The Person I've Liked...

Clara's POV

That night, Kyel came into my room.

"You're here—"

I'd barely gotten three words out when he yanked me from the bed toward him, his other hand clamping onto the back of my neck before his mouth crashed down on mine.

The kiss carried days of pent-up hunger. His tongue forced past my teeth with brutal insistence.

"You're mine." His lips pressed against mine, his voice scraped raw. He released my neck and gripped my waist instead, and I tumbled into his lap. Through the thin fabric between us, I felt his cock—scorching hot and rock-hard—pressing against my inner thigh.

My heartbeat stuttered.

"Kyel..." I whispered his name.

He didn't answer. His hand slipped beneath my skirt, trailing up the inside of my thigh, his calloused fingertips scraping against my skin and raising a fine tremor in their wake. He hooked my underwear and tore it off in one motion.

"Your scent," he buried his face in the hollow of my throat and inhaled deeply, "I haven't smelled it in days."

My whole body went liquid.

His hands cupped my ass and guided me forward. I straddled his thighs, my weight half-lifted and half-supported in his arms. I could feel his cock through his pants, pressed against my slick entrance—the sensation hard and searing, every slight movement grinding against my most sensitive spot.

I bit down on my lower lip, but a broken whimper still escaped my throat.

"You're already wet?" His voice held a low, hoarse edge of amusement.

Heat flooded my face and I buried it against his shoulder.

He laughed quietly. "Lick it," he said.

I looked up at his eyes, glowing faintly in the darkness, and my heart hammered so hard it hurt.

I leaned down and undid his pants. His cock sprang free, radiating shocking heat, the veins along the shaft standing out in stark relief.

When I wrapped my lips around the tip, I heard him suck in a sharp breath above me—a sound like finally getting something he'd been craving.

His palm pressed against the back of my head. I bobbed up and down, my tongue circling the head, tasting the salt-bitter precum that leaked from him. His grip on my skull tightened and his breathing grew heavier.

I worked him with my mouth while my fingers gently massaged the twin orbs beneath his shaft, drawing out ragged, broken groans from deep in his throat.

"Enough." He suddenly sat up and pulled me off him. When his cock slipped from my mouth, a thin strand of saliva still connected us.

He gripped my waist and dragged me onto him. "Get on top. Ride me."

I straddled his hips and positioned his cock beneath me, sinking down inch by inch.

The moment he entered me, my head tipped back and my entire body shook. His size stretched me to the point of aching fullness. I bit my lip, barely holding back the moan clawing up my throat.

He started to move. He couldn't flip me onto my back the way a normal Alpha would, but the strength in his arms and core was more than enough to pin me firmly in his embrace.

He gripped my waist and thrust upward in rhythm with my movements, each stroke deep and deliberate, grinding right against my most sensitive spot. My body grew slick in moments, wetness running down where we were joined, soaking his lower abdomen and the sheets beneath us.

I could feel his Wolf roaring inside him, that primal Alpha possessiveness wrapping around me like vines, tangling my heartbeat with his until I couldn't tell where one ended and the other began.

When his knot swelled inside me, the sudden overwhelming fullness blanked out my vision and sent violent tremors through my entire body.

"Kyel—" My voice shattered into fragments as my nails dug into his shoulders, leaving red trails across his skin.

The orgasm hit me like a tidal wave. I collapsed against his chest, face buried in the crook of his neck, gasping for air, my whole body shaking uncontrollably. His knot was still locked deep inside me, swollen and burning hot, and the sensation of being so completely filled left my thighs quivering.

He pulled me tight against him. "Clara, tell me," his voice was a string pulled taut to breaking, "who do you actually like?"

My body was still numb from the aftershocks, my mind hazy.

But his question pierced through the fog like a needle, slowly bringing my thoughts back into focus.

I lifted my face to look at him.

In the darkness, his gaze was impossibly deep, carrying a long-buried unease and a faint trace of fear—like a child who'd used every ounce of strength to hold onto something but still didn't believe he could keep it.

Looking at him, my eyes suddenly stung with heat.

Memories I'd buried for years rose up like the tide under moonlight.

"I never liked Eli," I said. "He was a senior in the healing program. We worked on a project together, but I never thought of him that way."

Kyel said nothing, but I felt the arms locked around me loosen just a fraction.

I sniffled and pressed my face back into his chest, my voice muffled. "The person I've liked... has always been you. Since our time at Moon Academy."

His body went rigid.

"Back then you were a legend at the academy, and I... I was just some nobody student." My voice drifted softly through the darkness. "Once I was in the library trying to reach a really old book on a high shelf. I couldn't reach it no matter how much I stretched. You happened to walk by. You didn't say anything—just reached up and got it down for me. You didn't even look at me. You handed me the book and left. But I remembered what you looked like. So gentle. So handsome."

"After that I started asking around about you. I learned you were Silvermoon's heir, that you'd won the previous year's territory-wide combat tournament. I went to every lecture you gave at the academy, sitting in the very last row where no one would notice me." I looked up at his face. "We weren't even in the same department. We barely spoke more than a handful of words to each other. But from that afternoon in the library, I couldn't see anyone else."

Kyel lowered his head until his forehead rested against mine.

"So... even before you knew who I was," his voice was so hoarse it barely formed words, "you already liked me?"

I nodded gently.

He crushed me against him. He buried his face in my hair, his shoulders trembling slightly.

"Clara," his voice was muffled in my hair, "I'm sorry."

"I never even asked you. I just assumed you had feelings for someone else. I was just... so afraid. Afraid that one day you'd realize I'm a broken Alpha who can't even stand, and you'd leave me."

My heart clenched painfully, a dull ache spreading through my chest.

I cupped his face in my hands, my thumb gently tracing the vicious scar across his skin, and then I kissed it.

"Kyel, listen to me carefully." I looked into his eyes, my voice steady. "Since Moon Academy, I've only ever liked one person. That person is you. It was you then, it's you now, and it will only ever be you. If you don't believe me, I'll tell you every single day until you do."

He didn't speak.

He just sealed my mouth with his. This kiss was as gentle as moonlight falling on water—soft and endless.

"Then say it every day," he said.

"Say what?"

"That you only like me."

I couldn't help but laugh, running my fingers through his hair. "Fine. Once a day. And if I ever forget, you can punish me."

"Clara, I want you to remember tonight forever." He turned his head, his warm lips finding the softest part of my neck. Then he opened his mouth and bit down.

"You're mine forever now."

I reached up and touched the fresh bite mark on my neck. When my fingertips brushed the slightly raised skin, tears welled up in my eyes.

He had permanently Marked me. A deep sense of belonging settled in my chest—the feeling of being completely, irrevocably accepted.

I pressed my forehead against his and whispered hoarsely, "And you're mine now too."