He licked over his mark before returning his gaze, now glinting with satisfaction, to hers. “I should have seen it. The truth of who you are to me was right in fucking front of me, but I didn’t see it.”

Ally shook her head a little. “What are you talking about?”

“You know. You’re my mate, Ally.” He went nose to nose with her. “And you’re about to get claimed.”

She shoved him hard, but he didn’t move . . . except to nip punishingly at her earlobe. “Wait, hold on a minute.”

“Are you going to deny it?” His eyes blazed down at her with fury. “Try. Fucking try.”

She opened her mouth, ready to do just that. But she found that she couldn’t. Something deep inside her wouldn’t allow her to repudiate him. It made no sense. “We’d have known before now.”

“Not while I believed you were meant for Cain.” The moment she’d told him that Cain wasn’t her mate, a knowing had hit Derren so hard his entire equilibrium had faltered. It was as if now that the truth was clear, the mating frequency was no longer jammed. Just as sure as he knew he needed food to survive, he knew she was his mate.

At first, he’d felt too shocked to emotionally process her words. Then she’d ran from him, snapping him out of his daze as she triggered every primal instinct he had to take what belonged to him and only him.

With confusion etched in every line of her face, she looked so vulnerable right then that his chest ached. “It’s true, Ally. Part of you already knows it. You were meant for me.” He saw the smallest glimmer of hope in her eyes, and he realized she wasn’t fighting this because he wasn’t what she wanted. She was battling it because she feared being wrong; she’d stopped trusting her own judgment. “Stop looking at the world through guarded glasses for just one minute, baby. Listen to your instincts. Don’t think, Ally. Feel.”

Ally might have tried once more to refute his belief, but her wolf was riding her so hard to claim him that it had to mean something, right? So she pushed aside her distrust in herself and the world around her . . . and there was the truth. That was when the mating urge kicked in—fast, furious, and leaving no room for thought.

Startling the shit out of Derren, she reared up and bit him. Not lightly, not even seductively. Her teeth abruptly pierced the skin, making it sting and throb and bleed. Then she sucked hard, and he realized something: she wasn’t just biting him, she was claiming him. “Fuck.”

His control splintered. Using his claws, he slashed away her clothes, baring every inch of the body that belonged to him. He cupped her pussy, sliding one finger through her slick folds. “Already wet for me. Know why? Because your body knows it’s mine.”

It was instinctive for Ally and her wolf to snarl, to challenge his dominance. “No one owns me.” She’d never admit it aloud, but the weight of his solid, powerful body on hers was somehow a turn-on. His face was a mask of utter determination, and his eyes were aflame with a savage need that thrilled her wolf. A claiming between true mates was reported to be wild, merciless, explosive, and no-holds-barred. Ally knew from just the look on his face that this one would be no exception.

“Wrong. I own every part of you.” Hissing through his teeth as her claws raked down his back in warning, he drove two fingers inside her.

Ally gasped, curling her legs around him and grinding against his cock through his jeans. His mouth was hot on hers. Greedy. Consuming. She clawed off his T-shirt and skimmed her hands over his warm, defined chest; he grunted as the tips of her claws pricked his abs. Her need for him was a raw, blistering ache that was made all the worse by the fierce and violent urge to take, own, and claim. “Fuck me,” she rasped against his mouth.

Derren wanted to be in her so badly he could taste it. Her delicious scent was now spiced with her arousal and twining around him, tempting and torturing him. In the confines of his jeans, his hard cock throbbed painfully. But he shook his head. “I’m not done with you yet.”

“Then make me come.”

“No.”

Ally and her wolf stilled. “What?”

“You can come when you admit that you’re mine.”

The words were a taunt, a challenge, and a demand all rolled into one—and they pissed her off. She repeatedly punched at his chest. “Motherfucking piece of fucked-up shit!” In seconds, he had her wrists clasped above her head in one hand; his free hand was still finger-fucking her, and his rhythm hadn’t even slightly faltered. “Let me fucking go!”

Ignoring that order, he drew her nipple into his mouth. Determined to torture her with pleasure, he sucked hard the way she liked it while plunging his fingers faster and deeper. She twisted and arched beneath him, alternating between moaning and cursing him.

When her pussy began to flutter around his fingers, he sent her a warning glance. “Don’t come.” Defiance flashed in her eyes, and he knew she didn’t plan to fight her climax. He withdrew his fingers, which made her growl a string of profanities at him. He brought his face close to hers, pinning her gaze. “I warned you.”

That rumble coated in dominance made her pussy quiver. “You’re being a bastard!”

Call him crazy, but he fully approved that she was making him battle for dominance and the right to claim her. His wolf loved her strength, loved the fight in her. “Give me what I want, and I’ll give you what you want. That’s how this will work, baby.”