Liam let Jolie take the lead, which she liked.

She liked the fact that he was letting himself drag behind just enough so she was in front of him, holding tightly to his hand as she led him deeper and deeper into the woods.

She really had no idea where the hell she was going, but she did know that she wanted to get as far away from the other betas as she possibly could. Because she needed an excellent sense of hearing to know for sure if she was far enough away from them, she let her wolf ears back out. They popped through her hair on top of her head, twitching as she listened for any sound of their conversation.

When she couldn't hear it anymore, she kept going, searching for a quiet, clean place away from any badgers or other nests. Somewhere she could enjoy her mate all to herself.

"I think I would enjoy this eagerness of yours all the more if I knew it wasn't coming from your fear for me."

Jolie glared at the man she loved over her shoulder, though she didn't stop walking. "You could tell that?"

He lifted an auburn brow at her. "I could practically smell it on you. So could the others."

That put some heat in her cheeks, and not in a good way. It was almost enough to make her forget about the lust that tightened through her body, and made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up.

"Watch yourself." Liam quickly grabbed her by the shoulder, steering her away from several pine branches that pointed right out.

Jolie sucked back a hard breath, narrowly avoiding getting her eyes poked out by several spiky, long wooden fingers.

"Uh, thanks," she said, then immediately forgot about what almost happened. "Tell me you know somewhere we can go for this."

"I do. We've been gathering water not too much farther from here," Liam said. "The stream is actually connected to the waterfall where I was living. There will be fish if you're hungry."

"I'm not hungry for food." She looked back up at him, noted the dilating that happened in his eyes. His tongue darted out to wet his lips. He was bare-chested. Liam didn't make a habit of wearing many clothes, but even when he did, he was so big and lean that any t-shirt he wore stretched out nicely, leaving nothing to the imagination.

Had he been wearing something now, she would have seen the tight expanse of his perfect chest, the budding of his nipples, as well as his abs through the material.

Since he wasn't, she got a nice view of those things right in the flesh.

Sometimes she wasn't sure what she liked more. The sight of him punishing his shirts and stretching them out, especially when he got them wet, or when he was in the bare flesh.

At least with his shirt off, she could see the perfect V shape that happened around his waist and pelvis. God, he was so perfect. She hated that Liam had been forced to live the life he'd had, but she was happy it hadn't broke him.

"Yes, keep staring at me like that, Jolie," Liam said in a voice that was nearly a purr.

A purr that brought a pleasurable shiver all the way up and down her spine.

"I might not get you to that stream."

"What will you do if you can't?"

His eyes danced as he yanked her to his body so they were pressing against each other. He stared down at her as if she was something he could eat. "I would rip your clothes off right here, get your sweet breasts in my hands and mouth, and impale you on my cock. That's what you want, isn't it?"

He really didn't need to ask, though she nodded anyway.

Jolie didn't dare look down. She knew what she would see. She could make it out partly through her peripheral vision already.

The bulge forming between his legs. His cock rising to attention, entirely for her. She wanted her hands on it, her mouth on it, and she wanted it inside her.

The knowledge that her mate and alpha was going into battle was apparently bringing out the desperate little floozy in her.

"Maybe it's a good idea," she said, glancing around. Her wolf ears picked up the sounds of water not too much farther away, but she was impatient. Her clothes had never felt this tight on her body before. She was practically suffocating in them. "Stop here. Stop, this is good."

Liam didn't try to stop her. He didn't mention they were closing in on their destination and they only needed a few more steps to get to where they needed to go.

No, he pulled her into his arms instead, and when his mouth came down onto hers, capturing her lips, kissing them, owning them, her knees trembled and heart fluttered.

Yes, this was what she'd been thinking about all damned day, and all day yesterday.

They'd made love frantically in the back of one of Renzo's stolen vehicles when they made their getaway, when Liam had stormed in like a badass conquerer, Dempsey his hostage, and taking five betas for himself, but it hadn't been nearly enough.

Jolie wanted more. She needed more.

She gasped for breath as her mouth separated from his. Her hands touched the rough hairs on his jaw and cheeks before she pushed her fingers through his now short auburn hair.

"I need you, right now. I can't take it anymore."

"You're not the only one." Liam's hands grasped her waist hard enough that she knew his fingers would leave bruises later. He yanked her hips forward. Jolie's heart did a little jolting thing when she felt the hard length of his cock through their clothes.

She smiled, feeling the need to joke around a little. "That for me?"

"No, it's for Josh."

Jolie jerked back, blinking at him, at the utterly deadpan way he just said that.

He was always so serious that, for a hair of a second, she thought he might just be serious and maybe wanted to get someone else in on this.

The slow pull of his lips into a smile had her exhaling hard, shaking her head. "Don't scare me like that!"

He scoffed. "You thought I was serious?"

"Well, you're always a little serious."

"Not anymore." Liam shook his head. "Not since you came back to me." Then his mouth was on hers again, the kiss softer, but no less commanding, and Jolie knew exactly what it meant when she felt the touch of his tongue against her lips.

He wasn't asking permission. No, he was just letting her know it was coming before he spread her lips apart with his tongue, licking her deep in her mouth. And she loved it. Jolie's head fell back, her mouth falling open just a little wider, giving her mate all the room he needed, giving all of herself over to him.

He could do whatever the fuck he wanted with her and Jolie could die a happy woman. Liam had proven again and again that he knew what he was doing when it came to her body, and his hands were not idle as he kissed her. They came up, giving her breasts a teasing squeeze, hard enough to let her know they were there before pulling back before she could get enough pleasure from the rough squeezing.

Of course, she couldn't complain when immediately after his hands really did start pulling at her clothes. Their mouths parted again as Liam yanked her shirt above her head. Even with it off, only her bra between his wicked mouth and her pert nipples, she felt as if the heat in the air around her suddenly spiked. It was warm out, but it hadn't been this damned hot.

When Liam's mouth attacked the flesh of her collarbone, searing her skin, burning her more than she thought possible whenever they happened to touch, she threw her head back and moaned.

Her tail came out. It whipped around excitedly behind her until Liam's hands slid around her waist, touching the base of the end, gripping it.

She barely managed to stop the wagging, but then it didn't matter because Liam was undoing her little belt with the heart buckle. The second it was loose, he worked the button and zipper of her jeans. The sound of those metal teeth parting made her bite her lower lip. Even when she spread her legs, they were tight enough that he had trouble getting them, and her little pink panties, down her thighs.

"Just rip them off." She was hot and bothered enough to want to watch him do that, to want to see the physical show of his strength and power before he plunged into her.

Liam raised his eyes to her, which made her suddenly notice how he was bent over her chest. "I want to, sweetheart, trust me, I do."

She growled at him. "All I'm hearing is that you're not going to do it."

"Unless you want to walk around with your bare ass showing to all the betas, it's not the best idea." Liam growled back at her. "And I happen to like that this ass is only for me to see."

He reached down, his palms grabbing, fingers digging into the flesh of her ass. Jolie gasped, her hips arching forward, even though she wanted nothing more than to push back into his hands.

Which she did the second she was able.

"This is for me. Agreed?"

Jolie nodded.

"Not for anyone else."

She got the feeling they weren't talking about the betas who were loyal to him anymore.

Fine by her. "Definitely. You're the only one."

Dempsey was nothing compared to him. He was insane to ever think she would accept a mating with him lying down. Liam was the only one that mattered. The only one who’d ever mattered.

"Just make sure you stay alive. Make sure you come back to me."

"Nothing will keep me away from you. Believe that with everything you've got because I sure as hell do."

Jolie had to lift her feet as Liam pulled her shoes off. He scratched her accidentally as he yanked off her jeans one leg at a time after that, tossing them over a nearby branch, leaving her wearing nothing but her bra and a smile.

His hands touched the back of her knees, putting just enough pressure on them that he easily pulled her down onto his lap.

She came willingly, straddling him, knowing it was exactly what he wanted her to do.

Jolie curled her arms around Liam's neck, touching the soft hairs that grew at his nape.

Liam never broke eye contact with her, and she couldn't look away from him, even as she saw his one arm moving around between them, heard the metallic grind of his button and zipper spreading apart, and then felt the heat rising between them.

"I want it inside me," she said, thrusting her pelvis forward, feeling the hard length of his shaft against her sex.

Oh God, maybe she shouldn't have done that because all of a sudden it felt as if she couldn't hold onto the orgasm building within her.

Liam didn't attempt to play coy, didn't make a show of teasing her and didn't hold her to her pain and misery for long.

His other arm looped around her waist, pulling her up and onto her knees.

She knew what to do after that. Some things didn't need words to be understood, and as she adjusted herself, she felt the soft head pressing against her opening, and at Liam's growl, she impaled herself down onto his cock, crying out from the sharp pleasure, the sensation of being filled, and then locking them together as she curled her legs around his waist.

Liam growled, clenched his eyes shut for a few seconds, and when he opened them, they were a bright shade of red.

The red of lust, of a wild animal with his mate, and it excited her like nothing else in the world could.

"That's it, sweetheart," he said through clenched teeth. "Now move."

To Be Continued......

I always get happy when I see that the chapter is big enough to fit into the Tapas Character Limit without breaking them up 0.o That always stresses me out, not gonna lie.

Thank you so much to everyone who is reading, liking, and commenting. As always, you guys are amazing :D I just picked up a Cricut machine recently and have been playing around with it, making sticker sheets for when I go to the Romancing the Capital event in Ottawa. I'll be bringing signed print copies of this book to the event. It's going to be great :)

If you want to stalk me on Facebook and twitter, you can find me @Rizzorosko on Twitter and Mandy Rosko on Facebook :)

Hugs and happy reading!

Mandy