Maya POV
The moment the words left his mouth, something inside me cracked.
My body collapsed fully onto the desk, limbs useless, chest heaving, mouth parted in disbelief. My skin buzzed, tingling all over, hot and flushed and wrecked in ways I’d never been before.
I lay there dazed, trying to catch my breath. Then I saw him straighten.
He stood in front of me, calm, unbothered, as if he hadn’t just ruined me completely. He licked his lips slowly, savoring the taste, like I was the finest dessert he’d ever consumed.
I stared at him, lips trembling slightly. I wanted to say something—anything—but no words came out.
Because what could I actually say?
What did he mean by that?
The next Chapter starts now.
What the hell did that even mean?
His hazel eyes remained fixed on me. He never looked away, eyes locked on my face like he was studying every flicker of reaction, reading me like I was an open book—though, to be fair, I was practically open in front of him, sprawled on his damn desk.
My cheeks burned just staring at him. My chest rose and fell with every breath, nipples painfully hard and sensitive beneath the thin fabric of my barely-covered dress.
I couldn’t believe it. I was really spread open on his table. On Lucas’s table. Begging him, calling his name, letting him finger me until I was screaming in pleasure and shaking like a leaf.
He had licked me clean. Every last bit, as if he couldn’t bear to waste a single drop.
Of all the people to go down on me, it had to be him. Lucas Grey. My childhood friend. The man who practically reminded me of every mistake I’d ever made.
Shit, Maya.
This is the end.
I looked away from him.
I had to.
His gaze was too much. My chest tightened with everything flooding through me all at once: lust, pleasure, pain, confusion, shame.
Shame.
The one I couldn’t ignore.
Why did I allow this to happen? Why would I agree to such a thing? What was I thinking? When did I even say yes? What the hell is wrong with me? What came over me? Why was my body craving him, screaming for his touch like I’d die without it?
What would he think of me now? He’d probably lose all respect for me. He’d see me as nothing more than a desperate, easy she-wolf with no self-control.
Why did I always keep walking into these situations? I tried my best to stay away from him. I really tried.
Really, really tried.
I tried not to get tangled up with Lucas, but it kept happening. Over and over again. Some sick part of me wanted it—even now, with the warmth of his touch still lingering on my skin, all I wanted was to rewind time and let him go down on me all over again.
I refused to look at him. I couldn’t look at him. I felt too ashamed. I didn’t want to see that expression from that night—the way he looked at me like I was nothing more than a desperate she-wolf with no value over her own body.
That night, I didn’t have a choice. I was drunk. Broken. Desperate. Aching. Extremely high.
But now? What was my excuse?
Lust?
What we just did—if anyone found out—it would look like exactly what he branded me as. Worse. It would cause serious problems. Especially with his brother. I didn’t want that.
It would destroy the relationship between him and Caleb. Especially since Caleb had become more possessive lately, in a way that scared me. I know I’m not in a relationship with Caleb anymore, but still... he wouldn’t forgive Lucas. He wouldn’t let this slide.
But it didn’t look like Lucas cared. He looked extremely unbothered. Almost bored.
Silently, I smoothed down the soaked fabric clinging too tightly to my thighs. My fingers reached up to fix my hair, still trembling. And yet, I still couldn’t get myself to look at him.
I tried to stand, but my legs betrayed me, still weak from the pleasure he’d wrung out of me minutes ago. My thighs trembled, my knees nearly buckling, but I ignored it. I pushed myself off the desk, pulling the hem of my dress down, trying to get myself back together.
"I–I’m so sorry," I whispered.
My voice barely made it out.
"I shouldn’t have done that."
I felt his gaze burning through me, but I still didn’t look up. I just wanted to apologize and leave before he lost his cool and threw me out himself.
"Why are you apologizing?" he asked, voice low and cold.
I froze and bit my lip in embarrassment, finally forcing out a reply. "It’s my fault. I shouldn’t have laid down on your desk. I shouldn’t have even come into your study in the first place. If I hadn’t—"
I stopped breathing.
Lucas stepped forward, closing the distance between us. I instinctively took one step back, but he stepped forward again. I took another step back. He came forward again. The moment I tried to move further, the cool wall met my spine.
I was trapped.
He reached out and placed a single finger under my chin, lifting my face firmly but gently until I had no choice but to look up into his eyes.
They were colder than I had ever seen them.
I swallowed. My whole body trembled.
"You laid on my desk?" He said slowly, voice low and dangerous. "I was the one who kept you on that desk and pleasured you. So are you implying I was so irrelevant, so invisible, that you came on your own?"
His voice was low, but it vibrated through me.
My lips parted, and I shook my head frantically. "N–no, I didn’t mean it like that. I just—"
He stepped in closer, and suddenly there was no space between us. His body pressed against mine, and I could feel every inch of his warmth.
I bit my lip, trying to stay composed.
"Then what the hell are you apologizing for exactly, Maya?"
I blinked up at him, heart pounding.
Was he really mad that I was apologizing?
He was right in a way. I shouldn’t be the one apologizing. He should be the one apologizing. I mean, he literally pulled me onto his desk and touched me like I was his to claim. He started it.
I met his gaze. "B-because I’m scared of you. And I don’t want you to have me punished for barging in."
"What?" He said, brows drawing together.
I swallowed hard and continued.
"I apologized because I’m terrified of you, Lucas. You’re always so confusing—hot and cold, strict, completely closed off to everyone. I don’t know how you’ll react. I thought maybe you’d be mad and have me punished, especially since you warned me to stay away from you." The words poured out of me like a dam breaking. I didn’t know what I was doing anymore. I just didn’t care. "But that’s not all. Most importantly, you’re supposed to be my friend. My childhood friend. We literally grew up together. It just felt wrong that w–"
I looked up and met his gaze. The annoyance in his eyes was gone. Now he was staring at me like I was the most fascinating thing he’d ever seen.
It made something inside me twist.
I exhaled sharply. "It’s just wrong, right?"
I wasn’t sure what I was saying or what I was asking. I think I had lost my mind completely. I just blacked out.
He chuckled briefly and leaned in slowly with that calm, amused expression on his face. His breath was warm against my skin, enough to send shivers down my spine.
"Friends?" He said, his voice low and slow, entirely amused, as if I had just said something ridiculous. "Well... friends don’t know how you taste, Maya."
The way he whispered my name—the dark, heavy roll of it off his tongue—instantly starved my brain of oxygen. My lips parted to defend myself, but the truth paralyzed me.
He was right.
Friends didn’t do this.
We were a long way past that.
He gripped my arm, pulling me flush against his chest, while his other hand slid firmly around my waist to keep my trembling legs upright. I gasped, my heart hammering against my ribs as he leaned in, his face inches from mine.
Was he going to take me again? Right here against the wall?
But before I could even process the thought, the air in the room shifted.
A heavy, intoxicating scent of ozone, rain, and dark leather suddenly flooded my senses—so thick I could almost taste it. It didn’t just fill the room. It pierced straight through my soul.
Lucas froze instantly. Every muscle in his body locked up as if he had just touched a live electric wire.
He ripped his hands off me, stepping back slowly, his breath hitching in his chest. I watched in absolute shock as his hazel eyes completely bled away, flashing a brilliant, predatory crimson.
The alpha wolf inside him was suddenly staring right at me—wide awake and demanding control. His gaze raked down my body, quiet and dark, as if he were seeing me for the very first time.
Panic spiked through my veins. The sheer intensity of the air made it hard to breathe.
No, please. Not him.
My instincts screamed at me to run for the exit.
But I couldn’t move.
An invisible, gravitational pull slammed into my chest, anchoring me to the floor and dragging my focus right back to him. The background noise of the packhouse faded into absolute static. The only sound left was the roaring of my own blood in my ears.
Suddenly, a searing warmth bloomed directly over my heart, spreading down my arm like wildfire.
I looked down at my trembling hands. Wrapped tightly around my right wrist was a thin, glowing thread of crimson light. It pulsed with a steady, rhythmic glow, beating in perfect synchronization with my own frantic heartbeat.
My breath caught in my throat. My eyes traced the glowing line as it stretched through the empty space between us, cutting through the shadows of the study, until it anchored firmly into the center of Lucas’s chest.
Our eyes locked.
The red line flared brilliantly.
Snap.
The bond locked into place.
He was my mate.
Lucas was my mate.
My mind went completely blank.
No. No, no, no. This couldn’t be happening. Not him. Anyone but him.
The world tilted beneath my feet. My knees buckled, and I slid down the wall, my body no longer capable of holding itself upright. I stared at the glowing thread still connecting us, still pulsing with that terrible, beautiful light.
My wolf howled inside me—not in pain, not in fear.
In joy.
Mate. Our mate. Finally. Finally.
I wanted to scream. I wanted to cry. I wanted to laugh at the sheer absurdity of it all.
All those years. All those years of avoiding him, hating him, wanting him, running from him, searching for my true mate. And the Moon Goddess had been laughing at me the entire time.
He was my fated mate.
The one person who could destroy me completely.
The one person who already had.
The one person I had been searching for all this while—and he was right here all along.
Lucas stared at the bond, his crimson eyes wide, his chest heaving. For the first time since I’d known him, he looked completely and utterly lost.
I could feel his eyes burning into mine.
And the bond between us—glowing, alive, and undeniable—pulled at my chest with every beat of my heart.
It didn’t matter how far I ran.
I could never truly escape him now.