Mated by Midnight (Moonlight Mates #3)

Chapter 4

4

C eline stumbled over the uneven ground. Her breath came in sharp gasps, but she didn't dare to shift into her wolf form. The thought of being tracked, being hunted by him, fueled her flight. He had been an electric shock to her senses, a call deep within her soul that she fought to ignore.

The clamor of the festival—a celebration of finding love—faded behind her with each frantic step she took into the forest. The trees became denser. The darkness transformed into a cloak she wrapped around herself for protection.

Her dress snagged on branches. The delicate fabric tore, but she paid it no heed. All that mattered was putting distance between herself and the man who threatened to unravel the life she had meticulously planned for herself.

No, she hadn't planned it. Her parents had. But they had the right of it. Choice was safer than waiting for fate.

With that thought in mind, Celine plunged deeper into the woods. Her mind waged war against the instinct screaming inside her to stop. To let herself get caught. To be where the moon swore she was meant to be. But that wasn't the plan.

She was promised to the Alpha. It was meant to be an alliance of power, a partnership that would bring stability to their pack. Yet the moment she had locked eyes with the stranger, her fated mate, all thoughts of duty had crumbled like ash. His gaze had pierced through her, awakening a deep need that left her trembling.

It was madness, the way her body yearned to turn back, to rush into his arms and seal her fate. She couldn't—not when so much depended on her union with the Alpha. Celine knew the laws of the shifter world well; once bonded with her mate, there would be no turning back, no broken engagements or second chances. The bond—even a chosen one—was eternal, transcendent, and utterly binding.

Her feet carried her farther. Her lungs burned as the cool night air filled them. Twigs snapped underfoot, and her pulse echoed in her ears, drowning out the distant howls of wolves singing to the full moon.

But even as she ran, Celine felt the invisible tether pulling at her heart. The call of the mate bond refused to be ignored. It was a force of nature, as undeniable as the turning of the earth. In the depths of the shadowed woods, she felt its draw. No matter how fast she ran, she couldn't outrun the bond that yoked her to him.

Suddenly, he was there, blocking her path with an intensity that stopped her cold. His eyes, a fierce golden hue, locked on to hers, and the world fell away. The man who was her fated mate stood before her, a predator claiming his ground. Every instinct inside Celine screamed to submit to the inevitable.

"Please," she whispered, but the word was a lie, a feeble protest against the desire that consumed her whole.

He advanced, a quiet power emanating from his stride. When he reached her, his hands cupped her face with surprising gentleness. Her resistance crumbled like ash in a fierce wind. Her hands found his chest, feeling the heat of him through his shirt as their lips met in a kiss that seared her to the core. It was a collision of mouths, a dance of tongues—a passionate surrender to the wildfire spreading through them.

His taste was intoxicating, a heady mix of earth and something wild that made her head spin. She clung to him, her fingers digging into the muscle of his shoulders, needing him closer, needing more.

All thoughts of duty fled her mind. Celine's hands moved with frantic urgency. They slipped down to the waistband of his jeans, fumbling with the belt, her movements clumsy with desperation. The metal clinked softly as she managed to unbuckle it, her heart pounding against her ribs.

Her fingers worked the button free, tugged the zipper down, and shoved the denim only halfway down his powerful thighs. And then she felt him—his hard length, hot and insistent against her palm. He wasn't wearing anything beneath those jeans; he'd come commando, a fact that sent a thrill of scandalized excitement racing through her veins.

With a shaky exhale, Celine wrapped her fingers around him, the intimate touch drawing a groan from his lips that echoed in the stillness of the woods. He was velvet steel in her hand, and she reveled in the knowledge that she held her mate's most vulnerable self.

She was just as vulnerable. Celine knew there was no other path for her, no promise that could hold her back from him. She belonged to this man—wholly, completely, irrevocably.

With a surge of strength that sent her senses reeling, he hoisted her into his arms. Celine's legs instinctively wrapped around his waist, her dress a mere whisper of fabric between them. His back muscles rippled beneath her touch as he pressed her up against the rough bark of an ancient tree, its history etched deep into the wood like the impending mark of their union.

His lips, demanding and fierce, claimed hers in another deep kiss. Without words, this kiss spoke of feral need and inescapable destiny. There was no room for hesitation or thoughts of consequence; there was only the consuming flame of desire that licked at every inch of her skin.

With deft fingers, her fated mate brushed aside the delicate lace of her panties. Her hips bucked toward his touch, sending shivers of anticipation down her spine. She felt a whisper of cool air at her core before it was replaced by his heat.

The moon above bathed them in its silver glow, a silent witness to the unfolding of their primal dance. He tested her readiness, his fingers slipping easily through the slick evidence of her arousal. She gasped into his mouth, her body on fire with the want of him.

And then, with a growl that rumbled from deep within his chest, he thrust into her. Together they howled, a symphony of wild abandon that resonated with the pulse of the night. The sound mingled with the rustle of leaves and the distant call of their kin, an anthem to the mating bond that refused to be denied.

Choice was out the window. Need was the only master. Destiny surrounded them in the dense foliage as righteous desire took hold.

His pace was unrelenting, each powerful stroke driving her closer to the edge. Celine clung to him. Her nails dug into the sinew of his shoulders. Her entire world narrowed to the point of their connection.

The claiming was rough. It was fast. It was all-consuming—the kind of passion that burned hot enough to forge new stars in the heavens.

Celine’s breaths came in ragged gasps, her cries crescendoing with each thrust until they reached the climax together. A cataclysmic wave of pleasure crashed over her, obliterating thought and reason, leaving behind only the purity of sensation. Her vision whited out as the best orgasm of her life shattered her into a million glowing pieces, each one singing with the truth of their bond.

Panting, hearts racing in tandem, they remained locked together, the echoes of their unity fading into the serene embrace of the forest.

As the seismic waves of her release began to ebb, Celine found herself cradled in the solid embrace of the man who was so much more than a stranger now. Her body still trembled, aftershocks of their union rippling through her like the softest of whispers across her skin. His breath was warm on her neck, and she felt the gentle pressure of his lips against her sweat-dampened hair.

The world around them had receded to nothing but the quiet rustle of leaves and the steady beat of their hearts. The moon above bathed them in a silver glow that seemed to acknowledge and bless the sacred act they had just committed.

In the aftermath, as she lay nestled within the protective circle of his arms, a single thought crystallized in the depths of her being. The man she was supposed to marry would have to understand. There was no choice in this—fate had spoken, and its decree was absolute. The Alpha, with all his power and influence, could not command her heart to feel what it did not, could not sever the bond that now tied her to this shifter whose name she still did not know.