A Curse of Fate (Shifter City Fated Mates #1)

Chapter 23

Chapter

Twenty-Three

H unter backed up a few steps, and I followed, as if tethered to his energy. I was helpless to fight the swirling dominance that surrounded him, which should terrify me.

I was still an omega, but there was no will within me to fight his control.

Giving him all the power.

When the door closed behind me, I jumped about a foot in the air, and his hands were there to hold me steady. “Tell me everything that happened today, Emmeline.”

Oh fuck . He’d full-named me.

“N-nothing happened.”

Hunter broke my brain, and I hated how I always looked like a bumbling fool in front of him. Drawing in a deep breath and near drowning in his addictive scent, I forced a mental image of my mom and her alphas.

Forced myself to remember what they’d taken from her.

It was a sobering memory which gave me the mental fortitude to stiffen my resolve and pull myself together. Stepping out of Hunter’s hold, I cleared my throat. “Work was fine. Bradley’s an asshole, there’s no denying that, but he didn’t do anything inappropriate.”

Hunter looked unimpressed as he crossed his arms. “Being an asshole is inappropriate.”

“For a shifter, it’s almost par for the course.” Not completely true now that I’d met actual decent shifters in this city.

“Why were you crying, then?” His voice grew deeper, his gaze probing in a way that left me in tatters.

There was no good reason to reveal how vulnerable that hug made me. “Even shifters cry,” I said flippantly. “It’s not a big deal.”

Hunter closed the distance between us, and I’d never felt as small in my life as I did in his shadow. “I’ll accept a lot of bratty behavior from you, little omega. But don’t ever lie to me.”

Goddess save me . His rumbled command had my legs weakening, but I refused to reveal that to the alpha. He could never know how my body capitulated under his control.

Resisting the urge to run from the predator, who’d be on me in seconds, I shored up my fortitude and met his piercing gaze. “Are we done with this conversation?”

Hunter rubbed his right hand across his face, and in my panic over being here I realized I’d forgotten to do my usual stalking of his bandage. Which was gone , and in its place he bore a new tattoo.

I felt the scrunch of my eyebrows as I tried to comprehend what I saw.

Four dark letters marked his skin: MINE. Below this cursive script was a detailed open jaw of a wolf, fangs visible as if it lunged for an attack. The word and wolf’s jaw were angled in a way that followed the curve of his thumb to his pointer finger.

In my fascinated confusion, I’d failed to notice Hunter sliding his hand up and around my throat, fingers flexing against the sides as he collared me. Using that hold, he drew me toward a mirror on the entrance wall, to show me exactly what he’d done.

That MINE , while backwards in the mirror, would be clear to everyone else when his hand collared my throat, and with the open mouth of the wolf, positioned like a claiming mate bite, there’d be no doubt who I belonged to.

My legs weakened, and I barely held on to a cry, as my body reacted. Hunter dragged me against him, and my nipples felt as hard as glass rubbing against my shirt. Oh fuck. Fucking fuck. A moan sat on the edge of my tongue, but I kept it from spilling free.

“You told me you needed a collar with my claim on it, little omega,” he drawled, applying just enough pressure that I groaned. “I quite enjoy the idea of everyone knowing who you belong to.”

I couldn’t think. I couldn’t breathe.

My pussy fluttered as my senses spasmed, and my head filled with strobe lights. He did nothing except grip my throat, but it felt like he touched me everywhere .

This dominant claiming called to the parts of me that desperately craved a pack and mates. It called to the part that found my mates the four hottest alphas in existence, each of them terrifyingly different in their perfection.

Through my tightly pressed lips, a sound escaped, and I knew it was a moan. Unlike before, I couldn’t keep it contained, and just as I hoped Hunter wouldn’t notice, his eyes darkened, the gold expanding into shimmering starlight.

“Tell me what happened at work.” His fingers flexed on my throat.

“No!” I rasped, clawing to keep the sliver of control I still retained. “I’m not your puppet to command, Alpha Hurricane. I’m. Not. Yours.”

Liar. Such a fucking liar, but I had to at least try. When death came calling, I could say I did everything in my power to fight fate.

Hunter’s laughter was dark and frustrated, and the grip on my throat loosened as he swung me around and pushed me back against a solid surface. The door . I was pressed against his office door.

“What makes you think you’re not my puppet, little omega?” The hard lines of his body pressed into mine, and I already craved— and feared —his strength restraining me. “I think a part of you enjoys losing control like this. You haven’t fought my hold around your throat once, and I’d hazard a guess that if I slipped my hand into your panties, I’d find you dripping wet.”

It was in my best interest not to let Hunter get his hand anywhere near my panties, because then he’d know exactly how accurate his guess was. “I don’t… don’t want you, Hunter.” When in doubt, lie and deflect. “And… you… you promised you wouldn’t force the bond.”

He leaned down and was gentler than I expected, running his nose along the column of my throat as he scented me. “I will never bite you. Not until you beg me.”

The clanging in my head increased and I swore my heart now beat steadily in my vagina, a thrumming pulse that almost brought me to my knees. At least it would have if an alpha wasn’t holding me up by my throat.

“Tell me what happened at work?”

It was a game of dominance, and I couldn’t let him win. He’d promised not to forcibly bond me, and I sensed this alpha was a man of his word, which meant I could push back without the usual fears.

“Nothing. Happened.”

His left hand slipped down the front of my pants, and as much as I told myself to run, I couldn’t move a muscle. “You’re racking up punishments, baby,” he drawled, and my core tightened around nothing as I fought this devastating need. “You can fight me all you want, but you’ll never win.”

It almost felt like I was winning as his fingers slipped lower, skirting along the edge of my thong. Even I could scent my arousal in the air. His wolf’s energy surged as our breaths mingled. “What happened at work?”

I wanted to sob, in both frustration and desperation. “Nothing. I told you. Bradley was an assho—” I moaned as he slid the lace edge to the side and brushed his callused fingertip along my slit.

“So fucking wet for me,” he rumbled sounding far too satisfied. “I bet you taste as sweet as you smell.”

He pushed one finger inside and I knew at this point my game of dominance was done. He curled his finger, pressing against a spot that sent a bolt of pleasure through me. I cried out and clutched him, gibberish spilling from my mouth.

Hunter: One .

Emmeline: A total fucking puppet .

“Tell me, little omega.”

This time my words were a tiny bit clearer. “From the second I started shadowing Bradley, he was an absolute fuckwit. Oh God…” Hunter slid another thick finger inside me, and the stretch reminded me of how long it had been since anyone had touched me like this.

“Tell me exactly what he did, and why Kellan found you crying.”

With each command, he curled his fingers and thrummed them against my g-spot. His hand around my throat was the only fucking thing keeping me standing as I cried out, an orgasm already barreling toward me.

I was breathing too heavily to speak, and when he slowed the thrust of his fingers, I debated punching him. I’d been so close.

In a breathless rush, I told him everything that happened, starting with Bradley insulting and gaslighting me all day. “He made sure that everyone thought I was completely incompetent, even when he was the one to show me the incorrect way to input the meals. He dropped a glass and blamed me and made me clean it up. I gave up defending myself after a while and just let him have his little power play.”

Hunter’s fingers curled again, and I rocked against him, desperate for relief from the throb in my pussy. “Good girl,” he murmured encouragingly, “now keep going for me.” I knew he wouldn’t give up until I told him it all .

“I cried because Kellan hugged me.”

My vulnerability was so much harder to lay bare, even with his fingers buried inside me. Sexual need was one thing, but I couldn’t allow these alphas to own my deeper emotions.

“I’ve never been hugged like that before, Hunter. It took me by surprise.”

His fingers stilled again, and I wanted to scream. Could you die from being edged like this? Not asking for a friend.

“What about your mother?” His tone held a dangerous edge.

I shook my head with so much force I was momentarily dizzy. “She wasn’t exactly the affectionate type. Her aim in life was to keep me hidden from the world, which was easier if I was out of her sight too.”

Hunter’s thumb brushed across my clit and it felt like a bolt of lightning. Burning, pleasure-filled lightning. “Please,” I groaned. “Stop torturing me.”

He let out a soft laugh against my sensitive skin. “Do you want this, Emme? Do you want me to bury my face in your sweet cunt and eat you like my last meal on Earth? Do you want to finally admit who you belong to?”

Yes. Yes, yes, YES .

“No.”

I couldn’t give him the power he sought over me, no matter how desperate I was, even if his dirty words spoken in husky tones were enough to have an orgasm fluttering.

Jerking my hips into him, I almost screamed when he slowly removed his fingers. He tapped my pussy once and stepped back, leaving me with the burning ghost of his touch on my throat and core.

He lifted his left hand and ran his tongue over the arousal coating his fingers, groaning softly. “Just as I expected, you taste so fucking sweet, Emme.”

I was plastered against the door, my lungs screaming for air. “Asshole,” I spat, my core throbbing in time to my ragged breaths.

He showed no visible reaction to my insult as he dropped his hand. “You know what to do, little omega. You need to stop fighting fate and admit who you belong to. Then I’ll bring you the screaming orgasm you’re desperate for.” He leaned down again and I held my breath. “Oh, and don’t even think about touching yourself in the shower again either. I’ll know if you do, and the punishment will be severe.”

My knees buckled, and I gripped the doorknob to keep myself standing. Yanking harder on it, it clicked open and I all but fell out into the entranceway.

Dark laughter followed as I scrambled to my feet and raced for the exit. His name had never felt so appropriate as when I escaped his clutches. The hunter and his prey .

There was no sign of Kellan in the lobby, and even knowing I shouldn’t leave on my own, I couldn’t stay up here a second longer.

Slamming my hand against the elevator, I closed my eyes and concentrated on calming myself while I waited for it to arrive. I’d completely lost it in there with Hunter, but at least I’d said no when it counted.

I might have let him own my body, but I never verbally handed over the control he desired, which meant I’d be able to do the same when it came to the mating bond.

No matter how hazy my boundaries got around them, I could never forget where I came from, and where I’d be going if I let this desperate need for them win.