I was sobbing by the time I heard the door open.
"—can't control it if she's—"
"She needs you." Cole's voice, firm. Final. "The heat won't break without you."
"If I hurt her—"
"You won't."
Footsteps. The creak of floorboards. And then—
His scent hit me first.
Pine and rain and something wild underneath. Stone. My body reacted before my mind caught up, a surge of need so intense it ripped a moan from my throat.
I turned my head.
He stood in the doorway.
He looked wrecked. Dark circles under his eyes. Sweat glistening on his skin. His whole body trembling with the effort of holding himself back. His eyes were pure gold—wolf fully at the surface—but there was no violence in them.
Just desperate, aching want.
Our eyes locked.
Everything else disappeared.
I was off the bed before I knew I was moving. He met me halfway, crossing the room in three strides, and then we collided.
The kiss was savage.
His hands fisted in my hair, yanking my head back so he could devour my mouth. I clawed at his shirt, needing it gone, needing skin against skin. He lifted me like I weighed nothing, and my legs wrapped around his waist as he slammed me against the wall.
"Mine," he growled against my lips. "Mine, mine, mine—"
"Yours." I was crying. Laughing. Delirious with relief. "Always yours."
He freed himself from his pants and thrust inside me in one brutal stroke.
I screamed.
Not from pain—from completion. The bond between us blazed to life, and for the first time since the heat started, something inside me settled. This. This was what I'd been missing. This was what my body had been crying out for.
Stone fucked me against the wall like a man possessed. His fingers dug into my hips hard enough to bruise. His teeth scraped against my throat. His cock drove into me over and over, hitting that spot that made stars explode behind my eyes.
"Needed you," I gasped. "Needed you so much—"
"I know." His voice was wrecked. "Felt you. Every second. Calling to me."
"I'm sorry it took so long—"
"Don't." He kissed me hard. "Don't apologize. Just let me have you."
I let him have me.
He took me against the wall until my legs gave out, then carried me to the bed and took me again. His pace was relentless, desperate, making up for all the hours he'd been kept away. I came around him twice before he finally stiffened, spilling inside me with a roar that shook the walls.
We collapsed together onto the mattress.
