His mouth took hers, hungry and demanding. His wolf howled deeply, and the sound in his head was possessive. An overwhelming feeling to dominate sent shock waves through his mind. With all the women he’d had over the years, no one had stirred his wolf, his cock, and his very mind like this. The unnerving feeling took hold, and he pressed her hand to the hard bulge behind his zipper.

“This is what I’ve had to live with for the past two weeks, Isabel. I swear, woman, I’m crawling out of my skin for the want of you. I want your mouth, your tongue, your slick, wet pussy, and dreaming about how you taste and feel is not enough.”

Isabel gasped at his raw, whispered words.

At the acquiescent sound, he walked her back until her butt hit the trunk of the tree. He held her tightly, pressing the hard bar of his cock against her belly. “Open for me, Izzy. I want my mouth on your clit and my tongue between your soft folds until your pussy is dripping and ready for me. I want you to come hard as my hand works your slick slit, and then when you crest again, I want you to spread you wide and give every inch of my cock.”

Isabel moaned, and Zander’s hands skimmed her breasts, working her hard nipples beneath the soft silk of her dress. He grazed her peaks, pinching the stiff flesh between his fingers. With another kiss, he stepped back, his hands trailing to her shoulders.

“Have you ever fucked another shifter, Isabel?” He pushed the straps of her beautiful gown over her arms, freeing her breasts. Stepping back, he licked his lips. “My God, you’re gorgeous.”

A beautiful dusky rose stained her skin, the blush covering her from her breasts to her cheeks. “You’re beautiful, Isabel. Truly. Every curve. From here—” Zander let his fingers trace her bare breasts. “—to your waist and full hips.” His hands pushed her dress lower until the silk puddled over her thighs to the ground. “And especially what’s in between.”

He cupped her pussy and she sucked in a breath. “Zander, what about your security team?”

Shaking his head, his mouth hovered over hers again. “No one is allowed back here. It’s just us and the moon. The way two shifters should be.”

Nipping the bottom seam of her lip, his own mouth slid into a crooked grin. “You didn’t answer my question, Isabel.”

“Wha—what question?” she replied, her breath hitching in her throat as he curled his fingers into the wet cleft between her legs.

“Have you ever fucked another shifter?”

She shook her head, letting it drop back against the tree with a small cry. He circled her clit with his thumb and her pussy clenched against his hand.

“Cum, Izzy. Let your climax flow through you, but when I drive my cock deep, you’ll know why I asked.” With his knee, he pushed her legs farther apart and then stepped back again, releasing her pussy.

Her head snapped up in protest and she reached for him, but he shook his head. “Shifter men like to watch their prey before they pounce and eat,” he said with a smirk. Unbuttoning his tux, he shrugged the jacket from his shoulders and tossed it to the ground under the tree. He slipped his shirt from his chest, watching as Isabel licked her lips. He chuckled and quickly shed the rest of his clothes.

“Touch yourself, Iz. Let me see you play with your pretty pink pussy. Make my mouth water with the scent of you. Tease your clit. Imagine my hands still on your body. Your dreams were X-rated. Let me see you touch yourself like you had to then.”

Isabel dropped her chin, her eyes dark and dilated with need as her hands traced her breasts and waist, sliding over her hips to the trimmed patch of dark fuzz between her legs. She kicked her dress on top of his clothes and stood naked except for her high heels.

Leaning back against the tree, she stepped each foot to the side and spread her legs, arching her hips forward as she slipped her hands to her pussy.

“That’s it, love. Work yourself.” Zander fisted his cock, keeping his eyes locked on Isabel’s face as she watched him work his shaft. “Mmmm, baby. I smell your juice. Let me see your slit. Spread your folds for me.”

With a sexy grin, Izzy did as he asked and he growled low and feral. He closed the distance between them in a single step and sunk to his knees, his mouth on her pussy in seconds.

She moaned as his tongue circled her clit, and she sucked a hiss through her teeth when he grazed the edge of his canines across her hard nub. His tongue delved between her lips as his fingers worked her slit, his hand filling her full and deep.

Isabel cried out and as she came again, she ground her pussy further into his mouth and hand. He waited until the climax crashed, letting her ride the last wave before he straightened.

His eyes burned and he knew they were yellow and on the edge of feral. Licking his fingers, he moaned at the taste of her. “You’re even sweeter than I dreamed.”

Emboldened, Isabel grinned. She rested her hands on his chest before letting them slide over his hard torso to his thick member. Wrapping her hand around his shaft, she squeezed, spreading the pearl of cum over the velvet mass of his head.

“My turn,” she said, and slipped to her knees.

He fisted her hair long hair, moving it to the side to watch as he pressed his swollen head to her lips. Isabel flicked the pink tip of her tongue around the ridged edge of his cock and then dragged it over his corded underside, cupping his balls.

“All of me, Isabel. Every hard inch,” he growled.

She opened her mouth and sucked him deeply. Zander groaned at the feel, the sight of his cock in her mouth nearly sending him over the edge. He tightened his grip on her hair and thrust his dick deeper. Isabel relaxed her throat and took him, working his shaft with the flat of her tongue with each thrust.

Zander clenched his teeth and pulled his cock from her lips. He sunk to the grass in front of her and cupped her face, his mouth hungry and demanding again. With a growl, he flipped her onto all fours and grabbed her hips, pulling them back and high. He drove in his cock with a single thrust, stretching her wide. Her slick slit throbbed with the size of him.

Isabel threw her head back, her hair cascading over her shoulder. “Oh, my God! Zander!” she hissed. “You weren’t kidding.”

Grinning, he wrapped his arm around her waist and lifted her against him. He bucked, plunging deeply, his dick swelling with each thrust. Isabel’s body tensed, her legs shaking as her walls shuddered and convulsed around his full length.

A wash of predatory need took him and he sucked in a slow, steadying breath, the word MINE rebounding off his brain. Nothing and nobody had ever made him feel like this and if destiny played its part the way he thought, no one else ever would.

Isabel was his. Now and always.

He let go and with a final thrust, emptied himself deeply inside her, his feral growl echoing in the night. Zander held Isabel’s back tightly against his chest as the last spasms left her body. Panting and spent, the two maneuvered to the soft grass, his swollen cock still within her body.

“I can still feel you,” she said, looking over her shoulder at him.

He moved her hair aside and kissed her damp shoulder. “I know. A male wolf swells to twice his normal size when he takes his mate.”

Isabel opened her mouth to reply, but he shook his head. “I know we barely know each other, Iz, but you are my mate. In my world—” he paused. “That is, in my real world, not the insincere fiasco happening at my house tonight, it’s how we shifters know.”

“Zander—”

“I know the whole idea of scenting a mate is alien to you. It’s a shame your mom didn’t live long enough to show you the beauty of a dual-nature. The majesty of shifting from human to animal. I can show you that.”

“Zander—” she tried again.

“Let me finish.” He kissed her shoulder again. “Dreaming about you wasn’t about infatuation or conquest. If I wanted a conquest, I could have my pick of the bimbos and wannabes clamoring for my attention at the house.” His eyes found hers. “I don’t want them. I want you. You only need to look deeply inside yourself to find the truth. Your shifter blood will tell you I’m right.”

She wet her lips. “That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you. I’ve never shifted, Zander. Ever.” Her eyes held his. “No tingle, no pull from the moon. I may have shifter blood, but I might as well be human. The only thing I inherited from my mother was my heightened senses, and even then, my tendency to second guess myself gets in the way.”

His body relaxed enough for him to slide from her slick cleft. He turned her in his arms so they were face-to-face. “I suspected as much. The moon could easily have sent the two of us over the edge and into animal form the moment we tasted each other.” He kissed the tip of her nose. “I felt its pull, but I knew you didn’t. That doesn’t mean you never will. With half-bloods, it sometimes takes a powerful jolt to spark a shift. Fear or anger.”

She chuckled. “You’d think mind-blowing sex would do the trick.”

Zander laughed out loud. “You’d think, right?” He angled his head, his lips sliding into a mischievous grin. “So, I blew your mind, huh?”

Izzy gave his shoulder a playful shove. “You know you did, so stop fishing. You curled my toes, wolf boy.”

“Good. Mission accomplished…well, almost.”

She eyed him. “Almost? What did we miss?”

He shook his head. “My claiming you as my mate.”

Confused, her lips parted. “But didn’t you just tell me I’m your mate?”

He nodded. “Yes, but the process is a little more involved than that. First, you need to accept my claim and second, you have to accept my mark. It’s ancient, and the rite is a throwback to our animal natures, but it is what it is.”

Izzy sat up, facing him. “Mark me? You mean bite me? Like cats do when they mate?”

He laughed. “Cats and dogs, sweetheart. There’s a reason the saying says, fighting like. Wolves are more genteel about it. We finesse our marks at just the right time.”

She smirked. “You mean you sink your teeth as your mate climaxes so she won’t feel the pain.”

He leaned on his elbow and pressed a kiss to her breast, his tongue flicking her nipple. “Exactly. Finessing the line between pleasure and pain.” He waggled his eyebrows and sat up. “You have time to think about that and everything else. Right now, I just want to enjoy being together.”

He glanced toward the house. “C’mon. Get dressed. I’m going to grab us a bottle of champagne. After all, I promised you a moonlit walk on the beach, right?”

She smirked. “Sounds good.”

Zander helped her to her feet and then scooped up her dress, handing it to her. He shoved his legs into his pants and then slipped his shirt over his shoulders, buttoning both quickly.

“What about this?” she asked, bending for his bowtie.

He shook his head. “Keep it for me. If things go where I hope, it’s only less for me to take off later.”

She grinned as he sprinted through the trees and up the hill to the house. She was Zander Petrov’s mate. Isabel hugged her middle. He could mark her every which way and twice on Sunday. That boy was as much hers as she was his.