Chapter 18 Rey #2
Rey locked the door after they left, grabbed the box off the little table nearby, and walked back upstairs.
Carter sat with his back against the headboard, an eager look on his face.
Rey only knew the cards had arrived because Seth had told him about the package, but he hadn’t cared about anything except Carter.
Settling onto the bed beside Carter, Rey slid a nail under the tape holding the box closed and opened the top.
Inside were neat rows of little white rectangles.
Carter ran the top of one finger along the row, eyes gleaming with excitement.
Rey’s heart clenched as Carter reverently pulled one out. Pure joy emanated from his mate. The simple design and elegant script looked perfect. “I never thought I’d have my own business cards before,” Carter said. “They’re amazing.”
Slipping his arm behind Carter’s back, Rey tugged him closer to his side. “You’re amazing.”
A flush invaded Carter’s cheeks, and he ducked his head. “I’m not.”
“You are. Unbelievably amazing, my little wolf.” Rey nuzzled the side of Carter’s throat.
His tongue flicked out over the mating mark, his wolf chuffing in his head at the taste of his mate.
“You’re strong and smart. Funny. Beyond gorgeous.
I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life showing you just how incredible you truly are. ”
Carter moaned when Rey sucked up a mark onto his neck. Rey’s wolf rumbled in pleasure at the visible sign of their claim on Carter. “Rey,” Carter panted, his hand clenching on the card in his hand and crushing it. Pouting, Carter said, “Now look at what you made me do.”
Rey straightened out the card, flattening it the best he could.
“I’ll buy you a thousand more,” he replied, taking the box from Carter and tossing it on the nightstand.
His body tightened with need. A primal hunger rose in him, a raw, possessive urge to mark his mate with more than just a bruise, to brand Carter in a way no one could mistake: his and his alone.
Standing, he held out his hand to Carter.
Brow furrowing, Carter accepted the offered hand, and Rey pulled him from the bed, leading him toward the bathroom and straight to the huge walk-in shower.
They’d put the bench built into the wall to use more than once over the last couple of weeks since the summit.
Rey never released Carter, merely reaching in to turn on the showerheads to allow the water to warm.
Then he helped Carter out of the sweatpants he and Seth had changed him into after rescuing him from Darryl.
Tossing the pants aside, Rey stripped out of his sneakers, jeans, and t-shirt. Carter wrinkled his nose at Rey. “You were still wearing the clothes you wore to the pack run.”
Rey gathered Carter close to his naked body, ignoring the hard, jutting flesh between his thighs.
“I never left your side,” he said, running his hands down the expanse of his mate’s smooth back.
“Nothing else mattered—nothing—except you waking up, little wolf. I didn’t care about eating, sleeping, even breathing.
If you hadn’t opened your eyes… I would’ve gone with you, wherever you were.
Even if it was the dark. Especially the dark.
Because life without you isn’t life at all. ”
Carter’s eyes widened, his breath catching as Rey reached out, gently brushing his fingers along his mate’s cheek, needing to feel him to believe he was real.
“I love you, sweetheart,” he said, voice trembling, barely more than a whisper.
“If I’d lost you, I don’t think I would have survived it.
Not really. I was unraveling by the hour.
Kasey, the pack, they would’ve had to stop me, because I wouldn’t have known how to keep going without you. You’re my heart, Carter.”
Cupping Carter’s bottom in his hands, Rey lifted Carter up, encouraging him to wrap his slender legs around his waist, and rested his forehead against Carter’s.
“You don’t understand, little wolf. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you.
If you asked, I’d watch the world burn with a smile, just to see you safe. ”
Carter clung to him, his legs tightening around Rey’s waist, his fingers curling into Rey’s broad shoulders as if he were anchoring himself to something real.
When Carter finally spoke, his voice sounded rough and broken.
“You held me the entire time?” he whispered, eyes wet with tears.
“Even when I didn’t know it, you stayed with me. ”
His lips trembled as he leaned in, brushing them against Rey’s with a heartbreaking sweetness, more a breath than a kiss. “You say you’d burn the world for me, but I’d walk into fire if it meant keeping you from it. You’re everything to me, too.”
Rey stepped into the shower, sliding the glass door closed behind them.
The steam curled around them, warm and thick, blurring the glass.
He pressed Carter against the cool tiles, their bodies slotting together perfectly, made for one another by the fates or gods watching over them.
“Never leave me, little wolf,” he murmured, kissing the skin just beneath Carter’s ear.
Carter shivered and nodded. “Never,” he said, voice cracking.
Their lips met, not in a hungry way, but in something deeper, heavier.
A promise. Rey poured everything into the kiss that he’d held back: grief, relief, love.
Carter responded with a soft whimper, threading his fingers into Rey’s hair.
The reality of just how close Rey had come to losing Carter sent a shudder ripping through him.
Water streamed between them, slicking their skin and heightening the sensations.
Rey kissed a path down Carter’s throat, tasting the water of the shower and the salt of his mate.
His hands roamed with care, never grabbing, always asking.
Carter gave everything willingly, arching into every caress with quiet gasps, moans spilling out unguarded.
The heat between them built until it matched the steam surrounding them.
Rey made every movement measured, not for control, but for intimacy.
To show Carter this wasn’t about fucking.
It was about love. Taking wasn’t his goal.
He used every action he took to remind Carter that he was loved. Alive. Home.
Carter gripped him harder, both arms around Rey’s neck, whispering affirmations and breathless pleas, fingers tangling in Rey’s dripping hair as he pulled him closer.
And Rey answered every single one with soft touches and warm, wet kisses.
Carter arched into him, their bodies slick and sliding together, every inch of contact sparking electric heat.
Rey traced the elegant curve of Carter’s spine with one hand while he grazed his teeth over Carter’s throat, then soothed the mark with a kiss, each touch a delicate contrast of fire and tenderness. “You drive me mad,” Rey said. “Every second I thought I’d lost you, it twisted something in me.”
Carter cradled his face between both hands, forcing their eyes to meet. “Then take it back. Prove to yourself that I’m still here, alive and well. Show me I’m still yours.”
Determined to do just what Carter commanded, Rey reached for the waterproof lube on the nearby built-in shelf, using one arm to keep Carter snug to him while the other flicked open the cap.
Liberally coating his hand, Rey reached beneath Carter, nudging his mate’s cheeks wider and lightly tapping at the outer ring.
A gasp escaped Carter, and he ground down, trying to capture the single digit Rey used to prod at his entrance.
“Rey,” Carter whimpered. “Need you, mate.”
“Shh, sweetheart. Not going to rush this.” Rey sank the tip of his finger into Carter’s tightness. “Never want to be any farther apart from you than this.”
Rey bent his head to capture one of Carter’s nipples, sucking hard while working his finger in and out of his channel. “Need to pierce these,” Rey said, growling, biting gently on one and rolling it between his teeth. “Bet they would look even more beautiful.”
“Yes, pierce… whatever you want. Please, Rey,” Carter cried.
He continued to bite, lick and suck on the small nubs while thrusting his fingers in and out of Carter’s receptive hole.
Every sound Carter made caused his cock to throb, lust pouring through Rey.
By the time Rey stretched Carter enough to bury three fingers inside of him, Carter’s pleas had deepened, each one becoming more desperate than the one before it.
Finally, Rey used the lube to coat his shaft, already a dark red from being so aroused and needing to be deep within his mate, to be so connected neither of them knew where the other ended.
“You ready for me, little wolf? Ready to feel me for days? For me to claim you again and mark you inside and out?”
“Yes, Rey! Now. Inside of me.”
Rey ensnared Carter’s lips with his as he sank into him, growling at the hot, tight heat encasing his cock.
Beginning with a rolling undulation of his hips, he slowly made love to Carter, never increasing the depth or speed behind his thrusts.
He kept his rhythm languid, reclaiming his lover and healing both of them.
Each thrust, each kiss, each breath was a vow spoken in flesh and fire.
Rey used his body to show Carter the strength of his promise.
Hands touched and roved, mouths met and clung, flesh drug along flesh.
And when they reached the edge together, it wasn’t a collapse.
It was a surrender. Melting into one another, like two halves finally finding their whole.
Carter’s body trembled as he cried out, head thrown back, nails digging into Rey’s shoulders.
Rey splintered with him, Carter’s name a raw, broken sound on his lips, face buried against Carter’s thin chest, grounding himself in the only thing that mattered.
Afterward, Rey held him there, water still cascading, heartbeat slowing beneath his cheek.
Carter rested his head on Rey’s shoulder, eyes closed, lips brushing against damp skin.
The water washed away everything but them.
Rey kissed him once more and whispered, “Loving you forever, my beautiful little wolf.”
Carter’s smile was soft, dazed, but sure. “Forever.”