A growl vibrated through the speaker. “Fuck. Knew we should’ve… never mind. Get in the bathtub. Now.”
“Bronc—”
“Now, Juliet.” The command wrapped around my spine, steering me, stumbling back to the bathroom. “Cold water. Not ice, just cool. I need you to stay conscious.”
Porcelain chilled my bare legs as I climbed in. The showerhead swung wildly when I grabbed it, spraying arcs across the black-and-white hex tiles. “What’s happening to me?”
His engine downshifted hard. “Your body’s choosing. Faster than I… shit, should’ve prepared…” Metal screeched in the background. “Don’t fight it. Let the water run over your wrists. Pulse points.”
Steel nozzles clattered when I dropped the showerhead. Rivulets snaked down my arms, doing nothing to quell the furnace beneath my skin. Through the window came the faint howl of an engine pushed past the redline.
“Still with me, darlin’?”
The endearment unraveled something in my chest. “Please, Bronc. Hurry.”
Then, he was gone.
The next moments blurred. Cotton ripped at the seams as I tore off my top—too restrictive, too much. I got out of the tub and barely dried off. Cool air against the water droplets on my skin chilled my body. Bronc’s t-shirt from yesterday lay draped over the dresser, smelled like him. I pulled it over my head, the hem brushing mid-thigh. Fabric against sensitized skin made me gasp.
Bedsprings squealed when I yanked the mattress askew. Every pillow in the apartment went flying. Couch cushions, decorative shams from the armchair tumbled across the floor. The quilt tangled around my legs as I dragged it onto the living room floor with the mattress in a makeshift circle. Something primal purred approval when I added Bronc’s sweatshirt from the bedroom floor, the one he’d left “just in case.”
Heels of my hands dug into eyelet lace sheets as another contraction hit. The shirt rode up, cool air ghosting over damp flesh. My back arched of its own accord, a sound escaping my throat that should’ve embarrassed me.
Tires crunched gravel outside.
Boots pounded up the exterior stairs two at a time. “Juliet!”
His roar shook the windows. I lunged for the door handle, fumbling with the lock. The doorknob slipped in my sweaty palm. Metal screeched when I finally wrenched it open, Bronc’s massive frame filling the doorway. His chest heaved like he’d run across the compound, club cut straining over shoulders still twitching with residual shift energy. Blue eyes hinting at bronze in the early evening light, wild and needy.
I didn’t think. Didn’t breathe. Just launched myself at him, knees clamping around his hips as he caught me midair. His growl vibrated against my sternum when I buried my face in his throat, teeth scraping stubble.
“Christ, you’re burning up.” Calloused palms slid up my thighs, fingertips digging into bare flesh below the t-shirt’s hem. The realization of what I wasn’t wearing should’ve sent me scramblingfor modesty. Instead, I ground against his waist, whimpering at the friction.
Bronc’s nostrils flared. “Heat,” he rasped, kicking the door shut with a boot heel. “Shouldn’t be possible for…”
His words dissolved into a groan as I sucked the pulse point beneath his jaw. Every cell screamed for skin contact—my nails shredded his t-shirt before I registered him moving. Cotton tore like tissue paper under my frenzied yanking at his belt.
“Easy, Little Wolf.” He carried me toward the nest, steps faltering when I ripped his fly open. “Need to call Doc first, get supplies—”
The last thread of control snapped. I sank teeth into his collarbone, copper blooming on my tongue. His roar shook the room, our bodies crashing onto the quilt-covered mattress.
He pinned my wrists above my head, blue eyes fully lupine now. “You sure?” The words came out guttural, more snarl than speech. “Once I start… can’t stop. Won’t stop.”
My back arched, desperate for contact. “Need your knot. Don’t know how I know… but I need it.”
A sound ripped from his chest that wasn’t human. He hopped on one foot, then the other as he pulled his boots off his feet. Fabric shredded, his heated skin searing against mine, his jeans and boxer briefs now on the floor. His cock was a thing of beauty. Long, thick and with throbbing veins. He stroked it as he fell to his knees and looked at me, a writhing mess of wetness on the nest I’d made. How dare he tease me when I’m dying here?
I growled and sat up, placing my hands on him. He was hot in my grasp. “I will rip this thing off if it’s not inside my pussy in two seconds, ALPHA!”
He had the audacity to grin a feral grin! When he surged forward, there was no gentle preparation, only perfect, devastating alignment as we slammed together. As soon as his massive cock filled me, he made a guttural sound from his chest, less of a growl,almost a purr. It went through me and heightened every sense. My hips flew up to meet his. Slick running down my rear.
Fireworks behind my eyelids. The nest’s mingled scents of sweat, musk, and leather wrapped around us as we moved. No rhythm beyond desperation, no grace in the animalistic snapping of hips. His teeth worried my earlobe.
“Gonna claim you.” A promise and threat rolled into gravel-rough words. “Make everyone know you’re mine.”
“Yes.” I scraped at his back, legs locking around his waist. “Now, Bronc, please now—”
His canines pierced the juncture of neck and shoulder as my climax detonated. White-hot pleasure fused with the sharp sting of canine teeth, branding me to the marrow. Bronc’s roar echoed my scream, his release triggering something deeper, a click of cosmic tumblers slotting into place.
