APEX

Ch. 21: A New Victim

Rhys

The frigid waters of Lake Suzanne pooled around me as I waded in, waist deep. I needed this—to wash the scent of her from me, and hopefully, to cool the burning sensation her touch had left on my skin.

I cupped water with my hands, pouring it over my head, letting it run onto my shoulders and down my back. I couldn't walk into the lodge smelling so obviously of sex and Calla. We'd have been found out immediately. The waters of this mountain lake, made a vivid emerald green by the silt deposits of retreating glaciers during the ice age, cleansed me of her. But my mind needed a similar kind of purification ritual, and for me to forget what I'd just experienced with Calla, I needed a lot more than a lake bath.

Hadn't I gotten what I needed to keep her out of my head though? I'd been hot for this woman for the past month and now I could say I'd claimed her, if only for a few forgotten hours.

I dunked my head into the water, unhappy that the word claimed had come to mind. There'd been none of that—although the memory of her finally giving in and admitting that in the moment she was mine, was doing nothing to combat the yearning coursing through me.

Coming up for air, I flicked my hair away from my face. My dick was hard again, despite the cold water, my mind flooded with a vision of Calla's face when she'd finally given me what I wanted. That look of desire in her eyes—a desire she held for me and no one else. I'd made her mine—temporarily of course, but I'd done it.

And I'd wanted more. The mark on her neck—if Calla only knew how close I'd been to giving into temptation. To bite, to pierce, to wipe away what that God-awful Barnett had done to her. To claim her. Not temporarily. But for always.

I had wanted to do this more than I wanted to breathe.

Of course, being in such a state of arousal, it was natural to want to give in, but I would never. First and foremost because Calla hadn't consented. I wasn't anything like Barnell. The woman I ultimately claimed as my mate would want that claiming just as much as I did.

And Calla didn't.

She was right to hold back, of course. We weren't mates. We were barely even cordial to each other. And yet, I'd be lying to myself if I didn't admit the chemistry between us was out of this world. The way she'd taken me into her, the feel of her around my cock. Every gasp or moan she made, every scratch of her nails as they trailed over my body, had fed my urgency. Making her wait to have me, seeing her squirm, so desperate to take me inside of her—the feeling of anticipation was better than waiting for Christmas morning.

I stroked the shaft of my cock, my grip locked solid around myself as I imagined tracking her though the woods, grabbing her perfect, round ass and then taking her again, up against a tree, not caring that it was time to rejoin my family for dinner at the lodge, not caring that we'd promised this would be a one-time deal. As I'd plunge into her, her back against the bark of a fir, she'd beg me to erase what Barnett had done by marking her myself.

"Claim me," she'd cry between gasps. "I'm already yours anyways."

"Fuck," I screamed out to the wilderness as the dam burst, warmth from my ejaculation streaming through the water.

Well, that was unexpected. For a moment after Calla and I had parted ways, me to visit this lake and her to shower back at her cabin, I'd thought I'd gotten her out of my system.

Plunging back into the water, I propelled myself through it, swimming to the opposite shore and then back again.

This needs to stop, I thought to myself. The push and pull with Calla would put me at a disadvantage if I wasn't careful. I'd come to the Wilderness Cycle believing it would give me an opportunity to shake her off, reconnect with myself and my purpose as Alpha of Apex. And here I was, filled only with thoughts of her.