But this sensation? She'd never experienced anything like it before. It wasn't just that she wanted to pay attention to it—she had to. Every touch, every caress, every glance from this alpha bade her body to react, sending electric urges along her nerves and forcing her to submit.
And Faith couldn't help but obey.
But these feelings were too new…and too much. They threatened to rob her of her control.
Faith wasn't sure if she could handle that. Fear made her pull back, searching wildly for some defense, something to hold onto. Her fingers scrabbled in the snow, aching with cold, desperate for an anchor.
There was none to be had.
So instead, she lifted her hands to Troy's shoulders. Instantly, the heat of his skin radiated through her, bringing life back into her stiff fingers. She ran her hands along his hard muscle and hung on tight.
That was much better. Faith sighed and relaxed into the feeling of his body. Everything about Troy was strong and certain, allowing her enough calm to push the fear away and simply experience what she was feeling.
Her hips started moving again. Instinctively, they rocked back in forth in little circles. Her body seemed to know what she needed.
It was almost as though there was someone else inside her—another Faith who knew what she wanted and felt no shame. A Faith who knew how to move to satisfy her needs.
The alpha murmured his rumbling approval against her ear. The sensation was enough to make Faith's body convulse with another wet wave, drenching his fingers.
Troy tensed, and Faith bit her lip, embarrassment threatening to swallow her whole.
"I'm sorry," she said in a rush, releasing him and pushing herself up on her elbows. "I can't stop it from happening."
Troy laughed, a rich, sensual sound. "I don't want you to stop. I just want more."
He began moving down her body, kissing her through the fabric of her dress. She cried out when he teased her nipples gently with his teeth as if to prove that he was the one in control.
Too late, Faith remembered what he had promised to do.
Taste her.
She gasped as his head ducked down between her legs. Cradling her bare bottom in his massive hands, he lifted her hips up off the snow.
Faith fell back, helpless in his grasp. She'd thought he'd been bluffing.
No, that wasn't true—she had desperately wanted to believe that he'd been bluffing. But now it was clear that he'd meant every last word.
"Troy, don't," she begged, the wrongness of what he was doing suddenly eclipsing her urges, overcoming her helplessness. "This is—"
Sinful.
She was going to tell him it was a sin, to try to save them both.
But before she could open her mouth, his lips covered her in the most intimate kiss possible. Faith cried out as sensation took over. A shudder wracked her body when his tongue replaced his thumb, pressing and flicking with expert skill against that magical place.
The wet heat of his tongue and lips transformed and magnified the pleasure she was feeling, driving it to new heights. It was almost unbearable—and yet she not only bore it but ached for more, her back arching to invite him deeper, harder, not even knowing what could possibly come next.
Her eyes widened as she felt the pressure of his calloused fingertip against her opening, teasing, stroking.
"So fucking wet," Troy rumbled against her. "So fucking tight."
"P-please," she whispered. And a part of her knew exactly what she was asking.
She gasped as Troy increased the pressure of his touch, his finger breaching her flesh.
Her virgin flesh.
Instantly, Faith came back to herself, as abruptly as if she'd fallen to the earth from a great height.
She twisted in Troy's grasp as the haze of pleasure evaporated. There was a reason why she was so tight, why her body was resisting him.
Every intimate part of herself was pure…and it was supposed to remain that way for her husband.
For Peter.
Faith didn't love Peter. She wasn't even sure that she liked him all that much, but he was still her fiancé. Their marriage had been arranged over a decade ago, when they were both still children, and she had accepted it as fact. Just as she accepted the weather or the changing of the seasons.
She couldn't do this with another man, not even—especially not—an alpha. No matter how seductive Troy's voice, how skilled his tongue, how magical his touch—to allow this to happen would be breaking every promise she'd ever made.
The irrevocable truth was that Faith's maidenhood wasn't hers to give away. It had already been given, in a transaction recognized by her intended, her parents, her pastor, her church—by God himself.
"We can't do this," Faith cried out, struggling as hard she could.
The alpha's growl was no longer filled with sexy promise, just annoyance.
He didn't release her. His hands held her fast, pressing her hips to the ground. But he did lift his head just enough for Faith to look into those dangerous blue eyes.
"We can." Troy slowly licked the slick off his lips. "We are."
"No. You don't understand. I have a fiancé."
Troy didn't look impressed…or concerned. "Had," he said. "You had a fiancé. Now you have an alpha. Me."
He lowered his head again, emphasizing his point by laving his tongue against that sweet spot even more fiercely. Despite herself, Faith cried out at the shock of pleasure.
But apparently Troy still didn't feel he'd made his point sufficiently. He shoved his finger inside her, past the last of her boundaries, shattering her defenses and claiming her for himself.
Faith forgot to resist as she experienced the most sublime pressure she had ever felt.
Then Troy somehow slipped in another finger. Where there had been resistance before, now there was only hunger, her body eagerly meeting him in this dance. Faith's head fell back down to her pillow of snow as Troy's fingers found a primal rhythm inside her, strong and steady, working magic.
Every thought of Peter, of family, of the church, of the life for which she'd been intended—all of it flew from
