Midnight Kisses (Shifter Island #1) - Leia Stone Page 0,32

his lips brushing my skin. “All mine.”

“Yes,” I panted. I was his. I could feel that in my very core.

This time when he captured my lips, his kiss was fierce and dominating. He nipped my bottom lip between his teeth, and I parted them. Our tongues tangled as he pressed me back against the wall, our bodies fitting together as if made for one another.

All alone in this magical little nook, the world around us fell away. Nothing else mattered.

His hand pressed between the laces of my dress on my back, nudging me closer. I couldn’t get enough of him. I couldn’t be close enough to him. His hips rotated, and I clung to him, throwing my head back to give him better access. He kissed my neck, sucking and biting as he pressed against me. I moaned, begging for more because this … was … magic.

“Mine,” I growled, my wolf rising to the surface as instinct took over. I needed to stake my claim, to mark him as mine and make sure any female who got near him would know he was taken.

Searing heat flared beneath his palm, and I arched my back as the warmth became an inferno. Need, passion, and fire swirled around us, building and expanding, consuming us.

“What is happen—?” My question became a cry, and I clung to him to stay upright as the burning sensation tore through me, an explosion of pain and pleasure. His hand came up, fingers lacing through mine as all of that pain weaved through my body and wrapped around our encircled fingers. When I felt the final bolt of stinging flesh on my left ring finger, I gasped.

Looking at our clasped hands, I stared at fated mate marks on our ring fingers, a glowing white swirl pattern in place of where a human couple might wear rings.

Holy mage.

I spun out of the alcove, switching places with him as I wrestled with my wine-soaked senses. His green eyes were wide with shock. His gaze bore into me. His chest heaved. But he didn’t let me go, didn’t give any indication he regretted this.

Green-eyed secret garden kisser was my freaking mate! I couldn’t think, couldn’t breathe— Fated mates? The phenomenon was rare, but not impossible. Except—

A hefty hand landed on my shoulder, and then I was ripped back, away from Green Eyes and our little alcove, and pressed into the chest of another man as his arm encircled my waist.

“Hey,” a man snarled, his voice faintly familiar. “She was mine first.”

The dude I’d been trying to kiss from before growled, and his grip tightened as he hauled me into the crowded living room where people danced around us.

Oh, Cursed High Mage Council.

The murderous look in Green Eyes’ gaze told me shit was about to get real.

I felt, rather than saw, my mate’s movement. My stomach lurched as I was ripped from Yellow Eyes’ grasp and tucked back into my fated mate’s embrace.

“You’ll die for that,” Green Eyes seethed. He released me, and the sound of bones cracking behind me alerted me to exactly how my mate intended to enforce his claim.

Oh frick.

His physical presence behind me dropped, and when my hands fell to my sides, my fingertips brushed against the soft fur of a … wolf. His wolf.

Shock fried my brain; my saliva turned to cotton. I blinked and tucked my chin to stare down at … a jet-black wolf. Baring his teeth, he snarled, a low rumbling that sent a thrill through me.

My mate is badass.

Yellow eyes grabbed my upper arm and squeezed. “Get back over here and dance with me.”

Hard.

Oh, hell no.

The rest of the room swam in my periphery, and I swiveled my head to the left, looking up to meet the yellow-eyed gaze of the dude holding my arm.

“Let go.” Fur rippled down my arms as my wolf sprang to the surface. She had an iffy record of coming out in times of need, but it looked like this time, she was ready to go.

Before he even had a chance to follow my command, the black wolf lunged, ripping into the guy’s arm and tearing him away from me.

Holy mate-shifters!

“Don’t kill him!” I yelped, afraid of what might happen to my mate. With my luck, someone would tell the king, and my mate would get the boot from the island. I lunged after the black wolf, trying to get him to calm down. “I’m okay.”

The music ground to a halt, and people spun to stare at the