Mari’s POV
I place the book I’ve been reading on my bedside cabin and sigh as I settle back into my pillows. Maybe reading a steamy werewolf novel before bed wasn’t the best idea.
Now my mind is taking a wild ride back to all those hours I spent in this bed, taking every last bodily pleasure I could from Stefan.
Stefan, who I haven’t seen at all today.
A fact that’s making me restless.
I turn to my side and stare at the door, willing him to walk through it. But it remains closed. If I want to see him, it’s getting obvious that I’ll have to go and look for him.
Unless he doesn’t want to see me.
What did his mother tell him about my sister? Did he go looking for her? Maybe that’s why I haven’t seen him all day.
An ache spreads throughout my chest as I think about that. They were childhood friends. She was his destiny. He has been looking for her for years. And somehow, stupid me has managed to convince myself that he’s content enough with me. That I can take her place.
God, what’s wrong with me? My sister could have been murdered because of this guy, and all I can think of is how much I want to stay at his side.
She was his first choice, and I’m the replacement.
I need to get out of here. Before he can look for me tomorrow and try to let me down slowly, I could do well to be a step ahead.
Ignoring the arousal blooming between my legs, I throw my duvet aside and bring my feet to the floor. I’m about to head to the closet for an outfit when reality sinks in.
I can’t just walk away, can I? I’m a werewolf now. Or I’m supposed to be, whenever I make the full transition. So I can’t just go running off to heaven knows where when at any moment, my body can transform into a wolf. A wolf I need to learn to keep in check. And I can only do that once Stefan teaches me how to.
I groan and climb back into bed.
Whether I like it or not, I’m stuck here, with him, for the foreseeable future.
About an hour later, I realise that my body is not planning to shut down for sleep any time soon. It’s gradually starting to feel so hot in here, so I throw my duvet aside.
When it doesn’t get better, I leave the bed and check the thermostat by the door. I crank it a few degrees lower. There’s a little relief for a while, but not for long. And it’s when I touch my face that I realise the room temperature is not the problem.
It’s me. I’m burning up. My skin’s on fire.
That healer lady did say that my body temperature might rise abnormally while my body was transitioning.
I head to the window on the other side of the room and throw it open. I push my head out of it, letting the cool breeze hit my face. Maybe I should go outside, let the cool wind calm me down.
I’m about to do just that when a new sensation takes over my body. It’s nothing I haven’t felt before, but I didn’t expect it to come on all of a sudden.
I sit down on the bed and press my thighs together, willing it away. Please no, not tonight.
But my body doesn’t pay heed. The arousal awakening between my legs blooms, leaving me with an ache I cannot ignore.
Maybe if I take care of it quickly, it’ll go away, and I won’t need to resort to any extreme measures. Like go mindlessly looking for a guy who has avoided me all day.
Because that’s what this primal need makes me. Mindless. Once it takes root, the only thing I can think about is getting Stefan inside me, as soon as possible.
I bring my hand to my thigh and push my nightdress upwards, exposing my skin. Then I part my thighs and bring my fingers between them, reaching for the sensitive flesh between my legs.
I close my eyes and breathe through my mouth as I brush my finger against my clit. The simple touch elicits a wave of pleasure that has me leaning on the mattress with my other hand, my back arching.
I slide my middle finger down to my already wet slit. While I push it inside me, my thumb teases my clit which quickly gets slippery with my juices. I rub harder, add another finger in my pussy, but it does nothing to take me towards the release I’m so desperately craving.
It’s as if I’m not doing anything at all to assuage the arousal because all I can feel is an increasing ache. That, and an emptiness that only one thing can fill.
Fuck, is this what Stefan meant when he said he was the only one who could get me past this insane need? That there’s no way around this unless I have sex or use the medication Hanna talked about earlier?
Groaning in frustration, I withdraw my hand from between my legs and get to my feet. I pace in the room, hoping to walk it off.
It doesn’t work.
My already high body temperature isn’t helping.
Neither is the knowledge that Stefan is right across the hall from my room. All I have to do is go through my door, open his, and I’ll have exactly what I need.
I try to fight it, I swear I do. But as the roaring need consumes my body, I find myself biting hard on my lip, keeping a cry back as I cross the room to my door and pull it open.
I take the step across the hall to his door and as if on cue, it flies open.
Then he’s there, looking down at me, shirtless, his eyes bright as the blue ring that I saw last night glows around his pupil.
“Mari!” he rasps, reaching for me.
Before I know it, he has pulled me into his room and shut the door behind us.
“I… I…” I try to explain as he brings me to a king-size bed sitting on one side of the huge room. How do I tell him that I came looking for him just so he could fuck me?
“I know. I felt it,” he tells me, bringing us to a stop beside the bed.
Before I can say anything else, he swoops down, his mouth claiming mine. I gasp into his mouth, opening up instantly to let his tongue in when he probes. I taste the alcohol in his mouth before I smell it. Maybe because the smell is already mingled with that delicious scent emanating from his skin.
I stand on my toes as I press my body closer to his, leaving no inch untouched. But I don’t have to try so hard for much longer because his hands drop to the back of my thighs, gripping me hard before hoisting me up. I wrap my legs around his waist as he leans down and lays me on the bed, his powerful body over mine.
As he settles between my thighs, his hard length brushes against me, giving me a preview of what I’m about to get. I put my hands between us, bringing them to his slacks as he keeps up with his assault on my mouth.
I do quick work of the button and zipper. The moment they are out of the way, my hand comes into contact with his very naked, very hard, very hot member.
I go ahead and wrap my fingers around him, and that earns me a hiss from him. Then his hips pump forward, thrusting his length into the hollow formed by my fingers. I wonder what that would feel like, if it was my mouth, and not my fingers, around him.
The images that flash through my mind act like gasoline to fire to my arousal. Fuck, I’ve never been so turned on at the idea of having a man in my mouth. I hadn’t even liked that idea until now.
“I need to be inside you right now,” Stefan’s husky voice draws me from my depraved thoughts.
I’m all for that idea, so I guide him towards my entrance, keeping my fingers on him until his head is nestled between my lips. The moment I remove my hand, he drives forward, filling me up in one powerful thrust. A scream–or a cry, or a rather loud moan, hell, I can’t tell–rips through my throat at the sudden intrusion.
Stefan goes still above me. “Did I hurt you?”
My eyes fly open as I shake my head. “No.” Quite the opposite. I take a few deep breaths, staring into his glowing eyes. “Take me hard.”
The light in his eyes grows, the ring eating up most of his iris. Heavens, why is he so ethereal? Forget all of these crazy werewolf sex hormones, if I had met him under any other circumstances, I wouldn’t have been able to look away. Or forget him.
Fuck, that night he showed up in the dressing room at the nightclub? If it hadn’t been for all the shit going on, he would have stolen my breath–as he does now as he pulls his cock back only to thrust into me harder and deeper.
He hooks the back of my knees on each of his arms and plants his hands on the bed, holding my legs wide. In this position, his upper body lifts from mine while his lower body pounds into me. It gives me a good view of both his face and of where our bodies are joined together. I don’t know which to look at.
He decides for me a second later…
“Look at me, Mari,” he gruffs out, his words breathy. “Look at me while I make you mine.”
My eyes draw to his instantly. And suddenly it’s like he’s consuming me in more ways than one. He’s taking my body, but he’s also seizing my soul, letting me know that he’s the only one for me. I couldn’t agree more.
Fuck how I found him. I want to keep him. He’s mine, and I’m not letting anyone get between us.
“Mari, fuck,” he groans a few seconds later as his hips pick up speed. “You feel heavenly.”
My muscles clamp around him as if trying to squeeze the very life out of him. “Gwen,” I manage to get it out between my ragged breaths.
“What?” he rasps out.
“Call me Gwen. From now on.”
I want to hear my name, my real name, leaving his lips as he reaches the peak of ecstasy. Not a name he has associated with someone else all along.
“Gwen,” he says it, as if testing it out, but it comes out as a groan. “You’re mine, Gwen.”
His declaration does the trick. I go over the edge, every muscle in my body seeming to contract along with my pussy. I throw my head back and let the pleasure overcome me, feeling my limbs shake. I come back down to earth to the sensation of Stefan stroking his cock inside me slowly, gently, as if helping me come down from my high.
I suck in a breath as it registers that he’s still hard. He hasn’t come yet.
What the fuck? That has never happened with anyone before.
He leans down, bringing his upper body closer. The corners of his lips turn up in a secret smile. “You look flustered.”
I… Do I? Well…
He not only just made me orgasm without touching me, but he also didn’t come through all that. I’m not sure whether that’s good or bad news. The second part, that is.
His hand comes up to brush strands of my hair out of my face. Then his thumb is on my lips, teasing my mouth open. “The longer I hold it in, the better it’ll feel,” he tells me, his lips inches from mine.
I swallow. So he’s doing it intentionally. Not because I’m a horrible bedfellow or something.
His thumb gets out of the way and he sucks my bottom lip into his mouth. Then he bites it gently before pulling back. His hips starting to rock more steadily between my legs, he says, “You’re still gripping me so tightly, Gwen. I could fuck you all night.”
My hands rise to his shoulders, then down his back, feeling his tight muscles undulating beneath my touch. “Yes, please.”
He groans, his lips trailing down my throat. “I can’t tell whether that’s you being polite or just plain dirty.”
I decide to clear that up.
“Please fuck me all night, Stefan.”