The Alpha's Unclaimed Mate

"I watched a Fae-wolf moon goddess, whatever the hell she is, kiss two men and get bitten by them both in the same hour." Maelor slumped into a chair by the fire in Riven’s study. "And you’re offering me scotch?"

He took the glass and took a long sip.

Riven claimed the armchair opposite Maelor with one ankle on his knee, completely unbothered. "Tiberon doesn’t let anyone do anything. There is more to that. A deal under the table."

"A shark judging another shark for swimming, are we?"

"I don’t swim. I own the ocean."

Maelor raised an eyebrow, swirling the last golden drop of scotch in his glass before tipping his head back. "Hyran Thornfell called the wards the single greatest failure in his career. We are on borrowed time as it is."

"The clock isn’t ticking for us, Maelor. It’s ticking for everyone who doesn’t know what we’ve done."

"Two wolves just sank their fangs into your ’niece’"—Maelor punctuated the word with air quotes—"at the same time. She is unconscious in another king’s territory, and your response is a single cryptic sentence."

Riven set his glass down with a final thud.

"When Thornfell asks you to audit the wards again, don’t tamper. Just take longer. Put restrictions on it. The more time the girl is away from Drakenfell the better."

✦✦✦

Ice on her neck. Gauze underneath. And the scent of the man she was supposed to be walking away from wrapped around her like a confession.

She opened her eyes and saw Fin’s abs. He had one arm wrapped around her, the other was holding the ice pack on her neck.

"Hey... it’s okay, Serena," he whispered, kissing the top of her head. "I’m here."

She swallowed the lump in her throat. The sobering truth was that when she was with Fin, everything felt like it was supposed to be. He had endured two months of torture for her. The fact that she was about to cut things off with this man was breaking her heart.

But she had to do it. She told Elara she would.

His hand moved to the back of her head, gently stroking her hair.

She took a steadying breath. "Fin, I—"

"No," he cut her off. "I’m not going anywhere, Serena. Sorry. No."

His arms tightened around her. "I feel you. You don’t want me to go anywhere either."

She didn’t argue. He was right. But what she wanted and the right thing to do were two different things.

The images came back in pieces because that always happened after she was marked. The ritual, then Dex kissing her. She kissed him back in front of Fin like an idiot. And did the same thing with Fin to Dex. It wasn’t on purpose. Everything happened so quickly, the last thing she ever wanted to do was hurt either of them.

She then realized that he was hard under her, and tried to push herself up. But he didn’t let her move. She gave up after one try, exhausted.

When she stirred again, Fin was the one waking her. Her eyes opened groggily.

He picked her up and carried her into his large bathing chamber.

She let him. He’d been taking care of her for days and this was becoming a morning routine.

He took off her silk shorts and camisole.

Friendzone, step one: let the man undress you. Elara would be thrilled with her execution so far.

His thumb traced her jawline, grip tilting her chin up so she had nowhere to look but at him. His chest heaved, and every muscle in his torso was drawn tight, coiled with want.

"Fuck, you’re so beautiful."

He said it like a confession and an accusation at the same time, as if her entire existence was a personal inconvenience he refused to stop enjoying.

They got in his rainwater shower and the water felt good falling on both of them. He kissed her lips, then moved back down her body, leaving fire in his path.

Maybe it was him seeing her kiss someone else. Maybe it was from the audacity of Dexmon marking her. Maybe it was his territorial instincts in overdrive. Fin wanted to claim her fully—to dominate her until she screamed his name. The urge to mate warred with the urge to taste her, and the Gods themselves couldn’t have stopped him.

Oblivious, Serena’s mind went back to Dexmon. Her heart ached at the thought of him sleeping alone last night, his first night back. She wanted to check on him and make sure he was okay. His torso was so bruised.

While naked in Fin’s shower, she was spiraling about Dexmon. This was fine. Everything was fine. The friendzone plan was thriving.

Fin’s mouth locked around her clit, sucking relentlessly, completely breaking her out of her train of thought.

Her spine went rigid. Every nerve ending fired at once and her hands shot to the stone wall behind her, fingers scraping for something to hold onto.

"Fin... I... we—"

He spanked her, cutting her off mid-sentence, his mouth not leaving her.

Her legs buckled slightly and the sting bloomed hot across her skin, her knees almost giving out. His hand came back to grip her thigh, keeping her exactly where he wanted.

Waves of pleasure built, bleeding through their matebond. Her body was responding to him exactly how he knew she would, and he wasn’t bothering to hide his smugness about it.

"Oh gods," Serena gasped, trying to twist away, but also not really trying at all. Her fingers tangled in his dark hair and she started to cum on his tongue.

He groaned instantly, shoving his tongue inside of her while she writhed.

To her shock and slight horror, he spread her open and his tongue found a hole that made her entire body go rigid.

She squeaked, stiffening, heat flooding her face. But he kept going. He pushed a finger inside her, fucking her in rhythm with his tongue in her ass and his thumb on her clit. Three points of contact. Overstimulated, her hips jerked hard against his grip, fighting him and chasing him simultaneously.

Her mouth opened but no sound came out. Then every muscle locked at once, her heat tightening around his finger. He groaned against her, the vibration humming through her ass, and that was what broke her. The orgasm hit like a wall. For a long moment there was nothing but the sound of water and her own ragged breathing.

Fin rose slowly, water streaming down his chest and abs and the thick, throbbing length of his cock hard against her.

He spun her into the wall, pinning her wrists to the cold stone, his mouth at her ear. Then his fingers trailed down to her heat and he rubbed insistent circles, first slow, then fast.

With a loud crack, his hand landed harder than the first time. "Arch your back. More."

Her skin burned where his hand landed. But her hips responded before her brain could intervene, pressing back against him, inviting more.

"I can’t keep going," she gasped.

"You can." His eyes flashed. "And you will."

He thrust up in one brutal motion, getting about halfway inside. The stretch burned, her muscles fighting against the intrusion.

"Fuck... you’re always so tight." He kissed her ear. "Relax for me."

Her body responded, muscles relaxing. He felt the shift and didn’t wait, driving up and forward, burying himself to the hilt in one merciless ram that pinned her fully flat against the stone. Her breath left her in a single, punched-out gasp.

"Good girl."

There it was again. That involuntary surrender to his praise. She could feel his smugness through their matebond, he’d been looking for exactly that reaction from her and she gave it to him.

He pulled out, and slammed himself up in her again. It was harder than the first, angled differently, and the burn made her wince. Pain and pleasure tangled into a knot she couldn’t separate. Her mouth opened against the stone and she tasted water and salt.

She was supposed to be friendzoning him, and this was not the way to do that.

Friendzone. Friendzone. Friendzone.

She repeated it to herself.

The word was becoming less convincing with every thrust.

He laughed behind her for a second, almost like he knew exactly what she was trying to do.

"I heard you the first time. My answer hasn’t changed."

He punctuated it with a drive deeper than the others, holding himself there for a long second before pulling back.

He went harder. Faster. Each plunge buried deep, and her body stopped resisting and started chasing, hips rolling back to meet him thrust for thrust. The pressure built so fast that a moan escaped her lips.

"There she is. Just like that."

She broke apart on his cock. The matebond carried it to him before his body did, and it pulled him under with her.

The friendzone had officially been declared a failed state. No survivors.

"You’re mine."

She was supposed to be ending this and instead she was orgasming with him.

Great. Elara was going to kill her.