Chapter 2

~ELENA~

When our mating ceremony finally came, Emmet didn’t smile once. As we walked down the aisle, our fingers interlocked, I kept looking up at him searching his face. A flicker of joy. A softening. Anything.

But nothing.

He smiled but not at me. I wished he would look at me for once with some form of affection. My heart felt heavy with yearning and a day of joy and commitment slowly flickered into a sorrowful parade.

What I feared most wasn’t his coldness anymore. It was being invisible. Unwanted. Unloved.

Still, I told myself: Now that I’m his wife, he’ll see me. He’ll love me. I drew in a deep reassuring breath and felt a little relief.

After the ceremony, I retired to my chambers to meet my new maids waiting. Chief among them, Gotha, an older woman with sharp eyes and gentle hands.

“We’ll prepare you now,” she said simply, her tone soft. And I knew exactly what she was talking about.

They bathed me in perfumed water and oiled my skin with something sweet and floral. I stepped into a white flowing nightdress, soft against my skin, my heart hammering. Was I ready?

I stepped into the shadows called Emmet's chambers, the room dim, almost eerie. My steps faltered. The silence stung my ears.

He wasn't here.

I just stood there, trembling.

Asking myself once again what was going to happen if he walked in to meet me? What would he first say or do? Was I ready for this? I was until now...

And he wasn't even in. I turned around facing the door, uncertain.

“What kept you?” His voice cuts through the darkness like a spear.

I turned slowly as he emerged from the shadows.

First thing I saw were his eyes, literally glimmering from the dark, dominant, unreadable. In response, my shoulders sloped slowly.

"I…”

“Save it,” he said, as he reached beside me and bent.

He switched the bedside lamp on and a soft golden light spilled into the room. He was bare, except for a towel wrapped around his thin waist. His smooth skin radiated under the light, it looked like honey. I wanted to touch it.

As he rises fully to face me, my eyes traced the lines of his shoulders. I had never paid this much up-close attention to his well-defined and toned pecs which rose and fell to the rhythm of his breathing. I gulped as my eyes trailed around the ridges on his belly and I tried not to follow the lines of his groin drawn from his waistline down into the towel.

Was this still awe? Or is this what lust feels like?

I realized he must be watching me too and I looked up. His eyes swept over me, slow and unreadable. I looked down in shame.

“Take your dress off.”

His command came when I least expected it and I felt a chill down my spine.

"I won't repeat it." His tone was barely above a whisper, yet there was no mistaking the urgency threading through each word.

Slowly, I eased one strap from my shoulder, then the other, my fingers trembling just slightly. The silk dress slid down my skin like a faint breath, settling gently around my hips.

As I stood there, I watched his eyes travel across my breasts, then up my shoulders, my neck before trailing back down my stomach. A shudder escape my lips as he reached for the dress around my waist himself. With a single yank, I was standing completely bare.

He moved around me in slow circles, and my heart pounded harder with every step he took. All these years, I could run from him all I wanted. But now, I was frozen.

When he paused behind me, my heart stopped and I felt the warmth of his chest brush my back-a silent touch that made me forget to breathe. Then, just as quietly, he stepped forward again, his gaze meeting mine.

"Turn around"

I did and found myself facing his bed -it didn't appear to me as a bed now. If felt like a platform where I was going to be offered as a lamb to this wolf behind me. I took a terrified gulp.

I felt a thousand sparks on my skin as his fingers brushed through my hair with masculine softness, sweeping it over one shoulder, leaving my back exposed to him. I stiffened slightly as his hand settled at the nape of my neck, his touch intense.

"I've been looking forward to this too, little shrimp." His whisper filled my ear and before I could even process, I found myself chest flat on the bed with a single push followed by his crushing weight on me almost immediately.

Quickly, I planted my hands against the surface of the bedframe to still myself. I felt his fingers drawing lines down my spine teasingly.

His finger kept trailing till I felt its slow slide into my core- unexpected. My eyes dropped shut as I felt a sudden tremor grip me, as if every nerve in me had just been awoken. He turned and twisted inside me- a shiver of pleasure shot down my spine, so intense it nearly buckled my knees.

He must've noticed my purge of pleasure cause he let out a soft amused scoff before I felt his continued breathing over my ear. He started out slowly but when I thought he was done, his finger slid out of me only to replace it with the thickness of his cock and I pressed my face against the bed to soak up the shooting tears.

As he continued in his rhythmic dance, his hands gripped my shoulders, firm and commanding, and a low growl rolled out of his throat-a sound that made my body thrum with heat. I was already trembling, nails digging deep into the bedding, anchoring myself as wave after wave of anticipation coiled in my belly.

He yanked my hair back, forcing my neck arching. A sharp gasp tore off my lips as my chest lifted off the sheets, spine curving instinctively toward him. The hurting-I ached for more. I could feel him-with every added inch-pressing against the deepest parts of me.

A searing heat unfurled between my thighs-wet, warm, and smearing explosion. I couldn't tell if it was pain or pleasure. It burned, but I craved it.

His hands left my shoulders, trailing down my sides, slow and deliberate, making my skin pebble beneath his touch. He found my breasts, cupping them possessively, his fingers kneading and pinching with dexterity until a moan tore from my throat, unbidden and loud. I couldn't hold it back anymore.

I heard him chuckle low behind me, the sound wicked and satisfied. "Aren't you a shameless slut?." He murmured smoothly and I bit down on my lip, desperate to keep myself from falling apart too soon-like I always do.

His hips kept moving; deep, measured thrusts that left no space between us, our gasps filled the dark air. His hands slid down again, abandoning my breasts only to clamp tight around my waist. And then he drove in harder.

My body rocked beneath him, caught between the weight of his grip and the way he filled me so completely. I cried.

It was overwhelming.

Every moan he dragged from my lips seemed to drive him further, deeper into the raw edge of pleasure where pain met ecstasy, and I welcomed it, shaking, breathless, begging in silence for more.

Each thrust felt like a challenge, daring me to break. But I bit my lip hard refusing to yield.

When he pulled away, I lay there breathless, limbs boneless, still anchored to the sheets.

He leans over me again- and his lips press to my ear, sending a tremor through my core.

"You weren't as bad as I imagined, little shrimp." he chuckled, giving my hair a caressing tug. "Your first time, and you already know how to please."

He admitted he was pleased with me? For once? My heart fluttered in disbelief, thudding wildly.

A rare kind of joy bloomed in my chest, soft and uncertain. I was holding back my smile.

But before I could hold onto that fragile hope, his voice rose -firm and bitting above me;

"But what you must never forget is that... I, Emmet Domean can not be tied down by mate bond. You're mine and mine alone and you belong to my bed ... Only! That's the only use you're ever gonna be to me."