It was definitely Alpha talking to me. This was crazy. Mateo feared letting him take control, but somehow he had anyway. Whether it was with Mateo’s permission or not, Alpha was driving the bus. And I wasn’t afraid at all. In fact, I was so fucking turned on I was more afraid I’d come the second he touched his rough fingers between my legs and embarrass myself.

He twisted me around in a quick move so fast, I fell forward onto the bed, catching myself with both hands. When I went to stand, he put a firm hand against my upper back between my shoulder blades.

“No.” He pressed me harder until I fell onto my elbows. “I need you just like that.” His palm pressed harder down the middle of my spine. “Arch for me.” His hand slid farther down to mold over my right cheek. “Give me that ass.” I did, arching my back. He trailed a finger along the outer seam of my lace panties then edged the fabric inward a few inches. His palm smoothed over the exposed skin, disappeared altogether, then smacked down hard with an echoing slap off the bedroom walls.

I flinched on a gasp, but he soothed the sting with circles of his hot palm before his fingers trailed from the top of my crack over the lace and slid down to my throbbing clit. He rubbed torturous circles till not only was my ass pressing up high in the air for him, begging for more, but so was my mouth. “Please. Please.”

He dropped to his knees and opened his mouth over my panties, sucking me hard.

I jerked forward and screamed in shock, but he had his strong hands wrapped around the front of my thighs, high up near my hips. His rumbling groan vibrated against my clit as he licked and sucked me through the thin fabric.

“Soaking wet for me,” he growled, nuzzling with his lips and nose. “Yes, baby. Make that sound again. Let me hear you.”

That’s when I realized I was moaning porn-star loud, but I really didn’t care. I fell forward, my cheek to the bed, giving him whatever he wanted. What I wanted. Then he snapped one side of my panties, dragging them down the other leg, his hot tongue sliding through my bare folds before he stroked a finger inside me. I thought I’d lose my goddamn mind.

“Oh, God.”

“Mmm, such a sweet pussy,” he hummed against my clit before two fingers pumped inside me, three long strokes, then they were gone and his tongue was on me again, lashing. “I knew you’d respond to me like this.” His lips tightened over my nub, pulling with a suction that made my vision haze. “Open your legs wider.”

I did. Arching my back even more so he could make it feel just right, so he could do whatever the hell he wanted, I whimpered, “Make me come. Please. I need to so bad.”

He opened his mouth wider, his hot tongue working my clit while he sucked and groaned like a dying man. I split apart, screaming and trying to claw my way up his mattress. But that wasn’t happening. He chuckled, holding my thighs while he kept lapping at me, just slower, letting me come down and ride it out, but not get away.

Even after a dizzying orgasm where I lay there panting, I wasn’t satisfied. My inner walls clenched, wanting what he hadn’t given me yet. That tease of his fingers for a few strokes wasn’t nearly enough. I needed him inside me. Not just to fulfill the maddening lust vibrating under my skin, but to feel this man intimately bound to me. To be as close as two people could be.

His hands and mouth left me, but I stayed bent over the bed, ass up, right where I was. He lifted me by the hips till my knees were under me on the mattress. Then he leaned over me from behind, planting his hands on either side of my head, his chest brushing my back, his dick pressed into the cleft of my ass, whispering in my ear as he ground against me, “You know what drives me fucking crazy?”

Trying to catch my breath, my heart hammering, I asked, “What?”

“That I’ve wanted you for so goddamn long. Just like this.” One hand swept my hair off my neck, where he clutched it in his fist, dipping his mouth to my skin. “That he kept us from you for so fucking long.” A suckling kiss on the slope of my inner shoulder. “Just look at you.” A nibbling bite. “The smell of you,” he ground out, rubbing his hard dick along my wet seam. “I’ve craved you too long, baby. It’s gonna be rough.”

I didn’t bother telling him I would’ve freaked the hell out if Alpha had come at me like this in the beginning. Probably filed a restraining order and cast a dozen protection spells. Maybe thrown in a Voodoo doll just to be sure. Because the electric aggression vibrating off him right now rattled me to my bones. My flesh was primed for the pounding he promised, but my spirit was scared shitless. And elated at the same time. The wolf caging me in, sniffing and nipping at my skin with little stings, telling me in harsh terms the intensity of his need for me, was truthfully a dangerous creature.

He said he needed me submissive. This, I understood. I remember from my late night reading that a werewolf wanted his mate to surrender. His mate. His mate? Was that what this was? I had no idea. The only thing I did know was this felt so real. And right.

“I submit, Mateo,” I whispered, some hair falling across my face.

He went still, that big paw of a hand caressing the loose strands away from my eyes. With a gentle but tight tug, his fist in my hair, he forced my gaze to his where he leaned on my left.

Holy fuck!

His eyes—bright, fiery gold—burned into me. Lit from within, his expression matched the fierce charge humming off his skin. He leaned close, his lips touching mine. “Alpha.”

His correction vibrated through my body, telling me what was happening here. Mateo didn’t need my submission. Just his wolf. I reached back and brushed my hand up his face till I cupped his jaw.

“Alpha,” I whispered, arching my back that much more for him. “I’m yours.”

Those burning eyes slid closed on a groan at the same time he shifted behind me, his cock crowning my entrance before he pushed inside me with a deep thrust. I sucked in a sharp breath at the sudden invasion, the thickness of him stretching me. With my face angled to the side, he bent to me and bit my bottom lip, then sucked it into his mouth before crushing his mouth against mine for a brief, hard, mind-spinning minute.

Breaking the kiss, he pressed his forehead to mine, eyes closed. “Yes, baby.” Golden slits narrowed on me. “You’re mine.” He nipped my bottom lip, then licked the sting away. “Now let me take care of you.”

Straightening off my back, his hands wrapped my hips, fingers curling into my flesh, then he was dragging in and out of me with a fierceness I’d never felt before. I clutched the covers on the bed, but there was really no holding on. A stream of curses spilled from his mouth as he pumped into me with a slick slap, the front of his thighs hitting the backs of mine in a pounding rhythm.

“Fuck, baby, fuck,” he groaned, slowing his tempo for a few rounds before grinding against my ass then hammering fast and hard again.

I reached back, finding one muscled thigh, and raked my nails over him. I needed to touch him, feel his skin. He must’ve known, because then he pulled out, rolled me over, and crawled up my body between my legs, sliding inside me with a slow glide. So achingly slow, his mouth hovering over mine, his wolf-bright eyes staring into my very soul. Digging deep. Making silent promises. Promises that yes, he’d be fierce and hard, but he’d be gentle, too. That he’d kill or die for me if he had to. That he’d guard me, protect me. That he’d never hurt or leave me. That he was mine as surely as I was his.

“Yes, Evie,” he whispered, pumping into me nice and slow now, gentle and deep. The tenor of his voice had shifted, Mateo returning to me. “Give it all to me,” he demanded. “I want all of you.”

Planting one foot hard on the mattress and wrapping my other leg high on his hip, I ground up into him, meeting his steady rhythm, spiking my pleasure into the stratosphere.

“That’s my girl,” he whispered, stroking me, his expression tightening, his eyes slanting into a pained look. “Fuck me hard, baby.”

So I did, rocking my hips up to match his steady rhythm, relishing the thick pumping of his cock. He grabbed my ass with one hand, holding his weight off me with the other, using both as leverage to thrust into me with senseless need. It was at this literal climactic moment that I understood how much he meant to me, that I loved him. That beautiful, yet frightening, realization swept through me, crashing with violent force, telling me I was lost to any other but him. That he was indeed my mate. My soulmate, my best friend. My deepest love.

I cried out, arching my neck, the familiar build rolling in like the tide.

On a growl, he flipped us with me falling to his chest. A hand wrapped into my hair, tugging me closer so he could whisper in my ear. “Ride me, Evie. Take me like I took you. Show me how much you want me.”

If he only knew. I pushed up with my palms onto his broad chest, his chiseled abdomen rolling to pump up inside me. I rocked faster, grinding my clit down just right, his gaze on my tits bouncing with each pound down. Then they were locked on mine, brown but rimmed in gold. Mateo and Alpha as one, watching me fuck him the way I wanted. Watching me fall apart for them both.

“Yes,” he hissed, leaning up and sucking a nipple into his mouth. “It’s yours, Evie.” Then he burrowed his mouth into my neck, kissing and licking wildly. “I’m yours.”

I’d never been bashful about sex, usually losing myself in the moment. But this was entirely different. I felt like I owned this moment, driving us both toward that blissful end. I lifted up and pounded back down, over and over. When he gripped my waist to steady me higher so he could thrust up, his mouth on my breast, sucking, teeth grazing my nipple, I was done. Done!

“Mateo!” I screamed, coming hard and clenching my nails into his chest.

He gripped me tight at the waist and rolled while my orgasm still rippled and stroked hard and fast. He kissed me hard, swallowing my little moans of pleasure. On a groan, he bit my lip, pumped two more times, then held himself deep, his dick throbbing inside me. His fiery eyes faded, darkened to cool brown, as he let my lip slide from his mouth, his lips ticking up into a knowing smile. He knew he had me. And I had him.