As the asshole blew over both nipples, they tightened painfully. “I’m going to gut you.”

“No, you’re going to get ruthlessly fucked.” He sank his fingers inside her again. “But there’s a little something you have to do for me first.” He sucked at a patch of skin on her neck. “This is where I’m going to mark you.” His teeth nipped her skin, teasing her with what he’d soon give her.

She moaned as he licked over the imprint of his teeth. The warmth of his breath, the weight of his body, the graze of his chest against her tight nipples, and the feel of his fingers pumping inside her—it was all too much. Her release began to creep up on her again, and she did her best to hide it, but the irritating fucker sensed it.

“Say it, Ally. Say it or you don’t get to come.” He pulled out his fingers when she didn’t speak. Of course, the luscious legs that were wrapped around his body then began to kick the shit out of him. So he bucked his hips, sharply grinding his cock against her clit. The move was enough to make her still with a gasp. “You know you’re mine, Ally. You know it. All you have to do is say it. Is that so hard?” She squeezed her eyes shut and her mouth set in a grim line. Apparently his little Seer did in fact find it too hard to yield.

Derren sucked his fingers clean, groaning as her taste burst on his tongue. “Don’t you want my cock in you? Don’t you want me to give us what we both want?” No response. Releasing her wrists, he got to his knees and ripped open his fly. Her eyelids flipped open. Ah, that got her attention. She tilted her hips, offering herself. He fit the head of his cock in her opening, but he didn’t push inside. “If you’re not mine, I’m not yours.” He smiled at her growl. “The claiming mark on my neck—it means nothing.”

That pissed her wolf motherfucking off. Admittedly, Ally was just as infuriated by that comment. The bastard was hers. “You’re such a fucking asshole.” She was about to rear up and bite his shoulder punishingly, but he leaned forward and collared her throat, pinning her lower body to the ground. It didn’t hurt, but his hold was firm and sure. That assertive display of dominance made her wolf settle rather than bristle.

“The only way I belong to you is if you belong to me.” Derren fed her an inch of his cock but then quickly pulled out. “And you do. You’re meant for me. Aren’t you?”

Ally licked her lips and nodded once. It galled her to yield, but he’d outlasted her, earned the right to claim her.

“Good girl. But I need to hear you say the words. Tell me.”

Awkward, demanding fucker. “I’m meant for you.” Her back bowed as he slammed home, burying himself balls deep in her. He groaned as her pussy contracted around him, holding him there. Then he was punching his cock in and out of her. The muscles in his back bunched and flexed beneath her hands. His thrusts were so deep, rough, and hard that they hurt. But she didn’t care; she wanted this, wanted to feel his vicious, frenzied need to claim her. She burned hotter and hotter, wound tighter and tighter.

His hand flexed around her throat. “This body and this sweet little pussy belongs to me. Always has, always will. Do you understand?” The claws pricking his back dug deep enough to break the skin, and he snarled in the back of his throat. “Do you understand?”

“Yes,” she hissed.

“That’s good.” Releasing her throat, he threw her legs over his shoulders and powered into her. “All. Mine.” Tangling his fingers in her hair, he snatched her head to the side and sank his teeth down hard into her neck, sucking, marking, and claiming. Her body bowed and then locked in place as a scream tore out of her throat and her pussy clutched and milked him. He slammed into her once, twice, three times, and then exploded deep inside her—marking her with his come just as he’d marked her with his teeth.

Then the world seemed to fucking tilt as pain sliced through his head only to be quickly replaced by warm, fuzzy feelings he wasn’t interested in, because there was one other thing he could feel: Ally. He could feel her inside him, outside him; she lived in him now just as he lived in her. As expected, their bond wasn’t fully formed yet. It took emotional “steps” to make that happen. But their link was still strong and distinct.

He rolled onto his back, taking her with him, watching the series of emotions that played across her face—emotions he could also feel through their bond. She was content, sated, and satisfied . . . and a little annoyed. “What is it?”

“We’re so fucking stupid.”

He chuckled, knowing what she meant. “We didn’t have a hope in hell of sensing the truth any sooner.”

He was right, Ally knew. They had both been too messed up by other things to sense it. The mating bond was . . . comforting. The brief pain had been quickly smoothed away by the tranquility and peace that had both calmed and gratified Ally and her wolf. And Derren . . . it felt like he was part of her, like he both filled and surrounded her.

Best of all, she could sense something she’d worried over for some time. “You care about me.”

“Of course I care about you.” Derren circled her claiming mark with his finger, loving to look at it and know she was irrevocably his. “I already made that clear weeks ago when I told you I was keeping you.”

She frowned, sitting up to straddle him; his hands curved around her hips. “No, you didn’t.”

“Yes, I did.”