Chapter 86: Are you afraid of me?

His massive hands clamped around my waist, his fingers digging possessively into my flesh. He pressed himself flush against me, obliterating every millimeter of space between us until I was forced to feel the searing heat of his body—every iron-hard muscle locked tight, and the heavy, unyielding proof of his arousal grinding against my thighs.

"—You are mine. Mine alone. You drive me mad, Jane... you push every damn button..."

Without tearing his lips from my neck, he shifted his grip with swift, impatient power. He hooked my legs around his torso and cupped my rear, lifting me as if I weighed nothing at all. Then his mouth crashed over mine in a fierce, ravenous, almost punishing kiss, making my lips swell and burn.

The sheer ease with which he carried me across the long hallway and into the spacious living room—flooded with light from the floor-to-ceiling panoramic windows—terrified me even as a lightning strike of heat flared through my veins.

He dropped onto the massive leather sofa, bringing me down on top of him. Straddling his lap with my knees spread wide, I felt his intense hardness pulsing, scorching hot between my thighs, even through layers of denim. The contact sent a wave of dizzying sensation straight to my core.

"Look at you," he growled into my ear, gripping my chin and forcing me to face the grand mirror mounted on the wall opposite us. I felt a sudden pang of regret, cursing the existence of that stupid mirror. "Look at how you look right now. You were made to be mine."

His palms slid beneath the fabric of my top, tracing searing paths up my back. My skin broke into goosebumps wherever he touched. When his fingers found the clasp of my bra, I gasped in sheer panic, grabbing his heavy wrists with trembling hands to stop him.

"Wait... please, no..." I breathed out frantically, breaking from his burning lips. "I’m not ready for this... I’m really not... I’m scared..."

Magnus let out a guttural, feral growl from deep within his chest. The raw, animalistic sound vibrated straight through his ribcage into mine, triggering a flash of primal dread inside me.

Before I could speak another word, he captured my mouth in another ruthless kiss, swallowing my protests and devouring the breath from my lungs. His massive hands gripped the thick seam of my jeans directly between my thighs—and with a single, terrifying exertion of Alpha strength, he ripped the heavy denim apart. The fabric tore with a loud, violent pop that echoed off the high walls.

I shrieked in shock, my eyes snapping wide as horror flooded through me. Something was deeply wrong.

Gathering whatever fraction of sanity I had left, I pressed my palm flat against his forehead—his skin was slick with heat and sweat—and shoved his head back, forcefully tearing myself away from his mouth.

"What is wrong with you?! Magnus!" I cried out, staring into his dilated eyes.

The icy grey irises had nearly vanished, swallowed whole by absolute blackness, leaving only a thin ring of color around the edge. Looking into his eyes was like staring into the maw of a wild, untamed beast.

"My rut is starting," Magnus rasped out, his voice so thick and inhuman that genuine terror gripped my chest. "And I can’t wait anymore. I’ve held back around you for too damn long."

A wave of painful heat crashed through my veins. A terrifying realization settled over me like a heavy weight: if his rut was coming on—if it was starting tonight or tomorrow—then regardless of whether I was ready, regardless of whether I wanted this...

My knees trembled violently at the thought of what was to come, what his unbridled rut would do to me, and whether I could even survive it.

"Are you afraid of me?"

His massive, scalding palm cupped the back of my head, his fingers tangling tightly—almost painfully—into my disheveled hair. He yanked back just enough to force my gaze up to his, dragging me utterly close, leaving me no escape. He growled directly against my trembling lips, his ragged breath scorching my face.

"Don’t be. Because I am never letting you go. Never. Do you understand me? Even if you try to run—I will track you down. Even if you hide—I will drag you back out. You are mine. Forever."

The absolute obsession and possessive certainty in his voice sent a sharp shiver racing down my spine.

"But I will be careful with you right now," his voice softened just a fraction, though dark, volatile currents still swirled in his dilated irises. "I promise you. You’re going to love what I do to you... And then, when the rut fully hits, I will take you exactly how I want. Exactly how I’ve been starving to for weeks."

"Will you... will you be able to control yourself even a little during the rut?" I whispered uncertainly, my trembling voice betraying the sheer terror I felt toward the unknown. "Please... tell me you can..."

Magnus looked up at me from beneath heavy brows—a dark, calculating glare steeped in predatory passion. A slow, dangerous smirk stretched across his lips, revealing his lengthening fangs.

"With you right beside me? Smelling your scent, which drives me out of my fucking mind?" He dragged his tongue across my lower lip, and I felt the needle-sharp tips of his fangs scrape against my skin. "Hardly, sweetheart. In fact, I won’t be able to hold back at all. I’ll take you so many times you’ll lose count. I’ll ride you until you beg me to stop. And even then, I won’t."

His words should have frightened me to death, but a traitorous, molten heat pooled deep in my stomach instead. What scent is he even talking about? I haven’t even awakened as a breeder yet... Could he really just be talking about my apple-and-honey body wash?

Before I could process it, his mouth crashed down on mine again with ravenous fury. He captured my swollen lips in a brutal, punishing kiss, tearing at them mercilessly and biting down until I tasted the sharp, metallic tang of blood on my tongue. He dragged my tongue into his mouth, sucking hard as his powerful arms crushed my hot body against his. His fingers dug into my waist with a punishing grip—leaving bruises that I knew would match the shape of his hands tomorrow.

His scorching palms slid beneath the thin fabric of my underwear, gripping my rear so hard I gasped out a loud, involuntary groan directly into his mouth. At the same time, I felt the massive, rock-hard length pressed directly between my thighs. It pulsed with searing heat beneath me, so overwhelmingly large that terror and desire fused into a dizzying haze.

Sweet heaven... is that huge, throbbing heat really supposed to fit inside me? Enter me? I’m going to die. I’m actually going to die.