Chapter Eight #3
Her eyes shine. Not with sadness but with true emotion. I sink fully into her and stop. Our breaths mingle. The bond wraps around us, brighter now, tighter, but not locked. Not yet.
She moves first, rolling her hips beneath me.
My teeth clench. “Holly.”
“Move.”
I obey. The first thrust is slow, dragging a moan from both of us. The second is deeper. The third makes her cry out, head tipping back, throat exposed to the moon.
My wolf surges but I hold him back.
I brace one hand beside her head, the other gripping her hip as I build the rhythm she asks for with her body. Slow becomes steady. Steady becomes harder. Her legs wrap around my waist, pulling me deeper, and every time I drive into her, the bond flashes hotter.
“You feel so good,” I praise against her mouth. “Taking me so well. Look at you, sweetheart. Letting yourself have this. Letting me love you like this.”
The word slips out before I can stop it.
Love.
Holly freezes beneath me for half a breath and so do I. Then her face crumples into something so raw it guts me.
“Say it again,” she whispers.
My chest breaks open. “I love you,” I growl, thrusting deep. “I love you, Holly. Not because fate handed you to me. Not because my wolf wants you. Because you’re stubborn and sweet and sharp enough to cut me open. Because you make me laugh. Because you make every place you stand feel like home.”
A sob breaks from her throat, and her body clenches around me so tightly I nearly come.
“I love you,” I say again, rougher now. “I love you when you’re scared. I love you when you’re difficult. I love you when you threaten me with baked goods. I love you because you’re you.”
“Daniel.” My name tears out of her like a plea.
Her nails rake down my back, pain and pleasure sparking together. Her hips meet mine now, frantic, greedy, taking what she needs. I give it to her. Every thrust. Every breath. Every broken piece of myself I thought no one wanted.
And she takes them like they are worth keeping.
I slide my hand between us, finding the swollen little bundle of nerves that makes her gasp.
“Come for me,” I murmur. “Let go, sweetheart. I’ve got you. Let me feel you choose me.”
Her orgasm hits with a cry that shakes through the clearing. She arches beneath me, body pulsing around my cock, eyes wide and wet and locked on mine. The bond flares so fiercely I nearly lose myself in it. Pleasure crashes through me, but I hold back by a thread.
Not yet...
Holly’s hands frame my face. Her voice trembles, but it does not break. “Claim me.”
Everything stops. The moon. The forest. My damn heart.
“Holly.”
She tilts her head, baring her throat fully. “I choose you, Daniel Reed. Not because of fate. Not because of fear. Because I love you too.”
My restraint shatters. A sound tears from my chest, half snarl, half prayer. I thrust deep, burying myself inside her as my fangs lengthen. My mouth lowers to the tender place between her neck and shoulder.
Her arms tighten around me. “Yes.”
I bite. Her blood touches my tongue, sweet and wild and hers, and the bond detonates.
Holly screams my name as the claim locks into place. Her body convulses around mine, another climax ripping through her as the mark blooms beneath my mouth. The world goes white-hot, her heartbeat slamming into mine, her soul opening beneath the bond, warm and fierce and whole.
I roar against her skin and come hard, hips driving deep as I fill her. The pleasure is brutal and endless, tearing through me in waves. My cock jerks inside her, spilling into her as the bond sears us together, not a chain but a thread of light neither of us ever has to fear.
Holly clings to me, shaking, crying, laughing a little too, because of course she is.
My fangs slide free and I lick the mark carefully, sealing it, soothing the sting. The claiming bite glows faintly beneath my tongue, warm with magic and the promise we made.
When I look at her, her eyes are wet, and her smile is crooked.
“If you say ‘mine’ in a creepy voice, I’m shoving you into the creek.”
A broken laugh bursts from me. Goddess, I love this woman.
I press my forehead to hers. “Ours.”
Her expression softens and she nods. “Ours.”
She reaches for my shoulder, guiding me down until her mouth touches my skin. My breath catches. “Holly.”
“My turn,” she whispers.
My wolf goes still and she bites me.
Her fangs pierce my shoulder, and the bond flares even brighter.
Pleasure and pain slam through me, mingling until I can’t separate them.
I groan her name, holding her tighter as she marks me back.
My cock hardens again instantly and my hips start moving.
I thrust a few times before spilling another load deep inside her.
When she releases me, she kisses the mark once, almost shyly. “You’re mine too,” she says.
I cup her face. “Every stubborn inch.”
“Good.”
“Bossy mate.”
“Handyman mate.”
“That sounds useful.”
“It is. I have a shelf upstairs that needs fixing.”
I stare at her, and she smiles. I laugh so hard my forehead drops to her shoulder. And in the middle of a moonlit clearing, still inside her, still trembling from the claim, with leaves in her hair and my heart in her hands, Holly laughs with me.