Page 37 of Alpha's Hated Mate

Goddess help me, he’s trying. I don’t really even understand why. Doesn’t he know what I am? What I’ve always been? “You don’t get it,” I say. “There’s something wrong with me, Aydan. There’s always been something wrong with me. That’s why this is happening to me and the other Scarlets. We’re the scourge of all wolves. Everything they say about us is true—we’re monsters!”

“Stop it!” he growls. “Listen to me, Saffron. You’re not a monster.”

“Aydan—”

“You’re an incredible wolf. You are powerful and beautiful . . . and funny and completely unserious about everything. You’re loyal and intelligent, and I love the strange way your mind and your heart work together. In fact, you’ve been the only thing in this entire school that makes me smile.”

His words pierce through my sorrow long enough for me to pity him. He’s got to be out of his mind to feel anything for me. “Don’t say that, Aydan,” I say in a hoarse whisper. “You don’t mean it.”

“Yes, I do,” he says. He closes the gap between us and wipes my tears away. His touch soothes me like nothing else could.“Saffron, don’t you know that I could never love a monster? That’s why I know that you’re not one.”

He kisses me, and it’s like cool water in a desert. A wash of calm so warm and encompassing comes over me and pulses over my skin. I lean into him, wrapping my arms around his neck as his breath mixes with mine. His hands wrap around my waist, fingers pressing against the small of my back.

The kiss evolves with passion, and I’m biting him gently. Soft moans brush against my lips in response. My hands slide down to his shirt—a polo that he grabbed from his room sometime before we went to the assembly. I pull at the hem, reaching under to touch the ridges of his abs. He stops kissing me long enough to pull it off and over his head.

I unbutton my shirt. As I toss it away, he grabs me around my waist and lifts me up, carrying me to my bed as I cradle his head between my breasts. He lies me down, and I wiggle out of my sweatpants, kicking them away.

Lying on the bed in my bra and panties, he pauses and takes me in, his eyes moving over my skin like his hands. “You’re so beautiful.”

I sit up and kiss his lips, then his chin and his neck and down to his chest. His hands move to my back, undoing the hooks of my bra with a simple twist of his fingers. It falls loose on my shoulders, and I slide it off. He leans me down on the bed, his hands already hooked into my panties.

We’ve had sex twice before, and while both times were unique in their own ways, they were just sex. We were simply two people following our primal urges. This time is so much different from before. His lips press against my skin and down to the hollow of my collarbone. His mouth and tongue explore my body with deliberate tenderness, tracing a slow path down the center of my chest, lingering to circle each nipple until they harden beneath his touch.

He continues his journey downward, leaving a trail of warm kisses across my stomach and pausing to dip his tongue into my navel. Every caress feels different from before—more meaningful, more connected—as if he’s memorizing each curve and reaction of my body.

And my body is reacting, growing warm with my arousal. This time, the cool of his touch is sustaining me, steadying me even as he dives between my legs. His tongue explores me, rounding my clit in gentle circles while I run my fingers through his golden tresses.

“Oh, Aydan,” I whisper.

My toes curl as my body starts to climb its way up to my climax. He looks up at me, slowing his progress down with gentle strokes of his tongue.Not yet.I can see it in his multicolored eyes.

I lean my head back, enjoying the feel of his tongue, trying to hold myself still for him. The heat is rising inside me, however. I don’t know how much longer I can hold back.

And then he stops, kissing my thighs as he pulls down his pants and kicks them off the bed. He moves between my legs and teasing my folds with the tip of his massive cock.

“Is this what you want, Saffron?”

“Yes . . . ” I whimper.

“I can’t hear you.”

“Yes, Alpha.” The words slip out.

His lips part in a sharp intake of breath, pupils dilating until the blue and green of his eyes are nearly swallowed by black. Something primal shifts in his expression—something possessive and hungry.

“Say it again,” he commands, his voice dropping an octave lower. “Tell me who I am.”

“My Alpha.” My cheeks flush crimson as the words taste both foreign and right on my tongue. I arch my back, pressing closer to where he teases me. “Please, Alpha.”

A growl rumbles deep in his chest, vibrating against my skin where our bodies touch. “That’s right,” he says with a predatory grin. “I am your Alpha.”

With one powerful thrust, he enters me completely, filling me and stretching me to the hilt. A moan escapes my lips as our bodies become one.

“You’re mine,” his voice rumbles against my ear, his breath hot against my neck. “My little Scarlet.”

I whimper as he withdraws almost completely before driving back into me. Each thrust is deliberate, controlled yet fierce. The way he moves—it’s like something’s been unleashed inside him, something wild.

Moans float up from inside me as I relish in every inch of him. I dig my nails into his back, encouraging him. As my body heats up again and the walls glow red around us, that old worry comes back to me. That fear that I could hurt him leaks back into my mind, and I catch sight of the wound on his shoulder . . . the injury that I gave him. I don’t want to hurt him again.

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