The Alpha Target

Fifteen

Cora blinked, his presence doing something different to her. He pushed her to feel things she’d denied herself since what Kai did to her. But she couldn’t decide if allowing herself to fall into his darkness would set her free from the chains grounding her or if it would destroy her entirely.

With tension thick in the air, an eerie silence filled the dark room as they stared at one another. The determined prey to the calculated killer. “Are you going to be good, little rose?” Lucien asks, taunting her.

His breath skates over her cheek, his body towering above hers. He was so much bigger than her, his body enveloping her until all she could see, feel and smell was him. Warmth, smoke, pinecones, the unique scent that belonged only to him which had the ability to build a hazy fog in Cora’s mind. His fingers lightly trace over her cheekbone to her hair, tucking a loose strand behind her ear. Electric sparks dance off her skin with every part of his touch, drowning Cora in the bliss only he could provide to her.

His eyes were shadowed by the dim light radiating from the moonlight through the slither of the curtains. It almost felt like Cora was far-sighted. So close to something, yet clarity evaded her. But the shadows were apart of him, he carried them with him. She yearned for him. Yearned for him as much as she wanted to hate him. Hated herself for wanting him so much. He c****d his head, inspecting the conflicted emotions on her face.

“Don’t worry, baby, I’ll be nice this time.” Cora opened her mouth, but he cut her off with a deep growl of warning. “But only if you are too, Cora.”

The sound of her teeth snapping shut was audible, pulling another grunt of amusement from him. Her pride took a hit, and she wanted to knee him in the balls for it, but the other part of her was too wrapped up in his presence and longed to experience what he had planned for her. “What are you going to do?” she didn’t want to know, but she also really, really did.

His hot breath fanned across her cheek, and she felt the glide alongside her jaw. The oxygen leaves her brain, forcing her to tilt her head and provide him better access. His lips descend down the column of her neck, skittering along until he paused on the spot right below her ear. The marking spot.

“I’m going to claim you,” he says, right before his teeth clamp down. Her back arches involuntarily, anger and pleasure marrying in her nerves, sending misfires to her brain. All coherent thoughts escape her mind as a result, leaving her with nothing but basic instinct.

Lucien groans, his teeth piercing as his tongue laps at her flesh. Her mouth opens, a silence scream suctioned away just as his mouth does the same, drawing in deep like he’s drinking the essence from her body. But then he pulls back, dragging his teeth along her skin as he lets go, leaving the spot smarting with pain.

Her hands press into his chest for stability, gripping onto him like he was her lifeline. Severe shivers wrack her body when he licks a wet trail down to the juncture of her neck. He paused, and it felt like her body was hanging over a pointed knife. She held her breath, the anticipation rattling her bones.

And then he bites down again, pulling an animalistic sound from the depths of her chest. He does this over and over, leaving a trail of bruises down her neck and across her shoulder. His marks aren’t deep enough for a true claiming between shifters, but they would remain on her skin for the next few days, warning away anyone else. A temporary claiming of sorts, enough to satiate Lucien and his wolf until he could truly claim her as his.

Cora’s wolf stirred, accepting his temporary marks as his ownership of her, delighted with his claiming, even if she knew it wasn’t permanent. If Cora wasn’t so blinded by lust and desire for the devil trying to condemn her soul, she’d question why her wolf was so complacent over a mark from a man who wasn’t her mate. But those were small details right now, details Cora had no business considering in this moment.

By the time Lucien pulls away, Cora was breathless. “Good girl,” he breathes, his own voice airy. Cora’s fingers trail up to her neck, delicately brushing the tips of her fingers against the indentations on her skin. A red-hot surge of anger pulses through her veins as the pleasure dissipates and the reality of his actions dawn upon her. She snarls at him, while abruptly bringing her knee to his abdomen in retaliation.

Not reacting kindly to the act, Lucien grips his hand around her throat and pushes her back until her head thumps against the bed. He squeezed tightly, but Cora didn’t care. She felt justified. He growls lowly, a sound of frustration laced with need. “I’m beginning to think you like to be punished, which means I’m just going to have to do better.”

Before she can react, he uses his grip on her bound hands to lift her up and toss her further up the bed like a sack of potatoes. “Motherfucker!” Cora snaps, banging her fists against his chest huffing in dismay. She was not a potato.

As if hearing her frustrated thoughts, he says, “baby, the wind can do more damage than what you’re doing.”

Cora glares as he climbs on top of her, pinning her to the bed beneath him. “Wanna see my claws again, asshole? I’ll add more scars to your ugly face.”

He grinned. “Keep telling yourself that, baby, but we both know my scars make you wet,” he retorts, amusement lacing his words. Cora growls, frustrated by how unbothered he is and because he wasn’t exactly wrong. They did. And right now, the floodgates had opened.

His arms rested either side of her head as he braced himself over her. Her mind told her to continue her fight against him, but her body demanded the sensations that had plagued her mind since meeting him. So when he leans his weight on one arm and uses the other hand to trail down her body, dragging his fingers down the valley of her breasts, continuing their path down her stomach until his fingers brush against the aching place between her thighs, she can’t help but throw her head back against the pillow he’d rested her on.

A strangled moan left her throat, surprising her with her complete lack of self-control. Her body was on fire, suddenly needing to be touched everywhere and all at once. His hand lifts to the edge of her joggers. “Take these off.”

Cora glares at him in disbelief. He c***s a brow, and the act is damning. He looked so unimpressed with her hesitancy. “Now, Cora.” He demands. “I don’t repeat myself. The sooner you learn that the better.”

Attempting to snarl at him, despite it coming out more like a strangled whimper, Cora finally listens. Hooking her thumbs in the band of her joggers, she pulls them down. Though, she was only able to reach mid-thigh before his gigantic body got in the way. But he took the hint, lifting up and ripping the joggers down the rest of the way.

Next, in a swift movement, he elongates his claws and tears through the material of her vest. Her confined breasts burst free, her tightened pebbles causing him to lick his lips with a strained groan. Her wolf purrs in approval. “f*****g beautiful,” he murmurs, his eyes tracing over her body.

He leans over her again, his mouth kissing the last bruise he left on her shoulder. “Do you know what these means?” he whispers, kissing another spot. She shudders beneath his touch, electricity sprouting from the point of contact and dancing across her skin. “They mean I own you. Marked you as mine. They may not be permanent yet, but they will be soon.”

The tip of his tongue darts out, trailing her flesh as he moves down towards her breasts. His teeth pierce the swell of her left breast before leaving another mark on her skin. Once satisfied, he renews his path with his mouth, leaving hickeys on both of her breasts and several across her stomach. Despite fighting against herself, Cora couldn’t help but whimper and moan beneath his touch. Her body was on fire, shuddering at the feel of his tongue so close to the burning ache.

Her whimpers had him growing hard, relishing in the way her skin ignited beneath him and the ghosts of goosebumps rise along her body. He drags his tongue along her lower abdomen, tasting her sweet skin against his taste buds and she shivered again at the sensation. He was bound to break, he could only hold back for so long. The need to immerse himself in her scent, her delicious arousal, was driving him to the brink of insanity. He wanted to have her coated in him.

Her breaths were ragged, her pulse was pounding in her neck as a hoarse moan just barely escaped. His warm, wet lips sending shrills of sparks through her body. When her body is well and abused from his teeth and tongue, he lifts up and forces her thighs open.

His pointer finger curls in the edge of her thong, tracing the lining from the juncture of her thigh, towards her centre. Before he reaches her clit, he pulls the material out and runs his finger up and down the fabric, his finger a mere inch from her core.

“These are soaked,” he rasps out.

“Yeah, well it can get sweaty fighting off a psychopath,” Cora lies. Lucien smiles in response.

“Liars get sent straight to hell, little rose.”

Cora curls her lips. “Seems like I’m already there.”

Lucien chuckles. “Then why does your body respond like my touch is heaven?” He then pulls her thong to the side, baring her p***y to him, and the arousal glistening from within. He mutters a curse beneath his breath as his eyes devour every inch of her.

Keeping one finger hooked, he leans down, close enough for his hot breath to fan across her core. Cora lifts up for a better view just as he looks up at her through long, thick lashes. His piercing blue eyes sparkling with mischief. Right when she opens her mouth to ask what he’s doing, he sticks out his tongue, salvia pooling to the tip and dripping off onto her core. “Can never be too wet, can you, little rose?” f**k. f**k. f**k.

Sitting up, he circles her entrance with the tip of his finger. Slowly, he works his finger inside of her, drawing out both pleasure and pain. She can’t help but lift her hips to meet his thrust, her body begging for him. He withdraws to the tip of his finger, before burying another finger inside of her. She sucks in a sharp gasp and her head falls back, a moan leaving her lips.

No, she couldn’t do this. It was wrong on so many levels. He was wrong on so many levels. But then why did it feel so good? Battling her inner turmoil, Cora rushed up and wrapped her bound wrists behind his neck. She firmly clamped her thighs around his waist, holding him tight as she flipped them over, allowing herself moments of escape from the hazy fog he created as she gained an advantage.

Grinning, he bucks his hips, forcing her grip on him to weaken. As he tries to flip them over again, Cora knees him in the side with her free leg. He grunts, but then places all of his weight on her body, pinning her with his hips. They’re both panting, staring dangerously into the other’s eyes. Two wild animals. One inherent, the other learned. Both feral in the worlds they thrive, meeting the centre of a new jungle. A hunger pitting them against one another until it becomes an intentional bloodbath of dominance.

Lucien shakes his head again, his gaze dropping to her mouth before peering back into her eyes, a look of relief pouring from those dilated pupils. “There she is.”

The way he says it, with a proud look on his face, makes her feel as if every button he pushes is for this purpose alone. To bring out the darkness in her. It shouldn’t excite her the way it did.

“Are you going to behave now? Or do I need to restrain your sweet little body so I can do as I please?” he asks, slowly trailing his hands down from her wrists until they reach her core once again. Without even thinking, she raises her hips to meet him, grinding that sensitive part of herself against him for some much needed friction.

“Good girl,” he says, peering at her lips as his other rough, calloused hand releases her wrists and travels to the curve of her breast. He slaps her breast, causing her to feel the sting travel directly to her centre like a lightening bolt of pleasure, before surprising her by roughly flipping her over on her stomach.

She closes her eyes, feeling breathless and entirely exposed with her ass up in the air, naked and open for him. It was so f****d up how much she wanted him, but when his thumb brushes against her core, a wave of pleasure rocks through her.

“Open wider, baby,” The hand holding her thong from her core nudges against her thigh, and without thought, her thighs instinctively fall further apart. His fingers part her folds, holding her open for his viewing pleasure.

Her head falls into the mattress when his warm, wet tongue laps the length of her. “Oh, god,” she moans at the sensation that was blowing her mind. His lips surround her clit as he suctions the part that aches the most. She was on fire, burning internally with the tightness within her, bound so tight she could burst.

“There you go,” he murmurs into her, flicking her with his tongue again, making the sexiest smacking sounds with his lips. “Call for him. See who comes first.” He flicks his tongue again before sucking on that sensitive, swollen part of her with his lips. “Him, or me.”

His finger runs the length of her slit, and she feels just how wet it is down there. Pushing a finger into her, she bucks her hips back, fisting the comforter between her bound hands on the bed. He curls his finger to that sweet spot inside of her, pleasure swelling inside of her.

Leaning back down, he captures her nub between his teething, sucking in but keeping his bite minimal. Combined with his finger curling up to hit that spot, she could no longer breath. Gently, he scrapes his teeth over the sensitive flesh. Over and over until it drives her mad with both the need for more and the needs to kill him.

His finger curls, sending that blinding pleasure racing throughout her body. “Lucien,” she moans, feeling him remove his finger slowly before adding another. “I’m taking all of this for myself,” he whispers, pulling his fingers out before forcing them back in again.

“You own me now,” he declares, before she feels the sharp sting of a bite on the flesh of her ass. Before she can react, his spare hand grips the hair at her crown and pulls her head back until she was facing the ceiling. He continues to work his fingers inside her as he whispers, “Know this, little rose. There’s no escaping me.”

She swallows, trying to breath through her nose to calm herself and to keep from screaming. Then, she feels his mouth back on her again, and a loud throaty moan leaves her chest. It was as if she had no control over her body anymore. He was the conductor, conducting the chaos inside of her, making it more intense with every stroke of that skilled tongue. “You taste so f*****g sweet. A f*****g delicacy.” He growls against her. Her taste was an aphrodisiac for him, he would never get enough. He’d just found his new favourite meal.

Her eyes roll to the back of her head, her stomach feeling so tight she could explode internally. She could feel the rupture bound to release. His tongue laps at her slit, before an intense flicking mothing vibrates through her as fingers fill her in the place aching to be filled. A cry leaves her lips, breathless and embarrassingly loud.

The pressure builds as he continues his assault. His tongue swirls up to her clit with the perfect amount of pressure, paying special attention to the bud before dipping lower again and spearing the muscle inside of her p***y. Cries of pleasure echo throughout the room, and now she wished she had tape over her mouth to hide the sound of what he was doing to her.

Then, she just loses herself. To him and the thrashing of his tongue on her clit. It’s impossible to resist as the coil deep in her stomach curls painfully tight. She can’t stop him from sucking her clit into his mouth any more than she could control the orgasm from reaching its peak.

She sucks in a sharp breath, a strangled cry escaping as her body falls over the edge. He plunges another finger inside of just as she does, and the bliss is catastrophic. She no longer cares to hold back the sharp screams as euphoria consumes her.

This wasn’t a climb to heaven. It’s a fall from grace. She’ll never recover—not when her soul has been ripped from her body and dragged down to hell. She fell so deeply that she found herself in the devil's lair, being feasted on from the dark god himself.

Moans wrack from her throat, and she feel his answering groan. His hands clutch at her thighs, prying them apart just enough to continue to lap at her throbbing core, riding out the orgasm for longer than her body could handle. He rips his mouth away and crawls up her body while continuing to f**k her with his fingers. She’s still delirious, her mouth still parted as she continued to moan. So, when he pinches her cheeks, holding her mouth open, she hardly cares. His fingers felt too good.

He growls deep in his chest before he crushes his lips to hers. And she lets him. Later, she’ll ask herself why. But with his fingers still drawing out pleasure, despite her orgasm having faded and the fog clouding her judgement— she f*****g lets him. Not only that, but she kisses him back.

His tongue dives into her mouth, swirling with her own. Fire and electricity spark from their connected lips, and it feels like planets colliding. Like the energy is astronomical, and with every brush and every lick, a new star is being born. Time ceases to exist as he kisses her until her lips are bruised, and she was sure she would come out of this with a permanent stutter in her breathing. At one point, he withdrew his fingers and cupped her face with his hands almost sweetly. A stark contrast to... well, him and the way he devours hers.

He yanks himself away when their bodies begin to grind ruthlessly and moans slip free, and she’s glad for it. The second he retreats, it’s like time and clarity come rushing back in, hitting her over the head like someone just clocked her with a bat. Being consumed by him feels like drowning in water with a live wire in it. Electric currents ravish your body until you’re overcome with it. No oxygen. No thought. No control.

He leaned back as he continued watching her. She could feel the desire. The thirst. The absolute ravenous beast threatening to tear from his skin. If it did, she could no longer trust herself to stop him from consuming her from the inside out.

But then, Lucien stands as he pulls a single pink rose from his back pocket and drops it beside her. He turns without a word and heads for the door. Then he paused, turning his head just enough for the moonlight to reveal his sharp jawline. “See you soon, little rose.” Then he leaves, the door gently clicking shut behind him.