Bria wrapped her hand around my throat and thrust me against the headboard, her claws sinking into my skin and her canines grazing against my neck. I inhaled sharply at the feel of her wolf finally coming out to play with mine.

"Mine," she growled, sniffing my neck and holding onto me even tighter. "All mine."

My body shivered, and I tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "Bria..."

When she moved back enough to look me in the eye, gold pooled in her eyes, the color spinning and whirling around her pupils, mixing with her green irises and slowly—very slowly—overtaking them.

It wasn't like anything I had ever seen before. Irises didn't move like that.

"Mine," Bria said, a low grumble rumbling through her chest. "You're mine."

I placed my hand over hers, which was around my neck, to loosen her grip on me. While I knew that she didn't mean to hurt me and that this was her wolf taking control of her, she continued to squeeze harder by the second.

Just like she had during my fight with Adan.

"Bria, please, let up a bit," I said.

"Mine," she growled louder this time, squeezing even tighter.

"Mate wants to mark us."

My wolf whistled through my mind, aching me to surrender control to him, so they could be together finally. He had waited as long as I had, and while I remained in control for the past forty-three years, he could barely contain his excitement around her.

"Reassure her that we're hers. Give me control."

With my hand around hers, I tilted my head to the side. For the past forty-three long years, I had been imagining what it'd feel like when my mate marked me back. I had heard stories of the overwhelming feeling shooting through the body.

But had yet to experience it.

Though I so desperately wanted to feel her canines sink into my neck, our bond to finally be complete. I didn't want to wait anymore, and neither did my wolf. What happened tonight was something that I would remember forever.

"I'm yours," I whispered.

Bria let up slightly, her growls turning into cute, little purrs.

"I'm all yours, Bria," I murmured. "Mark me."

Bria ran her teeth up and down the column of my neck again, stopping where my neck met my shoulders and inhaling deeply. My eyes fluttered back, and I tightened my hand around hers, desperately aching for it.

"Please. Mark me. Do it. I want to feel you."

Alphas never begged for anything.

But, fuck, I was pleading for it.

Crawling onto me, Bria straddled my waist and drew her tongue across my skin. Shivers ran through me, goosebumps raising on my skin. I grunted into her ear, my dick still rock fucking hard against her quivering pussy.

"Mark you," she mumbled against my skin, the tops of her teeth pricking me.

"Claim me."

"Claim you..."

Suddenly, Bria froze and gasped. She pulled her hands away from my throat at lightning speed and scrambled back to the other side of the bed, staring at my neck with wide green eyes again. Those swimming gold irises had completely disappeared.

Her wolf was gone.

Without marking me.

"Callum, I'm..." she started breathlessly. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you."

When she glanced down at her hands, she screamed. Blood covered her fingers and rolled down to her palms. I reached up to feel the tiny, little claw marks in my neck that must've been bleeding at one point but were now completely healed.

"I..." Tears welled up in her eyes. "You're bleeding because of me."

"It's okay, Bria," I said, keeping my voice low so she wouldn't get startled. I went to move toward her, but she scrambled even further back to the edge of the bed. She stared at it for a couple moments, shaking her head in fear, then placed her hand into mine.

"I'm sorry," she said again.

Pulling her closer to me, I set her in my lap and showed her my neck. "It's healed. Don't be sorry. Your wolf lost control for a bit, that's all. You don't have to worry about hurting me. You're my mate. Your wolf won't allow you to."

"B-but—"

Knowing that the thought of growing claws and canine teeth for the first time must've been fucking terrifying, I pulled her closer to me and laid her on my chest, gently moving my fingers through her hair and letting her cry.

As I stared out the window and up at the moon, I smiled and silently thanked the Moon Goddess for granting me Bria Benton. Out of all the people she could've paired me up with, the goddess we worshiped paired me with this beautiful, strong woman.

And soon her first shift would be upon us.

Usually new wolves didn't shift or show this much aggression until the first full moon after their bite. But Bria—I stared at her in amazement and cracked an even bigger smile—was far from a normal wolf. She was stronger than anyone else in my pack, maybe even me.

No wonder why Thiago, the leader of The Council, wanted her.

She could threaten his entire rule over that brainwashed group of idiots.

She could lead.