My wolf welcomed the scent of him, the fire his touch spread through my body. She rose quietly but insistently, brushing against the edges of my control, eager for Dimitri to close the distance completely.
His gaze flicked to my lips, and for a heartbeat, I saw the conflict in his eyes. Anguish, desire, and something far too raw to hide, all at once. He swallowed hard, voice low, ragged. Desperate. “I’m trying to protect you, but I can’t fight this anymore, Isabella.” His thumbs caressed my cheeks as he leaned closer.
“Dimitri—” I whispered, my breath hitching.
“Tell me to stop.” His voice was ragged, desperate. “Tell me this is wrong. That I’m your boss, your stepbrother, that this can’t happen. Tell me, Isabella, because…I’m out of reasons to stay away from you.”
My wolf stirred at the sound of my name on his lips. She pushed against my control, wild and unashamed, urging me closer when I should’ve been stepping back.
I should tell him to stop. I should push him away, protect us both from this mistake. But my wolf didn’t understand restraint. Or right and wrong. She only understood him. And this wave of desire which could only be soothed by him.
So, when I opened my mouth, different words came out.
“I don’t want you to stop.”
Something broke in his expression. It contained relief and surrender and hunger all at once.
He lifted me effortlessly, setting me on the edge of his desk. His hands held my hips as he stepped between my legs, close enough that I could feel the heat radiating from his body.
“You’re so beautiful, Isabella,” he whispered, leaning forward until our noses touched. “So goddamn beautiful.”
Then his mouth was on mine.
It wasn’t gentle. Wasn’t tentative or testing. It was seven years of denial and longing and desperate need, all combusting at once. His mouth claimed mine with a hunger that made me breathless.
And then I felt it.
A snap. Like something clicking into place deep in my chest—a thread pulling taut between us, thrumming with energy and recognition and rightness.
My wolf, usually so quiet and subdued, surged forward with a howl of pure joy that echoed through my entire being. Every cell in my body hummed with recognition, with completion, with the overwhelming certainty that this—he—was what I’d been waiting for my entire life.
Mate.
I gasped against his lips, pulling back to stare at him in shock.
His eyes were wild, pupils blown wide, staring at me with the same stunned realization.
“It’s you,” he breathed, his voice a mixture of awe and terror. “You’re my Mate, Isabella. My Fated Mate.” His hands framed my face, trembling slightly. “You’ve been mine this whole time.”
I felt the bond pulse. My wolf was singing, purring, practically dancing with joy. After twenty years of feeling incomplete, of feeling like something fundamental was missing—this. This was what I’d been lacking. Him.
Dimitri growled low in his throat, the sound vibrating through me. My breath hitched as he lifted me. I instinctively wrapped my hands around his waist, and he palmed my ass to hold me in place as he walked us backward to the soft leather chaise lounge in the corner of his study. He continued to kiss me, to devour my lips as though he’d been starving for years. To my surprise, I matched his rhythm—no, not rhythm, because the kiss lacked any coordination. Every nerve in my body felt alive, hypersensitive. He felt like a drug, highly intoxicating, and I was getting to the point where I couldn’t think about anything other than him touching me in places I never thought I’d ever be touched, of being fucked by him. His hands were everywhere—in my hair, on my waist, sliding under my tank top to feel bare skin. Hungry and impatient, each touch left a fire in its wake.
He pulled back just long enough to strip away every piece of clothing I had on. When I stood bare before him, he didn’t move—just stared. Heat crawled over my skin under the weight of his gaze. I’d never been naked in front of a man before. I was certain Dimitri had been with many other women. They were always throwing themselves at him, bragging about what it felt like to be with the Alpha heir.
What if I didn’t measure up to those women? What if I wasn’t as beautiful? What if my breasts weren’t as full as theirs?
He caught the flicker of doubt in my eyes and smiled. “You’re very beautiful, Isabella.”
Then his mouth was on my breast, his tongue swirling around the hardened peak while his hand cupped the other, rolling my nipple between his fingers. The dual sensation had me gasping, squirming beneath him. But when he dipped his hand between my legs and rubbed my clit, I let out a loud cry.
Dimitri immediately covered my mouth with his, drowning my moan in his kiss. He growled against my neck as his hand dipped lower, swallowing the wanton sounds spilling from my lips. “Fuck, Isabella,” he rasped. “Look how wet you are for me.”
I’d never been touched like this. I didn’t think I would ever get to experience what pleasure felt like. It was overwhelming in the best way. I couldn’t think of anything other than the sensations coursing through me and how much more I wanted.
I could tell that Dimitri was feeling the same way, too as he pressed down on me, letting me feel the bulge of his erection. I gasped at how hard he was.
Seconds later, he climbed away from me to yank off his shirt, revealing his lean, muscular body, which I’d ogled whenever he was taking a swim in the mansion’s pool.