Merrick: Get out, Foster.
Foster: She can't stand on her own, Alpha.
Merrick: I said out. Wait with the truck.
The door clicked shut, and the heat came back like a hand around her throat.
It did not care that she was ashamed. It wanted him anyway.
Under her skin, the animal part of her clawed to get out, and it was not going to ask her permission.
He pulled the blanket off her shoulder and took her by the arm.
Merrick: On your knees. You started this, so finish it.
Nola: I hate you.
Merrick: Good. Hate me with your legs open.
She dragged him down by his shirt and put her mouth on his throat before her brain could stop her.
Her teeth pressed into his skin, and her wolf said mine, mine, mine.
Nola: Let me. Just once. Let me mark you back.
Merrick: No.
His fingers dug into her jaw until her own teeth cut her lip. Blood ran hot over her tongue.
Nola: I'm your mate. You said mine. You said it all night.
Merrick: My wolf said it. My wolf does not get a vote.
Merrick: A rogue bitch in heat does not claim an Alpha. She takes what she is given.
He shoved her flat, and the frame hit the wall hard enough to shake dust off the beam.
His cock pushed into her pussy, and she was so wet it made her sick with herself.
Merrick: That's it. Take it.
Every push of his hips scraped the bruise coming up on her jaw against the sheets.
His thumb found her clit and worked mean little circles until her back lifted off the bed.
Nola: Fuck. Don't stop. Don't you dare stop.
She came hard with her fingers dug into his back and a sound she could not keep quiet.
For one whole second, she felt chosen.
Then the knot caught and held them, and he kept his eyes fixed on the dark wall above her.
Merrick: You think a knot makes you my mate? A wet pussy and one night on your back?
Nola: Then why won't you let me go?
Merrick: My wolf is a bastard. That is the only reason you are still here. Not because you matter.
The heat never broke. He turned her over and took her again with her cheek flat on the sheet.
Merrick: Louder. Let the whole pack hear what a rogue will do for a knot.
She got louder. She hated herself, and she got louder.
Outside, the sky had not lightened at all when he climbed off the bed and left her lying there.
The heat let go all at once, and everything hurt. Her jaw. Her lip. Between her legs.
He pulled on his shirt and did not look at her once.
Merrick: This was a mistake.
Nola: Don't say that. Not after last night.
Merrick: After I fucked you through a heat like a stray in the yard? Yes. After that.
Nola: Then what am I?
Merrick: Nothing. You were nothing before last night, and you are nothing now.
For years she had made herself easy to overlook. Right then she wanted to be the kind of woman who could break a man's jaw.
He opened the door. Foster stood on the step in the cold, his eyes moving from Merrick's face to hers.
Merrick: Look at her. Blanket on, jaw marked up, and she thinks she is my mate.
Merrick: She put her teeth in my throat like a claim. A rogue bitch, in my cabin.
Merrick: Take her home. Pay her. She opens her mouth about tonight, you collar her. A collar and worse.
Foster: I hear you, Alpha.
She believed him. Rogues who made trouble got collars in this pack, and she had nobody standing at her back.
His boots went down the steps. The SUV started up, and the sound faded north toward his lodge and his council and his promised mate.
She touched her jaw. The marks were already coming up purple under her fingers.
Foster: Miss. I'm sorry. That was not...
Nola: Don't. If you are kind to me right now, I will come apart.
She had wanted to be chosen. He had made her a mess to be wiped up before breakfast.