Page 173 of The Alpha's Pen Pal

“Does it hurt?” I asked, my voice a breathy whisper from the arousal he was inciting in me.

“I’ll do it when we’re mating.”

“You mean having sex?”

His lips twitched. “Yes.” He chuckled. “From what I understand, the pleasure of being with your mate and being bitten at the crest of your orgasm will outweigh the momentary pain from my canines piercing your flesh.”

My breath caught in my throat, my eyes closed, and my heart stuttered at his description. The idea of being claimed by him like that sent a thrill through me, a thrill like I’d never experienced before.

I wanted that. I wanted to be unquestionably his.

Even the memory of Lennox biting me there in his lycan form didn’t diminish the excitement racing through my soul.

My eyes popped open, and my jaw dropped as I put the pieces together. What he said, and what he did when he attacked me.

“You are mine. You were always meant to be mine, and you will always be mine.”

“Is that… was that what he was doing? When he—when he attacked me and bit me?” I asked, my voice and my hands shaking as I gestured at my neck. “Was he marking me? Claiming me?” I continued, my volume rising, my eyes watering, and my throat tightening.

Wesley’s eyes hardened, and a muscle ticked in his jaw. “Yes, we think that’s what he was trying to do,” he said, his hand tracing the scars again.

Those stupid tears I could no longer control fell out of my eyes, and I struggled to breathe. “But—but I don’t want to be his. I don’t want to have his mark,” I stammered out. “I only want your mark. I only want to be yours.”

I gripped his arms and closed my eyes as I tried to focus on breathing and not sinking into the whirlpool of emotions threatening to drag me down.

I couldn’t be Lennox’s. He’d already tried to claim me, to control me in so many ways when we were together. And if he marked me, if he felt he had some sort of claim or hold on me in that way, then there was no telling what he would do to assert his dominance over me.

“Hey, hey, it’s okay,” he soothed, his hands sliding up to cradle my face. “It didn’t work. He didn’t mark you. We can only do it when we’re in our human form.”

The massive wave of relief I felt at his words pushed me forward into his arms, and he clutched me to his chest, his hands holding the back of my head and my neck, his body swaying and rocking slightly.

“I didn’t tell you about marking or how we do it because I was worried you’d be afraid of me biting you,” he admitted.

“That doesn’t scare me,” I said into his shoulder. “You don’t scare me.”

“Not even a little?” he teased.

“Nope.” I chuckled, and he growled, but his growl quickly morphed into a laugh.

“Good,” he said. “You shouldn’t fear your mate. Although you’re pretty scary when you’re pissed off.”

My head snapped up, and I let out a sharp laugh. His eyes twinkled as he kept chuckling. “I mean it,” he continued. “You didn’t even hesitate when you said you didn’t know if you were going to reject me. I really thought you might!”

I shook my head at him and leaned up to kiss him. “Never, Pal. I couldn’t have rejected you,” I said against his lips.

He kissed me back, and I moved my arms around his neck, sliding myself forward on the counter so my body pressed all the way up against his body. His hands slid down my back to my butt, rubbing circles into it. His hips moved against me, showing me how hard and ready he was.

I opened my mouth more for him, and his tongue slipped in as his hands lifted the hem of my shirt. I raised my arms, and he was about to pull my shirt over my head when the doorbell rang.

“Mother fucker,” he growled, his hands moving to grip the edge of the counter and his forehead resting against my chest. “This better be something super fucking important!”

“Who is it?” I asked him as he stood up straight and adjusted himself in his pants. I knew whoever it was had probably done that thing where they talked to each other through their minds and just rang the doorbell as a courtesy to me.

“It’s my dad.”

CHAPTER 58

HAVEN