Chapter 19
CALDER
I carried Thorne down the hallway of our condo, her thighs locked tight around my waist and her arms anchored around my neck. We’d barely made it halfway when she claimed my mouth while simultaneously reaching between her thighs to cup me through my jeans.
I swear, my heart stopped dead in my chest, and for a moment I forgot how to breathe.
I’d spent countless nights staring up at the ceilings of cheap, grimy motel rooms across the continent, keeping myself sane by imagining moments like these.
There’d been a month or two where this exact fantasy had played in my head on repeat.
But nothing my memory had conjured even came close to the reality of having her wrapped around me right now.
She was real. She was here. And by some miracle, she still wanted me.
I nudged the half-open bedroom door the rest of the way with my shoulder.
The morning sun spilled through the half-slatted blinds, casting long, golden shadows across the massive king-sized bed.
Now that was new. We’d only had a double before.
Convinced we never needed anything bigger.
She must have upgraded. And I had to admit, I didn’t hate it. More space to get creative.
But despite that, and despite my wolf’s feral need to take her right this second, I forced myself to slow down. I wanted to drag every single second of this out.
We hit the edge of the mattress and I let her legs slide from my waist. I kept my hands firmly on her hips, guiding her down until her back hit the mattress. She sank into the pillows, her curly hair spilling around her.
I stood at the edge of the bed and just drank in the sight of her.
Gods, she was magnificent. Her chest heaved beneath that tiny, ribbed tank top.
Her lips were swollen and thoroughly kissed.
And her dark eyes sparkled with flecks of gold—a sign her wolf was also riding close to the surface.
Then, from the waist down, she was completely naked.
And the sight of her long, lean legs, joining together at her core drew a ragged breath from my lungs.
There was no sight more beautiful than her.
“You’re staring,” she whispered.
“Mm. I’m enjoying the sight before me. There’s a difference.”
I reached for my pants, popped open the fly, and slid the zipper down, pushing the heavy denim apart. But before I could shove the jeans down my legs, Thorne rose onto her knees and crawled toward me.
She moved with a predatory grace, the mattress dipping beneath her weight until she stopped at the edge of the bed. Right between my legs.
Without even the slightest hesitation, she slipped her hands beneath the waist of my pants and boxers and dragged them down my thighs, pushing them to the floor.
I was already painfully hard and aching for her touch. Just the cool air hitting my skin made my jaw clench, but when Thorne looked up at me—a mischievous twinkle in her eyes and a knowing smirk playing on her lips—I nearly lost my damn mind.
“Thorne,” I ground out as a warning.
She completely ignored me, then leaned forward, the soft ends of her dark curls brushing against my thighs, and wrapped her warm hand around my base.
The moment her wet mouth slid over me, my knees actually buckled. I caught myself, bracing my hands on her shoulders as my head fell back. A guttural groan tore out of my throat, echoing loudly in the quiet room.
Holy fuck.
It was pure, unadulterated torture. The agonizingly good kind. The slide of her lips, the tight, slick heat of her mouth, the deliberate, maddening swirl of her tongue—she knew how to destroy me and she was taking pride in her efforts.
I forced my eyes open and looked down. Seeing my beautiful wife on her knees between my thighs, taking me in so eagerly, did something dangerous to my wolf. A primal, territorial possessiveness roared through my blood. I wanted to wreck the bed. I wanted to wreck her.
She inched back, swallowed a ragged breath, then took my whole length into her mouth and sucked harder. My hips jerked forward on pure, mindless instinct.
“Gods, Thorne,” I cursed, my voice barely intelligible.
I moved my hands from her shoulders to her hair, tangling my fingers blindly in her curls.
She’d kill me for messing up her hair later, but right now, neither of us complained.
Not when I had her mouth wrapped around me.
I bit my lip as I fought the animalistic urge to take control and thrust all the way to the back of her throat.
I’d told myself I was going to take it slow.
That I was going to make this last, to drag it out and savor every single second of having her back.
But the sound of my slick cock gliding between her lips, of her moaning and humming around my throbbing dick, was undoing me.
Truly, I didn’t see myself lasting much longer if she kept this up.
I couldn’t take another second. If she kept her mouth on me for one more heartbeat, it was going to be over before it even started, and I refused to let our first time in five years end like that.
With a low groan, I let go of her hair and pulled myself out of her mouth. She let go with a soft pop, then glanced at me with a slight frown. Rather than explain how close I was to shooting off in the back of the throat, I grabbed her waist and hauled her up. Then I threw her down onto her back.
She landed with a soft bounce against the sheets. I didn’t give her a chance to recover before I planted one knee on the mattress between her legs, reached down, and hooked my fingers under the hem of that ribbed white tank top.
“Off,” I growled.
Thorne didn’t hesitate. She lifted herself just enough for me to yank the scrap of material up and over her head in one swift motion and toss it aside.
Her breasts were pale and perfect in the morning light, her nipples already tight and dark with arousal. I reached out, covering her soft weight with both of my hands, my thumbs sweeping over the peaks and drawing a sharp, needy gasp from her lips.
I lowered my head, my mouth closing hot and wet over one tight peak.
Thorne’s back bowed off the mattress instantly, her fingers tangling blindly in my hair as a beautiful moan tore from her throat.
I worshipped her with my tongue, gently scraping my teeth over the hyper-sensitive nub before sucking hard.
The taste of her skin went straight to my head, intoxicating and incredibly familiar.
I shifted to the other side, giving her left breast the exact same ruthless attention. She writhed beneath me, her hips bucking up in a desperate demand. While my mouth kept her distracted, I settled my weight between her parted thighs, my knees sinking deep into the mattress.
The moment the head of my cock pressed against her entrance, she arched her spine, thrusting her hips up to meet me. A desperate, needy sound escaped her swollen lips, a sound that nearly finished me right there. She dragged me to her mouth a second before I finally, mercifully, drove myself home.
The sensation of sinking into her heat was a physical shock to my system.
It was absolute perfection. A violent shudder ripped through my entire frame as I pushed forward, burying myself to the hilt.
She felt impossibly tight, completely consuming me in a way that made my vision gray out at the edges.
Thorne let out a loud cry, her back bowing off the mattress. Her long legs instantly wrapped around my waist, her ankles crossing and her heels digging into my back to lock me as deep inside her as physically possible.
I dropped my weight, catching myself on my forearms right by her head.
I buried my face in the crook of her neck, my chest heaving against hers as I fought just to remember how to breathe.
We slotted together perfectly, skin to skin, heart to heart.
The mate bond roared to life, a blinding tether snapping back into place and sealing us together.
I was exactly where I belonged, and heaven help anyone who ever tried to tear me away from her again.
I slowly pulled back, dragging myself out just enough to feel her slick walls clench around me, before driving my hips forward and sinking deep all over again.
Thorne’s nails bit sharply into my shoulders as she met my thrust. I set a punishing, relentless pace, completely abandoning any thought of taking it slow.
I couldn’t. I was a starving man at a feast. The slap of our bodies echoed like gunshots in the quiet room, a frantic rhythm fueled by anger, grief, and renewed love.
Every time I pulled back, she arched her spine, chasing my hips with a demanding sound tearing from her throat that went straight to my groin. She wasn’t just taking the brutal pace I’d set, she was matching it. She never did anything halfway. Not even this.
Her hands slid from my shoulders, and she plunged her fingers into her hair, sweeping the locks back from her shoulder, tucking them behind her. Then she met my gaze, hers fierce and determined.
“Bite me,” she whispered.
The words literally made my cock swell and I nearly came right then.
“Calder, please,” she pressed when I didn’t immediately respond.
I drove myself as deep as I could within her, reveling at the sight of her eyes blissfully rolling back. Then I paused and sucked in a slow breath, if only to clear my head.
A bite between mates was more than a physical mark. It bound the partners together. It was soul-deep. To sink my teeth into her now would announce to the entire town that she’d not only given herself to me but also accepted me once more as her mate.
When I didn’t move, she thrust her hips beneath me, and I groaned. The little vixen was determined. She lowered her hips. Then raised them again. Slowly. Tortuously. Her internal muscles clamped around me as she moved until I found it incredibly hard to think.
“Calder,” she moaned.
“Are you sure?” was all I managed to get out.
She paused for a moment, and our gazes met. “Are you staying after?”
It took a moment for the gears in my head to shift and connect the dots, but once they did, her question made sense. After the job. After Evander. After everything.
“There’s nothing I want more,” I assured her, like I had back in her family’s den. I understood her distrust though.
She arched her neck again and I instinctively lowered my head to her throat. She wanted me to bite her. And gods, I wanted to bite her. And I would mean it. She would be mine again. For today, tomorrow, forever.
“Calder?” she whispered.
I lengthened my canines and bit down, piercing the soft, delicate skin of her neck. My wolf instantly rejoiced, howling in my head until I nearly went deaf. If I could, I would have howled alongside him, but I was a little busy at the moment, with both my cock and fangs buried in Thorne.
The metallic tang of her blood on my tongue settled the constant ache in my chest that I’d been carrying for years. It was the final, undeniable proof that our souls were once again joined, and that my wolf finally had his mate back.
I dragged my teeth free and pulled back just enough to admire my work.
Two puncture wounds marked her throat, in the perfect spot, right above her jugular.
I watched, my chest swelling with territorial pride, as her shifter healing instantly kicked in.
The twin punctures knitted shut just enough to seal the wound.
But they didn’t heal completely. They wouldn’t.
They’d stay there for days. Long enough for every single bastard in Eternity Falls to take one look at her neck and know exactly whose bed she was in.
Thorne turned her head to look at me, her eyes glazed with both pleasure and pain.
I immediately started thrusting again, wanting to dull whatever pain lingered and over-deliver on the pleasure.
I drove into her, each thrust harder and faster than the last, chasing that agonizingly tight friction.
Skin slapped against skin, the rhythm echoing in the sunlit room alongside the frantic creaking of the mattress.
Thorne cried out, her back bowing off the mattress, her hands fisting in the sheets. I felt it the instant she orgasmed. The moment her inner walls started spasming. She sucked in a sharp breath and rode out her climax with her eyes squeezed shut and her teeth clamped down on her bottom lip.
It didn’t take much longer. A few more thrusts and the final thread of my control turned to absolute dust. With a hoarse shout that resonated off the walls, I drove my hips forward one last time, burying myself to the absolute hilt.
My vision went entirely white. I poured everything I had into her, my whole body shaking violently as wave after staggering wave of intense, mind-numbing release obliterated me.
When the last tremor finally left my body, my arms gave out completely. I collapsed, dropping my dead weight over her. I managed to catch myself just enough to avoid crushing her, burying my face in the damp, tangled mess of her curls on the pillow.
Neither of us moved. Neither of us spoke. We just lay there, a sweaty mess of limbs, perfectly joined together. The true mate bond, newly anchored and singing like a live wire in my blood, settled into a warm, heavy hum that radiated through my entire body.
I was exactly where I belonged.