Chapter 52: You will take care of it

On the distant periphery of my consciousness, right at the fragile edge of sleep, a fleeting phrase echoed like part of a dream. Rough, gravelly, and low:

"What a troublesome breeder you are..."

I woke to a suffocating wave of intense heat and crushing weight.

Something was literally pressing down on me, heavy as a concrete slab against my back, pinning me into the mattress until I could barely draw a proper breath. I was trapped beneath the solid, searing mass of a living, breathing body.

Panicking, I squirmed and twisted beneath the weight, trying desperately to break free. As the lingering haze of sleep dissolved, the terrifying memory of how yesterday had ended rushed back to me.

I had fallen asleep on the sofa in the living room. Yet I was waking up in pitch-black darkness, lying on a surface far too wide and plush to be the couch. Scrambling out from under the heavy limb draped across me, my trembling fingers blindly searched the space around me, only to realize I was lying in a massive bed.

With Magnus.

The entire space was saturated with his concentrated, intoxicating scent. It hung heavy in the air, filling my lungs and clinging to my skin, tightening every muscle in anxious anticipation.

The moment I tried to sit up and slide off the edge of the mattress, a thick, blazing arm clamped around my waist and ruthlessly hauled me back into the sheets.

A jolt shot through me—a sharp spike of icy terror tangled with something hotter, wilder, and utterly terrifying.

"Is that how you wake your Alpha in the morning?" His voice rumbled right beside me, low, gravelly, and dark with sleep. I felt his hot breath scorch the sensitive skin behind my ear.

"W-what?" I gasped, freezing instantly under the unyielding pressure of his arm.

My heart hammered so violently against my ribs I thought it would shatter them. My throat went completely dry. I could feel every line of his body pressed flush against my back—solid, burning hot, and far too close.

That terrifying proximity sent all my instincts spiraling, torn between the desperate urge to break free and a strange, dark need to press closer into his heat, especially as the room’s freezing drafts brushed against my exposed skin.

"You’re wearing too many clothes," Magnus growled softly, a dark promise lacing his words. My entire frame locked up as a cold shiver of dread paralyzed me.

Then he did the last thing I expected––he nipped the lobe of my ear. Not hard enough to break skin, but with enough firm pressure to send a searing wave straight through my system, making me gasp.

His teeth scraped gently against the hypersensitive flesh, sending sharp currents down my spine that made my breath catch and my core coil in a sweet, agonizing ache.

"Magnus..." I breathed out, trying to push away by planting my palms against the sheets. But he only tightened his grip on my waist, pulling me so flush against him that I could feel every hard muscle of his body.

"Quiet," he whispered against my neck, his velvet voice vibrating right against my skin. "You don’t want to make me angry first thing in the morning, do you, breeder?"

His lips dragged lower, trailing down the slope of my neck to press directly over the frantic pulse fluttering in my throat. I squeezed my eyes shut and froze into a tight knot, trapped in the crossfire between absolute fear and the dangerous, primitive pull of the Alpha claiming me.

"Magnus, what are you doing? What are you planning?" My voice cracked into a breathless whisper.

Gasping for air, I began to twist and writhe frantically in his grasp, desperate to break free. But he held me with an iron grip so unyielding that I could barely move anything but my legs, uselessly digging my heels into his rock-hard muscles.

I fought with everything I had to push him off, to shove him away, but it was like trying to move a mountain made of solid stone. The panic surged from deep in my gut, choking my throat, cutting off my air, and burning through my nerves like acid.

"I want my breeder," he said simply. Casually. As if he were asking for a cup of coffee or taking a stroll, creating a terrifying contrast with what he did next.

His lips trailed down from my ear to my throat—hot, damp, and leaving a trail of fire that scorched my sensitive skin.

He buried his nose in my hair and drew in a deep, greedy breath, trying to saturate himself with my scent. That raw, predatory action sent a violent shiver cascading from the base of my neck all the way to my fingertips. My breathing hitched into ragged, uncontrollable gasps.

"No! Don’t touch me!" I screamed, thrashing against his hold, but he didn’t listen.

His hands roamed freely over my body—dominantly tracing my sides, gripping my waist, and sliding upward.

Then the world spun as he abruptly released his hold on my torso, only to pin both of my wrists above my head into the pillow. He slammed them down so hard my joints throbbed, sending a fresh spike of terror ripping through my mind.

"It’s just sex, Lang," he growled, looming over me in the pitch-black room, his eyes glowing with an eerie silver sheen. "You’re my breeder, which means you’re going to take care of this for me."

He yanked one of my hands from the pillow and forced my palm down onto him. Goddess. The sheer heat and solid mass beneath my fingers—even through the thick fabric of his sweatpants—was terrifying.

A wave of dizziness washed over me, black spots dancing across my vision at the realization of what he was asking.

"Are you... what?! You’ll tear me apart!" I tried to yank my hand back, clawing blindly at his fingers, but his grip was unyielding. He forced my hand to curl around his length, dragging my palm up and down a few slow times just to make sure I understood the full, impossible reality of him.

If he thought that would quiet me, he was wrong. It sent my panic past its breaking point into total, unreasoning terror.

"It won’t tear you apart. Trust me. It’s going to feel very, very good," he whispered, his voice dropping into a dark, hypnotic register.

Magnus used his knees to force my legs apart, settling his weight firmly between my thighs. But I managed to wrench my hand free and slammed my palm against his hard, burning chest.

"Magnus, stop! Wait! I can’t do this!" I screamed, my voice unrecognizable as I dragged my nails across his bare skin, leaving sharp red tracks.

He responded by slamming a heavy hand over my bare stomach. My top had ridden up to my bra line, and his palm was so scorching hot it felt like it would leave a permanent mark.

Without breaking stride, Magnus hooked a finger under the edge of my bra cup and slid his hand inside, cupping my breast entirely and squeezing the soft flesh with possessive confidence. The air between us grew impossibly dense, charged with suffocating heat and tension.

A violent shiver racked my frame—not of pleasure, but of pure terror tangled with a dark, primal pull I refused to acknowledge, a bond I was terrified to give in to.