I snapped my head in her direction, knowing I looked like a deer caught in headlights. I felt my eyes widen. “He’s my mate.”
She gave me this smile, but it didn’t quite reach her eyes, as if she knew this Kasias shifter was more male than I’d ever come up against in my life.
I looked back at him. He was closer now, but he was taking his time getting to me, or maybe everything was seemingly in slow motion. Either way, fear and nervousness, the unknown, had me moving backward until I found myself standing in the center of the darkened hallway that led to the backdoor of the bar. But I was frozen in place now as I watched him—heard him growl in frustration that I was retreating.
And when he was only a few feet from me, he stopped, his nostrils flaring slightly, his eyes closing, and this rough, deep growl left him. I felt the vibrations all the way down to my pussy, which clenched. The bitch knew this man had what it needed to ease this burn in me, this lust.
He opened his eyes and took another step toward me. “Mine,” he growled out, more animal than human.
I couldn’t help but inhaled as well, my body growing soft at his scent. It was all male. It was all mine. He smelled of spice and of the wilderness, a heady scent of his polar bear ready to claim me. And when I lowered my gaze down to that bulge I spotted earlier, I felt my eyes widen as I got a good look at how aroused he was. His cock was long and thick, pressed against one side and barely restrained by the denim. God, he was… huge.
He was in front of me in just a blink of an eye, his big body stealthy like a sleek, feral wild animal.
“Mate,” he grunted, flashing his teeth, his canines elongated.
A shiver wracked my body as I stared at those twin points. I couldn’t help but imagine him at my throat, those teeth buried in my neck, his cock deep in my pussy. He’d mark me, push his scent into my bloodstream, make me take his cum. He’d fill me at both access points so that any male would forever know I was his.
His scent would be a permanent thing on my body, a visual and olfactory reminder that if any male fucked with me, they’d deal with him.
“Kasias.” I found myself saying his name, remembering what Tally called him.
He made this low, desperate sound from within his chest.
“My name sounds good coming from my mate’s lips.” He stepped closer, and I moved one back. “I want to hear you scream it out as I stretch you with my cock and fill you with my cum.”
A gasp left me at his crude, obscene words. But I wanted more. They turned me on even more.
He was so close now, my back to the cold wall, his big body towering over me. My eyes were level with his nipples, the definition of his pectoral muscles causing my mouth to water and my throat to tighten. All I smelled was him. All I felt was his body heat. He wasn’t even touching me, yet here I was aching for him in so many ways I felt crazed from it.
My pussy was soaked, a constant flow of cream leaving me. I was so ready for him, my body prepared even more now than it had been.
He lowered his head to my neck, still not touching me, but close enough I felt the current of alacrity travel through him and into me. I heard him inhale and couldn’t stop myself from closing my eyes, the sound of him doing that one act going right to my clit and causing the little bundle of nerves to swell and throb even more.
“You’re primed, my female.”
God, his voice was the deepest I’d ever heard, the most masculine voice one could ever imagine a male to have. He pulled back only enough that he could look into my eyes.
He lifted his hands and placed them on the wall beside my head, caging me in, his face eye level with mine. I hadn’t missed the size of his palms, ones as big as my face, slightly calloused… working man’s hands. The way he lowered his eyes to my mouth had me clenching my thighs together. He looked so very… hungry for me.
“And you’re in need of your male to help you with that, aren’t you?”
“Your male.”
He said that with so much arrogance, as if he knew he’d be the only one to ever make me feel good.
I still hadn’t said anything besides his name. I couldn’t speak even if my life depended on it.
“Tell me, my female, tell your mate what you need, and I’ll be happy to serve you.” He leaned in an inch closer. God, our mouths were almost touching. “It would be my fucking honor to fill you up with my seed.”
I closed my eyes and rested my head back on the wall, a soft moan slipping from me.
I heard him inhale once again, a low, needy growl leaving him. “Mmm, my mate’s a pure little virgin in her first mating heat.”
He was just so… alpha.
“Your name, my female. Tell me.” He was bossy and demanding, his words brokering no room for denial.
I wouldn’t have had the strength to deny him anything at that moment. My mind and body knew who I belonged to, who belonged to me.
This male.
“Penny,” I whispered, and his nostrils flared, his eyes darkening.
“Penny.” The way he said my name was as if he were already fucking me. “Tell me what you want and it’s yours.”
He knew what I wanted. The polar bear could smell it. And he knew he was the only one who could ease me. Denying him seemed so abhorrent to me. I didn’t know anything about this male, but when you found your fated mate, nothing else mattered. Nothing else made sense but being with them. We were born to be the other’s, like two halves finally coming together to make a whole.
I don’t know if he thought I’d have the strength to say no, but the low, dangerous sound he made told me he thought I’d try to stop this.
“We don’t know each other,” I found myself saying, but I didn’t know why. It wasn’t like it mattered.
His eyes went steely. “The only thing you need to know right now is that you’re mine.”
My heart stuttered in my chest. Maybe he saw nervousness in me. Maybe he smelled it. There was some darkness that flickered over his face momentarily before he spoke again.
“You can run,” he murmured, his lips lightly brushing against mine because he was still so close. “But I’ll chase you, sweet Penny. I’ll chase you to the ends of the fucking earth, because you’re mine.”
Yeah. I am.
5
Penny
I was fucking insane. Certifiable. That’s the only explanation on why I now found myself following a very giant male by the name of Kasias Stone to his front door.
But nothing had ever felt so… right.
There had been zero hesitation on my part when I told Tally I was leaving. The wide-eyed look she’d given me as she darted her eyes between Kasias and me were telling. She’d just nodded, mumbled she’d cover the last part of my shift, and that was that. It was like no one wanted to go against Kasias, or maybe no one wanted to go against fated mates.
And when we’d gotten outside and I was about to go to my car, a firm shake of his head and a deeply rumbled, “No, you’re with me. Always,” was all he said before taking me to his truck and depositing me in the passenger seat. Literally. He’d grabbed my waist, lifted me up, and planted my ass on the leather, his hands lingering on my body, his touch like pure liquid fire on my skin.