Vance'

e, suffocating heat blooming deep within me. It started as a low simmer in my belly and sp

l, biological clock within me, and my body was now screaming for something my heart couldn't

calling for the very man who despised me. I curled into a tight ball, digging my nails into the

ing scent of Ryker flooded the small room. He stumbled in, his tie loosened, hi

Such caring guardians. They felt it was their duty to remin

ders. They had orchestrat

int beneath the alcohol. Nora's floral per

thin blanket over my feverish body.

gh, striding to the bed and ripping the blan

ible lure to any unmated male, let alone the Alpha who was my other half. I saw his nostrils flare,

Isn't this what you wanted all along?" he whispered, his words poisoned with

first tear finally breaking free, tracing

esponse to his proximity. My mind, my very soul, scream

didn't kiss me. He lowered his head to the sensitive skin of my neck, where a mate's mark should be, and inhaled

my ear, his voice a rough growl,

No prelude. Only a puni

rom my throat. It was my first time, a moment I had been taught to cherish,

ne as quickly as it came, dismissed by the haze of alcohol and rage. He began to move within me,

scream. I would not cry out. It was a rule I'd learned as an Omega whelp: never

body convulsed in a broken symphony of pain and

e m

was forged in fire and agony. He had claimed me. And i