C1

Heavy alpha scent fills the private suite of the Sterling Crown Medical Center, musk and pine wrapping thick around Elowen Hartwell’s senses until her head spins. Calloway Sterling presses his massive frame over hers on the wide leather couch, his hot breath fanning across her jawline while his hands grip her waist like vice grips. He leans down, burying his face into the crook of her neck, inhaling deeply until his chest vibrates with a low, primal growl that makes her skin break into shivers.

"You smell so, so fucking good, Marlowe," Calloway mutters against her pulse point, his voice a rough rasp that carries the heavy command of an upper-tier wolf. His lips hit her bare skin, dragging up toward her jawline, and when his mouth captures hers, a deep groan escapes his throat.

Elowen's fingers automatically loop over his broad shoulders, digging into the firm muscle of his back as she gives in to the brutal heat radiating off him. She does not care about the brutal snowstorm raging outside across the Sterling Metropolitan District, freezing the harbor and blanketing Harborwick Island in ice. Inside this locked, high-security pack territory room, the heat is suffocating.

She is completely sober. She knows exactly what she is doing, even if her heart pounds against her ribs like a trapped bird. Calloway Sterling is the most ruthless, dominant heir in the entire Sterling Family, an elite wolf whose power dictates the whole territory. He wears his signature clear-lens glasses on his face right now—the harmless mask he puts on when he wants to blend in—and as he kisses her deeper, he reaches up with one hand, folds the temples closed one side at a time, and tosses the frames onto the glass table beside them. The mask is gone. The predator is fully awake.

Elowen swallows back her tremor, fighting to match the intense, demanding rhythm of his mouth. Her wolf stays silent, locked deep within her as the only Omega in the entire Hartwell Family, but her human body reacts wildly to his touch. She has never done this. She has never let a male touch her like this, yet the raw power rolling off him pulls her in like a current.

He drags his mouth away from her lips, tracing tiny, burning bites along her jawline and down toward her collarbone. His short stubble scrapes her delicate skin, sending sharp zings of electricity straight to her core.

"Calloway..." she gasps, her voice breaking.

He pauses, pulling back just enough to look at her. Dark, piercing blue eyes lock onto hers with animalistic intensity, searching her face in the dim lighting. He cups her cheek with one enormous, warm palm, his thumb smoothing over her cheekbone before he leans down to capture her mouth again in a possessive, slow kiss that steals every drop of air from her lungs.

He shifts his weight, dragging his lips down to her throat. His teeth graze the sensitive curve where a mate mark should go, sucking hard enough to draw a harsh gasp from her throat. Pain spikes through her, sharp and sudden, but the sheer heat of his body pressing down on her instantly drowns it out.

With one smooth, aggressive tug, Calloway rips the top of her dress downward. The fabric tears slightly under his alpha strength, exposing her dark, bare skin to the cool air of the room. Heat rushes to Elowen's face in a burning wave. She has never stood exposed before any male, let alone a high-ranking wolf who could crush her with a single command.

"God, Marlowe... You are so fucking beautiful..." Calloway growls into her skin, his voice dropping an octave as his eyes darken.

Elowen's breath catches in her chest. A sharp gasp leaves her mouth when he bends his head down, taking her hardened nipple directly into his mouth.

"Calloway!" She whimpers, her hands clutching at his thick, dark hair.

The sensation is too intense, too raw. His tongue swirls around her tip, flicking and pulling with steady pressure while his big hand cup-molds her other breast, squeezing with possessive heat. The contrast of his rough, calloused palm against her smooth dark skin sends waves of liquid fire straight down between her thighs. She closes her eyes tight, tugging at his hair as a silent plea leaves her lips.

He pinches her other side gently between his fingers, making her arches her back off the leather cushion with a muffled cry. He does not stop. He alternates between both breasts, licking, biting, and soothing until Elowen is panting heavily, her nails digging into the meat of his shoulders.

When he finally pulls back to look down at her, his chest is heaving. His pupils are fully dilated, swallowing the blue of his eyes until he looks completely wild, completely consumed by the heat in the room. He reaches down, grabs the hem of his dark shirt, and yanks it over his head in one fluid motion, tossing it to the floor.

Elowen's eyes trace the broad expanse of his chest, the heavy muscle, the faint pack scars running across his ribs, and his razor-sharp six-pack abs. He is a physical masterpiece of alpha genetics. But a cold, sickening coil of guilt tightens in her gut.

This male belongs to her twin sister. Marlowe Hartwell is the one Calloway calls for. Marlowe is the Omega who managed to catch the attention of the Sterling Family heir. Elowen is just the unwanted twin, the hidden second Omega forced into the shadows of the Hartwell Estate while Marlowe played the perfect socialite.

Calloway lowers himself back over her, pressing his heavy frame flush against her chest. He captures her lips again, kissing her with a wild, desperate hunger that tastes like pure possessiveness.

"Shit," he curses against her mouth, his hot breath fanning across her face as he tries to hold himself back. "Tell me to stop, baby... Tell me right now."

His voice is strained, heavy with the effort of fighting his own internal wolf. He is trying to give her a choice. He is trying to be gentle with the female he thinks is his partner.

Elowen's heart hammers violently against her ribs. This is her chance to put an end to this madness. This is where she should push his massive shoulders away, demand he put his clothes back on, and tell him the truth. She should tell him that Marlowe ran away to avoid the pack trial tonight, and that her father, Benedict Hartwell, threatened to lock their mother, Evelina Hartwell, out of the Sterling Crown Medical Center's life-support wing if Elowen did not step into Marlowe's shoes for the night.

Her mother is dying. The medical debt to the Sterling Family is astronomical, and Benedict Hartwell will let Evelina bleed out if this alliance fails. Elowen needs the security. She needs the pack protection money that comes with keeping Calloway satisfied until Marlowe can be tracked down and brought back to the territory.

She stares up at the dominant male hovering over her. He is her first kiss. He is taking her body, her breath, her sanity. But he is not hers. He thinks he is claiming Marlowe.

"Fuck, Marlowe... Tell me to stop!" Calloway growls again, his grip tightening on her hips until it leaves bruises. His jaw clenches, his muscles rigid with restraint.

Elowen shakes her head against the leather cushion. "No..." she whispers, the word coming out as a broken, desperate cry. "Don’t stop..."

She reaches up, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck, pulling his heavy chest down until her face is buried into the warm skin of his shoulder.

"I need you, please... Don't stop..." she begs, hating herself with every syllable that leaves her mouth, but holding onto him like he is the only anchor in a storm.

Those words shatter whatever lingering restraint Calloway has left. A low, territorial rumble vibrates from his chest as he ravages her mouth once more, his tongue dominating hers completely. He drags his lips down her throat, burning a line of hot kisses between her exposed breasts, tracing down the arch of her ribs until he reaches her stomach.

His hand slides down to the hem of her torn dress, catching the fabric and yanking it down over her hips. He drags it past her knees and rips it off her feet, tossing the expensive garment onto the floor like trash.

Elowen lays completely bare before him on the dark leather couch, stripped of everything except her small black silk underwear. Her heart pounds so hard she can hear it ringing in her ears. The sheer power of his gaze sweeps over every inch of her dark skin, lingering on the curve of her waist and the length of her thighs.

A slow, dark smirk touches the corner of Calloway's lips. He leans down, catching the side band of her underwear between his straight white teeth. Slowly, painfully slow, he drags the silk down her hips with his teeth, his nose grazing the warm, sensitive skin of her lower belly.

Elowen lets out a high, tremulous whimper, her fingers knotting into the leather underlying the couch. The heat pooling between her legs is embarrassing, intense, and completely undeniable.

When the last barrier of silk falls away from her feet, she reflexively pulls her knees together, her hands dropping down to cover herself from his intense, unyielding gaze. She turns her face away, staring at the muted light filtering through the heavy glass window of the suite.

Her mind spins in a chaotic storm of fear, shame, and overwhelming desire. Is this right? Is it right to sacrifice her body to her twin sister's alpha lover just to keep her mother alive for another week in the Sterling territory?

Calloway catches both of her wrists in one of his large hands, easily pulling her arms above her head and pinning them to the couch. He uses his other hand to gently force her knees apart, hovering directly between her thighs.

"Look at me," Calloway commands, his dark voice carrying the full weight of an alpha order that makes her blood freeze and burn all at once. "Don't hide from me, Marlowe."

Elowen forces her eyes to move back to his face. She looks into those intense blue eyes, watching his chest rise and fall with heavy, ragged breaths. She sees the absolute possessiveness in his gaze, a dark hunger meant for another female, directed entirely at her.

He shifts his weight forward, pressing his heavy, hot ridge directly against her center, letting her feel every inch of his hard, demanding length. Elowen gasps, her hips twitching uncontrollably at the searing contact.

"You're mine tonight," Calloway growls against her lips, his fingers tightening around her wrists above her head as he aligns himself to push inside her. "Every single piece of you."

Elowen closes her eyes tight as a tear slips down her cheek, her body opening up to the powerful wolf above her while her heart breaks into a thousand pieces.