Her fingers dug in, and I knew this bath wouldn’t end the way I’d planned.
She turned, water spilling over the edges of the tub, straddling me, before her mouth found mine in a searing kiss.
Savannah’s lips were on mine, hungry and demanding, her tongue sliding against my own with a ferocity that made my cock throb against my stomach. She was trying to take control, her hands gripping my shoulders, her hips grinding down on me in the water, the heat of her pussy pressing against my abs. I let her think she was in charge, let her believe she could dominate this moment, but I was done playing nice. My hands slid down her back, gripping her ass with a possessive growl, and she gasped into my mouth, her body arching against mine.
“Menace,” she breathed, her voice trembling with need, but I didn’t let her finish. My fingers dug into the soft flesh of her ass, spreading her cheeks, and I slipped a finger into her tight pucker,the tight ring of muscle clenching around me. She froze, her body going rigid, and then she moaned, a low, guttural sound that sent a jolt of heat straight to my cock.
“Fuck,” she whispered, her voice shaking, and I could feel her body trembling against mine. “What are you—oh, God—”
I didn’t answer, just pressed my finger deeper, feeling her body open for me, her pucker clenching and releasing around my finger as she adjusted to the sensation. Her hips rocked back against me, her pussy grinding against my stomach, and I could feel the wetness of her arousal mixing with the water. I leaned down, capturing one of her nipples in my mouth, sucking hard, and she cried out, her hands tangling in my hair.
“Menace, feels amazing,” she moaned, her voice breaking, and I could feel her body tightening around my finger. I rubbed her clit with my other hand as she held on to the edges of the tub. I twisted my finger inside her, feeling her pucker stretch around me, and she came with a surprised groan, her body shuddering against mine, as I pressed her clit harder.
But I wasn’t done with her yet. I lifted her up, turning her in the tub so she was on her knees and hands gripped the side of the tub, the water sloshing around us as I positioned myself behind her. My cock was rock hard, throbbing with need, and I pressed the head against her dripping pussy, feeling her wetness coat me. I slid into her slowly, inch by inch, feeling her tight walls stretch around me, and she moaned, her head dropping forward as she pushed back against me.
“Fuck, you’re so tight,” I growled, my hands gripping her hips as I buried myself all the way inside her. She was so wet, so hot, and I could feel her pussy clenching around me as I started to move, as I popped the drain of the tub, thrusting into her with slow, deep strokes. My thumb found her asshole again, pressing against the tight ring of muscle, and she gasped, her body arching as I pushed my thumb inside her.
“Oh God,” she moaned, her voice trembling with pleasure, and I could feel her pussy tightening around me as she got closer to the edge again. I fucked her harder, my cock slamming into her with every thrust, my thumb pressing deeper into her tight hole, and she came with a scream, her body shaking as she clenched around me.
“That’s it, baby,” I growled, my voice rough with need. “Take it. Take all of me.” My knot was starting to swell, pressing against her entrance, and she whimpered, her body trembling as I pushed it inside her. She was so tight, so fucking tight, and I could feel her pussy stretching around my knot as it locked us together.
“Menace,” she gasped, her voice breaking as I started to come, my cock pulsing inside her as I filled her with my cum. She came again, her pussy clenching around me as she pulled every drop from me, and I groaned, my hands gripping her hips as I fucked her through our orgasms.
When my knot finally loosened enough that I could turn her, she wrapped her legs around my waist, her arms around my neck. I lifted her out of the tub and wrapped a towel around us both. She was trembling in my arms, her body still pulsing with the aftershocks of her orgasm, and I carried her to our bed, laying her down gently before climbing in beside her.
“You’re mine,” I growled, pulling her close, and she nodded, her body curling against mine.
“Yours,” she whispered, her voice soft but sure, and I knew she meant it. She was mine, body and soul, and I would do whatever it took to keep her safe.
“I love you, Red, my little ember,” I whispered against her hair.
“I love you, Bridger, forever.”
Chapter 11
King Declan Calloway
The shadows of my office clung thick as burial shrouds, stale air crackling with the static of suppressed violence. My pen stilled mid-scrawl when the door creaked open. Another interruption. My assistant’s throat bobbed as she spoke. “A Principal Karen Day from Texas on the phone for you. It’s about Savannah.”
Texas. The word detonated in my skull like shrapnel.
Her voice slithered through the receiver, crisp and clinical, each syllable gasoline on the embers in my veins. Teaching music under an alias. “Sawyer Galloway.” Mated to Bridger Hardin. Iron Valor Pack. The leather armrests of my chair split beneath my grip, stuffing bleeding out like entrails.
“Proof,” I snarled, already tasting copper on my tongue. “Send me the proofnow.”
The screen flickered—there she was. My daughter’s face, a picture taken from a phone, clearly without her knowledge. Her eyes,myeyes, alight with freedom’s obscene glow. A feral growl tore through clenched teeth; monitors shattered across in a blast of cracked screens.
“You’ve outrun me,” I whispered to her frozen image, thumb tracing the screen hard enough to fracture pixels. “But not outsmarted.”
Ms. Day’s tinny voice returned with details. Mated to fucking Bridger Hardin, piece of shit Iron Valor pack? Oh, but he and his trouble making Alpha are now absent, gone for days? I stared at Savannah’s stolen life unfolding on the screen. Elementary school music teacher in Dairyville? Picnics? My heir reduced to teaching musical quarter notes for peasant pups while her power rotted in this backwater filth?
“Forty-eight hours,” I barked into the phone, molten wrath hardening into diamond-edged purpose. Let her savor these final days of rebellion—let her think she’d won. When my wolves descended upon that reeking den of mongrels, she’d learn the cost of humiliating a king. Of betraying blood. I’d have this Ms. Day secure her in a location where she could be extracted without incident. My men would be in and out like smoke.
The phone exploded against the wall in a shower of plastic shards as I rose, a storm given flesh, already barking orders for Callum to get his ass here now. Made commands for jet fuel and silver chains. Her little game ended now.
“Sawyer Galloway,” I muttered the name, the alias turning sour on my tongue. A bastardized version of our name. Her music degree, once a source of tension between us, was now the key to finding her. Her audacity infuriated me. Running from me was one thing, but mating with that trash?
I looked at her picture again. Her wild auburn hair and green eyes unmistakable, surrounded by children, the mark on her neck declared her defiance. It taunted me, that brand. She was mated and mated by choice, it seemed. A calculated move on her part, but one that would cost her. I would see to it personally. The more I thought of it, the more certain I was that this mating was a temporary convenience for her. An excuse to hide from my influence and the arranged marriage to King Dominic Madison, the new Midwestern King. Foolish girl. She thought she could rewrite her destiny by scribbling her name over my carefully laid plans. She was wrong.
