Page 36 of Moon Kissed

Orion openly stared at my ass like a starving man eyes a buffet. I wasn’t sure he even heard me.

“Come on,” I teased, hooking my finger around my thong strap. “You want me to take this off, don’t you? Tell me why—”

“Because Mara hates me,” he rushed out. “She’s always hated me. Being chosen as your fated mate gave her the excuse she’d been waiting for to kick me out of the clan.” He was talking so fast I was barely keeping up. “But then the alpha council finally allowed us to enroll in the academy, and they went to her for the recommendation.

“She refused of course. Said she’d rather die than write a good word about me, but when they wouldn’t let up and demanded she either write the rec or give a good reason for why she wouldn’t...” He scoffed. “Let’s just say, they didn’t think it was a good reason. Sunella wrote the rec herself, and ordered Mara to welcome me back into the clan. Mara said she would if—”

“—you graduated top of the class,” I finished. “Something she doesn’t expect you to do, so she gets to look fair and just while really she’s a petty bitch.”

He just nodded, looking hard at my bra. It was clear what he wanted me to do.

I took a step toward him. Orion shot back like I was strapped with a bomb.

“Don’t.”

“Don’t? But why not?” I hooked my straps and pulled them out, jiggling my boobs in their lace hammocks. “Don’t you want a closer look?”

His eyes flashed, turning bright amber.A wolf’s eyes.Baring his teeth, vicious fangs glinted under the fluorescents. “If you come any closer, I won’t be able to control myself, and I amnotfucking you. It’ll solidify the bond. I’ll be yourmate,” he spat.

“Would that really be so bad?” I stripped my bra off in one swift move.

Orion caught himself mid-leap and crashed at my feet, groaning like a dying man.

“You might like being my mate,” I said, putting one finger under his chin and drawing him up on his knees. “You might like fucking me even more.”

“You’re a killer,” he hissed. Orion inhaled my scent deep into his lungs. Right there in the middle of the detention room, the glow emanated from his skin. Brillant and warm, it enveloped me—sinking way down where the pieces of my broken heart had become infected sores oozing hatred. The bond wanted to be consummated.

Now.

“And you’re not?” I forced calm into my voice. “How many vampires have you killed, wolf boy?”

“That’s different!” He grabbed my hips and snapped me closer. I let out a smalleepwhen he shredded my thong with his teeth. “They’re already dead!”

“Point t-to y-you.” I was trying desperately to appear unaffected, but the horny animal that was my better half was going out of her mind. My senses were heightened like they’d never been before. Strong, calloused hands on my thighs. His warm breath tickling my stomach. Deep, rough growls scrambling my head. All of him consumed all of me. “So I guess my last question is... what are you going to do now?”

Hooded, glazed eyes beheld me. “No,” he murmured, nuzzling my stomach. “That’s not your last question.” Orion swiped a tongue past my folds, catching my breath on a moan. “Your last question is why does Mara hate me?

“She hates me, Volana, because my father was a serial killer. And he murdered her sister.”

My moans stopped. My breaths stopped. My heart stopped.

Orion stopped.

“When he was finally caught and the truth came out, my life imploded.” Orion rose to his feet and I saw those beautiful eyes weren’t glazed with lust. They were cold and dead. “I had no idea who he really was, or what he’d done, but no one looked at me the same again. They’ve all been looking, watching, and waiting for me to become a monster too.” His grin didn’t meet his eyes. “And then, who should Luame choose as the woman I was fated to be with but a fucking sociopathic killer?”

“But I—”

“That was all the proof Mara needed,” he hissed, backing away from me. To say the mood was dead was an understatement. “So no, Volana, I won’t mate with you, and I won’t give in to your lies and manipulations. Not again.Neveragain. This disgusting, cursed bond between us will die if I have to reach into my chest and rip it out! I’ll see your ass punished for everything you’ve done, even if I have to do it myself.” Orion snatched up my clothes and threw them at me. “Got any more questions, or are we clear?”

No. I most certainly did not have any more questions.

I was wrong to think I understood people. I was even wronger deluding myself into believing I understood Orion. His war against me was personal. It might even be more personal than Badr’s. Badr had someone to avenge. But Orion had something to prove.

Stiffly, I turned my back on him and redressed.

“Let’s forget this—”

“Already forgotten,” Orion sliced in. “But you won’t forget that there are no weak links in our group, so stop trying to pick us off one by one.”

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