Zenya didn’t need to see her reflection to know her ice-blue eyes were rimmed with an ethereal glow. Her skin was pulled taut over her body as every part of her throbbed with need. If her scent called to him, his most definitely called to her. He was barely a few feet away, but it was still too far. 

‘Alpha. My alpha,’ she purred down the bonding link.

She could feel it as her arousal hit him, his world shifting and coming into alignment with hers. His nostrils flared, and his lips parted, drinking in the fragments of her need that the wind carried to him—his pupils growing larger as his irises turned from ice blue to deep navy. 

“Zenya?” he asked, his voice already a growl.

The purr rumbled in her chest. She could see his body brace as he fought to keep the last measure of his control, a control she often tried to defeat. There was something heady in knowing she could make him go feral so that all that was important was her and her need to be one with him.  There were times she knew that Lucian forgot they were fated mates and that there was nothing he could do that would frighten her; nothing she couldn’t handle. Sometimes he was so noble—even when he didn’t have to be. It was so unnecessary, but it was part of the reason she liked to rattle his cage. 

All Zenya could think of was getting his strong hands wrapped around her, pinning her to the ground with his muscular body and showing her what it meant to be mate to the alpha. She didn’t know, and didn’t care to know, what it meant to be alpha. All she cared about was what it was to be his woman. And that was something she gloried in.

She heard the low growl coming from him as his lust rushed down the link to her, almost overwhelming. Zenya’s pulse and breathing increased as the small residual instinct of prey that still resided in her recognized his rutting alpha as a predator and wanted to run. The game of predator and prey was one they played often. The woman that she had become was every bit his equal as predator, and unlike the prey, she most definitely wanted to be caught. 

“Alpha?” Her voice was husky, and it diverted his gaze from where he’d been steadily devouring her with his eyes.

It was in that moment she realized how very much she loved him. Oh, she’d been a tease most of the day, but she knew if she asked, Lucian would go against every primal instinct in his body if she asked him to. He would turn away and deny his own need if he thought it was what she wanted. But she wasn’t about to ask.

“Yes, Zenya?” he growled through gritted teeth.

“Catch me, if you can,” she purred.

“And if I do?”

“You can let your barbs come out to play and hear me yowl.”

Before he had a chance to respond, she called forward her tigress, bounding away from him. She could hear the thunder coming from the swirling mist that would change Lucian from man to beast. They were off. 

From that point on, all Zenya could hear was the blood rushing in her ears and her own panting breath. Her feet pounded on the earthen path as she ran, unleashing her inner beast with total abandon. She could hear and scent him behind her, gaining ground with each powerful stride. She knew Lucian was the stronger of the two, faster, and once he caught her, he’d be able to pin her down. All Zenya could do was run and then revel in his mastery of her body.  

Zenya roared with freedom, allowing lust to lace her cry. Heat rolled off her body in waves. Before she could find a place to stop and shift, Lucian, in his human form, slammed against her, wrapping his arms around her, dragging her to the ground and cushioning her with his body.

“Shift,” he commanded, and she willingly complied.

He grappled with her until she was pinned beneath his muscular frame, growling. Things like modesty or dignity were no longer in either of their thoughts. All she could do was fill her nostrils with his rich, musky scent. 

Instead of allowing her to embrace him, he grabbed hold of both of her wrists in one large hand, pulling her arms over her head and holding them tight. Her body was stretched out on the frigid tundra, but she didn’t feel the cold. Her body was coated with slick and sweat. Lucian shoved his nose into the crook of her neck and inhaled deeply, taking advantage of her immobility. After filling his lungs with her scent, he threw back his head and roared in victory, marking her with wet, open-mouthed kisses across her skin, covering her with his own musky scent. 

“Lucian, please…” 

“None of those coquettish pleas. You challenged me and are now caught. You will surrender yourself to me as your alpha and your mate. I will give you what you need. I will always give you what you need.” He chuckled, “Even when you don’t want it.” 

As he spoke, he demonstrated his prowess by settling between her thighs and dragging his length through her swollen labia. Still pinning her to the ground with one hand, he straddled her thighs and lined up his cock with the other. The hot, velvety skin of the crown teased her lips, making Zenya moan and then snarl when he didn’t press in. Instead, he used himself to smear her slick over more of her skin, spreading her intoxicating scent. His chest rumbled with a pleased purr at the sight. 

Zenya bucked her hips, silently entreating him, but he held her still. Lucian was immovable, and there was nothing she could do other than to lie beneath him and take whatever he gave her. She growled as he held her in place. He gave her a feral smile as he finally pushed into her, releasing his barbs as he did so. He was thick and long, and the barbs created a wondrous rippled effect as he pressed into her tight pussy. As always, it seemed to open up to him greedily. She needed to be filled with him. Her inner muscles clenched around his shaft, attempting to pull him deeper. 

As he sank into her, the feeling of completeness she always felt with him enveloped her. There was no time to adjust as he began to thrust, and she didn’t care. The gentle, almost ticklish feeling that occurred when he stroked into her was countered as he dragged back by the barbs extending and stiffening, plowing furrows into her tender flesh. Over and over again he rutted with her, making her yowl in her pleasure as she writhed beneath him.

“I told you, I would make you yowl for me,” he purred in her ear as he released her hands and slipped both hands beneath her buttocks to hold her in place so he could pound into her.

He would leave her sore and spent, and she relished that feeling. She needed it and needed him. But he needed her just as much. Lucian thrust hard and deep, trying to bury himself. Everything around her faded into a wave of heat and pleasure.

She let herself go, knowing she was safe in his hands. Her eyes closed and nothing and no one existed outside of the jolt of his body as he slammed into her. He hissed in her ear, and his cock flexed and twitched inside her, the barbs scoring her more deeply; he was getting close. 

His thrusts became faster and more jarring. Her body tensed, bearing down around him and holding him tight as he gave her a final thrust and then pulled back, the barbs hooking into her and holding her close as the splash of hot seed filled her exactly the way she wanted it to, setting off a chain reaction of pleasure and rightness through every inch of her body. 

This was what it was to be bred by an alpha male tiger. She had yet to tell him, but he no longer needed to breed her. His seed had caught and even now ripened in her body. She would tell him—soon. For now, she would find exultation and completion in his arms.