Chapter 5 #2
Tim's control shattered completely. He scooped her up like she weighed nothing, carrying her back to the truck with desperate urgency.
The moment they were inside the sleeper berth, his mouth was on hers—demanding, claiming, full of twenty years of loneliness and the overwhelming need to mark her as his.
"I need to scent you," he groaned against her lips. "Need to cover his scent with mine. Need to make sure every supernatural within miles knows you're taken."
"Then do it," Ali whispered.
Tim's mouth moved to her neck, his breath hot against her skin as he inhaled deeply. "You smell like him," he growled, his voice rough with territorial need. "I need to fix that."
Ali gasped as his lips found the sensitive spot where her neck met her shoulder and his tongue traced patterns up and down it.
Her magic shot out of her and illuminated the sleeper berth.
His hands spanned her ribcage, thumbs brushing just below her breasts, and she could feel the heat radiating from his skin even through their clothes.
"Tim," she breathed, arching into his touch.
"Say my name again," he commanded, his voice dropping to that rumbling frequency that seemed to vibrate through her bones.
"Tim," she whispered, and was rewarded with a possessive growl.
His hands found the hem of her shirt, pausing. "Tell me you want this. Tell me you want me to mark you as mine."
"I want it," Ali said. "I want you to show me what it means to belong to a legend."
Her shirt disappeared with supernatural efficiency, and then his mouth was everywhere—tasting, claiming, leaving traces of his scent on every inch of exposed skin.
The temperature difference between them was intoxicating; his burning touch against her cooler flesh made her seek his heat instinctively.
"So small," he murmured against her collarbone, his massive hands gentle as they mapped her body. "Perfect. Mine."
Ali tugged at his flannel shirt, desperate to feel his skin against hers, and Tim helped her, his movements urgent but careful. When his shirt hit the floor, Ali couldn't stop herself from staring. He was magnificent—broad shoulders, defined chest, muscles that spoke of decades of hard work.
"You're beautiful," she whispered, running her hands over his chest.
Tim's breathing hitched at her touch. "Ali..."
"Show me," she said, looking up into his eyes. "Show me what twenty years of waiting feels like."
His hands were everywhere - one spanning her entire back as he lifted her against him, the other tracing the sensitive curve where her hip met her thigh.
The size difference between them was intoxicating; his palm could cover her entire breast. She gasped as his fingers reached places no one else had touched like this.
"Tell me what you need," he commanded.
"You," Ali breathed. "All of you."
The slow stretch as her body accommodated his size was overwhelming, her supernatural resilience the only thing that made it possible. He held himself perfectly still, his massive frame trembling with the effort of restraint as her body adjusted.
"So tight," he groaned against her throat. "Like you were made for me."
When he began to move, it was with the deliberate control of someone who understood exactly how much power he wielded. Each thrust was calculated to drive her higher, his supernatural stamina allowing him to maintain the perfect rhythm until she was sobbing his name against his shoulder.
"Mine," he growled as her nails raked down his back. "Say it."
"Yours," Ali gasped, her magic flaring so bright it illuminated every plane and angle of his face above her. "Only yours."
The claiming bite he left on her shoulder was gentle but unmistakable, his scent sinking into her skin until she knew she would carry traces of pine and musk for weeks.
When her release finally crashed over her, it triggered his own, and Ali felt the deep satisfaction of a mate bond clicking into place between them.
Hours blurred together - his legendary stamina meeting her supernatural resilience, the way he whispered her name like a prayer against her throat, how she learned to read the subtle signs that meant he was close to losing control entirely.
By the time exhaustion finally claimed them both, Ali was thoroughly marked, inside and out, with the scent and touch of her mate.
"The convoy," she said eventually.
"Can wait," Tim replied, his voice rough with satisfaction. "They'll understand. Alpha's prerogative."
Ali smiled against his skin. "Is that what you are? My alpha?"
"If you'll have me."
She looked up at the vulnerability in his voice.
"Forever, Ali. That's what the mate bond means. No take-backs, no trial periods. You're mine, and I'm yours, until one of us stops breathing."
The CB radio crackled with Luna's voice: "Big Timber, when you're done claiming your mate, we've got a situation. Grizz just set up a roadblock at the county line, and Cottonmouth's coordinating with federal agencies. We need to move."
Reality crashed back over them. Tim reached for the radio, his voice steady despite their circumstances. "Copy that, Luna. Give us ten minutes."