Zara

Alpha and I drove down the road, the engine humming softly, passing houses and road signs. When we passed his house, I frowned and looked at him.

"Where are we going?" I asked, to which he chuckled softly. "You look like you could use a run. I think I could, too."

"That sounds a lot more fun than sleeping," I answered honestly, feeling the wolf stirring beneath my skin.

If there was one thing I loved more than sleep but less than Alpha, it was the transformation. The feeling of moving swiftly through the forest, your feet almost silently tapping the ground, pure strength and instinct propelling you forward; there’s nothing more liberating.

He stopped by the side of the road when the forest became dense, making it nearly impossible to see anything, even from where we stood.

It was impossible not to feel confident around Alpha, especially once I took off my clothes.

His eyes followed my every movement, leaving goosebumps all over my body wherever his lips and hands touched.

When we were both naked, a cool breeze caressed our heated skin. I closed my eyes and allowed Nova to enter me. The pain of the transformation was short-lived, thanks to the nightly runs I often took.

I rushed into the forest after Alpha, keeping pace with him, kicking up dust and clumps of grass. We were both like flashes of darkness as we raced through the forest.

I followed him for a few minutes when Nova had the brilliant idea to bite his hind legs. As I expected, he spun around abruptly, and we both froze in place. It took a few seconds for the dust to settle, my heart pounding with every mile we covered.

We looked at each other, breathing heavily.

A challenge was evident in his eyes, and Nova growled playfully as his voice echoed through our heads.

"Did you just bite me, Zara?" Kane’s voice wasn’t as soft as usual, but rough and commanding.

"Maybe if you’d quickened your pace, I wouldn’t have to," I replied breathlessly, reveling in the thrill as his eyes darkened and his fur stood on end.

Nova and I, as always, had a common language when it came to teasing our temperamental partner, but we had a different plan.

I blinked innocently at him and took a few steps forward to lower my head. As soon as he lunged at me, easily suspecting something was wrong, I rolled to the side and ran into the forest.

I instantly felt him on me, just a few feet away, as he growled and snarled at my heels. I feigned exhaustion for a few seconds, then put on a show and, pushing off the ground, lunged forward.

There was a reason Alpha and I were a couple, and one of them was that he was the only man in this world equal to me in that rank.

As I leaped over the rotten carcass of a fallen tree, Alpha used it as a springboard, pushing off and launching himself into the air.

The impact of his body against mine made my teeth rattle, but I barely felt the pain due to the thrill of the chase and the thrill of being caught.

The two of us, a tangled mass of limbs, came to a halt in the tall grass that surrounded us.

I landed rather awkwardly on his chest, straddling his stomach. My fingertips dug into the thick muscle that covered his smooth chest.

My eyes slid along the vein running along his neck before I grinned and dug my nails into his chest, holding him there for a moment. My obsidian hair, still long and wavy, hung over us like a curtain.

"See? Now’s the perfect time to practice self-control." I giggled breathlessly, my whole body pulsing with the closeness between us and the need that pulled me along with it.

Alpha craved control, but secretly, he enjoyed the defiance and chaos I brought to his life.

Almost no one dared challenge Alpha, and I hardly thought anything of it when I first met him.

I’d been trying to take control for weeks, failing every time, though not terribly. The results were always phenomenal.

I felt him shift beneath me, hardening with each heavy breath. Within seconds, his thick cock touched my buttocks.

Digging my nails into his skin, I reached back with my other hand. The smooth skin stretched, only a few seconds of contact before Alpha growled and flipped me over.

My breath caught as the warm grass touched my back. His large arm wrapped around my neck, his enormous form towering over me.

Oh, me, trapped between my spread legs.

Since I got and with both of his titles, Alpha and I rarely had more than a few minutes alone together. Unfortunately, this time was no different.

As his Beta’s voice filled his mind, I felt an insistent and incredibly impatient tug from Marcus.

"You tell me to control myself, but look how wet you are." His growl was another surge of adrenaline, burning every nerve ending in my body, distracting my thoughts from anyone but him. His fingers tightened around my neck, strong and rough, covered in calluses.

The same ones that had ended countless lives, just as his teeth had torn apart countless enemies. The same teeth that now hovered over my own neck. And yet, it wasn’t fear that gripped me. "The next time you do something like that, I won’t stop. No matter who calls us."

My thumbs continued to explore the hollows and folds of his face, as if my hands were trying to get to know my feelings, and for heaven’s sake, I didn’t want me to stop.

I eagerly moved closer until our chests touched, my parted lips hovering just above him. His gaze dropped to my lips, so close, so agonizingly close.

If he had kissed me, I didn’t know if I could have stopped.

Behind her, I adjusted myself and moved closer to HIS back. My shoulders tensed as my legs moved to either side of me, and he placed his hands on my shoulders.

"Relax! Everything will be okay." He rasped in my ear, pushing myself forward. He gently squeezed my shoulders, and the tension left us like birds flying away in winter.

His hands slowly moved from my shoulders to my chest.

Carefully, then moved on to the next. His fingers brushed the top of my breasts, which jutted out like snow-capped peaks, and I shuddered under his touch but remained in place.

The touch of his fingers was not at all foreign; on the contrary, it was electric, yet so gentle, like a caress of peace for my troubled heart.

The desire to melt beneath his fingers as he slowly touched my breasts. The heat of his firm yet warm chest penetrated my bone marrow like a drug I craved with my whole being.

His breath was like a gentle lullaby on my skin.

His strong hands gently touched my shoulders. Time blurred for me, except for the moment of his touch on my fragile skin.

My muscles succumbed to the music of his palms and fingers. I croaked, unable to control my racing heartbeat and body temperature. Trembling like an autumn leaf, I gave in to this electrifying feeling of reassurance.

He explored me with slow, measured movements, and I felt myself press against him until my back rested against his battle-hardened chest. His hands automatically slid down to my waist, pinning me to him.

"Ha!" A soft moan escaped my lips.

The tip of his tongue slid into the hollow between my shoulders, and his hands moved toward the bottom of my bra.

My breath caught as I felt his fingers slowly approach, playing with the edge of my bra. A lecherous part of me longed for his large hands to cup my breasts and squeeze them.

His shiny hair flowed over my skin like warm water, awakening desires I no longer wanted to hide.

The intoxicating scent emanating from him broke down the last of my defenses, and I tilted my head slightly and glanced over my shoulder at him. His eyes lifted and found me, so close that the tips of our noses almost touched.

Dazed, under his spell, I closed my eyes and reached for him like a magnet. A huge magnet of muscle and lust. Caught in his orbit, I was about to let him consume me. To rewrite the terrible memories we had both recently experienced.

I needed it.

He needed it, too.

For there was as much desperation in his fiery gaze as there was in me.

Without thinking, I kissed him. Desire gripped my body so tightly that it ached, desperately yearning for release. He was my release.

His lips merged with mine, and his hands shifted my body, pressing me down onto the soft grass, between the plants, without breaking our tender kiss.

Lowering himself above me, he gently grasped my wrists with his large hands and pinned them above my head.

And then our bodies touched completely, my legs parted to give him room, and his hard cock touched my throbbing sex.