"My mate," Kasia whispered, her voice barely audible even to her own ears. Everything makes perfect sense now. How touching him made her react the way she did. Did Ethan know this the entire time?
"Kasia," Deva responded almost hesitantly. "I know it's a shock, but you need to go and apologize to him."
"Apologize?" Kasia snapped. She wrapped her arms around her bare torso, trying to steady her frantic heart. "What do I have to apologize to him for? He kept this from me! He should have rejected me. Why would he let me mark him? What the hell was he thinking?"
"Rejecting your mate is not the easiest thing, as some would think," Deva said softly. "You need to go after him. Apologize for how you reacted earlier. You said almost the worst thing you could have ever said to your fated mate."
Kasia scoffed. "He needs to apologize to me. He has ruined my life. If he had just let Lana and me leave, if he had never kidnapped Lana in the first place, none of this would be happening."
"You two would have found each other one way or another because this is fate," Deva responded.
Kasia swallowed hard, her nails digging into her skin. "Fine," she muttered, throwing back the covers and stalking toward the bathroom.
"I am sure this isn't ideal for him either," Deva added. "You could be a little less selfish and think about his point of view in all of this."
Kasia scoffed again, but Deva did have a point. She just couldn't focus on how Ethan felt in all of this. He wasn't the one who was no longer human and basically bound to werewolf royalty.
"I don't have any clothes, but his shirt," Kasia argued.
'You're making up excuses now. No one is going to care. You are the Luna to be. You could walk around naked and no one would bother. Now stop putting this off and apologize,' Deva scolded.
Taking a deep breath and steeling herself for the confrontation, Kasia strode to the door. She hesitated for a moment, her hand hovering over the doorknob, before finally turning it. As the door swung open, she found Ethan standing right in front of it. His head was lowered, and his fists were clenched at his sides.
"Are you okay?" she asked tentatively, startled to see him there.
Ethan moved quicker than she could register, gripping the sides of her face with surprising gentleness. Kasia's heart raced at the intensity in his piercing blue eyes.
"Kasia," he began, his voice low and strained. "You did this to me. How can you just dismiss it as... as just sex? Don't you understand what you mean to me?"
Kasia knew she should be afraid and that she should put some distance between them, but having him so close only heightened the pull she felt toward him. It took everything within her not to lean forward and kiss him.
Then she felt the drum of the Alpha call. It was familiar and yet foreign, but she instinctively knew that she needed to submit to Ethan. Then, Kasia realized that this was not her first time experiencing it or the first time Ethan had done this.
"Why? Why would you say something like that to me?" Ethan demanded. "Did you really mean what you said earlier?" His tone carried a mixture of hurt and confusion.
"I..." She hesitated for a moment before continuing, "It's complicated, Ethan."
"Complicated? How?"
"Growing up," Kasia began, "my sister and I struggled to survive. We did whatever we had to do to keep each other alive." Her voice held an edge of bitterness, but she couldn't stop the memory of those desperate days from surfacing. "Sometimes... that meant doing things for protection, resources, or favors."
Ethan's eyes widened with horror as he listened to Kasia's confession. He could see the pain on her face as he understood a little more about how she ended up turning to the Hunters for help. "Kasia," he said, "that's not what this is. What this is, what we have, isn't like that."
"Isn't it?" She challenged. "You're a Lycan, and I'm a hunter. By all rights, we should be enemies, not lovers. It's easier for me to think of it as just... an exchange. Something temporary and meaningless."
"Is that how you truly feel?" Ethan's voice cracked under the weight of his own emotions as he released.
'Goddess Kasia, what are you saying? You are making this worse! For once, be honest!' Deva snapped within Kasia. She looked away from Ethan, unable to meet his eyes. Kasia finally admitted, "I am scared for it to be anything else."
"Kasia, look at me." Ethan's command was gentle but firm, and she reluctantly turned her gaze back to him. "I will never see you as just an exchange or something temporary. You are my mate, and I refuse to let you believe otherwise."
Before she could respond, he pulled her into a passionate kiss, his strong arms wrapping around her body, refusing to let go. Kasia surrendered to the intensity of his embrace. Ethan walked her back into the room and kicked the door closed. He brought her back to the bed, pulling his shirt off her.
"Let me show you, Kasia," Ethan said firmly, his hands tweaking her nipples. He latched onto one, sucking softly and earning a shocked moan from Kasia. Ethan continued. His hot breath tickled her sensitive skin. "Let me show you how much you mean to me and that this will never be just sex between us."
Kasia couldn't bring herself to say yes, but she nodded, which was all Ethan needed.
With a growl of approval, Ethan slid his fingers between her folds, coaxing her arousal to once again surface. Kasia's back arched in response, her body arching towards his touch. He teased her mercilessly, his fingers stroking her sensitive clit in figure eights, sending shivers down her spine.
"You're so wet for me," he purred in her ear, his voice dripping with lust and possession.
He growled, the sound sending chills down her spine. In one swift motion, he positioned her on all fours, her heart pounding in anticipation. He spread her cheeks apart, exposing her to his hungry gaze. He ran a finger along her slit, coating it with her arousal, before slowly inserting it into her tight heat.
"You're mine, Kasia," he growled. "Say it."
She moaned in response, her body on fire with desire. "Yours," she panted out.
The sound of him unbuckling his pants caused Kasia to shiver in anticipation. She had never been this excited before. Was it the heat, or did she really want this to happen?
In one fluid motion, Ethan entered her in a single, deep thrust, filling her completely. Kasia's world exploded in pleasure pain, her nails digging into the sheets as she tried to process the sensations coursing through her body.
Ethan held still for a moment, giving her time to adjust to his girth, before he began to move, withdrawing almost all the way out before plunging back in with even more force. With each thrust, Kasia's moans grew louder, her body betraying her by rocking back against him, meeting his every move. Their bodies collided in a symphony of lust and passion, their moans melding together in a primal duet.
Ethan's hands moved to grip her hips, squeezing gently as he pulled her back onto him, angling himself even deeper inside her. Kasia's eyes rolled back in her head as she clenched around him, her body desperate for more of him. He continued to pound into her, his pace relentless, their bodies slapping together in a feverish rhythm.
"You feel so good, Kasia," he groaned in her ear, his breath hot against her neck.
His words sent her over the edge, and she clenched around him, her orgasm tearing through her body like a firestorm. "Ethan!" she screamed, her entire body convulsing as wave after wave of pleasure washed over her.
Ethan growled in response, his thrusts becoming even more frenzied. With a final, deep thrust, he filled her with his release, his body tensing above hers as he rode out his climax.