Page 56 of Wild Fated

He pulled my legs higher, throwing them over his shoulders and pressing his weight against me. His hands wrapped around my thighs, dragging me flush against him. I cried out in pleasure, my hands tangling in his quilt. “Destin?—”

“Out there you’re an alpha. Out there you have to be strong. But in here?” His breaths were ragged as he toyed with me. He moved tantalizingly slowly, every tremble and whimper from my body only egging him on.

“In here, you can let go, Lana. In here, you can let go.”

Every nerve in my body was a live wire, my blood pounding in my ears. It was like a wave crashing over me, pulling me under and then throwing me to the surface. I grasped onto his forearms, letting him anchor me.

“You’re mine,” he growled as his body heaved, his fingers digging into my skin so hard, they would leave marks.

I wanted them. All of them.More of them.

I couldn't hold on. I didn't want to. I let go as he drove me higher, letting the wave take me. My nails bit into his skin, and as I crashed over the edge, Destin’s turned his head, his teeth breaking the skin of my inner thigh.

I gasped, euphoria pulsing through me, white light bursting behind my eyes. He was marking me. Claiming me. And I wanted nothing more than to let him.

I lay on my side,my head on Destin's chest. The morning sun filtered through the curtains. Birds chirped outside the cabin,their songs a gentle reminder that the world continued to turn, even when everything in my life had flipped on its head.

Destin's arm was draped over my waist, his fingers tracing lazy circles on my skin. I rolled to my back, the bed creaking beneath us, and his grip tightened. "Where do you think you're going?" His voice was thick with sleep.

I smiled, turning back and nuzzling into him. "Nowhere."

He grunted in approval, his hand sliding lower. I shivered as his fingers brushed against my inner thigh, over the new mark I bore there.

"We should get cleaned up."

He groaned, but I was already sitting, pulling me with him. I stumbled, my legs still wobbly from the night before, and he caught me with a smirk.

We made our way to the bathroom, a small room with a basin sink and a shower head mounted above it. Destin moved to the hand pump, and I watched as he started to pump water.

I balked. “Is that going to be cold?”

He shot me a look. "I’m not a neanderthal. I have a solar heater."

I gave him a playful shove, and he grinned, then turned back to the pump. Water splashed into the basin, and he tested it with his hand. "There you go. Hot enough for you, princess?"

I blushed, then butterflied my leg out in front of the mirror to look at it again. Destin’s mark. A delicate crown etched into my skin.

Destin slipped his hand over my hip and down my skin until his fingers traced the lines.

I lay my head back against his shoulder. “It’s perfect.”

He pushed against my hip, flipping me around so our bodies were flush. “You’re perfect.”

I closed my eyes, wrapping my arms around him, pressing my cheek against his chest. I had reading to do, but it could wait a few more moments.

If I thought too far into the future, fear paralyzed me. From the moment I’d used the dagger, every path I’d envisioned for myself splintered, fractured, or disappeared completely. I was taking step after step into the dark, trusting my instincts and the few things I knew.

I’d always been good at taking orders, but had no experience giving them. I was strong, but in Destin’s arms, I had permission to be fragile.

I could walk into the unknown with him by my side.

After breathing him in for a solid minute, I opened my eyes and pulled back. I pressed my lips to his jaw, then frowned as something caught my eye out the window behind him.

"What is it?" Destin turned, his gaze following mine. He tensed. "What the hell?"

"That's not normal, right?" I already knowing the answer. The smoke was too dark, too thick. It was coming from a spot deeper in the forest, far from any of the cabins I'd seen on our way in.

He shook his head, his jaw clenched.

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