Chapter 0424


    Published by N?v''elD/rama.Org.


    In my mind, my wolf was rampaging, storming back and forth, smashing against the walls I used to


    contain it. I wanted to run. I wanted to fight. I wanted to tackle Bridget to keep her away from my mate.


    “Well, look at the time. We have to go,” Nichs said at once. He never checked his watch. Who knew


    what the hell time it was? Nichs held out his hand for me. I didn’t trust myself to take it without


    hurting him. My hands felt like they could shift to ws at any moment.


    Bridget stepped closer, and a growl erupted from the back of my throat.


    “Piper? Are you alright?” she seemed genuinely concerned, and I hated that that p i s s e d me off even


    more.


    “She’s fine,” Nichs answered for me. “It’s just been a long day. Come on, Piper. I’ll see you back to


    your room.”


    He gripped me by the forearm and pulled me close to his chest. My nose rested near his corbone


    and I inhaled long and steady. It helped calm me.


    With my face buried in his chest, he led me to the door.


    “Have a good night, Bridget,” Nichs said. His chest vibrated when he talked. I didn’t like that he had


    said her name, but the rumble of his voice made me purr in delight. He was so s e x y, my mate. So


    strong and so good, and so s ex y.


    I had thought Nichs intended to take me back to my room, so I was surprised when he turned the


    other way and started leading me toward the royal family wing instead. While I was lost to the touch


    and smell of N i ch o s ‘s body, he led me directly into his room.


    He closed the door behind us, then gently guided me to the bedroom.


    “Is it the wolf?” he asked.


    I hummed. It was, but it was more too. My emotions were out of control.


    “She wanted to kiss you,” I said.


    “For the y,” he replied.


    Context mattered so little to me right now, all I could do was growl.


    “Okay, okay,” he said. “I understand. Hold on.”


    He slowly started to pry me away from him.


    I whined and tried to hold on tighter.


    “Just for a minute,” he said. “You’ll like what I’m about to do, I promise.”


    With that promise, I leaned back to give him room. Immediately, he door off his jacket and ripped his


    shirt up and over his head. The second it hit the floor, I was right back where I had been, but without his


    annoying clothes in the way.


    Nichs was so hot. He smelled so good. He should never wear clothes.


    Nichsughed, low and deep, and I realized I’d said all that out loud. “You wouldn’t like others to see


    me naked, would you?”


    Another growl tore from my throat, this one even more dangerous than before.


    Hisughter slowly fell into a satisfied chuckled. “That’s what I thought.”


    “Nick…” I felt like I was out of my head, barely holding on.


    “I know, Piper. It’s okay. I know what will help.”


    “What?”


    “Scenting.”


    It was true, he did smell too much like Bridget, and her perfume and thevender. “How?”


    “Mark me,” he said.


    I shook my head. “That won’t work. You heal too quickly. My marks won’tst.”


    “Do it anyway,” Nichs said.


    I trusted Nichs, so I immediatelytched onto the corbone I’d been


    nuzzling and sucked in a red mark. And then another right beside it. And another.


    already healing.


    But Nichs was right, I did feel a bit more like myself. The mark itself healed but my scent remained.


    It brought me some ease.


    “Better?”


    “Yes,” I said with a sigh of relief. “Thank you.”


    “Good,” Nichs said. His hands dug into the back of my shirt. “Now it’s my


    turn.”


    In a sh, he ripped his hands in opposite directions, tearing my shirt clean off my body.


    His mouth descends at once to the juncture of my neck and shoulder, which had


    been previously hidden away by my shirt, and he sucked in a mark.


    His hands went to my backside and lifted. I instinctively wrapped my arms


    around his waist.


    His mouthtched onto my corbone as he carried me to his bed. As he gently lowered me down, his


    mouth moved to the swell of my breast.


    Ibed my fingers through his hair. I did feel more myself, but my jealousy was still seething. The


    only way I could think to quash it, other than what we were already doing, was to have what Bridget


    wanted and was denied.


    “Nichs,” I said.


    He lifted his head to look at me. A bit of saliva clung to his red lips, making them


    shine just a little.


    “Kiss me,” I said.


    He smirked, then surged forward and captured my lips with his own. Our tongues tangled, our limbs


    intertwined. And for a good long while, I lost track of where I ended and he began.


    Later, when we were sated and sweaty and bliss had settled over me like a warm, nket, I turned my


    head on the pillow to look at Nichs beside me.


    3/5


    15 BONUS


    His hair was a mess from where I had dragged my fingers through again and again. The fresher marks


    on his chest were fading, though some were still bright. I treasured the sight of them, knowing they


    would be gone soon.


    He turned his head on his pillow too, looking at me. “You are amazing, Piper.”


    “So are you,” I said, smiling. “Though I do have a question…”


    “What is it?” he asked.


    “When we were together in the woods that time, I asked you to be inside of me. You said to wait until


    we were near a bed.” I patted gently on the mattress beneath us. “I understand if you wanted to wait


    before when I wasn’t quite myself. But I can assure you that I’m fully in control now.”


    I was expecting a charming smile and a quip about our expected second, third,


    or fourth round.


    My desire to have Nichs inside of me hadn’t quelled since that night in the woods. If anything, it had


    grown since then. I’d thought if we’did together like that, we might feel closer to each other.


    And when I thought of finally losing my virginity, there was no one else in the whole world I could think


    of wanting to give it to. Even if we were doomed. I wanted Nichs to be my first.


    N i c h o l a s’s actual reaction was a dimming smile as he turned his head away, facing the ceiling now.


    My heart grew chill. I felt like he was closing a door in my face.


    “I think we should wait,” he said.


    Okay. That wasn’t so bad. Wanting to wait made sense. I wouldn’t dream of pressuring him.


    “After what happened with Susie,” Nichs said, “it got me thinking. I don’t want to risk getting you


    pregnant.”


    And just like that my frozen heart shattered into pieces.


    It wasn’t that Nichs didn’t want to be inside of me.


    It was that he didn’t want to risk having a family with me.