The room was bathed in the soft, amber glow of her bedside lamp, casting long, flickering shadows against the walls. Bella lay back on the silk sheets, the silence of the house pressing in on her. Her mother and Collins had left for their formal dinner date an hour ago, but the ghost of his touch still burned on her skin. The thought of being sent away to Lycaon Academy—of being ripped away from the man who was both her protector and her ruin—made her blood boil with a restless, feverish heat.
She couldn't help it. Her fingers drifted to the buttons of her shirt, undoing them with trembling precision. She exposed her skin to the cool air, her hands cupping her breasts, her thumbs grazing the sensitive peaks as she arched her back. A soft, jagged moan escaped her lips.
"Collins," she whispered into the empty room.
She slid her pants down, her breath hitching as her fingers found the center of her aching need. She began to move, slow and rhythmic, her eyes fluttering shut as she visualized his golden eyes, his heavy weight, the way his voice sounded when he claimed her. Every touch was a silent prayer to the man who had awakened the beast inside her.
"Daddy... Collins..." she whimpered, her pace quickening as she neared the edge.
SLAM.
The door hit the stopper with a violent bang that echoed like a gunshot. Bella bolted upright, her heart leaping into her throat. She scrambled to pull her shirt together, her face flushing a deep, guilty crimson.
Alpha Collins stood in the doorway. He wasn't in his formal date attire; his tie was pulled loose, his white shirt was unbuttoned at the collar, and he was drenched in sweat, his chest heaving as if he'd run miles to get back to her. He looked feral, his scent—pure, concentrated Alpha—filling the room instantly.
"What were you just doing?" he asked, his voice a low, dangerous rasp. He didn't wait for an answer. He stepped inside, his eyes tracking the way her hands trembled over her exposed skin. He licked his lips, his gaze darkening as he reached back and turned the lock with a definitive click.
"Uhm... nothing," Bella lied, her voice small and breathy.
"I heard you call my name," he said, stalking toward the bed like a wolf closing in on a cornered doe. "It sounded more like a moan. You were calling for your father, weren't you, Bella?"
"I was..."
She didn't get to finish. He reached her in a single stride, his large hand cupping the back of her neck and pulling her up to meet him. He crashed his lips onto hers, a kiss fueled by the sweat on his skin and the desperate hunger in his soul. He tasted of the night air and raw, unfiltered obsession.
"I left her," he growled against her mouth, his hands sliding down to grip her waist, his fingers digging into her flesh. "I told her I forgot something. I told her I had to come back for a moment. But I came back for this."
He shoved her back onto the bed, his heavy body following her down, pinning her into the mattress. He didn't care about the date, the academy, or the rules anymore.
"If they're going to send you away," he hissed, his face inches from hers, his eyes glowing a lethal gold, "then I'm going to make sure you're so full of me that no other wolf at that school can even stand to be in the same room as you."
He didn't give her a chance to breathe. Collins ripped his shirt open, buttons flying across the hardwood floor like hail, before he descended upon her again. His skin was scorching, a furnace of Alpha heat that seemed to melt the very air between them.
"I've been sitting at that table for twenty minutes smelling you on my clothes," he rasped, his voice vibrating deep in her chest as he pinned her wrists above her head with one hand. "I could hear you screaming for me in my head. You're a sickness, Bella."
"Then let it kill you," she challenged, her wolf surging to the surface, her own eyes bleeding into gold.
He let out a guttural growl and buried his face in her neck, his teeth grazing the bruise he'd left earlier, reopening the claim. Bella arched her back, her bare breasts pressing against the coarse hair of his chest, a friction that sent sparks through her nervous system. She felt his hand slide down, his fingers finding her already slick and desperate. He didn't tease; he drove two fingers inside her with a blunt force that made her cry out his name.
"You like that?" he hissed, his thumb finding the center of her pleasure and grinding with a relentless, punishing rhythm. "You like being handled like an animal?"
"I like being handled by you," she gasped, her legs wrapping around his waist, pulling him flush against her.
He didn't wait any longer. He reached for his belt, the leather creaking in the silence of the room. He freed himself, his length thick and throbbing, glowing with the same feverish heat as his skin. He positioned himself at her entrance, the tip of him probing the wetness she had created for him.
"Look at me," he commanded, his voice a low, terrifying rumble.
Bella opened her eyes, meeting the molten gold of his gaze. In that moment, there was no stepfather, no mother, and no school. There was only the Alpha and his mate.
He lunged forward, his entire weight behind the thrust. He filled her completely, his size stretching her until she felt like she might break. Bella's head hit the headboard, a sharp gasp of air escaping her lungs as the sheer intensity of the union took her breath away.
"You're mine," he grunted, his pace picking up instantly. "Every. Inch."
He began to move with a primal, rhythmic violence. The bed groaned under the assault, the rhythmic thud of the frame against the wall echoing the frantic beating of their hearts. Collins was a master of her body, knowing exactly how to hit the spots that made her vision go white. He gripped her hips, his fingers leaving bruises on her pale skin as he hammered into her, each thrust deeper and more possessive than the last.
Bella was lost in a sea of sensation. The scent of his sweat, the taste of his skin, and the overwhelming feeling of him stretching her to her limits was too much. She began to peak, her internal muscles clenching around him in a desperate, rhythmic pulse.
"Collins!" she screamed, her nails digging into his shoulders, drawing long, bloody tracks down his back.
He didn't stop. He pushed harder, his breath coming in ragged, animalistic snarls. He felt her climax hit and it pushed him over the edge. With one final, devastating lunge, he buried himself to the hilt and let out a roar of triumph, his seed flooding her in a hot, thick tide.
They collapsed into each other, their bodies slick with sweat and the evidence of their sin. The silence that followed was heavy, broken only by their synchronized, gasping breaths.
Collins stayed buried inside her, his forehead resting against hers. "They can send you across the world, Bella," he whispered, his voice dark and final. "But you'll never belong to anyone else. I've put my soul inside you."
Then there was a sudden knock on the door "Bella are you in there" Her mother's voice called out, causing Bella's eyes to widen.