashing fire, jaw flexed, the muscles in his stomach standing out in stark relief as he prowled toward her. One second, he was across the room, and the next, he was on her, his fingers clenching her hips, his mouth slanted over hers.

Without a moment’s hesitation, she dropped the towel she’d been holding to curl her arms around his neck. She didn’t know what changed his mind, but at that moment, she didn’t care. He was here now, and that was all that mattered.

He wrenched his lips from hers, bending to drop sucking kisses from the column of her throat before tearing away the second damp towel wrapped around her and tossing it to the tile floor to join the first. Pressing her back, he pinned her to the cold porcelain of the sink and drifted down to her belly button before licking his way back up to her mouth again, consuming her.

Even in the steamy heat of the bathroom, his tongue was molten hot against her skin, scorching her flesh and making her squirm. She wanted this more than anything she’d wanted in her whole life. Wanted to be touched and teased by him. Wanted to be taken and commanded. Wanted to be anything he wanted her to be right now, so long as he didn’t stop.

He traced her breasts with his fingertips, circling her nipples before he let out a low groan. “Christ, you’re beautiful.”

His words fanned over her skin, and she arched her back, desperate for him to close the distance between them. To have his teeth on those aching peaks. To suck until she panted and twisted.

One of his hands rested on the inside of her thigh and then slid slowly upward. Inch by inch, until he cupped her core.

She gasped, as affected by the intense expression on his face as she was by the sensations racing through her.

"I love—" she broke off as his gaze flew to hers, and she bit her lip before starting again. "I love the feel of your skin. I love the way you look at my body.”

And I love you, she added silently.

She was filled with it. The unshakable knowledge that he was the singularly perfect man for her. Her true mate. The man she was meant to spend eternity with. And maybe after tonight, he would be ready to hear it. But for now, she wasn’t going to risk having him walk away again. Tomorrow there would be time for talking.

She strained toward him as he let out a low groan and closed his lips over one, aching nipple. He flicked it with his tongue and she gasped. The shudder ran through her as she slid her hands into his hair, urging him wordlessly not to stop. He pulled back, but only to move to the other breast, licking and sucking until her hands tightened in his hair and her legs began to tremble.

His fingers worked in tandem with his mouth, sliding over slick flesh, pressing inward. She threw her head back and swallowed a plea. It was good, all of it so good, but she wanted him inside her. Wanted to watch his eyes flash and his jaw go tight when he was close to coming. Wanted to bury her face in his neck and breathe him in. Wanted to mark this moment on his heart, the way he’d so surely tattooed his name on hers.

When he pulled back with a pained groan, she’d almost wondered if he’d managed to read her mind, but rather than stepping between her legs to oblige her, he knelt between her thighs, nudging her knees wide, spreading her open to his rapt gaze.

“Perfect,” he murmured, his warm breath washing over her as velvety liquid trickled down her thighs. He bit her there and she jerked again, in the agony of anticipation.

She fought to remain still but her body quaked as she waited, on the razor’s edge, for him to finish it and give her what she needed so badly. Just when she was about to beg, he let out a muffled growl, bent his dark head low and closed his lips unerringly over her swollen clit, sending a sizzle straight down her spine. She gripped at the sides of the sink trying to anchor herself before she spun off the earth altogether.

Ecstasy shimmered through her like a rising tide and she lost all semblance of control, pulsing her hips, reaching for it, riding his mouth in a mad dash toward the finish line. For a single, panicked moment, she wondered if this was another game. If he was going to stop her right at the last second, but then his hands crept up to grip her hips, urging her on even as low groans of approval rumbled in his throat.

Her eyes drifted shut and time stopped as he closed his lips tight over that swollen bundle of nerves and sucked, hard.

“Drake!”

Her whole body clenched and then exploded into a thousand points of light as the orgasm ripped through her. She clawed at the sink, bucking and jerking as she ground against his face, wanting it to go on and on, but knowing if it did, it would likely kill her. Through the blood rushing in her ears, she could hear his low growls of approval, and they only took her higher.

By the time the last of the tremors shuddered through her, she was left weak and gasping, but before she could catch a breath, he was standing and scooping her into his strong arms like she weighed no more than a kitten.

She took the opportunity to soak him in. His delicious, musky smell that only seemed to get stronger in passion. The sureness of his gait. The feel of his hard chest against her soft one.

This was home.

Surely, he felt it too. That this was more than sex. Surely, he realized now that they were meant to be together, and this craziness with Grey was nothing more than a terrible misunderstanding.

Once they were in bed, sated and lying next to each other, she would try again. Tell him she loved him. This time, she wouldn’t hold back, and surely everything would be all right…

* * *

Just sex, he reminded himself grimly.

That’s all this could be, but he was going to take Etienne’s advice and make the most of it.

He squeezed his eyes closed and focused on his breathing. In and out. Long, slow intakes of air to get some oxygen to his lust-addled brain as he lowered her onto the edge of the bed.

She peered up at him through glassy eyes before dropping her gaze to his cock.

Jesus, this woman was going to be the death of him.

“You want it?” he asked, his voice so guttural, he barely recognized it as his own. “Take it. Take it in your mouth, Willa.”

He sank his fingers into her hair as she bent toward him, drawing his swollen head between her lips, lapping at him with the tip of her scorching tongue.

“Fuck,” he growled, using her hair to tug her lower, urging her to take him deeper. The sensation of her swallowing him whole, the soft, tender flesh of her cheeks closing over him even as her tongue laved him, would’ve been enough to drive a weaker man insane. But it was the low humming at the back of her throat—like she loved having him in her mouth…like she wanted this and so much more—that broke his iron control.

“Take it deep, little wolf. Take it all,” he muttered through gritted teeth.

And she did. His eyes nearly crossed as the need to come barreled down on him like an oncoming monsoon.

Don’t do it, he willed himself, calling on every shred of self-discipline he could muster. Don’t fucking do it. Not yet.

“Ah, fuck!” His fingers flexed helplessly in her hair and his vision blurred as she drew him so deep that her cheeks went concave and the head of his cock battered the tender flesh of her sweet, soft throat.

She had him good now, eating him alive, and suddenly, thoughts of battles and vengeance became nothing but a memory. All he could think of was Willa. Her hands. Her lips. Her tongue as she worked him harder…faster, sucking him off like it was her sole purpose in life.

Instinctively, he began to pump his hips in counterpoint to her motions, fucking her mouth in long strokes. So good, that his whole world became a pinprick, and his vision blurred. His balls drew up tight against his body as hot liquid snaked up his shaft, locked and loaded for launch.

He called on his last functioning brain cell to muster two words. “Inside you.”

He yanked her hair hard, pulling her puffy mouth away from him and pressing her back against the bed. He leapt onto the mattress, sparing a quick glance between her thighs to see her glistening sex before settling there. Hands shaking with the intensity of his want, he tested her readiness but there was no need. She was slick and ready again, and she cried out as he thumbed her plump clit.

Hot pokers of need branded his very soul as she writhed beneath his hand. Every whimper, every low gasp sent another rush of blood to his already distended, aching cock.

“Please, god, Drake. Please…”

He let his eyes drift open again and groaned at the sight. Looking at her was a catch twenty-two because it wounded him to the core knowing this was it. He was looking at everything he ever wanted and would never have again. But even that didn’t stop him from taking his fill and burning her image into his brain so he would never forget.

She was gorgeous. Head tossing against the pillow restlessly, hips fluttering, muscles straining as her body hurtled toward release.

“Drake,” she begged, her wide, glassy eyes piercing his soul.

Muscles quaking, he pushed the head of his cock deep and then slid in, inch by inch, until he filled her completely. He hadn’t even moved when she started to chant his name.

“Drake, ah, Jesus.”

Her back bowed as she strained against him, trying to draw him deeper, but she needn’t have worried. He couldn’t have stopped if the place was on fire.

He pulled back and plowed forward, burying himself to the hilt. Her tight channel clutched at him, squeezing and releasing and she bucked beneath him. He bent low and took one, hard nipple between his teeth and then sucked, even as his hips pistoned against hers, driving his thick length into her again and again.

Her chant became a scream as she tensed around him, milking his cock, clenching and releasing until he couldn’t hold back a second more. He bellowed her name and then followed her over the edge, twitching and jerking as hot come spurted from him into her.

His muscles went to straight liquid and he slumped over her, giving her his weight, which she didn’t seem to mind, as her arms slipped around his waist. The sounds of their harsh breathing filled the room, and the pounding of their hearts beat between them, but louder than both combined was the single word blaring in his head.

Mine.

He hated himself for his weakness, but damn, was it true. Nothing was ever simple with her, and what was supposed to be “just sex” only reinforced the bond he’d felt with her.

He rolled to his side, letting the scent of Willa’s hair fill his nostrils and swamp his senses as she rolled with him. She burrowed close, burying her face in his shoulder and nipping him there before letting out a happy, sleepy sigh.

He didn’t know how long they lay there like that, but it wasn’t long before her breath went slow and even, and her body relaxed next to his in slumber.

He couldn’t blame her. It had been a rough twenty-four hours and they were both working on almost no sleep from the night before. And tonight would be no better for him, he realized with a sudden, blood-chilling clarity.

He’d vowed to be so careful…to stop her from drawing him in any deeper. But not a full day had passed and already he’d failed. The lure of her was just too strong. As angry as he was at her. As much as she’d betrayed him, he couldn’t deny it any longer. Etienne was right. He loved her. Body and soul, top to bottom, and nothing was going to change that.

And that meant he had to let her go.

His dragon pulsed inside him, already railing against it, roaring to life, ready to fight for what was his.

But she wasn’t his.

She never had been. Her parents had handed her over, unwitting and unwilling, and he’d taken her because he wanted her. Yes, he’d rationalized it all neatly so it would be easier for him to swallow. Told himself that, if she just gave it a chance, she’d want to stay and that, if they weren’t able to work it out, eventually he would let her go.

Now, though, he recognized it all for exactly that. Rationalization. Because once he’d tasted her, he was never letting go. His fury at her near-escape was just another convenient excuse to do what he’d wanted all along and keep her here with him, whether she wanted to stay or not.

She deserved to choose her mate. To shape her life however she wanted it to be, and as much as it hurt to admit, there was no reason in the world for her to choose him. A gruff, sometimes cruel bastard on an equally unforgiving hunk of stone, away from everyone she knew and loved.

And even harder to admit was the fact that his enemy was one of those people. Greyson West might be a cocky asshole and foolhardy to a fault, but he’d cared enough about Willa to risk his own life and that of his packmates to protect her. That alone earned him Drake’s grudging respect. The man had done no less for Willa than he himself would have done for one of his own. As much as it galled him, killing the man for being an honorable alpha and trying to protect her was flat out wrong.

He pulled his arm gently from beneath Willa’s head and carefully rolled to the edge of the bed before standing. His foot connected with one of Willa’s discarded chains and it jingled softly, another subtle yet painful reminder of his cruelty.

When had things gone so far off the rails?

He’d been so angry at her, but what would he have done had he been subjected to the fate she had? Forced to wed someone she didn’t love? Wouldn’t he have fought tooth and nail to get out? Jumped out a window to escape? Lied, cheated, and betrayed for a chance at freedom?

Not only did she deserve better than this, she deserved better than a selfish bastard like him. He might not ever be able to make up for what he’d done by keeping her here, but he could damn well make sure that her life going forward was her own.

It would kill him to do it, but there was no other way. This night would be the last that she would spend under someone else’s thumb. She’d finally have what she’d always wanted. Freedom to choose. Freedom to follow her own path, with no one getting in her way.

Which meant he had some work to do.