Filed to story: Tangled in Moonlight Unshifted Novel by Lenaleia
“No, Clayton, you can’t-“
But he bites hard, his fangs piercing my skin, and I scream.
I scream in a pain worse than anything I’ve ever felt before. It feels like my entire body is tearing apart.
I scream in pleasure that has my entire body exploding beneath him.
For a second, I can feel Clayton in my mind, forceful and demanding. His wolf growls at Selene, demanding that she submit.
I beg for more.
“Please, please, harder,” I whimper, grabbing his hair and shoving him further into my neck.
It’s brutal. This isn’t the romantic stories I’ve heard of a claiming between mates. This is something primal and terrible.
I can hear Selene snarling and fighting their presence in my mind. My mind and body are dominated by Clayton’s brutal pace. I realize that I’m still screaming.
I can feel his knot swelling, locking him inside of me. Clayton’s voice in my mind whispers mate, demanding me to acknowledge. Selene and his wolf are snapping at each other. My mind is overcome with the cacophany as my body just-
Goes.
And goes.
And goes.
Orgasm. Release. Tighten again. Orgasm again. Release the tension, only to coil right back up.
Clayton’s chanting, “Mine, mine, my mate, mine,”
against my neck. biting again and again. Pain every time, and pleasure that sends me to the moon.
I can sense his anger and frustration when I don’t accept him, don’t call him my mate. Every bite is another claiming bite, and I know my neck is going to be scarred.
He yanks my head back farther, and I beg for more.
“I’m your mate,” he says on a snarl that changes his face entirely.
I say nothing, but I shove his face back into my neck. Every bite is delicious torture, and I never want it to end.
“Harder,” I demand, and he does.
It’s a punishment that he forces on me, and I grind down on the knot that’s swollen right at my entrance, on the pleasure that sparks with every movement.
“I’m going to breed you, mate,” he growls against my neck, and fuck, yes, please do.
Please breed me.
I arch my hips. “Clayton, please-“
He’s slamming into me so hard that I’m bruised, and it’s not enough. Not until he comes with a roar, and my core tightens around him to milk every last drop as he bites me again, so hard that I think for a second he’s gone too far.
But his rough tongue licks at my neck, and I know he’s wounded and healed me more times than I can possibly count. The scars are going to be atrocious.
He takes a moment to breathe, and I relax against him, closing my eyes.
I don’t open them when he turns off the waterI’d barely even noticed itand carries me to the bed, staying inside of me.
He’s gentle as he lays with me, tossing a blanket over me. I kick it off, and he groans, bucking his hips into mine. “Shit. You need to stop moving before we go for round two.”
Then he wraps his arms around me and pulls me close.
“I’m so sorry, Ava.”
I don’t want to think. I nuzzle my nose into Clayton’s neck and breathe him in, hearing Selene growling in the back of my head. “For what?”
“For all of it. But for claiming you when you told me no.” I can feel his hands brushing against my neck, and pleasure and pain course through me. I can still feel him in my head, but the presence is fading. He sounds puzzled. “It didn’t take, though. Why didn’t it take?”
I shake my head. “I don’t know.” But I can guess it has something to do with me.
Clayton continues to caress my neck. “This looks terrible. Like a wolf tore your neck apart. It looks like I tried to kill you.”
“Mmm.” I’m tired, and trying to ignore the little flares of heat in my abdomen that are trying to come back.
My body can’t take another round of this. But I want one.
“You were a virgin,” Clayton continues. He’s very talkative after sex, I guess.
He sounds grim. I finally open one eye to look at him, and he looks furious. “I’m sorry?”
“No, I’m sorry. Your first time should have never been like that.”
His fingers trail through the tangled strands, gently working out the knots. I can’t help but lean into his touch, savoring the tenderness, the gentle affection.
“I’m so sorry, Ava,” he murmurs, his breath warm against my temple. “I never wanted to hurt you like this. I tried so hard to stay away and keep you safe.”
A pang of guilt twists in my chest at the remorse in his voice. I already know he never meant to hurt me. He did everything he could.
“It’s okay,” I whisper through the roughness in my throat. “I understand.”
Clayton shakes his head, his fingers continuing their soothing motions. “No, it’s not okay. Your first time should have been special, not a frenzied mess driven by instinct and heat.” He presses a tender kiss to my forehead. “I promise, when this is all over, I’ll make it up to you.”
A flickar of hana immitan within mo at his warda Tho idea of experiencing true intimacy with Clayton, without the haze of heat and desperation clouding our senses, fills me with a longing I can’t quite put into words.
It’s something I’d hoped to find with Lucas.
“Just rest now, my love,” he murmurs, his fingers trailing down my spine in a featherlight caress. “Let me take care of you.”
I can feel my heat creeping back into me, desperate for more. His tender affections feed it, and my starving soul.
I can’t help it when my hips grind down a little on his cock, embedded inside of me. “Clayton.”
“No, Ava. You need a break.”
“Clayton,” I say again, rubbing harder. I can feel him growing inside of me.
Did I say my body couldn’t take another round? Because it disagrees. It wants another. A lot of anothers.
“Clayton,” I whisper into his ear, licking my way down his neck and breathing in his scent. It smells matey, in a wrong way.
I’m reminded of Lucas, and a part of me wants to pull myself away in horror. I’ve cheated on my fated mate. Another part of me doesn’t care. Isn’t okay to have this one as my mate? He’s gentle and kind. And even if the mating bond didn’t take, we can just try again.
It’s not cheating, Selene interjects. He rejected you. Your mate bond is void.
Then why didn’t Clayton’s claim take?
Selene goes silent again. I think she’s giving me my privacy. Normally, I’d be frustrated and demand more answers, but I have other concerns on on my mind.
I can see Clayton’s eyes flare with a hint of yellow. His wolf is there. His wolf must be the one that kept brutalizing my neck.
It felt good, though. The pain had pushed me into another plane of pleasure.
“Ava.”
“Mmm?” I nibble where his neck meets his shoulder, as his hands grow a little more insistent.
“I came inside of you.”
“I know.” I was there, after all.
His hands slide down, kneading my ass, lifting me a little and then slamming me back down, over and over, in an agonizingly slow rhythm. Just enough to build my desire without giving any real relief from it.
This isn’t enough.