Thirty three

Mine. Mate.

His words barely registered to Jade when Dearil's lip crashed against hers, the heat of his mouth stealing her breath away. The flames he'd fanned in her growing wilder, and everything intensifying to a point where getting air felt difficult.

It felt as if every act they'd ever engaged in was leading to this very moment, and whatever it was that affected Dearil projected onto Jade until she was hyperventilating, her whole being trembling.

His claws dragged through her skin, as he pulled her closer, his mouth feasting on hers as a man starved. The smell of copper filled the air.

Jade struggled in his arms, then shoved at his chest frantically because it felt as if she was going to die from whatever it was that Dearil was feeling as intense pleasure flooded her veins making her skin sensitive to every touch, every squeeze of his hand, and every caress.

"Mine!" Dearil growled against her lips, then pulled back just long enough for both of them to drag air into their lungs. "Mate".

Jade panted, her gaze fastened on Dearil's dark diluted ones. "I am not your fucking mate," she managed to breathe out, her lips trembling and swollen from his assault. "We have to get out of here..." She yelped when he picked her up from the floor and threw her over his shoulder. With one leap, he was out of the huge building and out into the open fields. The cold air blew over her heated skin, and the air got knocked out of her lungs when she was dropped onto something soft. They were back at his pack house, and she was in his room, the familiar setting making her blink.

Dearil's nose wrinkled and she knew he could tell that Ariel had been at the pack house.

Jade's mouth opened to try to explain and then closed it, her skin burning as Dearil kneeled over her, his eyes trained on her with unrestrained passion.

"Mine. No one gets to have you or touch you but me..." he said, then he was kissing her, his hands grabbing hold of Jade's wrist and pulling them up to her head until she couldn't move or struggle.

The kiss was plunging and endlessly hungry. Jade seemed to forget all about her objections, kissing him back with a need and aggressiveness that rivaled his own, little moans of pleasure spilling out of her mouth as Dearil’s hands roamed all over her body and undressed her swiftly.

Even tho Dearil hadn't won her body, she had fantasized about having him in whatever way she could although he was an enemy, or that he was the man who had bought her, spanked her, choked her, killed a man for her, and chained her up to protect her from others and himself. It was a fucking darkly thrilling love if she could even call it that. Dearil pulled back, his eyes as dark as the night sky.

"Spin the bottle, Mate," he suddenly rasped, his hands fisting the bed blankets by her side, his gaze intense on hers. Jade could feel the sheer amount of his restraint by the way his muscle rippled, and it made her heart rate increase that he cared about their little game after all.

Fuck spinning the bottle. "No, I'll let you win this time by default" she gasped out. The words barely left her lip before he was kissing her again.

Jade knew it was the heat that was messing Dearil up and making him act so recklessly, and if he thought she was his mate due to that little fact, then she would play the role. Her breath shuddered, her entire body pulsating like she had an aphrodisiac running through her veins where she should have had blood.

Ignoring the crushing feeling of his weight and the bruising pressure of his grip on her wrist, she kissed him back just as hungrily, and once he let go, she threaded her fingers through Dearil's hair, sucking on his tongue and making small, contented noises that went straight to Dearil's cock. The urge to make them one intensified and his kisses and touch grew frantic.

"Make me yours. Bite me. Mark me, Dearil" Jade panted, the lust making her delirious.

******

There was something about the way Jade said his name that made Dearil lose it, his self-control shattering into a thousand pieces.

Growling, he slammed hard inside her, the heat making him lose his mind, only his animalistic side taking over. Jade cried out, blunt fingernails raking down Dearil's back, the spark of pain heightening his pleasure. Yes! He gasped, just like that.

Dearil could feel every little emotion that ignited through Jade's skin as he set a hard, fast pace. He could feel how much she loved being full of him, how much she loved the base nature of the act, and how much she loved just lying there under Dearil's heavy body and taking the brutal fucking he was giving her.

Dearil was only distantly aware of the low, animalistic noises coming out of his throat as he slammed into Jade with the urgency he’d never felt in his life, the act becoming more carnal and pure instinct. His fangs elongated, and without thinking it through, he grabbed her by the hair, pulling her until his lips were right at her throat. Her scent filled his nose, intensifying the burning in his veins. She was his mate, the one he had spent all of his life looking for. His fangs sank into her warm flesh, her blood like aphrodisiac flowing down his throat. A loud moan escaped Jade's lip and they were coming, wrapped around each other in a tight embrace.

The rest of the world blurred out, as he collapsed onto her, his mind feeling sated as he listened to the steady rate of her heartbeat. Pulling his weight off her, he cradled her in his arms until the world tilted on its axis and he blacked out.

******

JADE POV

It was ungraspable how one second I was experiencing earth-shattering pleasure and the next minute, my organs felt as if they were being ripped out of me. His bite had both been heaven and hell, and in the end, hell prevailed, bringing with it a gut-wrenching and soul-twisting agony

Biting at my lips until I drew blood hurt less than what went on Inside me. The spot on my throat where Dearil had bitten sizzled, then burned. My lungs were afire and as I ran blindingly through the night, an unseen force pushing me forward, I knew that it was just the beginning of my suffering. I might not make it through the night.

The bone on my knee snapped and I screamed, falling to the floor, the only witness to my torture the animals that roamed through the forest. My body didn't feel like mine and as blood spilled out of my mouth, my throat twisting on itself, I knew I was definitely going to die.

Dearil's bite, which Ariel had told me would give me his power was going to kill me. I couldn't breathe, and my vision got blurry as blood dripped out of my eyes socket. My fingers clutched at the shrubs that grew, as I tried to have a grasp on something that grounded me in the land of the living, but everything felt futile.

My eardrum burst and I gagged on my blood, my body twisting grotesquely. The moon was half full and my blinded eyes fixated on it, as if they thought by gazing at it long enough, the pain would go away.

It didn't, and it only got worse. I thought I knew what pain felt like, but everything I ever went through in my tragic-filled life paled in comparison to what it was I felt as I lay on the ground, barely breathing.

Dearil. Dearil. My subconscious called, knowing that he was the only one who could fix me, he was the only one I trusted enough to fix me. He'd made me feel safe, and although it was his bite that was killing me, I still wanted to see him. Wanted to breathe him in because his scent always made me feel good and safe. Why had I left his arms once the first pang of pain hit? Why was I so desperate to see him even tho I loathed him? As the pain took over every inch of my skin, I could almost see an image of him clearly in my head

Maybe we were mates, after all, mates destined to kill one another. He'd won this round but I would make sure to win in the next.

My grip on the shrub loosened, the blood from the deep laceration on my skin pooling around me thickly.

There was no air, and as black dots filled my vision, and the rumble of a car reached my ears, I knew it was over. Ryland won. He'd not killed me with his hands but had succeeded in pushing me to my death. Ariel had tricked me. She'd never wanted to hurt Dearil. I was her main target because despite what she said, she was pretty much still obsessed over Dearil.

It wasn't fair. Despite, everything I had been through, despite all the demons I'd had to fight, and all the shit I had to endure just to wear my crown and rule my empire, I was going to die in the middle of freaking nowhere, unloved, but having just a little taste of it to keep me craving for more even in the Afterlife. It wasn't a bad way to go, but it sure didn't feel good either.

The darkness gripped harder, my nose clogged up, and my heart shattered into a million pieces.