HE TRIED TO MARK ME, AND I ALMOST LET HIM

Lucian didn’t speak, but his silence said everything. I felt his stare like a weight on my skin. Intense, assessing, like he was peeling back every layer of me with his eyes.

“What are you?” he finally asked.

Not who.

What.

I should’ve been angry. Offended. But I wasn’t.

Because I didn’t have an answer.

“I don’t know,” I whispered. “Whatever I was… it’s changing.”

His eyes darkened. “Magic like that doesn’t come from nothing, Selene. You said you were half-Lycan, but that..” he waved a hand toward the space between us, still thick with lingering power, “..that was more than bloodline.”

I didn’t reply. I couldn’t.

Lucian stepped forward, until his body was a breath away from mine. I could feel the heat radiating off him. 

“You feel it too,” he said quietly.

I didn’t deny it.

Instead, Lucian dropped his gaze to my lips, lingering for a breath too long. “There’s something about you,” he murmured.

My throat tightened. “And that excites you?”

“No.” His voice dropped into a growl. “It warns me.”

My wolf stirred again. There was no mistaking it now she wasn’t just grieving Ronan. She was responding to Lucian. Not in the way mates did. No, this was older. More primal. A darkness recognizing another.

He reached out like he meant to touch me, then stopped short. His fingers hovered inches from my cheek. “You’re not ready.”

“For what?” I asked.

He closed the distance.

His eyes locked onto mine as his hand slid slowly to my jaw, his touch possessive but gentle, as if testing the limits. The warmth of his skin ignited something deep inside me, something I didn’t know I was capable of feeling a need that wasn’t just mine, but my wolf’s too.

“You’re not ready,” he whispered again, his voice low, dangerous, and dangerously close to a growl. “But I think you want to be.”

I didn’t have a chance to answer, because the moment his lips touched my skin, it was as if everything I’d ever known about control, about self-preservation, shattered.

I gasped, my breath catching in my throat as the heat of his kiss seared through my skin.

“You feel it too,” he growled, his lips brushing against my pulse. “Don’t lie to me.”

I couldn’t lie. My wolf was screaming, clawing to the surface, urging me to claim him as she claimed me, as my magic swirled and pulsed around us, thickening the air between us with an intensity that seemed to feed both our hunger.

Lucian pulled back, just enough to meet my eyes, his breath ragged as he fought against whatever demon of control that raged inside him. “You’re dangerous, Selene,” he murmured. “But so am I.”

I didn’t know how to respond. My mind was a blur, caught in the whirlwind of his touch, his scent, the electricity that sparked between us. But when I opened my mouth, the words that came out were as unexpected as everything else.

“I don’t need you to protect me.”

“You think you don’t, but you do,” A baritone voice whispered against my ear. “The question is, Selene, what will you do when I give you a taste of what you crave? Of what I can offer?”

My heart skipped a beat as the reality of his words hit me. He wasn’t just offering a kiss, or a moment.

Before I could blink, his hand slid around my waist and lifted me from the chair like I weighed nothing. A startled gasp left me, but it died in my throat as my back hit the mattress behind us. He followed immediately, his body hovering just above mine, his gaze flickering between my lips and my eyes.

“Lucian—” 

His lips dragged down the slope of my neck, grazing the edge of my collarbone, and my breath caught in my lungs. 

His hand slid along my waist, fingers splaying as he drew a slow line up my side, then across my stomach. My shirt rose with the motion, exposing skin that tingled under his touch. He moved with maddening control, peeling my clothes away one layer at a time, as though savoring every second.

“Still not stopping me,” he said against my skin.

I should’ve pushed him away. I wanted to. But the part of me that always fought the part that kept my wolf locked in a cage was silent. 

When his hand skimmed beneath the waistband of my pants, I finally caught his wrist. “Lucian,” I whispered, unsure if I was pleading or warning.

He paused. His eyes locked onto mine, wild and sharp.

“I won’t hurt you,” he said. “Not unless you want me to.”

His lips found my jawline. My grip on his wrist faltered.

“You’re fire, Selene,” he murmured. “And I want to burn.”

He leaned in again, his mouth capturing mine in a kiss that wasn’t gentle or sweet, it was raw, full of hunger and heat. My fingers tangled in his shirt, and his teeth caught my bottom lip, tugging just enough to make me gasp.

He could feel the way I trembled under his touch. The way my wolf stirred, craving contact.

And still, he didn’t stop.

Lucian’s lips returned to my throat, trailing lower. His breath was hot and heavy, and I felt the hard line of his control fraying. I could feel the weight of his body above mine, the restrained tension in his muscles. The tip of one fang grazed the curve of my neck. I stilled.

He could mark me.

Right here, right now. One bite, and everything would change.

I saw the flash of his teeth. His mouth lingered too long against the sensitive skin between my shoulder and collarbone.

“No,” I breathed. My hands pushed at his chest, but it wasn’t strength behind the movement, it was desperation.

Lucian groaned, low and guttural. His pupils were blown wide, his wolf barely caged.

“Selene—” he bit out. “You don’t get it. The more I touch you, the harder it is to stop.”

I turned my head, panting. 

“I don’t want a mark out of lust,” I said, voice shaking. “I don’t want a bond born in heat and regret.”

That… got through to him.

Lucian’s breath slowed. He lowered his head, resting his forehead against mine.

“I’m trying to do this right,” he said hoarsely. “But you make it hard.”

I tried to fight the pull, the way my body arched toward him, the way my wolf whispered yes in the back of my mind. But fear coiled in my chest.

Not fear of him.

Fear of what would happen if he didn’t stop.

“I can’t…” I whispered, voice trembling. “I don’t want to be marked.”

His lips brushed mine again, a ghost of a kiss, his teeth grazing dangerously close to my pulse point.

Then it happened.

A sudden heat bloomed across my shoulder, blinding, searing and Lucian jerked back as if burned.

He gasped, stumbling away from me. “What the hell…”

I sat up, panting, heart pounding as the light flared against my skin. I twisted, just enough to glimpse it out the corner of my eye.

A symbol. Glowing. Etched in silver flame where his mouth had nearly marked me.

Lucian’s eyes were wide, stunned and shaken. “That’s… not mine.”