Alpha Betrayed: A Dark Shifter Romance
Savage Prince Chapter 15

ford

I sense the change in Juliet almost immediately.

There's a rush of heat from her skin and a rippling, surging sensation in her aura. It hits me directly in the chest, knocking the breath from my lungs for a moment.

It's almost like she's shifted, but without changing forms.

When she opens her eyes again, they're still the same sky blue. Her lips are still kiss-swollen pink, and her legs remain wrapped tight around my hips, but suddenly, somehow, everything has changed.

"Growly?" I rasp, before I think better of it. I don't want to hurt the new Juliet's feelings with inside jokes she can't remember, but my gut is already ten steps ahead of my logical brain.

It knows that Juliet, my Juliet, is back, and that she remembers everything I remember, all the good, bad, ugly, and downright f*****g beautiful.

"Yeah," she says, tears filling her eyes as her arms spasm around my chest. "It's me. I remember. I remember you."

"Thank God," I say, hugging her tight as she buries her face in my neck. I roll onto my side, cradling her in my arms as she cries. I drop kisses on the top of her head and apologize again and again, instinctively knowing that this is my fault. "I'm sorry," I whisper again. "I just wanted you back so badly. I couldn't help it. Even though it was selfish, and I knew I was a piece of shit for wanting a partner in my pain."

She tips her head back, lifting her tear-streaked face to mine. "It wasn't selfish. And this isn't your fault. It wasn't pain that brought me back." She hesitates, clearly struggling with the next part, just like Growly always does when she's having feelings. "It was love." "You love me?" I ask, my throat tight again. "Even when I'm not about to die on you?"

Her eyes narrow. "Of course, I do, a*****e. I literally gave my life for you. And when I did that, I wasn't totally sure I'd be coming back. If that's not love, I don't know what is."

A giddy grin curves my lips. "I am an a*****e. You're right. And I've missed you calling me names and giving me shit so much, I should probably have my head examined."

Her expression softens. "No, don't. I like that you like me the way I am, thorns and all."

"I don't just like you." I hug her closer, molding my hand to her ribs. "I love you. You're the most important thing in the world to me, Jules. Zion, revenge, justice...it all felt hollow without you. I'd never felt so lonely, not even when I was locked in a cage in the dark with only the sound of the IV drip to keep me company." I tip my head closer to hers. "I don't want to do life without you."

"Me, either," she says, twining her arms around my neck. "And I don't want to do it without baggage, either. I hate some of my baggage. Really hate it, but...it made me who I am."

"I get it," I assure her.

"I love you more with my baggage," she continues. "And appreciate you more. I understand how scary it is for someone who's been through hell to reach for heaven and trust it isn't going to disappear. This me understands how insanely brave you are." Her eyes begin to shine again. "I want to be that brave, too. I don't want to push you away or run from what I feel when we're together."

"Then, don't," I say, bringing my mouth a whisper away from hers. "Let me love you, Growly."

"I think I will," she says, kissing me softly as she slides her leg up mine and wraps it around my hip. "And I think I'll start by delighting your body with my virginity."

I grin against her lips. "I like the way you put that."

"It feels right," she says, her lips curving, too. "It isn't something to be taken or given. It's something to be shared, a memory to add to our collection."

"Ours," I echo as she pushes me onto my back and rolls on top of me. "You have no idea how much I love the sound of that."

"You're right, I don't," she says, holding my gaze as she slowly, deliberately slides the slick lips up her s*x up and down c**k. "You should show me how much you love it."

Heart skipping a beat, I reach up, capturing her breasts tight in my hands, knowing my Juliet likes it a little rough. "And you should grind on my c**k until you come for me. I want you drenched when I push inside you, baby. I want you so wet, you won't feel anything but pleasure our first time."

Her lips part, her breath already coming faster as I pinch her nipples between my thumb and fingers, pulsing and releasing as she begins to move. "I'm not worried," she says. "Your giant c**k doesn't scare me, buddy."

"Maybe it should," I say, my head spinning from the joy of bantering with my smartass girl nearly as much as the feel of her slickness coating my c**k.

She's so right. I love her for exactly who she is, thorns and all. And sometimes the sting of those thorns turns me on like nothing else.

Knowing she feels the same way, I add, "I'm not a small man and you're a tiny thing, Jules. And I can promise you right now, I'm not going to hold back. I won't be able to. Once I'm inside you, I'm going to bury myself in that sweet p***y. I'm going to give you every inch of me, again and again."

"Promises, promises." She clings to my wrists as her hips move faster, her rhythm growing increasingly urgent. "All this from the guy who I had to coax into bed like a horse scared to go back in the barn."

I grunt. "You remember that?"

"Yes," she pants, her grip tightening on my wrists as she grinds harder against me, making my balls ache with the need to come. "I remember it all. And I remember thinking you were high maintenance." "Me? That's the pot calling the kettle black, Miss Took Over a Week to Learn to Shift."

"You're right. But I'm going to take a lot less time to come," she says, her features twisting. "Oh God, Ford." Her head falls back, and her breath deepens as she gets off, filling me with euphoria, simply from knowing my girl is coming with her body so close to mine. "God, it feels so good. But I want you inside me. I want it so bad."

Gripping her hips, I roll us over, reversing our positions on the bed. I reach down, gripping the base of my already leaking c**k. I'm guiding my throbbing, aching length to her beautifully swollen p***y, when thankfully the shine of pre-come on my tip reminds me to reach for the side table.

I pull back, summoning a groan of protest from low in her throat. "No, don't stop. Don't stop."

"Condom," I say as I grab the box. I free a foil packet and pull back, ripping it open with my teeth.

"Hurry." She shifts restlessly beneath me, her thighs spreading wider as she lifts her hips, treating me to a view I know I'm never going to forget. "I feel like I'm going to die if I don't have you in me now. Right now."

"Your p***y is so f*****g beautiful," I breathe, so out of my head with wanting her that my hands shake as I roll on the rubber. "I'm going to write poetry about it."

Her lips quirk. "Write whatever you want, but if you ever read a poem about my p***y out loud in a public setting, I'll have to hurt you."

The condom finally in place, I lengthen myself over her, reaching down to grip the base of my c**k. "Yeah? How will you hurt me? Deny me access to the place I love the most?" I rub the end of my erection around her entrance, teasing her, teasing us both. The anticipation is killing me, but what a delicious way to go.

"No," she says, wrapping her legs around my hips. "That would only be hurting myself." A hint of worry flickers in her eyes. "I'm going to get addicted to your body, aren't I?"

"If you do, it's okay," I say, pausing to kiss her with all the love swelling in my chest. "Me and my body are always going to be here for you, Growly. Always. I'll never leave you or abandon you or betray you. I swear it on everything good in the world." Her voice hitches as she whispers. "Me, too. I've got you, Ford. Always."

"Always," I echo as I push forward, sinking slowly into where she's so hot and tight that I'm afraid I'm going to come after the first thrust.

My balls clench and things twist low in my body, but I push the wave of bliss away. I'm not about to come, not yet, not until I bring her over at least one more time. I need to feel her body locked around me, need to imprint the memory of her losing control beneath me so deep in my soul that I never forget it.

"Oh my God," she whispers, her hands trembling as she runs them down my shoulders to the small of my back. "It's so good. Better than I ever imagined."

"Yeah?" I pull back and glide slowly into her again, my heart flipping as her lashes flutter and a turned-on sound escapes from the back of her throat. "No pain?"

"Just a little tightness and a little sting," she says, her eyes locking on mine. "But I like it. I like feeling like there's room for you but nothing else." She bites her lip and lifts her hips, meeting me at the end of my next thrust. "And the way you stretch me... Deep inside..."

"Good?" I ask after a beat. I fight to keep going slow, to give her time to adjust to the way I fill her, even though the primal part of me is dying to take her hard and fast, to mark her with my come and my scent and make sure any wolf who gets near her knows she's mine.

"It's almost enough to make me come again," she says, her lids dropping to half-mast. "Just that, even without everything else."

"Everything else?" I ask, moving a little faster, knowing it was the right call when she lifts into me, grinding closer.

"Your smell and your touch and the way you move," she pants, whimpering as she bucks into me, silently telling me to push deeper. I oblige her, sinking in to the hilt. "And you. Just you. It's like you were made to f**k me." "I was made to f**k you," I promise, my restraint eroding quickly as she digs her nails into my a*s, pulling me even deeper. "But I'm not going to last much longer, baby. You feel too good. You're so tight and hot for me." And glowing.

Her pink aura fills the entire room, making the beast inside of me ridiculously proud of itself. I made my mate glow like that. I made her whimper and squirm, and her eyes roll back as her body starts to contract around my c**k. "I'm coming, Ford," she gasps, clinging to me as her release has its way with her. "Oh God, I'm coming so hard."

"I can feel you, baby. F**k, I can feel you," I grit out, losing the last of my control. I pound into her with all the need and relief and hunger inside, riding the screaming bullet train of my o****m to its euphoric conclusion.

My spine bows and I grind deep into her still pulsing p***y, coming in wrenching waves that have me cursing and celebrating and saying God knows what as I spill everything in me into my woman, my mate. Mine. She's finally mine. And I'm never going to take that miracle for granted.

Not for a single day for whatever remains of my life.

Once I've caught my breath enough to function, I pull the condom off and tie it up, dropping it in the small trash can beside the bed before drawing her back into my arms.

She rests her cheek on my chest with a happy sigh. "Dude."

I smile. "I take it that means s*x lived up to your expectations?"

"Ten out of ten would do again," she says, lifting her head to gaze down at me as she adds. "But just with you. I have a feeling it wouldn't be the same with anyone else."

"Good," I say, that primal part of me lifting its possessive head. "Because if any other man put his dick in you, I'd have to rip it off."

She arches a brow. "Savage."

"And then I'd make him eat it," I say, doubling down. "While writing me a handwritten note expressing his deep remorse for daring to touch what's mine."

"And me?" she asks, her eyes glittering above her flushed cheeks. "How would you punish me for taking another man into my bed?"

"I'd edge you until you needed to come so badly, you were on your knees, begging for my c**k," I say. "And then I'd give it to you so good you'd know better than to make a mistake like that again."

She hums. "Not me. I'm not that nice. If I knew you'd been with someone else, I'd be very tempted to unalive you."

"Wow," I say, secretly thrilled by the threat. "Jealous, are we?"

"Just territorial about the things that belong to me," she says, reaching down to grip my still semi-hard c**k. Even after coming harder than I've come in years, being naked in bed with Juliet is too exciting for it to go completely soft. "And this belongs to me now. It's my territory."

"I'll make an appointment for the tattoo tomorrow."

Her brows lift. "Tattoo?"

"The one that says 'Property of Juliet Zion' on my dick. Just so it's clear to anyone who might see me naked exactly who I belong to."

She grins. "That's an amazing idea, but even with shifter healing power, you'd have to take a day or two to heal from something like that, and that's not going to work for me."

"Because you're going to need me inside you every day for the rest of your life?" I ask, hoping I'm not pushing too far too soon.

Her smiles fades. "Every day at least twice a day. Because being with you like this is the best thing that's ever happened to me, Ford. For real."

"Me, too," I whisper and then we prove it to each other for the rest of the afternoon, making up for lost time and making the most of our last remaining condom.

And when we finally settle in for a nap before heading out into the city again, I'm so grateful it keeps me awake for a long time, basking in the joy of having all I'll ever truly need right here in my arms.