After Leon left, Sinclair took me to bed, though not for the reason I initially hoped. I clung to him as he tried to settle me, indignantly asking, "What are you doing?"

"Trying to help you get comfortable," he replied, stroking my cheek. "You need to rest."

"You promised we'd cuddle," I reminded him, refusing to let go. I wrapped my legs around his back, hanging off him like a very round sloth.

"I did, but I think we both know that's not what you're interested in right now," Sinclair rumbled affectionately, gently detaching my limbs from his large body. I huffed, wriggled out of my clothes, and enticed him with my curves. His emerald eyes raked over my naked skin with open appreciation, and I heard his wolf growl with barely contained desire.

He wasn't wrong about my intentions. This was the ether's doing—a side effect I hadn't yet experienced because Sinclair hadn't been with me during previous sessions. The drug wasn't only consuming my mind in a haze of dreamy images and surreal illusions; the euphoric sensations that once seemed like innocent joy now translated into overwhelming lust.

With Sinclair's heady aroma and dominant energy filling my senses, my limbs became deliciously heavy, and a sultry heat radiated from my core. My blood simmered and pulsed, accumulating in my breasts, swelling them with carnal need. My love for my mate was so powerful at that moment that I couldn't contemplate keeping it to myself. It wanted to pour out of me in a rush, to drown my mate in affection and bring us both to rapture.

"We just discovered something wonderful, Dominic," I said, my voice smooth as silk. "We should celebrate."

Sinclair sighed, fluffing the pillows around me and tucking me under a weighted blanket. "I hate to say it, but I don't think you're in the right state of mind for that," he declared firmly, his tone leaving no room for argument. "Besides, not all of that memory was good, my love. Are you sure you aren't just focusing on the nice parts to avoid thinking about the rest?"

"Of course I'm sure," I countered stubbornly, pushing the blanket off and sidling closer. "The ether isn't making me imagine I want you, Dominic. I always want you," I professed, leaning into his side and kissing his neck. "Are you truly going to deny me just because I'm a little high?"

"That's exactly what I'm going to do, you naughty thing," Sinclair answered sternly. "Now stop flirting with me and lie down."

My wolf whined pitifully, and I slumped back against the pillows. Sinclair's hungry gaze followed my every move, and I sensed his intense temptation through our bond. A flash of devious inspiration struck, and I parted my legs, letting him see just how aroused I was—ensuring my scent assaulted him fully.

Sinclair groaned, his wolf snarling with frustration and heightening my arousal. "Such a brazen little wolf," he crooned, towering over me with dark, sensual intent. "You don't have any inhibitions right now, do you, trouble?" He observed, sliding his fingers through my slick cleft, teasing my aching clitoris with a featherlight touch that made me arch and cry out. "Putting this sweet pussy on display like this… tempting me with all your honey?" He removed his hand, licked his fingers, and rumbled with pleasure. The scandalous sight left me panting, but then Sinclair captured my nape in his powerful grip, lowering his face until our noses were practically touching. "Do you really believe I'm going to let you get away with it?"

I nodded hopefully, but my mate's ominous chuckle made my heart sink. "Wrong answer, baby," he nipped my trembling lower lip. "When the ether wears off, I'm going to rut you senseless, but not before I teach you what happens to bad girls who try to top from the bottom."

"But you've done that before," I objected, my sex clenching with the memory of the night he claimed me.

"Well, clearly the lesson didn't stick," Sinclair rumbled, kissing me fiercely. "Lucky for you I'm a very patient wolf."

To my dismay, my mate was as good as his word. A few hours later, I was spread-eagled on the bed with Sinclair's head buried between my legs, his tongue tormenting me relentlessly.

"This isn't fair!" I whimpered desperately. "I was high!" I'd been spanked and worked into an impossible lather, forced to orgasm repeatedly as my mate overwhelmed me with more pleasure than I could bear. I never knew how Sinclair would punish me, and today he seemed to have decided to teach me to be careful what I wished for—by giving me too much of it. Frankly, I couldn't decide whether it was worse to be overwhelmed with too many climaxes or denied them until I was a begging, babbling mess. At this point, I was so sensitive that the slightest touch could send me over the edge again, detonating in a terrifying blend of ecstasy and pain.

"And you were a defiant imp who left me with blue balls all day long," Sinclair replied, guiding me onto my hands and knees. "You're lucky I'm so proud of you, or I might have refused to claim you at all."

I scoffed, "Fat chance, with me leaving in less than a week. I'm surprised your wolf even lets me out of bed."

"Is that so?" Sinclair responded, his deep bass full of foreboding. "Then perhaps we aren't finished yet, after all."

Despite his words, I heard his belt buckle clink, and my wolf sagged with relief. Finally, she moaned in my head, driving me to sway my punished bottom invitingly. As raw as my intimate flesh was, nothing compared to being filled and marked by my mate, and she wouldn't be satisfied until he took this final step.

Sinclair growled, dragging his hard length through my sodden folds, using my arousal to coat his huge cock before pressing the thick tip to my back entrance. I jolted slightly; we'd only done this in our dreams. Sinclair purred and rested his free hand on my lower back, rubbing it soothingly. "Easy, sweetheart," he encouraged, some of the fire fading from his voice. "I'll go slow."

I whined as he pressed forward, feeling the stretch of my forbidden channel. My cheeks flushed with embarrassment as his thick head finally entered, feeling so strange and wrong… so oddly exquisite. "That's it," he praised, reaching down to stroke my overly sensitive clitoris. All my inner muscles clenched, and a moan escaped my lips as Sinclair eased further inside me. "Good girl, just relax. Remember how much you loved this the first time? How you came apart before I could even think about touching your needy clitoris?"

I shook my head, not understanding why something that sounded so wrong could excite me so much. I knew Sinclair loved scandalizing my sensibilities, but that didn't explain why I enjoyed it in equal measure. When he was finally buried to the hilt, Sinclair dragged my back up against his chest, claiming my mouth as I adjusted to his size. My lips parted on a silent gasp when he began to pull out, and he swallowed the sound with a ravenous purr.

Sinclair withdrew almost entirely before thrusting back inside me in a single move, and I cried out as his flared cockhead rubbed against my G-spot. He did it again and again, and before I knew it, I was abruptly thrown over the edge of orgasm. It seemed like too much, too fast, but my body was strung as tight as a bow after all his expert handling. "You see?" Sinclair growled, all predator now. "Your body was made for me; we fit together so perfectly that you can't help but find pleasure in anything we do."

There was a note of pure elation in his voice, and I understood he was every bit as eager to celebrate our newly fated status as I was—he simply had more patience. A tiny ache I hadn't realized I was carrying eased in my chest, comforted to discover the desire wasn't one-sided. "Mine," he purred, increasing the pace of his thrusts as his hands worked wonders on my breasts and clenching sex. "My fated Ella. I knew you were meant for me. You're too perfect not to be—everything I could ever dream of and more."

At any other time I might try to tell him that I'm far from perfect, but I knew there was no reasoning with his wolf right now. If I tried, it would undoubtedly result in another spanking… though now that I think of it… "I'm not perfect."