Glaring up at him, I growled, “Move.”
His jaw clenched. “You shouldn’t be with that guy.”
He grasped my hand softly and started to walk me out of the silk tent and back into the patio garden, leading me up to the house. I was too tipsy to put up much protest, and I needed to find Kaja anyway. We walked inside the packed living room, to the sound of bustling music, before he slipped me into a little alcove holding a potted plant. My pulse quickened as he leaned closer and sniffed the air in front of my face, and his lip curled. “You’re drunk.”
Hah!“That’s rich! You don’t get to do that. You scurried off like a rat, remember? So don’t act like—”
“You’re mine,” he said, gripping my hips, eyes flaring emerald, and his possessive words melted into my body like warm butter. He pulled me closer, slamming my body to his; my pelvis pressed into his hips. The raw need in his voice made my knees tremble.
“Onlymine,” he added, and his chest heaved.
Whoa.
I swallowed hard. In the back of my mind, the little bit of rational-Nai screamed about healthy boundaries and psycho-controlling males. But the rest of me … I grabbed the lapels of his tuxedo jacket and gave him a half-lidded gaze as the world fell away. Nothing else existed in this moment—just me and him.
“Prove it.”
He growled, low and possessive, and then traced the tip of his nose up the side of my neck, scenting where my pulse pounded.
Scent.I’d forgotten to smell him before, but it was our greatest tracking device. In our human form, the aroma of an individual was best detected at the pulse points. In this crowded area of the house, even in our little alcove, the best place to scent him would be the neck, like he’d just done to me. If I got a good whiff now, I could figure out exactly who he was later…
My breath quickened. I gripped his arms. Desire blossomed low in my belly, and I inched closer.
“You smell like sunshine and home, Miss Blue,” he whispered.
The warmth of his breath made my skin prickle, and I might’ve moaned—a little. “Like home?”
I inhaled, but my mind was fuzzy with mage wine. Cedarwood? Sandalwood? Sage? What was it? He traced the outside of my ear with his tongue before capturing the soft flesh between his teeth. Slowly, he worked his way across my jaw to my lips with his tongue, drawing out the tension until my desire for him was agony.
Holy mage!
“You’re mine,” he whispered, his lips brushing my skin. “All mine.”
“Yes,” I panted. I was his. I could feel that in my very core.
This time when he captured my lips, his kiss was fierce and dominating. He nipped my bottom lip between his teeth, and I parted them. Our tongues tangled as he pressed me back against the wall, our bodies fitting together as if made for one another.
All alone in this magical little nook, the world around us fell away. Nothing else mattered.
His hand pressed between the laces of my dress on my back, nudging me closer. I couldn’t get enough of him. I couldn’t be close enough to him. His hips rotated, and I clung to him, throwing my head back to give him better access. He kissed my neck, sucking and biting as he pressed against me. I moaned, begging for more because this … was …magic.
“Mine,” I growled, my wolf rising to the surface as instinct took over. I needed to stake my claim, to mark him as mine and make sure any female who got near him would know he was taken.
Searing heat flared beneath his palm, and I arched my back as the warmth became an inferno. Need, passion, and fire swirled around us, building and expanding, consuming us.
“What is happen—?” My question became a cry, and I clung to him to stay upright as the burning sensation tore through me, an explosion of pain and pleasure. His hand came up, fingers lacing through mine as all of that pain weaved through my body and wrapped around our encircled fingers. When I felt the final bolt of stinging flesh on my left ring finger, I gasped.
Looking at our clasped hands, I stared at fated mate marks on our ring fingers, a glowing white swirl pattern in place of where a human couple might wear rings.
Holy mage.
I spun out of the alcove, switching places with him as I wrestled with my wine-soaked senses. His green eyes were wide with shock. His gaze bore into me. His chest heaved. But he didn’t let me go, didn’t give any indication he regretted this.
Green-eyed secret garden kisser was my freakingmate! I couldn’t think, couldn’t breathe— Fated mates? The phenomenon was rare, but not impossible. Except—
A hefty hand landed on my shoulder, and then I was ripped back, away from Green Eyes and our little alcove, and pressed into the chest of another man as his arm encircled my waist.
“Hey,” a man snarled, his voice faintly familiar. “She was mine first.”
