Mate (Bride, #2)

by Ali Hazelwood

She tore him apart and remade him. It took her less than a second.

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

If I wasn’t careful, who knew what might happen? I knew. And when I was twelve, I began wedging a chair under the door of my room every night.

“I meant what I said, killer. This mate thing is about fucking. The part of me that matters isn’t interested in you. Like me, or don’t,” he says kindly. “I really couldn’t care less.”

So he's lovely

She expects little and is not easily offended. It makes pushing her away frustratingly hard.

“Don’t thank me.” “Why?” “I fucking hate it.” “You hate to be…thanked?” “Yup.” “I…Why?” “If I’m doing something, you can be sure that I chose to of my own free will.”

Lmao

“I think you owe me an apology.” “For what?” “The way you stared at my tits.” Silence. Then, instead of the I’m sorry or Go to fucking sleep I expect, he says, “I think you owe me an apology.” “For what?” “How spectacular your tits are.”

Trying to get behind this A-hole trope but its not endearing thus far

“Women? They belong in the kitchen. I don’t, though.”

What

He’s going to take her lies and peel them off one by one. Then he’ll force her to show him what’s underneath.

We can safely arrange to—” I stop to hide a yawn in my palm, and that’s when Koen declares the meeting over and stands. “I’m taking her to bed.” It speaks to his authority that not a single eyebrow lifts.

“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.”

Okay i do in fact see the appeal

It’s not the only secret she’s been keeping. It’s not even the worst one. For now, though, he’ll play. The alternative is unacceptable.

“I will never not look down on you, chiefly because of our height difference. When did it start?”

“Here’s the deal: you’re not an idiot.” “Wow. What a compliment.” “Sure. Keep that in mind when I ask you why the fuck you are acting like one. How. Long?”

LMAO

She is braiding her hair. Bends her head forward, sectioning the strands and paying no mind to the world around her. Doesn’t notice him lingering at the door. Her bare nape is there for him to stare at, pink and vulnerable and accessible. It’s so flagrantly indecent, he must excuse himself.

It’s unnecessarily mean, the way Koen holds my eyes for a beat, as if to savor the hurt in them. Then he fondly clasps Brenna’s shoulder, whispers something in her ear that has her smirking, and settles on the bench farthest away. I hate him.

Me too

Look at her. Just—look at her.

His hand slides up, between my shoulder blades, and guides me inside. He doesn’t reply. “I do have some money,” I insist. “You do? No need to flex, Serena.”

He is funny sometimss

“Well, prepare to be tedioused even more. You’re not going to pay for my stuff. It’s infantilizing.” His dark eyes travel down my body. Slowly. “As if I could ever do that,” he drawls.

Owe

Or maybe some very dumb spirit has possessed me, because I let my wrist drag against the skin at the base of his throat, as if to…as if to rub off on him? More, my instinct screams at me. More. Make him smell like you. But Koen’s breathing speeds up, and he twists his head away after shuddering in something that could very well be revulsion.

Lmao why is this hot

“Anyway, I can do you, too.” He winces. Runs a hand down his face. “Do you even fucking hear yourself?”

Her laughter adjusts the spin of his atoms.

“Since you’re so sure that everyone here despises her, including me, let this be known: fuck with my mate, and I’m going to kill you so slowly, draw it out so long, tectonic plates will move and create whole new mountain ranges. And when the rest of your family comes to avenge you, I’ll do the same to them. And if your friends come, I’m not going to fucking stop. Not even if all that’s left of the pack is me and her. I will paint this entire territory green before I let anyone in the pack spill a single drop of red. Okay?”

Oh!

“You did it. Look at you.” I grin wide, lift my eyes to meet his, and find that he’s already staring at me, black eyed and voracious. “Look at you,” he says. At least, I think so. I could have imagined it, because it’s little more than a whispered growl,

The cabin smells like… Impossible. He must be losing his mind.

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.

“Serena.” His voice is so harsh, my entire body clenches. I freeze in place. After a long moment, turn around. “W-what?” “Don’t run.” I swallow thickly. “I…Why?” “Walk slowly to the washing machine and get rid of the clothes.” His voice pins me to the ground. Something builds in my belly. “Do not make me chase after you.”

Oh!

Then she arrived, assumed total control of him, and left no room for anything but her.

“You look so much more dignified, now that I’ve de-shed you. Cuter, too. Just like that hot guy. From that movie.” “What movie?” “All of them.”

He wants to show her every corner of his territory. The deep blue lakes and the snow-capped peaks. Moss-draped trees and rock spires. He wants to be with her for each marveled intake of breath.

He wants to abscond with her. Fuck the rest of the world—it’s incapable of giving her the safety she so clearly deserves. He’ll fix that. He’ll make up for everything she has been put through.

“Say it. After what?” I have to. Out loud. For the very first time. I have no choice but to make this real. “After I die.” 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.”

half expect a dismissive scoff. A curt command to get into the car. Instead, Koen studies me at length, his eyes opaque. “If I weren’t Alpha,” he asks, eventually. “And you weren’t sick. What then, Serena?”

His fingers trap my chin. Tilt my head back, hitching my breath. Once again, I have no choice but to meet his eyes. “What then, Serena?” I can’t bring myself to say, I think we both know, but he hears it anyway, because his nod is there, barely perceptible. This time, when the pressure swells behind my eyes, I let the tears flow. I feel them splash down on my collarbones. Dampen the tips of my hair. “Anything that’s going to happen to you,” he promises, voice honest and pitched low in the swish of the breeze, “is going to be over my dead body.”

Damn

He easily resigned himself to a lifetime without her, but… Simply put, he is unwilling to contemplate a universe in which she no longer exists.

“Well.” I rub my palm against my belly, wondering if the cramps I’m experiencing are a fun new addition to my symptoms dance card.

Heat?

“Apparently there were bites and mutual blood drinking and a not insignificant amount of sex rituals.”

Wonder if Koen does this to save her

The brush of his nose against my skin feels better than the best sex I’ve had in my life.

“I have no right to it, but fuck, I just want to see enough to imagine what’s happening.”

Wowza

“The inside of your wrists.” He brings my left hand to his mouth and nips the area at the base of my palm, making me shudder. “Each side of your throat.” He sucks on the right for far longer than would be necessary for a simple demonstration. By the end, I’m trembling so bad, my fingers can barely stay on my clit. “And then there’s the back of your neck.” Another slow, savoring lick. My eyes roll back in my head.

GEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEZ bro

“This one is special. It’s where I would bite you, Serena. High up, where clothes couldn’t hide it. And then I’d lick my bite every day to remind you.” He sucks on it, and the pleasure is so intense, I have to twist away, overwhelmed.

Gah damn

“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.”

“I think I’d have you bite me right under my jaw. People would glance at it and think that it’s obscene. But they’d immediately know who I belong to.”

“Keep touching yourself and lick the base of my throat.” I do. Gingerly. And— He exhales a groan. I freeze. Because…Oh. Oh.

holy SHIT lmao why is this sososososzzozozozozozosodossosososo hot

“I’ve never been less sorry about a thing.”

He didn’t think she could be more perfect. Then she offered him her bite.

His stare feels like a kiss. More than any kiss I’ve experienced ever did. “You’re really a nuisance, aren’t you?”

He touches me, and yet he doesn’t. As close as possible, without breaking the one rule we abide by. It’s nice. I would give anything for a million more nights of this. Or one. But I’m getting sleepy. And he is, too. And then the fever starts.

Every single time he sets a hand to his cock, he will have this moment in his mind.

Woof

And we must be some kind of perfect, perpetual motion machine—it’s that easy, the way my body slides against his as I straddle his lap. His hands lift to hover around my waist, then fall back to his side, fisted.