Chapter 124: _ Marked?
Grayson grins through his ragged breaths, throwing an arm over his face but peeking at her with one lazy eye. "Starting to think she’s stronger than we gave her credit for." His tone rises with interest. "Maybe a little too strong."
Heidi makes a half-scoff and a growl. Then she plants her palms against their sweaty chests and shoves the two men. Hell, she doesn’t do it gently either. It’s hard enough that both brothers roll off her onto the sheets.
She sits up, hair wild, face flushed, and body sparkling with sweat. Her chest heaves with quick, sharp breaths, but her eyes burn with something other than exhaustion.
"Don’t talk about me like I’m not here," she snaps, voice hoarse like she isn’t just mad at them but hates that she allowed herself to be completely used.
Grayson blinks, feeling his grin starting to disappear. "What..."
But Heidi’s already standing. She grabs the discarded sheet, wraps it around herself with a careless tug, and looks down at them like they’re nothing more than playthings she’s grown bored with.
"You two seem to be forgetting something. I only did that because I’m in heat. I needed an outlet, and unfortunately, you two were... available. So you aren’t anything special. You’re just... my playthings." She shrugs, hands on her hips.
W-what?! Grayson’s mouth falls open.
Is this the same Heidi Castell that he and Morgan tagged in the hallways of Duskwind?
Morgan barks a laugh, rolling onto his side to watch her with devilish pleasure. "Wait, wait... are you saying you used us?"
"Yeah." Heidi shrugs, her lips curling into the faintest smirk. "That’s exactly what I’m saying."
Grayson bolts upright, his wolf snarling so loud in his head it nearly makes him dizzy. She used us? The words hit harder than any claw and harder than any blade. His pride bristles like fire across his skin.
Morgan, however, looks utterly delighted. He props his head on his hand, still grinning like this is the funniest damn thing he’s ever heard. "Oh, that’s rich. Gray, did you hear that? Little wolf flipped the table on us."
Grayson’s jaw clenches so hard his teeth ache. His eyes burn into her as she turns away from them, bare feet padding across the wooden floor toward the bathroom door.
"Not many girls on campus can say something like that," Morgan continues, clearly enjoying this far too much. "We use girls. Girls don’t use us."
Heidi glances back over her shoulder, eyes glinting. "Well, Alpha Boy, there’s a first time for everything."
And with that, she disappears into the bathroom, the door shutting behind her.
Grayson sits frozen, pulse pounding in his ears. His wolf is pacing, snarling, and howling inside him.
"She thinks she used us," the beast growls. "She thinks she’s in control. Are we going to let her?"
No. No fucking way.
Grayson drags a hand down his face, smearing sweat across his skin. His pride is a raw, bleeding thing. Every nerve in his body screams for dominance, correction, and a claim that cannot be undone.
"I won’t let a woman dominate me," he mutters under his breath.
His claws itch, his fangs burn, and his wolf is clawing at the walls of his skull. She needs to be marked. She needs to know who owns her.
Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Morgan watching him. His brother’s smirk fades as he catches the gleam of elongated fangs cutting through Grayson’s mouth.
"Don’t! Grayson, no. The plan is not to mark her!" He jerks up in warning, dangling a finger at his brother who is clearly losing control.
Grayson turns, eyes blazing. "We need to show her who the boss is. She can’t walk out of here thinking she’s the one calling the shots."
Or maybe that’s an excuse he’s giving himself for the deep hunger that has settled deep within him since he pulled his cock out of her.
Morgan pushes upright, glaring at him. "That’s not how it works. If we mark her, we’re binding her. You get that? That’s a claim for life. We came to save her and ensure she doesn’t get a free pass like death. This—this is on a whole deeper and more intimate level. You can’t just..."
The bathroom door creaks open before he can finish.
Heidi steps out, steam curling around her with her skin flushed from the quick rinse. Her damp hair clings to her shoulders, droplets sliding down her neck to the sheet barely clinging to her body.
And then she freezes.
Her eyes meet Grayson’s mouth, seeing the sharp white fangs gleaming under the dim light. For a second, the defiance on her face disappears. Her pupils dilate. She sucks in her breath.
"Oh," her wolf whispers through her in a voice so clear that Grayson hears it echo in his bones.
Enchanted. Entranced. Hungry.
The sight of her reacting like that shatters whatever thin leash Grayson had on himself. Tris howls with triumph at her potent reaction.
"She wants it. She needs it. Bite her. Mark her. Make her ours."
That’s it. Fuck Morgan and his rationality.
Grayson moves before his brother can stop him. One second he’s on the bed, the next he’s across the room, caging Heidi against the wall with his body. The sheet slips from her grasp, puddling at her feet, leaving her bare and trembling.
Her eyes never leave his fangs. Her lips part. Her chest rises and falls in a frantic rhythm.
"Grayson..." Morgan’s alarmed voice is behind him.
But Grayson doesn’t hear him. His hands grip Heidi’s hips, pressing her against the wall. He lowers his mouth to her neck, inhaling her scent, that wild mixture of defiance and need and pure... heat.
"You think you used us?" he growls against her skin. His voice is anything but lenient and sane. "No, little wolf. You belong to us."
Oh, Heidi doesn’t answer—maybe because she doesn’t need to. Her head tilts, baring her throat to him on a silver platter. He knows that’s her wolf responding to his wolf’s command.
Hell, Heidi is a newbie. She wouldn’t know what it means to be marked or how the process goes had her wolf not come into play. Grayson knows that she might or might not know what it means to be marked by one’s mate.
She wouldn’t know what oath they were taking or the potency of it. The binding of their souls and the first "I do" before the one said on the altar.
This is the binding of their wolf and if that’s what it takes to show her that she is only allowed to belong to him, hell, he would. He doesn’t care if she’s a Moon Blessed or not. Unlike Amias and Darien’s mother, their own mother doesn’t care much for social standings or status. After all, she was a rogue herself before their father found her.
Fuck it... He’s so doing this.
Grayson’s fangs sink into her and the world explodes.
Her scream reverberates in the air, but it’s not pain—it’s something deeper and rawer. Her wolf bursts to the surface, howling inside him, weaving with his own until he can’t tell where he ends and she begins.
Her blood hits his tongue like fire and honey, searing through him, binding, chaining, claiming. The bond snaps tight and becomes electrically unbreakable. Tris roars, triumphantly.
"Finally!"
He pulls back, chest heaving, lips still wet with her blood. Her skin is marked, branded with his claim and glowing faintly as the bond settles in.
Heidi slumps against the wall, trembling with wide eyes and parted lips. She looks wrecked. But before he can bask in it, before the satisfaction can root too deep, a hand slams against his shoulder.
It’s Morgan.
His brother’s eyes blaze. "You selfish bastard," Morgan snarls. "You think you get to mark her alone? You think I’ll stand by while you take everything for yourself?"
Grayson growls back, the bond surging in his chest. "I needed it and she wanted it."
"She’s ours," Morgan bellows, shoving him back. "Not just yours."
Heidi sways between them, dazed, her hand pressed to the fresh bite mark. Her wolf is wild, panting, desperate.
Her gaze flicks from Grayson to Morgan, pupils blown wide.
And then she whispers. It’s too low but somehow, as sharp as a blade: "Both."
Morgan doesn’t need another invitation. His hands seize her, dragging her back against him. His fangs gleam as he lowers his mouth to the other side of her throat.
Grayson’s wolf snarls in protest, but the bond throbs, urging completion.
Balance.
Morgan bites.
Heidi cries out again, the sound raw and broken, her body arching as the second bond locks into place. Twin flames ignite under her skin, twisting together, weaving with theirs until all three are bound in a blaze of heat and possession.
When Morgan finally pulls back, his lips are red with her blood and his eyes fixate on Grayson’s. "She’s ours now. Marked by both. There’s no running or denying now."
Heidi collapses shakily against them, her breath ragged. The marks burn on her throat and are proof of the claims and the bonds she swore she’d never give them.
Grayson smirks, licking her blood from his lips. "Guess there’s a first time for everything."