Page 123 of The Ashpaw: Part One

If she were to be punished anyway, she might as well deserve it this time.

“I have been honorable in—”

“If you thought your treatment of me was honorable,” she cut in, “you wouldn’t dread speaking of it before the clan.”

She put the goblet down, ripping off a small piece of bread to offer him next. He took it gently at first, then nipped over the scar on her finger, sending a shiver down her spine.

“You have not taken me to bed,” she continued. “You have not provided for my nest or my person. You do not touch me or speak to me, nor allow others to do so. So tell me, am I an omega with an alpha? Or am I merely the Ashpaw with even less freedom than before?”

His free hand immediately took her chin, and he bared his teeth for a moment before crushing her mouth with his. A bruising kiss, forceful, angry, and claiming.

Her wolf immediately surged forward, and Fern’s hands cupped his face, kissing him back as hard as he was giving.

Darion’s sharpened canine nicked her lip, but neither stopped, the iron tang of her blood between them, slipping between their lips as their tongues met desperately. She whimpered softly when the hand on her chin fell to her breast, kneading it through the gown.

In the back of her mind, she knew where she was. Knew the whole room had to have been watching.

She even heard some of the cheering.

He pulled back, only to rest his forehead on hers as he caught his breath.

“Tell me then, omega. What is it you need? What have I failed to provide?”

It was a wicked thing, to want someone this much who you knew did not feel the same. To give them everything even when they did not deserve it. And not being able to keep yourself from hoping this time it would be different.

“You,” she answered immediately, her voice a breathy whisper. “Please, Darion, I need you.”

He shuddered briefly, as though he could barely keep himself from giving just that, when he snarled. “Then why would you dance with another wolf in front of me? Smile at him? Laugh?”

“Because you do not want me, and I—”

“Does it feel like I do not want you?”

Darion shifted her hips so they felt the proof of his arousal, straining against his breeches.

“Of course I want you. You’re my omega. So perfect, so sweet, so ready for me.”

Her whole body tingled with desperation, his words, scent, and touch all working to fill the emptiness inside her.

But it wasn’t enough. They both knew exactly what her body required.

The table covered his hand as it slipped up the skirt of her dress, finding liquid coating her inner thighs.

“All this slick better be for me, omega. No other alpha, no other wolf…”

She’d never felt more wanton in her life. He could take her right there and she would not even care.

Gods, what ten days of isolation had done to her. With her omega now fully awakened, it was worse than she could have ever imagined.

“All for you,” she said on a soft whine, bending her neck in submission.

With a growl, he took his hand back out and licked his fingers in front of her, and she gasped.

“Fuck,” he swore, his eyes nearly rolling back in his head. “How… how can you taste this good?”

He stood, picking her up and exiting the hall quickly.

The wolfkin may have been yelling, but she could not hear anything over the beating of their hearts, a pulse she felt everywhere. Throbbing and in need of stimulation. Of release for the pressure building inside her.