Page 3 of Love & Violence

I don’t know if I like his arrogance or not. “Tell me who you are, asshole,” I demand.

“You’re awfully bratty for a person that’s pinned to the ground.”

I try to push him off me, but it’s like trying to move a boulder. Every cell in my body freezes when he chuckles. He lifts himself off of me and gazes down the length of my naked body. It feels like his gaze burns into me. Every cell in my body is awoken at the same time it softens. Most shifters aren’t shy about being nude, and I’d never been before, until this moment.

But Ialso have never had anyone look at me the way this man was. My body goes into a state of unexpected desire, and my skin turns sensitive as his scent surrounds me. Saliva pools in my mouth, my heart begins to beat erratically, and it feels like a molten river raging through my body. These unknown feelings and the violence of my reactions were starting to scare me. Yet I have this intense urge to wrap my arms around him. Everything I feel is foreign to me, and I should be more fearful of this stranger, but all I feel is a sense of being whole for the first time in my life.

“Please tell me who you are?” I beg softly.

“My name is Draven. Now tell me yours.”

“Aryanna.”

“Well, Aryanna, we have a dilemma,” he says.

“What?”

“It seems we’re a mated pair.”

I don’t understand at first. “You’re saying you’re … my mate?”

“Yes. Can you not feel it?”

I did feel different. But now that I knew he was my mate, all the different sensations made perfect sense.

“Why have I never seen you around?” I ask.

“Because I live many miles away and never come to this area.”

“Why are you here?” I wonder if he realizes his thumbs are caressing my wrists that he has pinned above my head and that his cock is pressing on my swollen clit and moving from side to side, driving my need to mate with him to soar.

“Let’s just say I had a bad day and needed to run,” Draven says.

“Okay.”

“You said these are your woods?” he asks.

I nod.

“I thought these belonged to the Esposito family.”

“They do.”

His whole body stiffens above mine.

“You’re Stefano Esposito’s daughter,” he states, not bothering to ask the question.

“Yes.”

“Fuck. I was hoping this would be simple, but of course, nothing in my life could ever be easy,” he says, releasing my hands. “My father is Micah West.”

Oh, God. “You’re with the Fallen Legion MC?”

“Yup.” He frowns once more.

“My father hates yours for some reason,” I state the obvious.

Our families have been at war since before I was born, so I’m sure he already knows this information.

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