Warmth. Heavy warmth...
That was what Lydia felt as she stirred awake, regaining her consciousness.
Before her eyes opened, she could feel the weight pressing down on her. Remembering she had seen a massive wolf and fainted, her eyes flew open.
She thought she was in danger but what welcomed her sight was a colorful room. A glittering chandelier dangled from the high ceiling, and the walls were covered in framed platinum records and bold paintings.
Unlike the coldly elegant penthouse she had been in earlier, this one breathed life: warm, loud, vibrant, like the man who owned it was a star of some kind.
Before she could wonder how she had gotten here, she realized she couldn't move. Something heavy pressed her down into the silk sheets.
Her eyes darted down and widened as she saw a broad man sprawled over her, his muscular frame covering her almost completely. His face was buried in her neck, inhaling her as though her very scent was oxygen.
"Not again..." Her heart thundered.
She tried to push him off, but the moment her hand brushed his, a strange pull snapped inside her chest, tugging her toward him. The same strange force she had felt earlier with the first stranger.
"Who the hell are—" Her hand instinctively reached to push him away.
But the second her palm touched his hand, the world tilted. A strange pull slammed into her chest, like invisible threads stitching her to him. Her breath caught, her body froze. She couldn't look away from him.
He lifted his head, his golden eyes burning, and when he saw she was awake, relief softened his sharp features.
"Ah, I'm so relieved. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you earlier… when you fainted. I shouldn't have..." He began apologizing but Lydia barely heard him.
She wasn't listening. She couldn't.
Her body was betraying her.
His weight on her, his heat sinking into her skin: it was too much.
A fire spread low in her belly, and before she could suppress it, she felt wetness gather between her thighs.
Jason's nostrils flared. His gaze sharpened instantly, his jaw tightening. He could smell her arousal and instantly his hardness pressed against her stomach, straining beneath the duvet.
She gasped, trembling, but instead of fear, something else rose inside her. Need.
The air thickened between them, charged and dangerous.
His chest pressed harder against hers as his breathing grew ragged. Slowly, deliberately, he lowered his lips to her ear.
"Do you want me inside you?" He asked, his voice raw, strained, as if it cost him everything not to lose control.
Her mind screamed no.
She had just given herself to one stranger, the first man. Her brain told her she should push the man away and run.
She should resist. She should do something.
But her body…
Her body betrayed her again.
While her mind was yelling no, her head was nodding in response to this second stranger's question.
The man's eyes darkened, gold flickering with savage hunger. A groan rumbled deep in his throat as he slid the duvet aside, revealing the powerful muscles of his body.
"Good. Because I need to erase the bloodsucker's stench from your body. I'll mark you with mine." He whispered to her, excitement dancing in his eyes and voice at her consent.
This man would ask before biting.
She didn't understand what he meant. She didn't even care. Her core was burning, aching, begging.
"What have become of me?" One part of her mind wondered inwardly but her body wasn't doing anything to stop what was happening.
The man moved slowly, so different from the first man's wild, consuming storm. His lips brushed her neck first, gentle, reverent, then traveled down to her collarbone. His hands traced her curves carefully, as if learning her body note by note.
When he finally reached down, his hands gently removed her panties. Then he placed a gentle kiss on her wet slick, making her almost jump out of her skin, before moving back up.
Then he positioned himself at her entrance, pulled down his trouser together with his boxers, all while holding her gaze.
Slowly and tenderly as if he was convinced the size of his manhood would break her, he pushed deep into her wet slick.
"Oh my God!" Her lips parted on a gasp not from pain but from the sweet fullness. He leaned onto her and caught her lower lip then began to lick it, paying attention to every part of it as he moved in and out of her wetness.
Every thrust felt like an oath, every kiss like a promise. This man was different. Where the first stranger devoured, this second stranger worshiped.
Yet Lydia's body loved both, enjoyed both thoroughly and equally.
"Let me know when it's too much and if you want me to stop..." He told her in a husky voice.
Lydia blinked. The man obviously didn't know she wasn't going to ever ask him to stop, at least not until he had completely eased the itch deep in her core.
He dug deeper into her core, her back arched, her nails dug into his skin, her moans filled the penthouse until she shattered in his arms, trembling against his chest.
"Just your moans alone will be undoing." He said and his pace became faster yet not as fast as the first stranger.
He kept going until he was done.
~~~~~~~~~~~
After the intense moment, the man held her close, kissing her forehead, stroking her hair as if she were his precious gem.
"A moment, please." He excused himself and disappeared into the bathroom while Lydia lay frozen.
Her chest tightened.
"Again? Oh, Lord, what's wrong with me? Is it the rebirth?" Her thoughts became frantic as she realized that in just one night, she had given herself to two strangers, two men whose names she hadn't even learned.
Shame clawed at her throat, choking her.
She gritted her teeth and shook her head. She knew she couldn't bear to face him when he returned.
Throwing the duvet aside, Lydia scrambled out of bed.
She silently walked out of the room. Luckily for her, she was able to find her way out of this new place unlike the first man's house.
The cold ground bit into her bare feet but she kept running, desperate to escape the pull of yet another man.
She ran blindly through the night even though she didn't know where she was running, her heart pounding loudly.
"I need to escape..." But escape never came.
Suddenly, a black SUV screeched to a halt beside her, making her slow down. Before she could think of anything, the doors burst open and four men in suits jumped down, their expressions grim.
Without uttering a word to her, different hands grabbed her arms and legs...
"What are you doing?" She yelled in panic, thrashing wildly but they were already dragging her into the car.
"No—let me go! Help!" She screamed, thrashing wildly.
But the city swallowed her voice.
They shoved her into the backseat, the doors slamming shut like a prison cell.
This time, there was no strange pull.
Only dread.
The SUV roared forward, speeding into the night, carrying her toward something she wasn't prepared for.