Tangled in Moonlight: Unshifted (Ava and Lucas)

Chapter 43 Ava: Virgin Heat (lll)

| don't want to think. | nuzzle my nose into Clayton's neck and breathe him in, hearing Selene growling in the

back of my head. "For what?"

"For all of it. But for claiming you when you toldno." | can feel his hands brushing against my neck, and

pleasure and pain course through me. I can still feel him in my head, but the presence is fading. He sounds

puzzled. "It didn't take, though. Why didn't it take?"

| shake my head. "I don't know." But | can guess it has something to do with me.

Clayton continues to caress my neck. "This looks terrible. Like a wolf tore your neck apart. It looks like I tried to

kill you."

"Mmm." I'm tired, and trying to ignore the little flares of heat in my abdomen that are trying to cback.

My body can't take another round of this. But | want one.

"You were a virgin," Clayton continues. He's very talkative after sex, | guess.

He sounds grim. I finally open one eye to look at him, and he looks furious. "I'm sorry?"

"No, I'm sorry. Your first tshould have never been like that."

His fingers trail through the tangled strands, gently working out the knots. | can't help but lean into his touch,

savoring the tenderness, the gentle affection.

"I'm so sorry, Ava," he murmurs, his breath warm against my temple. "I never wanted to hurt you like this. | tried

so hard to stay away and keep you safe."

A pang of guilt twists in my chest at the remorse in his voice. | already know he never meant to hurt me. He did

everything he could.

"It's okay," | whisper through the roughness in my throat. "I understand."

Clayton shakes his head, his fingers continuing their soothing motions. "No, it's not okay. Your first tshould

have been special, not a frenzied mess driven by instinct and heat." He presses a tender kiss to my forehead. "|

promise, when this is all over, I'll make it up to you."

A flicker of hope ignites withinat his words. The idea of experiencing true intimacy with Clayton, without the

haze of heat and desperation clouding our senses, fillswith a longing | can't quite put into words.

It's something I'd hoped to find with Lucas.

"Just rest now, my love," he murmurs, his fingers trailing down my spine in a featherlight caress. "Lettake

care of you."

| can feel my heat creeping back into me, desperate for more. His tender affections feed it, and my starving soul.

| can't help it when my hips grind down a little on his cock, embedded inside of me. "Clayton."

"No, Ava. You need a break."

"Clayton," | say again, rubbing harder. | can feel him growing inside of me.

Did | say my body couldn't take another round? Because it disagrees. It wants another. A lot of anothers.

"Clayton," | whisper into his ear, licking my way down his neck and breathing in his scent. It smells mate-y, in a

wrong way.

I'm reminded of Lucas, and a part ofwants to pull myself away in horror. I've cheated on my fated mate.

Another part ofdoesn't care. Isn't okay to have this one as my mate? He's gentle and kind. And even if the

mating bond didn't take, we can just try again.

It's not cheating, Selene interjects. He rejected you. Your mate bond is void.

Then why didn't Clayton's claim take?

Selene goes silent again. | think she's givingmy privacy. Normally, I'd be frustrated and demand more

answers, but—I have other concerns on on my mind.

| can see Clayton's eyes flare with a hint of yellow. His wolf is there. His wolf must be the one that kept

brutalizing my neck.

It felt good, though. The pain had pushedinto another plane of pleasure.

"Ava."

"Mmm?" | nibble where his neck meets his shoulder, as his hands grow a little more insistent.

"| cinside of you."

"I know." | was there, after all.

His hands slide down, kneading my ass, liftinga little and then slammingback down, over and over, in an

agonizingly slow rhythm. Just enough to build my desire without giving any real relief from it.

This isn't enough.

"My wolf is demanding that | breed you," he says, and every part ofshivers in delight.

"Yes," | say, as Selene groans in my head.

You don't want pups, Ava.

| probably don't, but my brain and body are united in wanting Clayton to breedright now.

Thankfully, Clayton seems to be more in tune with himself than | am. "I'm so sorry," he whispers, leaning forward

to brush his lips against my head. The kiss is chaste, in direct contrast to his wandering hands and gently rolling

hips. "I promise, I'll take care of you and our pups. You won't want for anything."

"Wait, wait—" the reality is starting to catch up to me, just a little. "There's no guarantee I'm pregnant. Right?"

"Well—"

Well—

| grind against him in frustration with his movements, even as I'm telling myself to stop.

But | can't.

"It's only a probability, right?" | hope I'm not. Shit. | don't even know what I'm going to do if I am.

"Not if I can help it," he growls. Selene sighs in my head, but all my misgivings disappear as Clayton's

movements becmore frantic. His eyes are wild again, his nostrils flaring at my scent. His kiss is gentler than

| expect, even as his fingers dig into my ass and hips. | know I'm going to be bruised all over by the tthis is

done.

This tickles my brain for sreason. Injuries. Wait. Why am | not hurting from the accident?

Oh, you are, Selene mutters. But you're too horny to care right now. Even if you get pregnant with an entire litter

of pups!

Clayton bites hard enough to draw blood from my lower lip, before suckling it away. "Stop thinking," he orders