Wilder
There were too many people in here. Damyr had convened a meeting at the Julien, the grand fancy hotel owned by the three ruling families that stood as their neutral ground—to discuss all the shit that was happening with my father. It looked like only the Morozov and the Rowans were here, and even then, there were only a select few. I should be grateful that there weren’t as many people as I expected, but all I could feel was guilt.
Everybody looked pissed at having their Christmas holidays interrupted and it was all my fault. If I hadn’t wanted to learn the secrets of my past so badly, this wouldn’t be happening. Everyone would be enjoying festive themed activities, drinking alcohol, eating too much and be snuggled up and happy. Instead, they were here. In a gaudy meeting room, in the middle of the city trying to help me fix my problems.
I sank deeper into my hoodie, pulling the hood up and making myself as small as I could. Everyone was talking, and the noise was blurring into one large sound that drowned my ears. All the voices mangled into one and my heart thudded in my chest, beating far too quickly. My fingers tingled and my vision started to blur.
Suddenly, Byron’s face appeared in front of me, a picture of calmness and serenity.
“Breathe with me, baby,” he said in a soft low tone. “Come on. In and out. Nice and slow.”
I tried to mirror his breaths, but they kept catching in my throat.
“That’s it. Keep going.” His voice was encouraging and gentle, a soft command that cut through all the noise.
Eventually my breathing evened out as I stared into Byron’s eyes. I almost laughed at how far we’d come. Was it really only last week when I thought I hated him? And now… well, now I was pretty sure I was falling hard for the guy.
“Good boy,” he rumbled, the sound coming from deep in his chest.
My breath was still shaky as it passed my lips, but I didn’t feel like I was going to pass out. “Thank you.”
He snaked his hand into my hood, his rough fingers scraping against my jaw. “You’re welcome. Now, do you want to get out of here?”
It was tempting, but I needed to be here. I needed to see this through. “No, I’m good.”
Byron cocked one of his dark brows. “If you say so.”
That pulled a small laugh out of me. “Honestly, I’m okay. Just need the room to quiet down.”
“I can do that,” he said with a wicked grin before pulling my hood down and sinking his fingers deeper into the hollows of my cheeks. He lowered his lips until there was barely any space between his mouth and mine. There was a challenge in his eyes but before I could pull back, he thrust his tongue deep inside my mouth.
Holy mother of…
His tongue traced the roof of my mouth and the back of my teeth, before leaving with a wet swipe along my top lip.
This wasn’t a kiss. It was a gesture of pure possession. He was showing everyone in the room that I was his and he could do whatever he wanted.
The gesture wasn’t just hot. It set my veins ablaze, and I suddenly wanted to fall to my knees and offer my submission. Which wasn’t like me at all. Or hadn’t been until Byron decided to focus his attention on me.
How did he do that to me? Make me fight against everything I thought I was.
“Mmm, you taste like chocolate and sin. I could spend all night licking your mouth out.” Byron licked his lip, and I moaned.
That. I wanted that.
It was only then that I realised the noise had completely faded into silence. “Everyone’s looking at us, aren’t they?”
“Baby, I’ve just kissed you in front of all these people, in a way that was absolutely filthy. You've just been publicly owned. Of course, they're looking.”
Fucking hell. The shiver that ran through me was almost violent. I narrowed my eyes at him. "I hate you."
Byron grinned wide and stroked his thumb across my bottom lip. "Liar."
He was right, of course he was right, but I wasn't quite ready to tell him that I was almost certainly in love with him. It was too fast, too crazy, but maybe that's what made it perfect for us.
When Byron finally pulled back, I clocked the whole room looking at me, just as I had expected.
"Wilder is mine. He belongs to me and there's nothing anyone can do about it," Byron stated to the whole room as calmly as if he were talking about the weather. How could he do that? State something of that magnitude with such a calmness? My insides were squirming under all the scrutiny and the thought of putting anything into words scared me shitless.