Mate (Bride, #2)

by Ali Hazelwood

“It is if the lady says so, shartstain. Wanna tell me what you’re doing in my territory before I rip off your balls and shove them down your throat?”

I want to go outside, swallow a porcupine, and wait for the internal hemorrhaging to finish me.

“Does it mean that he likes me?” “Yes,” Lowe says—which perfectly covers Koen’s “No.” I frown. “Wow. This is bringing me lots of clarity. Thanks, guys.”

“You’re the most beautiful woman that I’ve ever seen,” he says simply.

“I think you owe me an apology.” “For what?” “The way you stared at my tits.”

“I’m simply going to lock you up, killer. If I have to chain you to my fucking bed to keep you alive, I will not hesitate.”

Because every single thing I glanced at, grazed, examined, eyed, or even considered when we were at the grocery store, every single thing I decided to walk past, every single thing I told myself I didn’t need—every single thing has somehow made it here, inside Koen’s house.

He told her that he would never touch her because he didn’t want her enough; in truth, he will never touch her because he wants her too much. The make-believe, he thinks, was kinder to both of them.

The second the words are out, hanging heavy in the air between us, Koen…smiles. He bends further, and there isn’t a single trace of doubt on his face. He’s an immovable object and an unstoppable force. And he says, slowly, “If you think I’m going to let you die, Serena, you know fuck all.”

I think he might want to know everything that’s in my head. I think he could shake every thought I’ve ever had out of my skull, rummage through them for years, and still not be bored.

There has never been anyone like him. I could live a thousand more years, and there will never be.

“Yeah, baby.” His laughter is soft. Wound up. “I’m trying to come up with a list of things I wouldn’t do just to be allowed to eat your cunt right now, and I can’t think of a single item.”

“How perfect you are. I spent the last twenty years hoping that if there was a mate for me out there, I’d never come across them. And then I found you, and, Serena…there isn’t one thing I would change about you. Or one single thing I regret about knowing you.”

“The truth is, if you decide to spend your Heat with someone else, they’ll have to chain me at the bottom of a well and seal its mouth with concrete.”

“You smell incredible right now.” “Like…how?” “Like you’d let me keep you here and fuck you for the next six months. Like you need me to.”

“Is this okay? I’m making a mess of you, and—” “Do more of it.”

“My entire life is made of fucking lines. And you’re blowing past all of them.” It doesn’t feel like it. It feels like I’m the one standing still in a storm.

“I hate bras.” “I hate them, too. My afterlife will just be me, watching you move around my house in nothing but my clothes. Knowing that you’re warm and fed and safe and so damn soft.”

“Koen?” I slur, almost there. “Do you think this is the last time? Do you think we’re n-never going to do this again?” He doesn’t respond. But right as I’m about to come I hear him say, “If it were, I would regret nothing.” That’s when my mind blacks out, and my body bursts into flames.

“I know that you took an oath. And I know that this is doomed. But…Koen. There is very little that I wouldn’t do for you, if you were to ask me.”

“Serena.” I hear the blurry edge of his smile. A quiet sigh. “I would throw away my pack, my life, and my entire world for you. Which is the exact reason I cannot have you.”

“Take it.” He shoves deeper. “Be good and take my knot.”

He would die for her, and he would kill for her. More importantly, he will live for her. She’ll be the purpose driving every second of his every day.