Chapter 50 #2
My hand wraps around the back of her neck, thumb pressed to the hollow of her throat. I feel her pulse under my skin, frantic and unguarded.
“Sol,” she whispers, somewhere between a plea and a dare.
I answer with action. My teeth close over the scarred flesh, not gentle, not careful, but with all the precision I’ve been holding back.
She gasps, a broken, animal sound, and then her whole body locks up – every muscle taut and singing.
I bite down, fully, a clean deep puncture this time, letting the taste of her flood my mouth as I reinforce the bond neither of us will admit to needing so badly.
She jerks, hips bucking, her hands fisting in the bedding as if she could anchor herself against the seismic shift inside her.
Kai lets out a low, involuntary moan from the corner of the room, but I don’t break focus for a second.
This is for her. For me. For the blood and heat and need we’ve both been staving off.
I hold the bite, refusing to let go until I feel her relax into it, the resistance dissolving into pure helpless want.
Only then do I lift my head, tongue laving over the new mark, sealing it for good.
The taste of her is everywhere – on my lips, in my mouth, burned into my memory.
Settled under my ribs, right where she belongs.
She sags under me, barely holding herself up, and I stroke her back, soothing her through the aftershocks, letting her feel the pride in my touch.
She’s shaking so hard now I almost want to pull her into my lap and cradle her, but it’s better like this – her on her knees, marked and gasping, the whole room quiet except for the sound of her trying to breathe through it.
I lean in, lips to her ear, and speak the only word that matters anymore.
“Mine.”
Mine.
Finally.
I exhale slowly against her skin, my hold tightening just enough to keep her grounded as the last piece clicks into place.
Not held back.
Not at the edge.
Exactly where I’m meant to be.
I lean over her, my chest heaving as I try to catch my breath.
The air is thick with the scent of our mating, our connection solidified by my claim over her.
Her body trembles beneath mine, and I can feel the heat radiating off her skin.
For a moment, we are both still, caught up in the aftermath of our union.
I can feel her heart pounding against my chest, a rhythm that matches my own. I know she can feel my need, my desire to possess her completely.
I whisper in her ear, “You are mine. Every part of you belongs to me, little prey.” She shivers at my words, her body responding to my claim.
I shift my hips, feeling my knot begin to swell inside her. Her head snaps up, and she gasps, her nails digging into the bedding. I groan, the sensation of her tightening around me almost too much to bear. I start to move again, slowly at first, building up a rhythm that has her moaning beneath me.
She is gasping beneath me, every exhale a ragged offering torn from somewhere deep and secret.
I watch her jaw work, her lips parting as she tries to catch herself on the slippery slope I’ve put her on – but it’s useless, she’s already too far gone, her body in that wild freefall where the only way out is through.
The room is thick with pressure, the air nearly electric as I drive into her, each motion deliberate, measured, building on the last. She doesn’t break eye contact, not even when her body starts to betray her, back arching up to meet every thrust, spine bowing with the effort to keep me close, closer, closest.
The blue of her eyes is nearly swallowed by the dilation, pupils blown so wide they look black in the dim light. It’s the same look I saw the first time I ever had her, the same look she wore when she finally surrendered – unwilling, unwitting, but helpless to do anything else.
My hands grip her hips, fingers splayed possessively over the softness of her skin, and I pull her back to meet every stroke.
With each impact, the tension in her builds, a quiver running up her thighs to her belly and back, her entire body caught between my hands and the need that won’t let her go.
I know she’s right on the edge: she makes this strangled sound, a half-cry, half-moan, and her nails claw at the nest, desperate for some kind of anchor, anything to keep from splintering apart underneath me.
I want to see her break – not just because I can, but because I know she needs it, needs to be taken apart and put back together by someone who won’t let her fall.
I want her ruin, and I want her absolute trust in the same breath.
I slow, just for a beat, and she whimpers, the noise so raw it makes my cock twitch inside her, swelling even more as my knot swells to the point of pain. She tries to move back against me, greedy for more, but I hold her steady, forcing her to accept my rhythm, my pace, my will.
Every time I plunge into her, the angle is perfect, lining up exactly where she needs it, and her whole body bows under the onslaught.
Her breath hitches, stutters, and then she’s almost wailing, the sound smothered in the bedding but no less urgent for it.
I know the others can hear – know that every single person in this nest can smell her, taste her surrender – and the thought just makes me fuck her harder, makes me want to leave no doubt, to make it unmistakable who she belongs to.
She tries to hold my gaze but her vision blurs, tears tracking down her cheek as she gives up any pretense of control. I lean over her, lips brushing her temple, my voice ragged but sure: “That’s it, Lani. Let go. I’ve got you.”
Her body seizes, the climax ripping through her so violently she nearly throws me off, but I ride it out, refusing to let her escape the feeling, making sure she takes every last pulse and throb.
Her muscles clamp around me, impossibly tight, and I can’t hold back anymore – I fuck her through it, every motion rougher, more desperate, until I can’t breathe, can’t think, can’t do anything but pour myself into her.
Everything.
She is everything.
And I’ll happily spend the rest of my life making sure she knows it.