The Alphas' Daughter (Alpha Eyes: Book 2)

Chapter 6

"You can't be serious," I gasped. "You've been stalking me for two years?"

Lucas groaned and tugged my body closer to his. The skin-on-skin contact still made me tingle everywhere, especially now that we'd completed part of the mating process. He'd been very patient and gentle with me. It had been everything I'd dreamed of and more. There was a very distinct moment when I knew that we'd officially mated (at least in the Moon Goddess's eyes). Something clicked in my mind, and I could feel Andre in a new way.

"I wasn't stalking you," he defended himself. "I was protectively watching you from a distance."

"So... stalking," I teased.

"Call it what you want. Now that you're mine, I can just possessively watch you up close." He rolled on top of me and placed a hungry kiss on my mouth. "I'm still going to have to ward off other guys around you. Those punks never know when to give up."

I played with his hair for a minute. "But we're mated now. Shouldn't that ward off anyone else? I mean, doesn't your scent get mingled with mine as a sign of possession?"

"You do smell like me," he agreed with a smirk, "but it's only surface level. My scent is rubbing onto you through all of this lovely skin contact, but it'll wash off as soon as you take a shower. Our scents only permanently mix when I mark you."

"So mark me." The words flew out of my mouth before I fully considered what I was saying. Everything up to this point happened so fast. We hadn't talked about anything. Honestly, we had done much talking period. Things just ... happened.

He stared down at me. "Are... Are you sure? There's no going back once you're marked. You'll be stuck with me forever."

I rolled my eyes and dragged one of my legs up to press my knee against his hip. "Does it look like I want to back out? Do I look like I don't want to be free of you? I think we're long past the point of no return."

He smirked. "You're right. I think I pushed past that point when you made that adorable little whimper-moan for the first time."

Heat flooded my face as I remembered the exact moment he was referencing. "You don't need to go into details... The point is I want to be yours, and I want everyone to know it."

His eyes flashed with little specks of gold, his wolf fighting for control. If he let his wolf loose, I'd be marked in a second whether I was ready or not.

"Are you 100% sure?" he asked again. "I'm a lycan, so it's going to be more intense than anything you've felt before. I'll try to make it as painless as I can, but it will still hurt you for a few seconds."

I'd heard about that part of it, but I could take it. He would never intentionally hurt me. Any pain I felt would also hurt him, and marking pain was short-lived.

I nodded and turned my head to the side, giving him a clear view of my neck. "I want you to. I promise."

He sucked in a deep breath and lowered his head. I shivered when his lips touched my skin. Little sparks danced through my nerves as he slowly kissed several different areas. There was a very specific place for a mate's mark, and you'd know you'd found it when your mate's touch set off fireworks in your body.

His mouth moved a little to the left. My body shivered in response. He moved a tiny bit more, his lips creating a seal against my skin right at the junction of my neck and shoulder. Thousands of sparks exploded in me. I gasped and clutched his arms. Woah!

He smiled against my skin. "That's the spot. Take a deep breath for me."

Closing my eyes, I drew a deep breath. At the same time, his teeth pierced my skin. A short shriek ripped out of my throat. The initial pain of the bite was quickly overridden by something much sharper and deeper. It reached into my nerves and lit them on fire. It touched the very core of my being and my wolf, sending both into a frenzy. If he wasn't pinning me to the bed, I'm pretty sure I would be thrashing around.

As the fire continued to burn in my veins, he hadn't extracted his teeth yet. He remained latched onto my shoulder as I shuddered through the pain. A tear or two dripped from the corner of my eyes. I opened them and noticed darkness tinging the outer edges of my vision. That couldn't be normal...

My wolf nudged forward, stretching towards Lucas's neck. She wanted us to mark him, sealing the bond from both sides. I hadn't even thought about marking him, yet a particular spot on his neck was pulling on me like a magnet. It only took me a second to decide what I wanted to do.

I placed an open mouth kiss on his neck, pulled to that special place by the magnetic force of our mate bond. He shuddered above me, signaling I'd hit the right spot. After flicking my tongue out, I let my canines extend and sank my teeth into his skin.

We both flinched as a new wave of fire washed through our bodies. The power of the mate bond solidifying was incredible, but it was also terrifying. It roared in my ears like a waterfall and rushed through my veins like a river. I could feel the knot of our union tightening in my chest. Truthfully, it was the most addictive, seductive feeling ever.

Something popped between us, and I knew that the mate bond was complete. We slowly extracted our teeth from each other's shoulders. Lucas immediately ran his tongue over my mark, the sensation igniting more fireworks in my body. I combed my fingers through his hair and let my wolf adjust to this new connection. She loved being so unified with her mate.

Lucas lifted his head to stare down at me. Absolute euphoria danced in his eyes. He smiled and traced the shell of my ear with his fingertip. "How do you feel?"

I grinned up at him. "Perfect. I'm absolutely perfect."

I opened my eyes as the memory finished. Lucas tightened his hold around my waist, watching my face for any indication of how I'd react.

"I'm not sure why my wolf needed to protect me from that," I began, "but I remember now."

He nodded and tipped his head to the side. "Are you okay with completing the mate bond the day you met me? Most mates wait a day or two. We kinda put everything in fast forward."

"True," I shrugged. "But we're not most mates. You're a lycan, and you've waited two years for me. Technically, we're behind schedule."