Chapter 16 Lev
SIXTEEN
LEV
With a surprising strength, Xelene pushed him back until he was seated against the plush leather.
Her green eyes held his, a challenge and a promise, as she rose up on her knees.
She positioned herself over him, the heat of her core a brand against the head of his cock.
He gripped her hips, his fingers digging into her soft skin, holding her steady—or maybe holding himself back from surging up and taking her.
Then she began to sink down.
It was an exquisite, slow torture. He felt every inch of her slick, tight heat enveloping him, stretching to accommodate his girth.
It was more than physical; it was as if the missing piece of his soul clicked into place.
Her head fell back, a raw cry tearing from her throat as she took him to the hilt, seated fully upon him.
“Lev…” she gasped, her voice thick with wonder and pleasure.
He could feel it fully now. The mate bond wasn’t just a faint pulse anymore; it was a live wire strung taut between them, humming with intense energy.
Her pleasure washed over him in warm, dizzying waves, mingling with his own desperate need until he couldn’t tell where he ended and she began.
His lion surged forward, its presence a golden pressure behind his eyes, demanding he claim, possess, mark.
“You feel that?” he growled, his voice rough with the effort of control. “That’s us.”
She answered by moving. A slow, deliberate roll of her hips that made him see stars. Rational thought evaporated. His grip on her hips tightened, guiding her, meeting her with powerful upward thrusts.
“Take what you need. It’s all yours,” he commanded, the alpha in him taking over.
Xelene obeyed, her rhythm becoming urgent, her body riding him with a fierce abandon that shattered his last shreds of restraint.
She was everywhere—her scent, her heat, the feel of her inner muscles clenching around him, the sight of her beautiful face contorted in ecstasy.
He thrust up into her, deep and hard, each stroke forging the bond between them tighter.
She leaned forward, her mouth crashing into his. The kiss was messy and desperate, a tangle of tongues and shared breath. He could feel the tension coiling tight within her, the telltale flutter around his cock. He drove into her, again and again, chasing that peak with her.
“Come for me,” he snarled against her lips. “Let me feel all of you.”
Her cry was swallowed by his mouth as her orgasm detonated. Her body convulsed, her inner walls clamping down on him in rhythmic, milking pulses of pure ecstasy. The sensation was cataclysmic. It tore through his control, through his very being.
His own release followed, a tidal wave of pleasure so intense it bordered on pain.
His lion broke free with a silent, triumphant roar.
As he spilled himself deep inside her, a fierce, possessive instinct took over.
His hands, still locked on her hips, pulled her down hard against him with a final, claiming thrust.
In the blinding, white-hot haze of completion, he barely registered her change in cry.
The scream was sharp—devoid of pleasure, full of shock and pain.
Lev’s eyes flew open, the golden haze of his lion receding as cold dread doused the afterglow. Xelene was rigid in his lap, her face pale, her eyes wide with confusion and hurt. One of her hands flew to her left hip.
“Lev,” she gasped, her voice trembling. “What… what was that? It burns.”
He stared, his mind struggling to catch up. Then he saw it. On the smooth skin of her hip, claw marks welled with tiny beads of crimson blood. The marks were precise and deep.
His mate mark.
His lion had surged forward in the climax, and in his lost, primal state, he had unintentionally marked his mate.
“Xelene,” he breathed, horror and guilt rushing through him.
He had just bound her to him forever, and he hadn’t even realized he was doing it.
Shit.
The word ricocheted through Lev’s mind like a bullet, sharp and unforgiving.
His lion, moments ago triumphant and sated, now cowered beneath the weight of what had just transpired.
In thirty-seven years of existence—through countless women, endless nights of passion, and a lifetime of carefully maintained control—he had never once lost himself so completely.
Not once.
The mate bond settled into place with the finality of a steel trap snapping shut, its golden threads weaving through his consciousness. He could feel it, permanent and unbreakable, connecting him to the woman who was scrambling off his lap with wide, frightened eyes.
What have I done?
Xelene’s gaze dropped to the precise claw marks on her hip, her face drained of color. The scent of her blood mixed with the lingering musk of their joining, creating a cocktail that made his lion pace restlessly.
“What just happened?” Her voice carried a tremor that cut through him like a blade.
She moved with jerky, panicked motions, gathering the black fabric of her dress and pressing it against the marks to stem the bleeding. The sight of her trying to clean away his claim made something primal and possessive roar inside his chest.
“I accidentally gave you my mate mark.” The words felt like gravel in his throat. “I unintentionally completed the mate bond.”
“What?” The single syllable cracked like a whip. “What does that even mean?”
Lev ran a hand through his disheveled hair. The weight of his mistake pressed down on his shoulders like the crown he wasn’t ready to wear.
“My mate mark—given during the peak of...” He gestured helplessly between them. “It completes the mate bond. Permanently.”
“Well, I didn’t agree to that.” Her voice rose, sharp with betrayal. “I thought we were just having sex.”
The accusation hit him like a punch to the gut.
“We were just having sex. My lion surged too hard, and I didn’t realize—” He stopped, forcing himself to meet her eyes.
“It wasn’t intentional, Xelene. I feel like hell about it because I didn’t ask for your permission, but I swear on my father’s grave, I didn’t do it on purpose. ”
Something in his raw honesty must have penetrated her panic because her shoulders sagged slightly. The mate bond hummed between them now, a live wire carrying the full spectrum of her emotions—confusion, fear, anger, and beneath it all, a hurt so deep it made his chest ache.
“What does this mean now?” she whispered.
Lev’s hands clenched into fists on his thighs. The Alpha in him wanted to claim victory, to pull her back into his arms and promise her everything would be perfect. But the man knew better.
“It means our souls are bound together forever.” He forced the words out, each one feeling like he was signing his own death warrant. “But you still have a choice. You can walk away from me if you want to, and honestly, I would understand if you did. I made a huge mistake.”
Her face cycled through a dozen emotions in as many seconds, and through the mate bond, he felt them all—a chaotic storm of feelings that made his head spin.
“Why can I feel all your emotions now?” Her hand pressed against her chest as if she could physically push the sensations away. “It’s like you’re inside me.”
“It’s the completed mate bond.” His voice was barely a whisper. “It connects our emotions and thoughts. We can even communicate telepathically now.”
Her eyes widened. “I can feel your regret. Your fear. Your hurt.” She stared at him intently. “So I know it was truly an accident. But still—I didn’t sign up for this.”
Lev’s lion whimpered at her words, but he forced himself to nod. “I was hoping this would go a smoother way. Not this messy, complicated disaster. I was hoping you’d get to know me more, choose the bond willingly.”
“Well, that’s not what happened.” Xelene’s voice carried the crisp efficiency he recognized from their first meeting—her armor sliding back into place. “No sense in playing the could’ve, would’ve, should’ve game.”
She pulled her dress over her head and smoothed it down her body.
Lev watched her transform back into the poised reputation consultant, but the mate bond betrayed the chaos beneath her composed exterior.
Fear. Resentment. Confusion. And underneath it all, a longing she was fighting desperately to suppress.
He dressed in silence, pulling on his boxers and trousers, leaving his ceremonial jacket forgotten on the floor.
The completed bond continued to pulse with her conflicted emotions as the castle’s towers came into view through the tinted windows. Desire warred with terror. Compassion battled with anger. Her feelings crashed over him in waves, each one more turbulent than the last.
“I’ll give you space for a while,” he said as the royal vehicle rolled to a stop.
“That’s a good idea.” Her voice was steady and professional. “I need to figure out what to do.”
But through the mate bond, he felt the truth she wouldn’t speak aloud. She had no idea what to do with a connection that couldn’t be controlled, managed, or fixed.