Page 14 of Mated

Kira

I can’t believe this guy. No wonder he has a reputation for being terrible. He fired those women because he drugged them. He drugged them, and then he had his way with them, and now I’m a victim and…

He gets up from the couch and stands before me. I don’t know if he means it to or not, but the action frightens the hell out of me. He’s blocking the exit. There’s no way out but through him, and I am in no state to fight. I am exhausted. My head feels like it has been stuffed like a teddy bear. Every part of me aches, from my bones to my no longer virginal vagina. This is a nightmare, but there’s no waking up from it.

“Kira,” he says. “Look at me.”

I don’t want to look at him. My eyes are on the floor in an attempt to de-escalate whatever is happening.

“Look at me,” he repeats.

I lift my eyes, not wanting to be in trouble.

One moment a brooding billionaire is standing over me, the next a wolf is in front of me. A massive wolf, with gleaming black andtan fur, white around the muzzle and paws. Pale blue eyes look at me with human intellect.

His clothing lies in tatters on the floor, part of it still stuck around his body. There’s no denying what I just saw with my eyes, even though I do not believe what I just saw with them.

I feel myself welling up with tears as the shock of not only what I’m looking at, but realizing what has happened to me sets in.

“It wasn’t a dream?”

Another transformation, and he is in front of me. “It wasn’t a dream. It is who and what you are. I’m sorry it’s so frightening. I should have explained it to you before it happened, but I didn’t… I got carried away. I let my desire to mate you overcome what should have been a much more carefully managed occasion. I acted like an immature, reckless young wolf. You deserved better.”

I don’t understand what he is apologizing for entirely. It sounds like there’s a whole lot of social protocol that I have no way of comprehending.

He’s naked again, and that’s very distracting. He’s an incredible creature. His shoulders are broad, and his eyes gleam with pale intensity, rimmed with dark lashes and framed by dark brows. His body is strong and goddamn beautiful. Crouched before me, he keeps those stunning eyes at my level, looking at me with earnest care and maybe even love.

I curl up in my blanket, pulling it close, the relatively thin wool not nearly enough to protect me from the forces at play in this room. We’re wolves, he said. He showed me himself. And I remember enough of the strangeness from before to know that what I experienced was real. I was a wolf too. I was a wolfwho jumped out of a fire escape, tumbled down some stairs, ran across traffic and into a park where I hunted down my natural prey—sweet things.

“I don’t know what to say,” I whimper softly. “I don’t know what to think.”

“You don’t have to say or think anything. You need to let yourself rest and recover. The first shift is so hard on the body. You’ve been through a lot. And, I suspect the transformation is harder on you than it might be on some others.”

“Yours seemed so easy.”

“I have been doing it for far longer, and I have… a slightly different make up.”

“What does that mean?”

“It is about bloodlines,” he says, somewhat vaguely. He gets to his feet, displaying his full humanity to me, and I forget all about questions.

Cain Lupin is a gorgeous, gorgeous man. His eyes are deep and soulful, and his body is fucking jacked. He ripples with every movement, dozens of muscles making for a display that makes my mouth water and my body respond in a way I’ve never experienced before. Forceful arousal.

My brain feels as though it is emptying itself with every breath I take, all the blood and sense rushing down between my legs.

“No,” he says. “You can’t be mated again this soon. Settle down.”

“I didn’t say anything,” I say, blushing. I am confused and aroused and embarrassed and wanting. I’ve gone from beingafraid he took advantage of me in the worst way to realizing I am in the presence of a unique creature.

“You didn’t have to,” he says with a smile so sexy I feel my inner walls pulsing in response. “I can feel your need, Kira. I will always know when you need me. You and I have bonded. You are my mate, and I am your mate and your alpha. You are an open book to me.”

Those words, uttered in a deep, affectionate growl, run through me like warm wine. I feel faintly intoxicated and utterly charmed.

He steps toward me. I can’t tear my gaze from the thick cock hanging in front of my eyes as he reaches around me and pulls the blanket more snugly around my shoulders.

“You need to keep warm,” he says. “And you need to stay quiet. I am going to put some clothes on and cook for you.”

“Don’t.”

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