ROWAN

I was not sure what I was thinking when my lips covered hers.

Actually that was a lie - I was not thinking at all anymore, I was done with logic and responsibility and all the careful control I had maintained for years. Every rule I had built my life around was crumbling and I was letting it happen, actively tearing down the walls myself because being near her made rational thought impossible.

I was only going to act now, only going to follow what my body and wolf were screaming at me to do.

My mouth moved against hers and she opened for me immediately, her lips parting without hesitation to let my tongue slide inside. I explored every corner of her mouth while she kissed me back with the same desperate intensity, her tongue meeting mine in movements that made heat pool low in my stomach and spread through my entire body.

This was wrong on every level that mattered but it felt more right than anything I had done in years.

My hands moved slowly down her sides, taking their time to memorize the curve of her waist through the thin fabric of her dress before settling on her ass and gripping hard enough to pull her flush against me. I could feel every inch of her pressed against my body and it still was not close enough.

I walked her backward until her spine hit the door with a soft thud that echoed in my quiet room. I used my body to pin her there while my mouth continued claiming hers like I had every right to do this, like she belonged to me instead of being promised to my father.

Her hands were already in my hair, running through the strands and pulling just hard enough to make my scalp tingle and send shivers down my spine. The slight pain mixed with pleasure in ways that made my cock grow harder.

I pulled back slightly to look at her, both of us breathing hard enough that our chests heaved with the effort.

Her eyes gazed up at me wide and dark with want, her pupils dilated until only a ring of amber remained visible. Her lips were already swollen and red from the intensity of the kiss, slightly parted as she tried to catch her breath.

She did not say anything, just stared at me like she was trying to figure out if this was real or if I would suddenly come to my senses and walk away like I should, like the responsible version of myself would demand.

I shook my head and exhaled roughly, my breath coming out uneven. "What have you done to me Amaris?" My voice came out husky and strained in ways I barely recognized. "I cannot think straight when you are here. Cannot act straight."

Every principle I had ever held was dissolving under the weight of wanting her this badly.

My head dropped to her neck and I placed a soft kiss against the pulse point there, feeling it race frantically under my lips. Her heartbeat was as wild as mine, proof that this was affecting her just as strongly.

I trailed more kisses just above her collarbone, tasting the salt of her skin and breathing in that scent of peaches and lavender that had been driving me slowly insane since the moment she walked into my room.

"Then it is a good thing I am leaving here soon," she whispered and I felt the words vibrate against my lips.

The statement made a dark urge surge through me like a tidal wave. My wolf snarled at the very idea of her leaving, of her going back to Stormshadow where we could not protect her or see her or have her.

I rose up to tower over her again, looking down into those amber eyes that had haunted me since the moment she arrived at Gravemoon and had capsized my world in unknown axis, sinking every resolve I had.

"I don’t want you to leave," I growled low in my chest, the sound almost feral. "I want you here."

My hand went to the collarbone I had just kissed and rested there for a moment, feeling her pulse still racing under my palm. Then I trailed down to her chest, stopping at the curve of her breast visible above the neckline of her dress.

"I want you to be mine," I admitted.

The confession was out before I could stop it, before I could think better of admitting something so dangerous and forbidden.

Immediately my mouth descended on hers again and this time there was nothing gentle about the kiss. At the same time my hand squeezed her breast through the fabric of her dress and she gasped into my mouth.

I swallowed the sound and that alone made my cock harden painfully against the confines of my trousers, straining against the fabric.

I kissed her deeply while my hands pushed down the front of her dress to expose her left breast. The fabric bunched under her breast and cool air hit her exposed skin making her nipple peak even harder.

I began to fondle the soft flesh while continuing to kiss her because I was starving for the taste of her and I could never get enough.

Her hand went behind my neck to hold me closer, pulling me down to her with surprising strength. The gesture proved she wanted this just as badly as I did, that I was not alone in this madness.

My wolf pounded against my chest demanding more, demanding everything, demanding I claim her completely.

Suck her. Fuck her. Mark her. Make her ours, my wolf snarled with single-minded focus.

The horny beast clearly wanted to escalate this immediately, wanted me to take her hard and fast against the door and mark her throat so everyone would know she belonged to us.

But I wanted to savor the moment, wanted to memorize every sound she made and every way her body responded to my touch because this might be the only time I ever got to have her like this.

My mouth left hers and moved down to her neck, kissing a slow deliberate path down her throat until I stopped at her exposed breast.

They were perfect, round and soft like peaches with her nipples already swollen and peaked from the attention I had given them through the fabric. I slowly pushed the other side of her dress down exposing her second breast completely and rose up to look at her properly.

"You are so beautiful Amaris," I breathed, my voice rough with want. "You have no idea how beautiful you are and so much I want to do to you."

"Then do it, all of them." She whispered.