Enslaved by the Alpha: Part One (Shifters of Nunavut Book 1) by Viola Rivard

hips, the muscles of his arms growing taut. His abdomen seemed to coil and he felt his sac begin to tighten with his impending release. A release that…would not come.
    Erik’s jaw clenched as the tension continued to build, well past the point where he should have been able to climax. Pleasure gave way to discomfort as his sac began feeling too heavy, his cock, too swollen. He thrust harder, trying to focus on the feel of his head hitting the back of her sheath. Soon, even that was not enough to distract him from the pain.
    What finally hit him wasn’t a release. It was pure relief, cut with sheer ecstasy. He lost all awareness of time and his surroundings, his entire being centered on the sensation of his seed bursting from within him and filling his human.
    Delirium subsided slowly, like early-morning fog. When his head was nearly clear, Erik became aware of blood. The sweet, coppery liquid filled his mouth, and he opened his eyes to see that his head was buried in the human’s neck.
    At some point during his climax he had bitten her—branding her with his mark. As he licked at the wound, he felt his wolf settle within him, contented. The human, however, was trembling. Her breath came in and out in uneven gasps.
    Erik wanted nothing more than to collapse and remain just where he was, on top of her, inside of her. But the layer of sweat on her skin had begun to chill, and he knew that he would have to get her somewhere warmer.
    With great reluctance, he pulled out of her. The cold air was never comfortable on his wet manhood, but it was especially brutal after he’d just been fully enveloped in her hot, tight passage. Growling despite himself, Erik grabbed the pelt he’d worn earlier and wrapped it around her legs, before picking her up.
    She was still trembling, though as he carried her down the tunnel, her shaking began to wane. She said nothing, which for some reason annoyed him. He realized that without her usual incessant chatter, he could not tell what she was thinking. Everything about her was too foreign to him and it was impossible to predict the way her mind would work.
    Erik looked down, hoping to glean something from her expression, but she’d turned her head into his chest. She appeared calmer now, and as he pulled her closer to him, the last of her shaking ceased.
    Why did he care what she was thinking? Since when had it concerned him what anyone was thinking, least of all, a human?
    Erik took the long way back to her room, using the extra time to clear the intrusive thoughts from his head.
    ***
    Everything hurt.
    And why wouldn’t it? In the past hour, Astrid had been pushed against a wall, thrown onto the floor, forced onto her knees, fucked mercilessly, and then bitten . She wasn’t sure why that last part bothered her the most.
    Erik placed her down onto the furs and then stood, wordlessly. She missed his warmth, but was glad that he was leaving. She needed time to process everything that had just happened, and for once, she did not want to talk.
    Her mind was preoccupied, thinking about, of all things, her ex. Not about the loving, easy relationship they’d had, or even about the breakup that she’d long-since vowed to only cry about while in the shower. She was thinking about the sex they used to have.
    Neil had been the first person she’d ever had sex with. The awkward hand job she’d given to her junior prom date did not count, no matter what Father Marcus said.
    Though she’d only had sex with one person, Astrid had felt that she’d experienced the full spectrum of relationship sex. Early on, when they’d been in college, their sex had been fun and silly. They’d usually made a game of it. How long could they kiss before one of them caved? How loud could they be without waking Neil’s roommate?
    Then, they’d gotten married. While their sex lost its silliness and became more routine, she’d enjoyed it far more. There was a deep intimacy that had not been there before. When she had