This Christmas, I’ll Claim You Again

Chapter#03

ANASTASIA

Snow blasted across the cabin floor like shrapnel. Three massive shapes hurled themselves through the breach. They were wolves, but they were huge.

I swung the fire poker with everything I had. The iron connected with the first wolf’s skull. A sickening crack echoed as blood and bone fragments sprayed. It dropped, whimpering, but the second was already on me. Its jaws snapped for my throat. Hot breath, reeking of rot, washed over my face. Claws raked my side, tearing through coat and shirt and flesh in a white-hot line of agony.

Zev roared.

The chains snapped like cheap wire. Links flew, clanging against the walls. His body convulsed completely. He was a giant wolf-man. Those wolves looked tiny in front of him.

He hit the second wolf mid-lunge, slamming it to the ground. His teeth closed around its throat and ripped. Blood fountained, splattering across my legs as I pressed against the wall.

The third rogue tried to circle, going for me again, but Zev was faster. He spun, claws slashing, opening the wolf from sternum to gut in one brutal swipe. Guts spilled onto the floorboards in wet ropes.

It was over in heartbeats. Three bodies lay twitching in front of me. Zev stood over them, then, slowly, his head turned toward me.

I couldn’t move. My side burned, and blood pulsing between my fingers where I clutched the wound. Terror rooted me in place.

He shifted back to his human form as he stalked toward me. His c**k was half-hard, thick and heavy against his thigh, as if the violence had aroused him.

“Get away from me,” I rasped, raising the poker again even though my arm shook.

He didn’t stop until my back hit the rough-hewn log wall. One massive hand slammed beside my head, the other gripping my wrist and forcing the poker down. His body pinned mine.

“You’re hurt,” he growled. His gaze dropped to my torn side. His nostrils flared as he scented my blood. “f**k!”

“Let go,” I snarled, shoving at his chest. My palms slid over slick muscle. The contact sent fire racing straight to my core.

“No.” He leaned in. His forehead almost touched mine. I could feel his ragged breath on my face. “You think you can fight this? Fight me?” His hips rolled forward, pressing his hardening c**k against my belly. “I just killed for you. My beast is riding me hard, and you’re bleeding all over me.”

I hated how my body responded. “You’re… a monster.”

“You made me a monster.” His hand slid up my arm, and his rough thumb brushed the pulse hammering in my throat.

Rage surged through me. “Then why save me? Why not let them have me?”

“Because I can’t.” He slammed his fist into the wall beside my head, and the wood cracked. “You’re my mate. It’s fire in my blood, telling me to claim you, breed you, protect you. And it’s poison, because I know how this ends.”

I let out a mocking laugh. “How? With you ripping my throat out like those wolves?”

He snarled, pinning my wrists above my head with one hand. “Fight me,” he rasped. “It only makes me want you more.”

I bucked against him, knee driving up, but he shifted, trapping my leg between his thighs. His beast pressed hard against me now. My want urged me to open for him, to take him.

“You think you can just force this on me?” I spat.

“I can smell you already want me.” His free hand shoved under my torn shirt. His rough palm slid over my stomach to cup my breast. His thumb flicked my n****e, and I gasped, arching despite myself. “Tell me I’m wrong.”

“f**k you.”

“That’s the idea.” His mouth crashed down on mine.

It wasn’t a kiss. It was war. Teeth clashing, tongues battling, blood and rage and raw need. I bit his lip hard enough to taste copper. He growled into my mouth, grinding against me. His hand kneaded my breast until I whimpered. The pain in my side faded under the onslaught of heat.

I hated him. I wanted him. I needed him to stop, and never stop.

His hand dropped to my jeans, popping the button and yanking the zipper. Fingers shoved inside, finding me soaked. “f**k,” he groaned against my lips. “You’re dripping for me.”

I moaned. My hips bucked into his touch as he stroked roughly, calloused fingers circling my c**t. “This doesn’t mean anything,” I gasped.

“It means everything.” He shoved two fingers inside me without warning, curling deep. My walls clenched around him. “This cunt knows who it belongs to.”

I clawed at his shoulders as my nails dug into his muscles. “Then take it,” I challenged, “If you’re so f*****g cursed, prove it.”

His eyes went fully beast. He ripped my jeans down my hips and lifted me like I weighed nothing. My legs wrapped around his waist instinctively. The head of his c**k nudged my entrance.

“Last chance,” he snarled with his fangs grazing my throat. “Tell me no.”

I tangled my fingers in his hair and yanked his mouth back to mine. “Do it.”

He thrust in to the hilt in one brutal stroke.

I screamed into his kiss. Pain and pleasure exploded together. He was huge, stretching me to the edge of tearing, filling me so completely I couldn’t breathe. He didn’t wait, didn’t gentle. He f****d me against the wall like he was punishing me. His hips slammed, and his claws pricked my thighs as he held me open.

“You’ve always been mine,” he growled with every thrust. “This p***y is mine. This blood is mine. You’re mine.”

I met him stroke for stroke as my nails raked his back, drawing blood. Every drag of his c**k lit me up. Every bite of his teeth on my shoulder pushed me higher.

“Harder,” I demanded, “Make it hurt.”

He obliged, pounding deeper, one hand sliding between us to pinch my c**t. I came with a cry as my walls pulsed around him. He followed seconds later, roaring as he spilled hot inside me. His teeth sank into my shoulder to mark.

We slid down the wall together. He was still buried deep inside me, and my legs were trembling around him.

His forehead pressed to mine. I could feel his ragged breath on my face. “You have to run away from me,” he whispered, “I can’t keep on hurting you.”

“I have nowhere else to go.”

A howl rose not far away, catching our attention.

Zev stiffened, pulling out slowly. His c*m mixed with my blood trickled down my thighs. He stood, shifting in a ripple of muscle and fur, towering over me once more as the massive black wolf.

He nosed the ruined door, then looked back at me with a warning. With a powerful leap, he vanished into the blizzard.

The broken door hung open, and cold wind slammed against my naked body. I was alone, bleeding, freshly f****d, and marked.

And the howls were getting closer.

I quickly put on my coat and grabbed a shard of broken wood as a makeshift weapon. My heart pounded with fear.