Even in the shadows, his eyes glowed with a paranormal desire as palpable as the stone beneath our feet. He barely breathed as he took me in. I stood in front of him almost breathless as the power that radiated off of himself threatened to consume my very soul.

"Fancy meeting you here," I said by way of greetings, but even I could hear the waver in my tone.

And so could he, by the responding smile he gave me. "It's rather late to be walking around the gardens alone, don't you think, little Witch?"

So he did know what I was. Good. It would make things easier. I shrugged my bare shoulders. "The dark never bothered me anyway."

The Alpha hummed in agreement, his gaze drifting down to those bare shoulders. He took a step towards me, and then another. When I didn't back away, he accepted the silent invitation to rest his hands on my waist. "Do you believe in Fate?"

Of course, I did. That was why I was there with him, under that bridge, beneath the half-moon light. But I wasn't ready to disclose that information to the Alpha. Not yet.

So instead, I boldly closed the remaining distance between us, our bodies almost touching now as my hands braced against his chest, slowly undoing one button and then another. "Why do I need to believe in Fate when I have something far more powerful on my side?"

"And what would that be?" His eyes didn't stray as I worked on his shirt.

I ran my nail down the center of his now-exposed chest and leaned in so that my lips softly brushed against his ear.

"Magic."

I felt his shudder. Whether it was because we were so close or something far more ethereal I couldn't tell. But I didn't care.

I smiled.

A low groan rumbled in his chest.

"Well, I do believe in Fate," he continued. "Because I know you bear the same mark I do. I can almost smell it."

"Is that so?" I murmured, feigning ignorance. "And where is this mark?"

"Why don't you show me."

Not a request. A demand.

The invitation was irresistible as I moved his hand from my waist down over my hip to my thigh. His gaze dropped so that he could see what I was doing, bringing his hand low enough so that I could run it back up against my skin, bringing my dress up with it, and resting his palm over my own rune.

The heat of his hand on my skin made me sigh out, and his amber eyes returned to mine as he pressed against me. I hadn't realized I was against the bridge until I felt the cool stone against my bare back.

"I want to know what happens when the two marks meet." His voice had dropped, low and guttural.

"That's very demanding," I breathed out.

"I find demands are better answered than requests."

"And if your demands aren't met?"

"No one's dared deny me yet."

"Then I suppose there's a first for everything."

The chuckle that erupted from him heated my core and curled my toes. His ego was overpowering and his presence was overwhelming. A part of me wanted to step back, knowing no good would come from this Alpha, but another part of me— the part of me that sang with his power— needed more. It wanted me to drag that hand of his against my thigh up between my legs, to show him what was ready and waiting for him there.

His laughter ceased and his features sobered as he leaned in close. I bit my lip as his nose trailed down the length of my neck.

"I promise you're going to beg for me," he breathed against my neck. "Any and all control you think you have, you'll want it to be mine."

"That will not be tonight, Your Highness."

"Perhaps not tonight, no. But someday. One day. Very, very soon."

"And what makes you so certain?"

"Because I know that our union could mean more power and pleasure beyond our wildest dreams. For both us and our people."

"What people? You don't know anything about me."

"I know everything about you, Amethyst."

I didn't tell him my—

The unexpected feeling of his teeth on my neck was electric— and as shocking as hearing my name on his lips. I gasped as my head fell back, exposing more of my skin for his claiming.

He accepted the invitation, biting and sucking with teeth I knew were no longer human in nature, and then licking and kissing the hurt away before he did it again. I whimpered as I gripped his shirt, refraining from touching; I needed my nails in his flesh.

But that restraint didn't last long. Not as he hoisted me up against the stone wall and coaxed my legs around his waist.

The feeling of him pressed against the heat between my legs unleashed a primal part of me I didn't know existed. I needed him inside of me. Desperately. Now.

I tore at his shirt, blindly pulling it from his shoulders as he continued to mark my neck— I didn't care if buttons popped or seams ripped. Just as I didn't care how high my dress rode up to my hips, revealing my black lace panties underneath.

Not that he could see them. Not that he cared.

Not as he took a finger— was that a claw I felt?— and ran it over the damp material between my legs. The pressure from that one digit had me breathing heavily, and he grinned against my neck.

"Are you always this ready for strangers you meet at the bar?" He growled as he tore the material aside— I heard the rip— and plunged that finger inside of me.

I no longer held back my sounds, not as I wanted to ride that one ungodly finger as it curled inside of me. "Oh fuck."

"That's the plan," he murmured as he removed his face from my neck and looked back up at me. "But I told you... only after you beg."

I wasn't allowed a moment to protest, not as a second finger joined the first, and their unrelenting plunging had me moaning and grinding down to meet their efforts. My nails dug into the flesh of his arms as if I had claws all my own, as I had no choice but to utilize every last bit of my power to remain in control of the situation.

It was no easy feat— not as my marks on his body brought forth his lifeblood, and not as my own began to boil with the heat of pleasure he was giving me.

And all he could do was watch with a glazed golden stare. Waiting. Like a predator and its prey.

I had to close my eyes as the fire coursed through me. I was already so damn close, just a moment more and I'd be screaming his unknown name loud enough for the city to hear.

And as if he knew how close I was, or what his blood did to my magic, those incredible fingers stopped. My eyes blinked open and I stared at him. Incredulously. I couldn't find the words I wanted to spew at him. I could only frame one question.

"Why?"

But his response was a smile. And he crashed his lips into mine as those fingers began to work magic all their own once again. Yet as soon as I so desperately needed my release, he stopped.