And somehow she did.
Her body opened for him.
Just for him.
Instinctually Mia knew she wouldn't react this way for any other alpha…because they weren't him. They weren't Ty. They weren't hers.
That certainty only grew with every pulse and stroke of his body inside hers. There was no one else who could make her feel this way. No one who could please her. Satisfy her. Complete her.
There was only Ty.
She dug her fingers into his shoulders as she neared the edge of ultimate pleasure. She pressed herself flush against him. But still, it wasn't enough.
Something was missing.
A need just out of reach.
A desire that would only be fulfilled if she leaned forward and clamped her teeth down on the flesh of his shoulder.
Mia gasped at the realization.
A claiming bite. That's what she was craving.
And apparently so was Ty.
"That's what you need," he purred against her ear. Cradling the back of her head in his open palm, he guided her toward his shoulder. "Do it. Make me yours."
Mia's lips parted. The tip of her tongue flicked across his skin. Warm and salty—the sensations filled her mouth. All she had to do was bite down, and he would be hers. Now and forever. She could bask this sensual heaven until her dying day.
And all she had to do was give her soul away.
The senator's daughter.
Josh's victim.
Ty's omega.
The memory flashed in her head right before she bit down. Always someone else's. Never her own.
At the last second, Mia twisted her head to the side. Pressing her cheek into his shoulder, she allowed herself to be swept away by powerful waves of pleasure—an orgasm that shook her down to the core.
Ty roared out in a strange mixture of frustration and ecstasy as his cock pulsed hard within her, his knot forming and locking them together tight. His head fell the moment he was spent inside her. His breath was shallow, far from the long, contented sighs that usually followed sex.
When he finally lifted his head and looked at her, she could see the disappointment in his eyes.
"Why?"
Mia didn't have to ask what he meant. She could practically feel the pain seeping out of him. He'd wanted—needed—her bite. Her claim. The brand that would tie them together. And he felt betrayed that she hadn't given him what he craved.
She stiffened in anger beneath him. Sure, it was hard to get upset so soon after a ground-shaking orgasm and when his cock was still filling her, but somehow Mia managed to work up a little annoyance.
It wasn't fair for him to make any more demands of her.
"I already told you," she said. "My body may know you, but my mind doesn't. Not yet, at least."
His lips pressed together. Mia caught another glimpse of the dried flecks of blood on his hands.
Dustin and Josh's blood.
The blood of the last people who had disappointed him.
Usually, the thought would have made Mia wither. The thought of that kind of violence would have had her begging for another chance to make amends. To give him everything he wanted.
But not this time.
Somehow she knew Ty wouldn't hurt her. He might get upset. He might shout. He might glower down at her with the darkest look he could muster. But he wouldn't touch her in violence.
He straightened his arm, propping himself even higher above her. Still fastened to the bulb of his knot, Mia had to shift to follow his hips.
"So, you're what?" he asked with a sharp glare. "Waiting to see if a bigger, stronger alpha comes around?"
Mia shook her head. "Of course not."
"Then tell me what you're waiting for."
Mia thought for a moment before answering. She didn't really expect him to understand. How could he? Ty had always been his own man. He had no idea what it was like to be the prisoner of everyone else's expectations.
But the claiming bite was her choice to make. Her only choice in this life she found herself living, and by God, she would be the one to make it.
"For when the time feels right," she said.
The grumble that shook through his body made it clear that wasn't the answer he was hoping for. "And when the hell is that going to be?"
"I don't know," Mia answered honestly.
"When will you know?"
"I don't know."
His eyes narrowed. The muscles along his back tightened. Even the knot inside her pulsed with the ferocity of his emotions.
"What the hell do you know?"
Mia lifted her chin defiantly. "That you're not going to intimidate me into claiming you."
"That isn't what I'm trying to do," he said tightly. "I just don't think you know what's at stake here."
The hell she didn't. Her whole future. The path of her life. Her very nature. She understood everything.
"I'll tell you the one thing I know for sure," she said, staring the alpha straight in the eye. "It's that if you are the one, and this is meant to be, then me taking a few extra days to make up my mind isn't going to change a goddamned thing."
Chapter Eight
The sex was amazing.
Mia had come more times in the past three days than she had in her whole life combined.
But she still hadn't given Ty her claiming bite, and she didn't know when—or if—she would.
It didn't help that every day Ty grew more and more frustrated and closed off. Feeling him release that pent up energy between her legs was one thing, but dealing with him grumbling and seething for the rest of the day in the small cabin was another.
There was no relief when he stormed out the door to work outside. Even though she knew he was less than a mile away chopping wood or hunting, she couldn't help but miss him. Sometimes painfully. It seemed the farther away he went, the stronger her desire for him grew.
And that drove her crazy. Her life had been boiled down to three separate emotions—on edge when he was around, longing for him when he was gone, or riding waves of bliss when
