Chapter 29 #2
Her chest heaved against his, her grey eyes bright with exhilaration and desire. She wasn’t afraid. She’d never been afraid of him, not even when she should have been.
“So you did.” Her voice was breathless, trembling with something that had nothing to do with fear. “What are you going to do about it?”
His control shattered.
He kissed her—fierce and consuming, claiming her mouth with the same intensity he’d used to claim her heart. She responded instantly, her arms wrapping around his neck, her body arching into his with desperate urgency.
The partial shift made everything more intense.
His senses were heightened to an almost painful degree, every breath of her scent flooding his system like a drug.
He could feel the pulse of her blood beneath her skin, could taste the salt of exertion on her lips, could hear the small sounds of pleasure she made against his mouth.
His claws retracted enough to grip the fabric of her simple dress without shredding it—though the temptation was almost overwhelming. Her hands were already working at his clothing, pushing the material aside to reach the skin beneath.
“Here?” he growled against her throat. “Like this?”
“Yes.” Her voice was fierce, certain. “Right here. Right now.”
He lifted her easily, and she wrapped her legs around his waist. The oak tree held steady against his weight as he pressed her back into the rough bark, using his body to shield her from the worst of it. She didn’t seem to care. Her nails raked down his back, leaving trails of fire in their wake.
“Rykan,” she demanded. “Please.”
He stopped holding back.
He slammed into her in a single, hard thrust, burying himself to the hilt, drawing a cry from her that echoed through the silent forest. He swallowed it with his mouth, drinking in every sound she made as he moved inside her.
There was no finesse this time—no slow exploration or gentle discovery.
This was raw and primal, the kind of joining that existed beyond words, beyond thought, beyond anything but the desperate need to be as close to each other as physically possible.
She matched him stroke for stroke, her body rising to meet his, her hands gripping his shoulders hard enough to bruise. The pleasure coiled tighter and tighter, winding towards something inevitable and devastating.
“Look at me.” His voice was barely recognizable. “Look at me, Ember.”
Her eyes opened, grey meeting gold. In their depths, he saw everything—love and trust and absolute certainty. She had chosen him. She would always choose him.
“Mark me.” The words were barely audible, but he heard them clearly. “Where everyone can see.”
His heart stopped. “You’re sure?”
“I want the world to know.” Her hand came up to cup his face, tender even in the midst of their passion. “I want them to see that I belong to you. That you belong to me.”
His beast roared in triumph.
He felt the moment building—the crest of the wave that would sweep them both away—and just as she shattered beneath him, he buried his face in the curve of her neck and bit.
Her cry of release mingled with a sharp gasp of pain that softened immediately into pleasure.
The sweet metallic taste of her blood on his tongue bound her to him in the most primal way possible.
His own release crashed through him, obliterating thought and reason, leaving nothing but sensation and the absolute certainty that she was his.
Forever.
They stayed locked together for a long time, her back against the oak tree, his body still pressed to hers. His tongue lapped gently at the mark on her neck, cleaning the wound, ensuring it would heal cleanly, leaving a permanent testament to their bond.
“That was…” Her voice was dreamy, satisfied. “We should go on more runs.”
He laughed—a low rumble that vibrated through both of them. “You’re going to be the death of me, female.”
“But what a way to go.”
He shifted back carefully, reluctantly separating their bodies as his knot subsided. The partial shift had receded completely now, leaving him in human form once more. She looked thoroughly debauched—dress rumpled, hair tangled with leaves, the imprint of his teeth vivid against her pale skin.
She was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen.
“Can you walk?”
She tested her legs experimentally, then winced. “Probably not gracefully.”
Without a word, he swept her up into his arms. She laughed and wrapped her arms around his neck, settling against his chest with a contented sigh.
“I could get used to this.”
“Don’t.” He began walking back towards the mansion, carrying her as easily as he would a child. “Next time, you’re running farther before I catch you.”
“Is that a challenge?”
“Let’s just say that the further you run, the better the reward.”
The forest gave way to manicured gardens, then to the broad terrace at the mansion’s rear.
Tomas appeared briefly in a window, took one look at them, and tactfully withdrew.
He carried her through the quiet hallways, up a sweeping staircase, to a suite of rooms that smelled of lavender and fresh linen.
The bathroom was as quietly luxurious as everything else on the estate with a deep tub, a heated stone floor, and windows that overlooked the forest they’d just emerged from.
He set her on her feet long enough to fill the bath with steaming water, adding oils from an array of bottles until the room was heavy with fragrant steam.
Then he undressed her slowly, carefully, cataloging every mark and bruise with fingers that still trembled slightly from the intensity of what they’d shared.
“In.” He guided her into the water, watching her sink beneath the surface with a groan of pleasure. “Let me take care of you.”
She tilted her head back as he knelt beside the tub, letting him wash the leaves and dirt from her hair with gentle hands. The mark on her neck stood out starkly against her pale skin.
“Does it hurt?” he asked quietly.
“Yes.” Her smile was slow and satisfied. “In the best possible way.”
He finished washing her hair, then moved to her shoulders, her arms, her back. Every touch was tender now, a counterpoint to the fierce claiming in the forest. She was precious to him—had been from the first moment she smiled at him—and he would never stop showing her that truth.
“You know,” he said conversationally, working a knot from her shoulder muscle, “you’re going to need to work on your stamina.”
Her laugh echoed off the bathroom tiles. “Excuse me?”
“You were breathing hard before I even caught you. A few more weeks of training, and you might actually give me a challenge.”
“I gave you a challenge.” She twisted to look at him, mock-offense in her grey eyes. “I lasted longer than you expected. You said so yourself.”
“I said you made it harder than I expected.” His lips twitched. “Not that you made it difficult.”
“You—” She splashed water at him, which he dodged easily. “Insufferable beast.”
“Your insufferable beast.” He caught her hand and pressed a kiss to her palm. “Forever.”
Her expression softened, the playful indignation melting into something warm and luminous. “Forever.”
He helped her from the bath eventually, wrapping her in towels so soft they felt like clouds, carrying her to the massive bed that dominated the suite’s bedroom. The sheets were cool against their skin as they settled together, her body curled against his, his arms wrapped protectively around her.
“Thank you,” he said quietly. “For this. For all of it.”
“You don’t have to thank me.” Her fingers traced idle patterns on his chest. “I wanted to see you happy. You’ve been so tense in the city, so careful all the time. I wanted to give you somewhere to breathe.”
“You gave me more than that.” He pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “You gave me a home.”
She was quiet for a moment, her hand stilling over his heart. Then she shifted, lifting her head to meet his eyes.
“I love you,” she said simply. “I don’t say it enough, but I do. More than I ever thought I could love anyone.”
His chest ached at the words. He’d heard them before, but each time felt like the first. Each time felt like a gift he didn’t deserve and would spend the rest of his life trying to earn.
“I love you too.” His voice was rough. “My mate. My heart. My everything.”
She smiled and pulled him down into a kiss—slow and sweet and full of promise. When they finally broke apart, she settled back against his chest with a contented sigh.
“We will have to go back to the city eventually,” she murmured. “There are meetings. Obligations.”
“Eventually.”
“Eventually,” she agreed.
Outside, the sun was beginning its descent towards the horizon, painting the sky in shades of rose and gold. Through the window, he could see the forest stretching towards the distant hills—wild and free and full of possibility.
He’d spent years alone in his mountain territory, convinced that isolation was the price of survival. He’d told himself that he didn’t need a pack, didn’t need a mate, didn’t need anything beyond the simple rhythm of hunting and sleeping and enduring one more day.
He’d been wrong.
This small female—this fierce, brilliant, impossibly brave female who had crashed into his life like a falling star—had shown him what he’d been missing. Not just love, though that would have been enough. Not just passion, though that burned between them like a living flame.
She’d given him purpose. Partnership. A reason to be more than he’d been.
He’d given up his pack once, walked away from everything he’d known rather than tear his people apart with a leadership challenge. But this—this female in his arms, this bond between them, this future stretching out before them like an unwritten story—he would never give this up
Her breathing had evened out into the steady rhythm of sleep. He watched her for a long time, memorizing the curve of her cheek, the sweep of her lashes, the small smile that played at the corners of her mouth even in dreams.
Mine, his beast rumbled contentedly. Ours. Forever.
He closed his eyes and let the peace wash over him—a peace he’d never expected to find, given freely by a female who saw the monster in him and loved him anyway.
For the first time in many, many years, Rykan was utterly content.