The gentle purr of the yacht feels intrusive as if it shouldn’t be here.
Half-hidden in the trees, a stone mansion emerges from the shadows.Massive and still, it glows with the warmth of golden light that pulses behind tall windows.
The estate doesn’t stand atop the island.It’s cradled by it.Like the forest grew around it and decided to keep it.
The beauty here is rich and wild, much like the man at my side.The sort of beauty that comes with a warning, a trick of the light that lures unsuspecting souls and traps them forever.
I clutch the railing, my insides tumbling in free fall.
A dark fairy tale, indeed.
Curiosity wars with misgiving as I follow Wolf into the mansion.The skirt of my once-white gown drags across the pristine floors like a dishwater mop.
The warm jacket lifts from my shoulders, and he hangs it in the entryway.Since he doesn’t remove his boots, I keep mine.
And gape.
This isn’t a house.It’s a goddamn lifestyle flex.Stunning beams, massive glass windows, and high ceilings that feel like a cathedral if it were designed by a billionaire lumberjack with an inclination for moody art.
Fire dances in a stone hearth, licking the air with orange tongues.The living room, foyer, and rooms beyond are all designer shapes and rich-people textures.Pretty sure that twelve-person sectional would swallow me whole, and honestly, I wouldn’t fight it.
Wolf doesn’t give me enough time to admire each room properly as he pulls me along.His devil-may-care pushiness is both maddening and magnetic.
We climb a grand staircase.Real wood, thick and strong.Iron railing, cold under my fingertips.The air grows warmer as we ascend, more intimate.
Where is he taking me?A guest bedroom?I really need out of this heavy, wet dress.
He leads me down a hallway lined with closed doors and stops before one that’s ajar.Glancing back at me with a mischievous smile, he swings it open and grabs my hand.
My muscles freeze.
He hauls me inside.
The smell hits first.Skin.Sweat.Sleep.And something deeper.Something feral.
Sex.
Then my eyes adjust to the darkness.
A massive bed squats in the center of the room.Like comically massive.Custom made.
The sheets are tangled in knots like they’ve been twisted and kicked and grabbed at.What makes my blood pressure detonate are the human-shaped lumps.
There are people in the bed.Multiple.
How many?Two?Three?Four?
I stumble back, my heels hitting the doorframe.
“Wolf,” I whisper.“What the actual hell?”
Someone stirs.A huge, imposing, chiseled-from-pure-intimidation figure rises from the bed.
Black, bottomless eyes glare out of a face that doesn’t smile.And he’s naked.Just standing there in all his terrifying glory like a war god who doesn’t need armor.
“Go back to bed, pet.”Wolf waves him off, calm as ever.
Pet?That mountain of a man?
