ELENAI shouldn’t have asked him to mark me.The moment the words had left my mouth, I’d known they were too much. Too soon. I’d asked again, even after he told me no the first time—gentle, but firm. And still, I’d pressed.Because I’d wanted to believe this fluttering, electric feeling between us m
DEREKShe said it once. And again. "Mark me."And I almost did.The words landed like an arrow to the center of my chest, so sudden and precise it knocked the air from my lungs. Her voice was low. Steady. Certain."Mark me."Goddess, I wanted to. Every part of me ached for it. Erebus, my wolf, was p
He flinched. Not much. Just a twitch in his brow, the faintest shift in his shoulders. But I saw it. Felt it. And that small, involuntary response tugged at something deep inside me, something instinctual and anxious that whispered: this matters.I slid off him, slowly, and pulled the sheet up with
DEREK “Mark me.”The words hit me like a jolt to the spine. For a second, I thought I misheard her. The room, still pulsing with the heat of our lovemaking, went unnaturally still. My body tensed, awareness sharpening.“What?” I asked, breath catching. My voice sounded rough, disbelieving. Maybe ev
ELENAThe ride back to the hotel was quiet.Not the comfortable kind of quiet. The kind that buzzed with tension, heat pooling just under the surface of my skin. I kept my hands folded in my lap like a proper diplomat—like a woman who hadn’t just spent the last hour wrapped around her lover in a ste
"Still counts."He smirked but didn’t argue.Eventually, the road narrowed into a gravel turnout. A young wolf stood there beside a snowmobile, already shifted, tail flicking. Derek turned off the car and nodded toward the trail ahead."Don’t worry. You’re not driving.""Thank the Goddess," I mutter