Chapter 89: Marked Territory
Trishelle POV
I nodded and stepped back, allowing him to enter. The door clicked shut behind me, but I didn’t turn around. His warmth radiated across the small space, making my mouth go dry. I swallowed hard, trying to get a grip on my feelings - or was it just these damn pregnancy hormones? I’d read that pregnant wolves were constantly horny, but I didn’t think it would be this intense. Every nerve in my body seemed to hum with awareness of him, and I hated how easily he could unravel me with nothing more than his presence.
James closed the distance between us, leaning in to press a soft kiss behind my ear. I could feel his wolf’s growl of pleasure vibrating through his chest. His tongue traced a path up my neck, and I shivered as my nipples tightened into sensitive peaks. They’d gotten more responsive as my due date approached, every touch magnified tenfold. I bit my lip, willing myself not to lean back into him, though every instinct screamed for me to do just that.
His hands slid from my shoulders down my arms, his body barely touching mine. The teasing contact made me ache with need. I could sense his arousal, thick and potent in the air between us, and I desperately wanted to be the one to quench it. My heart pounded, torn between longing and the fierce need to protect what little control I had left.
The thought shocked me back to my senses. I needed space. Now.
I eased away, taking a few steps toward the bathroom. "I’m going to take a shower," I said, my voice breathier than I intended. "Sam didn’t exactly give me time for one this morning."
James just smiled, a knowing curve of his lips. "Sure thing. And when you’re finished, how about we get some breakfast? I hear the buffet downstairs has some of the best sausages."
"I bet yours tastes better." My hand flew up to my mouth, but the words were already out. What the hell was wrong with me? I needed to get myself - and these traitorous hormones - under control. Heat flooded my cheeks, and I silently cursed whatever primal part of me had decided honesty was a good idea in that moment.
Not trusting my mouth to form coherent sentences, I just nodded and backed away into the bathroom. I shut the door and even turned the lock, though I knew the flimsy metal wouldn’t keep James out if he really wanted in. And a horny part of me definitely wanted him to try. The thought alone sent a fresh wave of warmth pooling low in my belly, and I pressed my palm flat against the door for a moment, trying to steady my breathing.
I shook my head and stripped, turning the shower to a cooler setting than I normally preferred, hoping the chill might calm the fire beneath my skin. I didn’t wet my hair - it would take too long to dry. I pumped my favorite peach-scented body wash onto my loofah and began washing myself. The foam felt luxurious against my skin, the sweet scent making me feel deliciously feminine. For a moment, I let myself simply breathe, savoring the small comfort of the ritual, even as my body refused to fully relax.
As I washed my breasts, lifting their heavy weight, my mind betrayed me. I imagined it was James’s hands cupping them, his fingers tugging on my sensitive nipples. If he were here, he’d roll and tweak them between his strong fingers. He’d whisper in my ear how lovely they were, praising their shape and weight. The fantasy unspooled so vividly that I could almost hear his voice, low and rough, murmuring against my skin.
I moaned as I mimicked his imagined touch, unable to keep my thoughts at bay. Guilt flickered somewhere in the back of my mind, quickly drowned out by the building pressure of my own need.
The loofah skimmed over my swollen belly and moved lower, gently circling the nub between my thighs. Without thinking, I widened my legs, giving myself better access. James’s hands would be larger, his fingers thicker as he circled my clit, wringing a gasp from my lips. I braced one hand against the tile, my knees already trembling from the sensation building within me.
My fingers moved faster as I thought of him - the father of my pup inside me. I had no memories of our first time together; I’d been drugged. But even the memory of that violation no longer carried the heat of anger. Instead, a different kind of heat filled me, centering on that sensitive bundle of nerves. It struck me, even through the haze of pleasure, how strange it was that pain and longing could tangle together so completely.
I circled harder as my free hand pinched my nipple. I cried out at the sharp pleasure, leaning against the tiled wall for support, my breath coming in ragged little gasps that echoed off the shower walls.
James POV
I was being tortured. I’d decided to wait on the bed while giving myself a serious mental scolding. I needed to stop touching her, to respect her boundaries. Just as I vowed to do so, the faintest hint of her arousal seeped under the bathroom door. My resolve, already fragile, began to crumble the moment that scent reached me.
At first, I told myself it was my imagination, but my wolf’s sudden interest made me wonder. I stepped closer to the door and leaned my ear against it. I could smell her now - a sweet scent of peaches and her own unique fragrance that made me painfully hard. My wolf paced restlessly beneath my skin, demanding I go to her, claim what was ours.
I tried to move away, to get some fresh air, but my wolf had other plans. Before I even realized what I was doing, I’d unzipped my pants and was stroking my length. I heard her moan through the door, and my grip tightened. Every sound she made unraveled another thread of my restraint.
I shouldn’t be doing this. I shouldn’t be listening. I shouldn’t be imagining her standing under the spray, her body arched as she chased her pleasure. But I didn’t stop. My hands moved faster as my imagination ran wild, mixing with fragmented memories of our first time. I was such a fool. I should have courted her properly. Then I could be in there with her, inside of her. The regret burned almost as fiercely as the desire, a bitter reminder of how I had failed her before we’d even truly begun.
Trishelle POV
My hips began to move, trying to help me reach that peak. I rolled them while sliding two fingers inside my wet heat. It wasn’t enough. It was frustratingly not enough.
I pulled at my nipples - first one, then the other. The sharp twinge helped, but not enough. I moaned, this time in frustration. He was right there. My mate was on the other side of the door, and I was in here desperately trying to find release alone. The unfairness of it made me want to scream.
"James," I whispered, his name a plea I couldn’t hold back.
James POV
I heard my name - the need, the plea, the frustration in her voice - and I couldn’t hold back anymore. I turned the handle and, finding it locked, slammed my shoulder against it. The door gave way in one hit, and I stepped inside, my chest heaving with a mixture of urgency and disbelief at my own loss of control.
I paused as I looked at her through the shower glass - flushed and panting, her skin a delightful shade of pink. Her scent filled the room, so potent it almost made me cum right then and there. For a moment, I simply stood there, drinking in the sight of her, awed that this woman, so fierce and vulnerable at once, was mine.
I growled and stalked toward her, tearing off my clothes as I went. I opened the shower door and stepped inside.
Trishelle POV
I looked up at James through the haze of my need. Part of my mind screamed that he shouldn’t be here, but I needed him so badly. My fingers never stopped their movements, and I knew I must look like a wanton woman, but the heat in his eyes made me feel beautiful instead. There was no judgment there, only hunger, and it emboldened me.
"Please," I whispered.
James smirked. "I know just what you need." He bent down and kissed me deeply, his tongue claiming my mouth. His hands moved down to replace mine, and my legs opened wider to give him better access. Those gloriously large fingers pumped in and out of me, exactly how I needed it.
I arched my back, kissing him with a hunger I never knew I possessed. I tugged on his hair, and when he pulled back, I offered up one of my breasts, my body moving on pure instinct now, past the point of shame or hesitation.
James took the offering, biting my nipple before sucking it hard into his mouth. The pain and heat made me gush, and James groaned as he felt my juices run down his fingers, making them slippery enough to delve deeper.
My cry of pleasure spurred him on, and soon my hips moved in time to his hand. He sucked on my other breast, giving it the same attention. Who knew I had such a wild side? Certainly not the woman I’d been before all this - before him.
I felt my muscles clench around his fingers, and I knew I was close, but he didn’t let me cum like that. He stroked me a bit more, bringing me right to the edge before pulling back just enough to leave me trembling and desperate.
Just as I was about to climax, he spun me around and thrust into me so hard and fast that I screamed as I came all over his dick. But James showed no mercy. He grabbed my hips and slammed into me hard and fast, like he was possessed, as though every ounce of restraint he’d ever had dissolved in that instant.
He wanted to possess me, to make me his. All I could see, all I could feel, all I could think was him. He reached for me, pulling my back to his chest. The new angle made me arch, and now he was hitting my G-spot with every thrust, each one drawing a fresh moan from my throat.
I couldn’t stop cumming. With his hand cupping and tugging on my breasts, the pain and pleasure rolled into a ball of ecstasy that made me squirt. James growled, pleased as I clenched around him, coating him in my essence. He reached one hand to tease and pinch my clit, and I came again with a scream, my voice echoing off the tiled walls.
James couldn’t get enough of me. He wanted to satisfy me like no one ever would, but I knew he couldn’t keep this up for much longer - I felt too good around him. I felt like I was made to be his and his alone, a truth that settled deep in my bones even as pleasure scattered every other coherent thought.
I felt his canines elongate, and they gently scraped my skin, right on the sensitive spot where he should put his mark. The thought of becoming his made him get even bigger inside me, and I gasped as my muscles tightened around him, my whole body trembling with anticipation of what was to come.
James felt my reaction, and the beast inside him unleashed. He tightened his hold, and his hips moved like never before, driven by something primal and unrelenting.
He plowed into me, my breasts bouncing with each powerful thrust. He held my jaw, turning my head so that he could whisper in my ear, his voice rough with need. "Mine. You are mine." The voice of him and his wolf mingled, giving it an animalistic edge. "Say it!" he demanded. He needed me to say it, needed the confirmation more than he needed his next breath.
I opened my eyes, lost in the realm of pleasure. "Yours. I’m yours."
With a roar, James kissed me as he thrust once, twice, and then his seed pumped out of him like a never-ending flood. He filled me to overflowing, feeling his heat dripping down his shaft. I climaxed again, my body shaking, yet our lips didn’t part, as though neither of us could bear to break the connection even for air.
What felt like an eternity later, he eased away, looking at his mate with an expression I couldn’t quite name - reverence, perhaps, or something even deeper. My lips were bruised from his canines, and he wiped away a drop of blood, his touch impossibly gentle after the storm that had just passed between us.