Chapter 21 #2
Below, Brody stalked into view, his powerful body gleaming in the moonlight, every sense alert as he tracked me.
Even in human form, his movements held the predatory grace of his wolf, shoulders slightly hunched, head tilted to catch scents, eyes scanning methodically.
My breath caught at the sight of him, my cheetah’s appreciation for a worthy opponent blending with my woman’s desire for her mate.
The claiming marks on our necks were a phantom heartbeat connecting us even at a distance.
“I can smell your arousal, Rozi,” he called, his voice carrying through the quiet forest. “The mating heat makes it impossible to hide.”
“Who says I’m hiding?” I replied, dropping directly onto his shoulders from above.
We tumbled to the forest floor in a tangle of limbs, laughing and growling in equal measure. The moss beneath us was soft, cushioning our fall as we rolled together, each seeking dominance. For all his superior strength, Brody let me pin him, his eyes blazing with desire as I straddled his hips.
The hard length of his thick cock nestled against my slick folds, the contact making me shudder with need. My breasts heaved with each panting breath, nipples tightened to aching points in the cool night air.
“Caught you,” I said, my voice barely recognizable, husky, raw with desire.
He slid his hands up my thighs, leaving trails of fire in their wake, coming to rest at my waist. The heat of his palms against my skin made me squirm, seeking more contact. Through our bond, I could feel his pleasure at seeing me above him, naked in the moonlight, wild and uninhibited.
“So you did,” he conceded, his eyes gleaming gold in the darkness. “What’s your prize?”
I leaned down until my hardened nipples brushed against the coarse hair on his chest, the contact sending electric sparks straight to my core. My lips hovered just above his, our breath mingling in the narrow space between us.
“You,” I whispered against his mouth. “All of you.”
Our lips crashed together, the kiss feral and demanding. I caught his lower lip with my teeth, biting just hard enough to draw a groan from deep in his chest. His hands gripped my ass, fingers digging into the soft flesh as he ground me against his hardness.
“Need you,” I gasped against his mouth, reaching between us to grasp his thick length. “Now.”
“I don’t have a condom,” he said. “So it’s all about your pleasure, mate. I’ll make sure not to come.”
I loved that even in the chaos of desire and need, he remained conscious of my boundaries—respected that I wasn’t ready for the possibility of a cub.
I positioned him at my entrance, the broad head of his cock parting my swollen folds.
We both groaned as I sank down onto him, inch by excruciating inch, my body stretching to accommodate his size.
The mating heat had left me so wet that despite his thickness, he slid in without resistance, filling me completely.
“Fuck,” he hissed, his fingers digging into my hips hard enough to leave marks. “So tight. So perfect.”
I began to move, lifting myself almost completely off his cock before slamming back down. Each stroke sent waves of pleasure coursing through me, my breasts bouncing with the force of my movements. Beneath me, Brody watched with hungry eyes, his gaze fixed on where our bodies joined.
The forest around us faded away, the only reality this moment, this connection. Moss cushioned his back, dew dampening my knees as I rode him with increasing urgency. My head fell back, exposing my throat and the claiming mark.
He slid his hand between us, thumb finding my clit with unerring precision. The dual sensation, his cock stretching me, his thumb circling my sensitive bud, pushed me rapidly toward the edge.
“That’s it,” he said, voice rough with his own building pleasure. “Let me see you come apart.”
The moonlight bathed us in silver as I lost all restraint, grinding against him with desperate need. My inner walls clenched around his length as my orgasm built, tension coiling tighter with each stroke.
“Mine,” I growled, my nails raking down his chest, leaving red trails across his golden skin.
“Yours,” he agreed, the word a primal oath. “Always yours.”
The mating heat drove us with relentless energy, turning gentle touches into desperate grasps, tender kisses into hungry bites. When my release finally came, lights exploded behind my eyes as I cried out his name.
Before I’d even caught my breath, Brody had reversed our positions, laying me gently on the moss before rising to his full height above me.
“My turn to hunt,” he said, eyes gleaming with wicked intent. “Run, little cheetah.”
I scrambled to my feet, heart racing with anticipation rather than fear. This was play, not pursuit, a game between equals, between mates who trusted each other completely.
We chased each other through the moonlit forest, sometimes as humans, sometimes shifting into our animal forms when the mood took us.
As a cheetah, I was faster in short bursts, but his wolf had stamina and tracking ability that made him a formidable opponent.
Each time one of us caught the other, we claimed our prizes with increasing creativity, learning every inch of each other’s bodies in the process.
By the time we stumbled back into the Fae dwelling, dawn was approaching, casting the eastern sky in pale gold. We collapsed onto the bed, exhausted and exhilarated, our bodies bearing the temporary marks of our passionate play.
“I never expected mating heat to be so…” I searched for the right word.
“Fun?” Brody supplied, tracing idle patterns on my hip with his fingers.
“Yes.” I laughed, the sound free and uninhibited. “All the stories make it sound so serious, so overwhelming.”
“It is overwhelming,” he said, pressing a kiss to my shoulder. “But who says overwhelming can’t also be joyful?”
As if in response to his words, another wave of heat surged through me, my body arching involuntarily as need clawed its way up my spine.
“Already?” I gasped, clutching at his shoulders.
He grinned, the expression both tender and wolfish. “I did warn you about the waves.”
This time, our joining was slower, more deliberate, each touch infused with a tenderness that contrasted beautifully with our earlier wildness.
He whispered endearments against my skin, each word a revelation—that he’d thought of me every day for years, that he’d compared every woman to me and found them wanting, that he’d never stopped believing we might find our way back to each other.
“Why didn’t you look for me?” I asked during a brief respite, curled against his side as the sky outside lightened from black to indigo.
His fingers stilled in my hair. “I told myself it was to protect you,” he admitted. “But truthfully? I was afraid.”
“Of what?”
“That you’d hate me,” he said simply. “That I’d hurt you too badly to ever be forgiven. That you’d moved on and found happiness without me.”
I levered myself up, examining his face in the faint glow. “And now?”
“Now, I know better,” he said, his expression achingly vulnerable. “I know that some bonds can’t be broken, even by time or distance or our own stupidity.”
“Especially your stupidity.” I grinned, unable to help myself.
His laugh was warm and genuine, rumbling through his chest beneath my palm. “Especially that.”
The moment was interrupted by another surge of heat, more intense than the last. My skin felt too tight, every nerve ending sensitive as desire pooled low in my belly.
“Brody,” I gasped, the need making my voice break on his name.
He was already moving, his body covering mine with perfect timing. “I’m here,” he murmured against my lips. “I’ll always be here when you need me.”
This time I let him take control, surrendering to the exquisite pleasure of being thoroughly, completely cherished. His hands and mouth seemed to be everywhere at once, mapping my body with dedicated attention, finding spots I hadn’t known were sensitive until he touched them.
When he finally entered me, the feeling of completion was so profound it brought tears to my eyes. This wasn’t just physical satisfaction; it was coming home after a lifetime of wandering. The mate bond hummed between us, strengthened by mutual desire and deepening trust.
“I love you,” he whispered against my temple, the words vibrating through me like a physical touch.
My body froze beneath him, his cock still buried deep inside me, our sweat-slicked skin pressed together.
Time seemed to stop as the words penetrated the last walls around my heart. My heartbeat thundered in my ears, each frantic rhythm seeming to echo his declaration. I love you. I love you. I love you.
I searched for the panic I’d expected, the urge to run, to analyze, to qualify. Instead, I found only a bone-deep certainty that left me breathless. My inner cheetah purred with satisfaction, as if to say finally.
His body tensed above me, muscles rigid as he waited for my response. Through our bond, I felt his vulnerability, the fear of rejection warring with desperate hope. His cock twitched inside me, a physical manifestation of his emotional state.
I cupped his face between my palms, forcing him to meet my gaze. His eyes were wide, the amber flecks more pronounced, wolf close to the surface.
“I love you too,” I said, the words flowing easily. My voice didn’t shake. My hands didn’t tremble. For the first time in my life, I surrendered completely to something I couldn’t quantify or control.
His entire body shuddered against mine. A drop of moisture fell on my cheek, not sweat, but a single tear that had escaped his tightly controlled emotions. His cock hardened impossibly further inside me, stretching me in the most delicious way.
“Say it again,” he demanded, voice rough with emotion as he began to move within me once more, each thrust slow and deliberate.
“I love you,” I repeated, the words punctuated by gasps as he hit that perfect spot inside me. “I have always loved you, Brody Thornbern.”
Release, when it came, was shattering in its intensity. Pleasure cascaded through me in relentless surges, leaving me quivering and gasping as it receded. Brody followed moments later, my name a prayer on his lips as his body tensed above mine.
We collapsed together, limbs entangled, hearts beating in perfect unison.
The mate bond transformed from a tenuous thread to a sturdy bridge connecting mind to mind, heart to heart.
Fragments of his thoughts drifted across my consciousness, wordless contentment, fierce protectiveness, and beneath it all, a steady current of love so profound it took my breath away.
I wondered if he could sense my thoughts too.
“I can feel you,” he murmured against my hair, answering my unspoken question. “Not words exactly, but… impressions. Emotions.” His lips curved against my skin. “Your mind feels like… lightning contained in crystal. Precise. Beautiful.”
I smiled, exploring the new sense that extended beyond my physical boundaries. “Yours feels like a forest at night. Deep. Watchful. Alive with hidden movement.”
Outside, dawn had arrived in full glory, sunlight streaming through the windows to paint everything in warm gold.
Through our connection, I could feel his satisfaction at seeing me bathed in morning light, his contentment at having me in his arms, and beneath it all, a lingering amazement that this was real, that we had found each other again after so long apart.
“I think the first wave has passed,” Brody said after a while, stroking my back in lazy circles.
I raised an eyebrow. “That was just the first wave?”
His smile was both apologetic and anticipatory. “They’ll come faster and more intensely as the day progresses. By tonight…”
“We’ll be insatiable,” I finished for him, feeling a mixture of trepidation and excitement at the prospect.
“Exactly.” He brushed a kiss against my forehead. “We should eat something while we can. Replenish our energy.”
I nodded, though neither of us made any move to leave the bed. “So the mating heat lasts for three days?”
“Give or take,” he said. “The length varies from couple to couple.”
“And what happens after?” I asked, curious about the biology and practical implications alike.
“We return to normal, for the most part,” he said. “Though the mate bond remains stronger than before, and there might be… echoes of the heat during significant events.”
“Significant events?”
His smile turned slightly shy, an expression I found endearing on his usually confident face. “Major life changes. Celebrations. Times of stress or danger.”
“So basically anytime life gets interesting,” I summarized with a wry smile.
“More or less,” he agreed, laughter dancing in his eyes. “Is that a problem, Dr. Dhahabu?”
I pretended to consider the question seriously.
“I suppose I can make adjustments to my research schedule to accommodate periodic bouts of uncontrollable mating frenzy. Though I may need to add a footnote to my papers: Research delayed due to primal shifter instincts. Funding agencies, please adjust timelines accordingly.”
He chuckled, the sound rumbling through his chest and into mine. “I can just imagine the grant proposals. Subject requires three-day sabbatical for mate-bond maintenance.”
“Don’t forget the section on equipment needed: one alpha wolf-shifter, with stamina to be determined,” I added, trailing my fingers down his chest with deliberate intent.
His eyes flashed gold at my touch. “I believe that falls under ongoing experimental trials, Professor.”
“How very scientific of you.” I grinned, pressing a kiss to the claiming mark on his neck, feeling his immediate physical response. My inner cheetah stretched languidly, purring with smug satisfaction at having such an effect on the powerful predator beneath me.
“I am, above all things, adaptable,” I replied primly, though the effect was somewhat ruined by the fact that I was completely naked and still draped half across his body.
His expression softened, thumb brushing my cheekbone with infinite tenderness. “You’re extraordinary, is what you are. Stubborn, passionate, and entirely mine.”
“Entirely yours,” I agreed, my heart full, bursting with emotions I’d never expected to feel. “Just as you are entirely mine.”
The mating heat might have been nature’s design, but what had grown between us—the trust, the friendship, the deepening love—that was a choice we made with every touch, every word, every moment shared.
And as the sunlight painted his features in gold, I silently thanked whatever cosmic force had given us this second chance.
Because some bonds, as Brody had said, couldn’t be broken. And some journeys, no matter how long or winding, were destined to lead home.