Chapter 50
Valens
When at least two more orgasms had lit us both up from the inside out, I rolled us so that Elodie lay on top of my chest, then I collapsed back against the bed as if she’d put a dagger through my heart.
She pushed up off my chest with her palms, deepening the connection point between us and rocking slightly, just enough to tug that knot and seat it a tiny bit deeper. Goddess, it couldn’t be possible for her to take me any deeper.
I groaned, hands going to her waist. To hold her still or tighter, I didn’t even know. “You didn’t answer my question, Firecracker.”
I’d asked her if she was okay, if I’d hurt her, and she’d distracted me.
“Yes, I did. I showed you that I’m better than okay. I’m… floating. I’ve never felt so free. Ironic, considering we’re quite literally tied together for… I don’t know how long.”
The minx wiggled her hips again, and my erection responded, right back on the precipice of pleasure.
That was heat for you. Spontaneous orgasms and insatiable appetites.
Experiencing it firsthand was nothing like reading about it in a clinical book.
I’d thought I’d prepared, but the reality of Elodie’s naked, gleaming flesh stretched out above me, her tousled hair, but mostly those eyes, the way she looked at me like I was her personal fucking dream come to life…
I reached for her clit again, teasing it gently until she arched, surrendering to the pleasure and dragging me over the edge right along with her.
This time, something seemed to shift within her. A contentment that wasn’t there before as she leaned forward with a languid smile. “I’m starting to get sleepy,” she admitted, nuzzling her face against my jaw.
“Sleep, then. I’ve got you.”
“I know.”
Two tiny words, but they flayed me open just the same. I held her in my arms as she dozed. But I couldn’t close my eyes, couldn’t blink. I didn’t want to miss a single second.
Five days later
Elodie gasped, back arching as our hips surged together one last time, hair a tangled halo against the sheets, eyes shimmering with pleasure.
Her pussy fisted around my cock tight enough to make me see stars of my own, and I was ready to collapse by the time the bliss finished coursing through my veins.
I managed to crash next to her instead of on top of her and considered it a win with the way my muscles were completely wrung out. From head to toe, I was boneless.
But so was she, and I had a sneaking suspicion her heat had just faded, the last of my rut going right along with it. With herculean effort, I lifted a fingertip and rested the back of my knuckle against her rose-tinted cheek.
Crisp and cool, not a trace of lingering temperature.
Goddess.
It felt absurd to be glad a sex marathon was over, but fucking for five days straight was a lot, even with shifter stamina. Sure, we’d interspersed showers and shoveling in food between rounds, but that was it. We’d been locked in this cottage uninterrupted otherwise.
Every single moment was imprinted on my memory in high definition, and I relished them all. But I was exhausted to the marrow of my bones. I held in a wince at the thought of the outside world just waiting to suck us back in.
As all-consuming as a heat was, the other shoe was dangling just above our heads. It would have to dangle a little bit longer.
Elodie’s eyes were already closed, the sounds of deep, even breathing assuring me she’d passed out asleep.
Within moments, I was with her again in our dreams.
A distressed groan woke me from sleep with the electric jolt of jumper cables.
I sat bolt upright, dazed and confused as I scanned the room for Elodie. The sheets to my left were rumpled but empty.
“Elodie!” I called out as I scrambled from the bed, unsure where the sound had come from.
Then I heard it.
Crying.
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
I flung the bathroom door open to find her hunched over in front of the sink, eyes streaming with tears.
“What’s wrong? Are you hurt?” My hands went to her shoulders with new familiarity. I studied her distraught face in the mirror, worried she’d had another round of heat pains, though… she still felt cool to the touch.
She sobbed, curling inward as if trying to disappear as she wordlessly shook her head. I just held her, bracketing her smaller body with my own, waiting for her to regain her words. Eventually, she turned and burrowed into me, and that’s when I noticed them in the mirror.
Mate marks.
The most gorgeous sight I’d ever seen, sprawling in lazy curlicues over her entire back, not an inch of skin left unchanged.
My mouth dropped open as I traced each line with hungry eyes.
She was mine. Forever. The proof was there in stunning forest green, a delicately all-encompassing tattoo, which meant my own had to be somewhere.
I was so awestruck by the sight, it took my brain several moments to catch up to the utterly distraught woman in my arms.
The realization was a bucket of ice water over my head, and I tried not to stiffen when I realized she was upset because of the marks.
She didn’t want this.
We’d spent nearly six days fucking each other senseless, sharing every intimate act a couple could, and she didn’t want this.
Bitter acid burned on my tongue as I let her cry her eyes dry on my shoulder, desperately trying to convince myself otherwise.
But I was hollow inside.
Even my wolf was painfully silent as we consoled our mate for the sheer fact of her being ours. Somehow, over the last week, I’d let myself hope—no, believe—that she wanted this relationship as much as I did. That I wasn’t alone in my feelings, that they were shared, even if she was scared.
But while I’d seen her marks and taken an elated trip around the moon, she’d broken into a million tiny pieces.
And the longer I stood there, my own insides hollowed out with pain at her pain, I realized… I could feel it in my chest.
Her sorrow. Her sense of loss at what this meant.
I was feeling her emotions, and I needed to shut that shit down right now. Because I couldn’t stand it for another second. I thought… I thought I’d understood what it meant to have a mate, to feel that intimate, soul-deep connection before. I thought I was ready.
Goddess, I’d craved it with Elodie.
But this?
Knowing in my soul that she wanted nothing to do with this bond, even after all we’d shared, how our relationship had grown… It was crushing me from the inside out.
I closed my eyes, and with every bit of strength I possessed, I forced the bond shut.