Page 50 of Ruled By The Alpha

“Good.”

She waited.

“Got you.” He grabbed her, pulling her body fully against his, his hold firm but not crushing.

Even with her cheek smashed against his muscled stomach her lips titled upward, the shelter of his arms and broad chest exactly where she wanted to be. “It’s not a choice if you keep someone captive,” she teased.

“So many rules.” A soft growl rumbled from his chest, but she was no longer afraid.

The giddy, joyful feeling inside her swirled brighter. “We’ll work on it.”

He held her closer. “Together.”

She wrapped her arms around him as best she could. “Forever.”

With her ear pressed to his chest, it was easy to hear his heart stutter inside his chest, and then speed up double time. “Thanks to you, Ah-nara, I finally know this happiness feeling.”

She hugged him tighter.

Her fierce beserketh.

Huge and fierce, covered in scars and fresh bites, with bulging veins and massive, corded muscles and frightening horns and claws—he was truly a monstrous beast and killer, but he was also terrifyingly vulnerable.

Because now, for the first time, he had a weakness: her.

He had proven he would die for her. Put her life and her needs above all. That, even more than her ability to soar, was the greatest gift he’d given her and she would never exploit it.

Instead, she would do all she could to keep him as safe and protected as he did her.

Because all of him belonged to her now.

Just as she did to him.

“You will stay.” He rubbed the top of his chin against the crown of her head as if he could still not quite believe she was in his arms. “Not fly away again where I cannot reach you.”

He didn’t phrase it as a question, but she knew it was.

“When I soar, so will you.” Empowered by her newfound bloodthirstiness and power, she turned her head slightly and scraped her teeth against the area near his lower ribs. “Though I don’t think my fierce beserketh would be against a little chase every once in a while.”

She shoved against his hold—taking him by surprise—and slipped from his grip, floating upward. Slowly. Tauntingly.

His shocked expression morphed into a grin, fangs flashing as excitement, pride, and white-hot lust glittered in his stare. His smile made his rugged face so handsome her breath caught in her throat.

But it was the predatory gleam that thrilled her most of all.

“Yes. Fly, little one.” He watched her rise, nostrils flaring. “Fly so I can pursue. Hunt. Capture.” With a roar, he leapt upward, his arm banding around her back to drag her to him,growling his final word as his fangs scraped gently against her skin. “And claim the worthiest opponent of all.”

She shivered against him, relishing his show of dominance and his praise—and proving the truth of his words as, rather than his capture dragging her down, they both floated higher.

She wrapped her legs around his hips and cradled his square jaw with her hands. “Then, I am truly the victor.”

“Always.” His lips claimed hers as they floated under the waterfall.

She kept them there, the warm water cascading over them, a powerful thrum that matched the wild, raging humming in her veins, as he held her tight and the downpour washed away not only the stings and blood of the battle, but the past.

She and Cheim were not the creatures they’d been before they entered this lair.

Together, they’d altered each other forever.

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