yours

Lila woke up before him for the first time.

The room was still dim, soft gray light slipping through the gaps in the curtains. Rylan’s arm was heavy around her waist, his chest pressed solidly against her back, one of his legs tangled with hers. Even in sleep, he kept her locked against him like he was afraid she might disappear.

She didn’t try to move.

The ache between her legs was familiar now. So was the dull throb of the mark on her neck. But something else had settled deeper overnight — a quiet, constant pull in her chest that pointed straight toward the man behind her. It no longer felt foreign. It felt like a second heartbeat.

That scared her more than anything he had done.

Lila stared at the wall and tried to gather the last pieces of her resistance. She told herself she still wanted to leave. That she still hated how easily her body responded to him. That the bond was something forced on her, not something she had chosen.

But the thoughts felt weaker than they had the day before.

Rylan stirred behind her. His arm tightened, and he pressed his face into the back of her neck, inhaling slowly.

“You’re thinking too hard,” he murmured, voice rough with sleep.

“I’m thinking about leaving.”

He was quiet for a moment. Then he shifted, rolling her onto her back so he could look down at her. His golden eyes were clear and serious. There was no playfulness in them this morning.

“No,” he said simply. “You’re not.”

Lila held his gaze. “You can’t keep me locked in this house forever.”

“I won’t need to.” Rylan brushed a strand of hair away from her face with surprising gentleness. “The bond is already doing most of the work. You felt it last night. You’re feeling it right now.”

She wanted to deny it. The words sat on her tongue. But when she opened her mouth, nothing came out.

Rylan’s expression darkened with something close to satisfaction.

“That’s what I thought.”

He leaned down and kissed her.

It started slow — almost careful — but it didn’t stay that way. His mouth moved over hers with growing hunger, tongue sliding past her lips as one of his hands gripped her hip and pulled her tighter against him. Lila’s hands came up to his chest, half pushing, half holding on. When he finally pulled back, both of them were breathing harder.

“I’m going to take you,” he said quietly. “And this time, you’re going to stop fighting me in your head while I do it.”

Lila’s pulse jumped. “You don’t get to decide that.”

Rylan’s mouth curved slightly. “Watch me.”

He moved over her, settling between her thighs. He was already hard. He didn’t rush. He dragged the thick head of his cock through her folds slowly, coating himself in how wet she already was, watching her face the entire time.

Then he pushed inside.

Lila’s breath left her in a shaky exhale as he filled her in one long, continuous thrust. The stretch was still intense, but her body took him easier now — wetter, more open, like it had already learned the shape of him. Rylan groaned low in his chest as he sank all the way in, hips flush against hers.

“Fuck,” he muttered against her mouth. “Every time. Every single time you feel better.”

He stayed buried deep for a moment, just breathing, before he started moving.

The pace was slower than the night before, but heavier. Each thrust was deep and deliberate, pushing her into the mattress. Rylan kept most of his weight on his forearms so he could watch every flicker of expression on her face. His eyes never left hers.

“You’re not pushing me away,” he said, voice rough.

Lila turned her head, but he caught her jaw and brought her face back.

“Don’t. I want to see you while I fuck the last of that resistance out of you.”

He shifted the angle of his hips and thrust harder. The new depth dragged a broken sound from her throat. Her hands gripped his shoulders, nails digging into hard muscle as he kept that same deep, relentless rhythm.

The bond pulsed in her chest with every stroke. It made the pleasure sharper, almost overwhelming. Every time he bottomed out, something inside her clenched tighter around him — not just physical, but deeper.

Rylan felt it.

“There,” he growled. “Feel that? That’s you accepting it even while your mouth still wants to argue.”

“I’m not—”

He cut her off with a harder thrust. “You are.”

He reached down and hooked one of her legs higher over his hip, opening her further. The next stroke hit so deep her mouth fell open on a silent cry. Rylan’s control frayed. He started fucking her harder, the sound of skin meeting skin filling the quiet room. The headboard tapped lightly against the wall.

“You’re going to come for me,” he said, voice low and rough. “And while you do, you’re going to feel exactly who you belong to.”

His hand slid between them and found her clit, rubbing firm circles in time with his thrusts. The dual pressure built fast. Lila’s thighs started to tremble. She tried to hold on, tried to keep some part of herself separate from what he was doing to her, but the bond made it impossible.

The orgasm hit her hard.

Her back arched off the bed as pleasure tore through her, walls clamping down around him in tight, pulsing waves. A broken cry left her throat. Rylan groaned like the sound wrecked him. He fucked her through it, dragging every pulse out of her until her legs were shaking and her hands were fisted in the sheets.

He didn’t come.

Instead, he slowed his movements, still buried deep, and brushed damp hair away from her face.

“I’m not finished with you yet.”

He pulled out carefully, making her feel every inch leave her body. Before she could catch her breath, he flipped her onto her stomach and dragged her hips up. Lila barely had time to push up onto her elbows before he was covering her again. He gripped her hips hard and pushed back inside in one smooth thrust.

The new angle dragged a raw, helpless sound from her throat.

Rylan leaned down until his chest was pressed against her back, his mouth near her ear.

“This is what you are now,” he said, voice dark as he started moving again. “Mine to take. Mine to fill. Mine to keep.”

Each thrust was deep and possessive. One of his hands slid under her and found her clit again, rubbing in firm, relentless circles while he fucked her. The other hand braced beside her head, keeping her exactly where he wanted her.

“You’re getting tighter again,” he growled. “You’re going to come on my cock one more time.”

Lila shook her head against the mattress, but her body was already responding. The pressure built fast and sharp. Rylan pressed harder on her clit and thrust in deep at the same time.

The second orgasm ripped through her harder than the first. She cried out into the sheets as her body clenched around him, pulsing hard. The way she came on his cock pulled a guttural sound from Rylan’s chest. He buried himself to the hilt and finally followed her over, coming with a low, broken groan as he emptied himself deep inside her.

He stayed there afterward, chest heaving against her back, one arm locked tightly around her waist. She could feel every small aftershock of his release as he filled her. For a long time, the only sound in the room was their uneven breathing.

Eventually Rylan shifted his weight and carefully pulled out of her. He rolled onto his side and brought her with him, tucking her back against his chest. His arm settled heavily around her waist. His lips brushed the mark on her neck — once, then again, slower.

Lila stared at the wall, still trying to catch her breath. Her body felt used and full and strange. The bond sat quietly in her chest now, steady and certain. It no longer felt like something that had been forced on her. It felt like something that had simply… settled.

Rylan’s voice was quiet when he finally spoke.

“You’re not leaving.”

It wasn’t a question.

Lila was silent for a long moment. When she finally answered, her voice was low and rough.

“I still don’t like you.”

Rylan’s chest shook slightly with a quiet huff of amusement. He pressed a slower kiss to the side of her neck, right over the bite.

“I can live with that.”

His arm tightened around her, solid and final.

“But you’re still mine, Lila. Today. Tomorrow. For as long as the bond holds — and it will hold.”

She didn’t argue.

She lay there in his arms, body sore and marked and full of him, listening to the steady beat of his heart against her back. Outside, the forest was quiet. Inside the room, everything felt decided.

Rylan’s hand spread over her stomach, possessive even in stillness.

She wasn’t leaving.

And for the first time since the night he found her in the woods,

she no longer tried to convince herself that she would.

**End of Story One: Claimed by the Alpha**