The minute the door to my bedroom is closed, I take my cock in hand.

Her arousal lingers in the air. She’s been wet for me since the airport. I bet if I checked her panties would be soaked through. I wish I would’ve ripped them off so I could wrap them around my aching shaft right now.

If I had lifted my hand and reached over, I could’ve slid my fingers between her lips and into her juicy cunt. But if I had felt her liquid heat on my fingers, I would’ve wanted to spread her legs and drank direct from the well.

And if I’d tasted her, nothing would’ve stopped me from stripping her completely bare and making her mine which would’ve been a mistake. She doesn’t believe in mates or true love. It’s wild that she can believe in shifters but not that her heart could fully belong to another.

My wolf wants to mark her anyway. She’ll come around, he says. My body doesn’t care. Wouldn’t her slick cunt feel the same even if she didn’t love me? I loosen the leash on my control and let my mind wander.

What color would her cunt be? Dusky rose like her tits? What would it taste like? She smells like fall—baked apples and pine needles. She’d taste better than the wine I drank for dinner. I know for sure that she’d be soft.

I stroke myself in hard, quick motions making sure when I reach the head that I give it a rough squeeze. My blood surges, hardening my cock until it feels like a club in my fist.

She’d be so soft and welcoming. Her thighs would fall open. She’d lean back on her elbows and arch herself like an offering. I’d rub her tits first. They fit perfectly in my palms. I’d squeeze and mold them and hold them to my mouth. When I worked each nipple erect, I’d move downward, a trail of kisses over her tender belly until I reached her mound. I’d pay attention to the tops of her thighs, the crease below her hip bone before delving into her cunt.

I’d spend time there, sucking the outer edges, licking her delicate skin. I’d turn to her clit. I’d pinch it, bite it, suck it. Then and only then I’d fuck her pussy with my tongue until she drenched me with her come.

My balls tighten. I reach down with my other hand and tug on my balls, rolling the two rocks in their sac while my fist works faster and harder. I can sense the knot under my skin and imagine, just for a second, for the hottest second, what it feel to be locked together with my mate.

The image burns through me, like fire on a prairie. My blood turns molten and the orgasm bursts through my cock, jetting out in long, milky streams.

My mate.

* * *

"You should seduce her," Ronnie tells me over pancakes and steak the next morning.

"Agreed. Throw her down on your bed and have your way with her. She wants you. We all know it."

This is an uncomfortable truth. She does want my body. Last night, I could smell her arousal through four layers of sheetrock. And my enhanced hearing picked up on stifled moans. She’d masturbated like I had.

I had to get up and take two cold showers before my erection died down. I can’t have her around for much longer or my control will snap. "I’m saving myself for my mate," I inform my pack.

"This is your mate," Kristian says, flipping a bloody hunk of meat onto my plate.

"She doesn’t want to be."

"That’s why you should seduce her." Ronnie stabs her steak with real force. The tone of her voice suggests she is fast running out of patience.

I ignore her suggestion and ask, "When will Britt be done with the Miami job?"

"In four days, why?" Ronnie asks.

"He wants to offer the plane to Cassie. That way he can subtly plant a seed in her head about how rich he is and how great of a life she is leaving behind," Kristian says.

I ignore his jibes and turn to Ronnie. "We brought Cassie here under false pretenses. It’s only right that we make sure that she has a fresh start, which means we take her wherever she wants to go. I read the file you put together on her last night. Why wasn’t anything about her ex mentioned?"

Ronnie swats the air in disgust. "That human? What is he to you? A puny cop smelling of gun oil and fear."

"He stuck a knife to her throat and marked her."

Ronnie’s eyes widen. "What? I didn’t know that. Why didn’t she report it to the police? There wasn’t any mention of it in her medical records."

"She didn’t go to the police for the same reason she didn’t go to the hospital for treatment. This man is the police. He lied and hurt her. And for some reason, despite you believing that Cassie is my mate, you allowed her tormentor to live." I don’t need to raise my voice because the words are enough to convey my disappointment.

Ronnie’s chin falls to her chest. She slides off the stool and kneels by my chair. "Alpha, I’m sorry. I’ve wronged you."

Over by the stove, Kristian’s wolf whines in dismay and sympathy for his mate. Once Ronnie believed that Cassie was my mate, she was honor-bound to protect Cassie. Failing to exterminate a roach like Cody was a huge breach of the pack-bond. I am within my rights to kill Ronnie, for a true mate should be protected above all else.

"You will cook dinner for the lodge for the next week and you will help set up our books so that Cassie can run the accounting and payroll remotely."

Ronnie climbs back onto her stool with a disgruntled look on her face. "I thought we’d fight."

"I thought you felt like you should be punished."

"This is a fair punishment," Kristian declares before his mate can protest. He’s pleased because he doesn’t have to see Ronnie get beat up in the ring. Ronnie’s a wily fighter, and the best way to get the upper hand is quick and brutal force. I don’t take it easy on her because she’s a female shifter. After all, she’s only my second because she was able to beat everyone beneath her.

I eat the rest of my breakfast while Ronnie grumbles under her breath and Kristian tries to cover for her by rambling about our looming deadlines. Once I’m done, I plate up another set of pancakes and steak and go to find my—find Cassie.

She’s not my mate, I remind myself for the umpteenth time. It’s becoming a futile task. My wolf’s already decided she’s the one, and, if I’m honest, I have, too. But I want Cassie to stay by my side because she wants to, not because she has no other choice.

I find her sitting on the deck of the cottage, dressed in a long sleep-shirt, sipping on a cup of coffee and looking more beautiful than the dawn. She tugs on the bottom of her shirt, drawing the fabric tight across her tits.

I swallow and try to find my voice. "I’ve got pancakes and steak. Kristian made them this morning. They live in the cottage down that way." I jerk my chin toward the east.

"I made some eggs and toast already." She leans forward and sniffs. "But I wish I’d waited. It’s gorgeous out here."

"A little cold for you, though." Her cute nose is pink on the end.

"A little," she agrees with a small smile.

I don’t want her to leave. My wolf yowls unhappily and starts pacing. Whatever ease that we earned after the hard run last night has been erased by the knowledge that I’ve found the one person I would happily die for, but that she won’t love me in return.

Give a girl time to adjust, she’d said last night.