Chapter 7

Elara Thorne POV:

His hands were in my hair, fisted in the tangled strands, tilting my head back to expose the vulnerable line of my throat. His hot, ragged breath ghosted across my skin, a promise of the violation to come. He was going to mark me, a temporary, shameful claim that would brand me as his property.

My body trembled, but my mind was a point of cold, sharp clarity. Pleading was useless. Screaming would only excite the beast. I had to do something unexpected, something that would break through the haze of drug and instinct that consumed him. My father's lessons, drilled into me since I was a child, surfaced from the depths of my memory: *When facing a predator larger than yourself, you have two choices: play dead, or show a flash of teeth so surprising it makes the beast pause.*

I was not going to play dead.

Just as his lips were about to brush against my neck, I moved. It wasn't a struggle against him; it was a lunge *toward* him. I drove my hands up, not to push at his chest, but to tangle my fingers in his thick, black hair. With all the strength I possessed, I yanked his head down.

At the same time, I surged upward, crashing my mouth against his.

It wasn't a kiss. It was an act of war. A desperate, defiant collision of teeth and lips. I tasted the metallic tang of blood-his or mine, I didn't know-and it fueled the wildness of my rebellion.

His entire body went rigid. The shock was a palpable thing, a tremor that ran through his powerful frame. He had expected me to fight, to cry, to beg. He had not, in any reality, expected this. My attack, so contrary to the role of prey, was a lightning bolt that momentarily cracked through his primal rage.

The instant our lips met, something else happened. A jolt, sharp and electric, shot through me, a current of raw energy that had nothing to do with fear or violence. It was a thousand tiny explosions, a cascade of sparks that lit up every nerve ending in my body. It arced between us, a living, breathing force that was infinitely more powerful than the artificial heat of the drug.

It was ancient. It was destiny.

And in the back of my mind, I felt his wolf. It wasn't a growl of fury I felt, but a roar of pure, unadulterated triumph. *Mate! Mine!*

The words, clear and ringing with absolute certainty, echoed in the sudden silence of our connection.

Kaelen froze. The declaration from his own soul stunned him into stillness. *Mate?* I felt his shock, his utter, horrified disbelief. How could this be? How could I, the dirty, scheming tribute he despised, be the other half of his soul?

I felt the sparks too, a bewildering, overwhelming sensation that made my head spin. I didn't understand what it was, but I knew, with a primal certainty, that his aggressive assault had momentarily ceased. My gamble had worked.

But I had not doused the flames; I had thrown gasoline on them.

The moment of clarity Kaelen gained from the shock of the Mate bond was fleeting. It was immediately consumed by a deeper, more possessive instinct. If I was his Mate, then this was no longer a forced, shameful act. It was his right. His destiny.

The last, fraying thread of his human reason snapped.

He answered my kiss, but it was no longer the prelude to a simple assault. It was a raw, bruising claiming. It was savage and desperate, filled with a dark, plundering ecstasy that he himself didn't understand.

The shift in his energy terrified me more than his previous rage. I tried to pull back, to push him away, but it was like trying to move a mountain. The beast was no longer fighting a war; it was celebrating a victory.

With a low growl, he swept me into his arms. He stood, holding me effortlessly against his chest as he strode from the antechamber into the main bedroom. There was no hesitation in his movements now, no conflict. Only absolute, terrifying purpose.

Pressed against him, I could feel the thunderous, frantic beat of his heart, a wild rhythm that matched my own. His scent, that intoxicating smell of a winter storm, intensified, enveloping me, overwhelming my senses.

He didn't place me on the massive bed; he threw me. I landed on the impossibly soft furs, sinking into them. He followed, his huge frame blotting out the candlelight, caging me beneath him.

His golden wolf eyes burned down at me, reflecting my own wide, frightened face. He lowered his head, his lips brushing against my ear. His voice was a raw, ragged whisper, a torn sound of desire, fury, and a dawning, horrified acceptance of fate.

"Since you're so eager, I'll grant your wish."