Page 65 of Hell Gate

“Run,” he orders.

I fall back a step, eyes widening. Is he serious? I can barely stand. He’ll catch me in no time and—oh. I lose my breath in a rush. He’ll catch me, like the wicked promise he gave me at Talbot House in the middle of the night.

A thud drums against my ribcage. I want Alder to catch me. I want to be hunted by him until he pins me in the dirt and takes what I desperately want to have with him.

His chin dips, his predatory hooded gaze trained on me. “Run, sweet blossom.Now.”

My pulse races as I take off, stumbling on a root. I feel it everywhere—my heart, my neck, my clit. Every pumping beat sends lust and a thrilling shot of anticipation coursing through my veins.

At first he crashes through the trees behind me, a deadly beast on my trail. Then as I brace a hand against a tree to catch my breath, I can’t hear him anymore. His scent drifts on the air, tickling my nose, letting me know he’ll never stop. My stomach twists into a pleasant coil of desire. His hunting becomes silent, stalking his prey for the right moment.

A threatening growl echoes to my left. The dangerous sound should strike fear in me, but all it does is steal my breath and make me crave the moment he’ll catch me. I push off again, circling around to double back.

“I would’ve thought catching me would be easy, big guy,” I call teasingly. “You said you’d always be able to hunt me do—oof!”

A heavy mass of brawny muscle and alluringly scented smoke collides with me, catching me off guard from the opposite direction I expected him. His strong arms lock around me, taking the brunt of our fall. His sweatpants are gone, discarded somewhere while he hunted me.

Rolling over, he pins me face-down beneath him in the dirt, gathering my arms and pinning my wrists at the base of my spine. I writhe, not willing to give in so easily. He grinds his cock into my ass the size of it spreading between my cheeks. I gasp, twisting to rest my flushed cheek against the cool ground, then press back against his erection with more purpose. My core clenches, aching to feel him inside.

Alder releases a feral sound, digging his fingers into my hip to keep me still. “I don’t care that Matthias claimed you first. All that matters is that you’re mine.”

“Yes,” I whimper.

He fists my pants and shreds them with a brutal yank. I squirm beneath him in the dirt, small needy sounds slipping out. My shirt goes next, the back of the tank top split from the neckline. The chilly night air teases the sides of my breasts as he caresses his palm down my bare spine. His grip around my pinned wrists flexes, then he destroys my panties, tearing the material like it’s paper to bare me to him.

“Beautiful girl.”

He guides me to kneel with a jerk of my hips, leaving my chest against the ground. Cupping between my thighs, his thick fingers glide through my slick folds, using it to massage my entire pussy.

“So wet,” he praises gruffly.

My legs threaten to give out as he torments my clit with firm rubs that make me race to the edge of oblivion. “C-close,” I whine. “Alder, please. I want to come.”

“I know. You will.” His lips brush the small of my back with a tender kiss. “You’ll come so hard on my cock you’ll never forget.”

“Forget what?” I breathe.

He stops playing with my clit right before I reach my orgasm and I cry out, wriggling against his uncompromising hold to seek out the friction I need. He chuckles when I shut up at the feel of his thick head rubbing against my entrance. “Forget that you’re mine.”

My nipples tighten to hard peaks at those words falling from his lips in a jagged and steely tone. At the same time, he grabs my hip and pushes inside with a forceful thrust that makes me see stars. My breath comes in ragged puffs as he fills me so deep, stretching my body to accommodate his massive size, the ridges on his length lighting me up with each inch he buries further within me.

It’s so intense, awakening the raw need inside me for him to make me irrefutably his, to carve his name into my very soul and claim me in every way.

“Please.” It’s the only word I can form, my core ravaged by our passionate flames.

“So fucking tight.” He strokes my back, giving me a moment to adjust to his size once he’s buried to the hilt.

His fingers trace down to dip between my ass cheeks. They disappear for a moment, then return wet with spit as he circles the hole with a teasing lightness that grows more insistent until one of his thick fingers sinks inside to the first knuckle.

“Oh!” My back bows at the sensation of his cock filling my pussy while he plays with my ass. He starts to move, his thrusts growing sharper as my body opens for his huge cock. “Fuck, that’s—that feels really good.”

“Yes, blossom.” The rough possessiveness in his tone sends a shiver down my spine. “I’ll have you in every way imaginable.”

I moan at the promise, flooded with want for whatever he’ll give me.

A savage sound rips from him and he releases my pinned wrists to wrap his arms around me, lifting me against his chest. A scream catches in my throat as the position seats him so deep it pushes me over the edge without warning, the eruption of ecstasy exploding from my core. I scrabble at his muscular arms banded around me as he fucks me harder, our scents blending and heightening my pleasure.

“Mine,” he growls.

---