Lucas lay awake, his body still thrumming with the aftershocks of the night. He could hear Eloise’s steady breathing beside him, her warm, bare body curled against his own. His grip tightened slightly around her waist, fingertips pressing possessively into her soft skin. He hadn’t meant to lose control like that, to let his hunger seep through in ways she couldn’t possibly understand. But the second he had her beneath him, every instinct, every buried desire, had clawed to the surface.
He hadn’t just taken her. He had claimed her.
His silver eyes traced over her sleeping form, memorizing the way her dark hair spilled over the pillows, the faint flush still lingering on her cheeks. There were marks on her, his marks. Faint bruises along her hips where he had lost himself entirely. He knew
