Chapter 163: Little Prey’s Prey

Aria expected Feral to argue, so it caught her completely off guard when he simply said, "Okay."

"Okay?" She eyed him suspiciously. That had been far too easy, considering the wolf had been trying to get into her pants practically from the moment he’d appeared.

"Let’s sleep, little prey," Feral said. "Can’t wait to have you all wrapped up in my arms."

Aria made a face. "Is there no other name you can call me besides prey? That title feels so awkward."

"It fits you perfectly," Feral countered. "Every time you try to run, I’ll be there to catch you."

"I’m not running anymore." The admission came easier than Aria expected. She was finally beginning to accept that whatever existed between them wasn’t something she needed to spend every second fighting. "As long as you don’t hurt me."

"Never." There was no teasing in Feral’s voice this time. The word came with such absolute conviction that Aria felt it settle somewhere deep inside her chest, almost like a vow. She believed him, and that realization brought a smile to her lips.

"Let’s sleep then." Aria lay back on the bed, expecting him to follow after her. Instead, Feral stood.

"What are you—?" Aria trailed off the moment he pulled his shirt over his head, and suddenly she was staring at Feral’s—no, Maverick’s—God, both of their body. This whole sharing-one-body situation was going to give her a headache.

Unfortunately, the body in question was distracting enough to make her forget all about that headache. Smooth, unblemished light olive skin stretched over a broad, defined chest before giving way to the hard ridges of his abdomen.

Aria’s eyes traveled lower, unable to help it, following the faint trail of dark hair disappearing toward the deep V that vanished beneath his waistband. For one dangerous second, she found herself wondering exactly what it would feel like to trace the same path with her fingers.

When she finally dragged her attention back to his face, Feral was already watching her. The smug satisfaction in his eyes told her he’d noticed every single second of her shameless inspection.

"Perfect, aren’t I?" he asked.

His confidence seriously needed to be studied.

"What do you think you’re doing?" Aria demanded, her voice coming out louder than she’d intended in her embarrassment.

"You said we’d cuddle in bed." Feral looked genuinely confused by her outrage. "I don’t sleep with clothes on."

"Excuse me?" Aria stared at him, wondering if perhaps she’d misunderstood.

Feral winked. "I run hot."

Before Aria could decide how to respond to that, Feral unfastened his pants and pushed them down, stepping out of them without the slightest hint of shame. He was left standing there in nothing but black boxer briefs, and Aria’s jaw nearly dropped.

The fitted fabric did absolutely nothing to preserve her innocence, especially when her eyes betrayed her by dipping downward long enough to notice the rather generous outline beneath them.

Oh, dear God.

Feral caught her staring and hooked his fingers beneath the waistband of his briefs. "Want a preview?"

And yes, the wolf had been born without a single ounce of shame or self-preservation, because he actually started tugging the waistband downward. Aria flew off the bed and grabbed his fingers before he could get any further.

"Are you fucking out of your mind?!" Aria whisper-yelled, painfully aware that there were three other women sleeping only a few walls away.

Feral smirked. "Saving it for when we mate properly, eh?"

This insufferable pervert of a wolf! How could he possibly share a body with the honorable, poised Maverick she knew?

"How are you so shameless?" Aria demanded, still thoroughly flustered and completely unable to understand how his mind worked.

"Anything for my mate," Feral declared.

Aria’s breath caught in her throat. He said the word mate with such pride and affection that it sounded less like a claim and more like something precious to him. Feral made the bond she’d spent so much time fearing feel warm and strangely safe. It was almost ridiculous that she’d been so terrified of what it meant to belong to him.

"Also..." Feral continued, a wicked glint entering his eyes. "Just because you don’t want to see it yet doesn’t mean you can’t feel it."

Aria understood exactly what he meant when the fingers she had wrapped around his waistband shifted beneath hers, drawing her attention dangerously lower. She swallowed, caught between the sensible voice telling her she had already established the rules for tonight and the far less sensible part of her that was suddenly very curious about how far she was willing to bend them.

Before Aria could decide which side was winning, Feral’s hand moved over hers. Instead of continuing on his own, he slowly guided her hand lower, his eyes never leaving her face. He watched her carefully, giving Aria every opportunity to pull away. For all his shameless teasing and insistence on having his mate, Feral wasn’t forcing the choice from her. He wanted her to make it.

Aria held his gaze, having no idea where the sudden confidence came from. She could have pulled her hand away, and something in his eyes told her he would have let her. Instead, she allowed him to guide her, answering the unspoken question between them with one of her own. She might not be ready to give him everything he wanted tonight, but she wasn’t afraid of wanting him either.

Aria gasped the moment her hand made contact, her fingers meeting something warm, steel-hard, yet undeniably flesh. Everything about him felt tightly packed together, overwhelming in a way that left her slightly dizzy and disoriented by just how much of him there was to take in without being able to see.

Still holding her hand in his, Feral guided her blindly toward his straining length, letting her map him entirely through touch since she couldn’t see him. That was exactly what he wanted anyway, her fingers learning every inch of him without the distraction of sight. He helped her begin to stroke him, slow and clumsy at first, her breathing already ragged.

Aria was flustered during those first few strokes, unsure of herself, but the way Feral reacted beneath her hand—the hitch in his breath, the low sound rumbling in his chest—emboldened her quickly. She grew bolder with every pass, oddly delighted by the way he felt in her palm, hot and pulsing and entirely at her mercy for once.

"Look at you," Feral rasped, his voice thick with want. "Sitting on top of the world with the predator caught in your little trap, eh, little prey?"

That word again. Prey.

It struck a nerve, and Aria decided right then to remind him exactly what prey could do when cornered.

She reached lower, blindly seeking out the sensitive weight of him through his briefs, and squeezed, firm and unforgiving. That single act of retaliation, paired with the relentless drag of her hand along his length, was more than enough to shatter him completely.

Feral came apart beneath her touch, and Aria saw every second of it: the way his muscles seized, the veins straining beneath his heated skin, his mouth falling open on a broken groan, his whole body trembling as release rippled through him in violent waves.

Watching Maverick’s body respond that way, even knowing it was Feral in control, left her feeling strange, caught between fascination and unease at what she’d just done to the body of her mate and professor.

Aria finally pulled her hand free, slick with his release, staring at it with wide-eyed curiosity as the reality of what she’d just witnessed slowly sank in.

Feral recovered enough to speak, his voice rough and satisfied. "Next time, little prey, my seed will be deep inside you."

It sounded like both a promise and a warning, and something about the way he said it made her stomach flip.

Aria deliberately reached out then, wiping her slick fingers slowly across his boxers, uncaring when the movement brushed against his already oversensitive length through the fabric. She felt him twitch beneath her touch, a sharp hiss slipping past his teeth, but Aria didn’t apologize. Instead, she savored the small taste of power she’d found in undoing him.

"Until next time," Aria said, pulling her hand back completely, satisfaction lacing her voice. "Now go clean up, Feral Wolf."