“Please, Lothar, we can’t.”
He growled, then I was airborne, lifted onto his lap. He’d undone his jeans, and had shoved them down so there was barely anything between us, then both of his hands gripped my hips and he held me steady, thrusting his hard cock against my clit through his boxer briefs and my underwear. I wrapped my arms around his neck, my head spinning, wanting him still, needing more, and I rocked against him, meeting his out-of-control thrusts.
His fingers slid into my hair, and he took my mouth in a deep kiss that sent sparks igniting all over my body. Oh gods, I was so sensitive that it only took minutes before I tipped over the edge again. I tore my mouth from his and came, crying out his name, my heart shattering all over again at the thought of letting him go.
His fingers dug hard into my ass, and he rocked up against me, then held me there, thrusting almost brutally.
Oh fuck. Oh no.
I could feel it, through his underwear and mine.
What was happening to him only happened to a hound when he found his mate. Lothar had grown bigger, thicker, his beast trying to knot with his mate, a mate he’d never once gotten the chance to claim fully—a mate he had no idea existed. This shouldn’t be happening, it shouldn’t be possible, but it was. Oh fuck, it was.
“Roxy…fuck. Fucking hell,” he rasped. His eyes widened. Something like shock, like understanding, or recognition flashed through his eyes, and then he buried his face against my throat and came with a low, agonized groan. His big body, wrapped around mine, shuddered, his muscles jumped, twitching all over his body, while his cock pulsed and throbbed against me.
Everything went silent, except for our panted breaths.
I squeezed my eyes closed.
What the hell had I done?
His hand slid up my back, into my hair, and he fisted, jerking my head back, forcing a gasp from me. His eyes were glowing red, burning into me. “My knot… I just…” He swallowed thickly. “You felt it…” He shook his head wildly, trying to clear his head. “That’s never happened before. You felt me…you fucking felt it, didn’t you, Roxy?”
I bit my lips. I didn’t know what to say, what to do.
“You felt it, didn’t you?” he said again, more forcefully.
I blinked rapidly, fighting back my tears. Don’t cry. Do not cry.
He studied me. “But that’s impossible, right? Tell me that what just happened is impossible, and there’s an explanation for it, tell me,” he said low, deadly.
His grip on me tightened as I shook my head. “I don’t know?—”
“No more fucking lies,” he said and shook me. “Something is going on between us, something I can’t explain. Shit has been fucked between us for months. But you know what it is, don’t you? You fucking know.”
Tears stung my eyes. “I…I don’t. You’re imagin?—”
“You can’t be my mate. Right, Rox? Because I’d know if you were. I’d fucking know, wouldn’t I, Roxy?” He was all but roaring now.
A tear streaked down my cheek. “You’d know,” I said, still trying to lie, even as more tears streamed down my face. “Y-you’re confused. It’s just this realm. We’re not…we’re not?—”
He snarled. “Tell me the fucking truth,” he bellowed.
The window shattered, darkness pouring in, bringing with it a freezing wind that blasted through the room. My hair whipped around my face as the darkness, the shadows, stopped moving, coalescing into tall imposing forms.
Wraiths.
Oh fuck. I pulled away from Lothar and dived for my blades.
An awful voice filled with agony and rage reverberated through the room. One so dreadful, it hurt to listen to. “You will come with us, or he will die.” Something warm trickled down my face and I swiped it away. Blood, it was dripping from my nose, my eyes.
“Roxy!” Lothar roared from across the room.
I spun to him, shoving back my hair being blown everywhere. Wraiths surrounded him, a blade of the gods pressed to his throat.
“Don’t do it,” he snarled at me. “Don’t you dare fucking do it. Do not go with them.”
“If you don’t comply, the hound will die,” the voice screeched.
