Chapter 35 #2
As if sensing my thoughts, she leans down, her body still trembling with aftershocks. Her lips brush my ear, her breath hot against my skin.
“Do it,” she whispers, the words sending a shock through my system. “Mark me, Poe. Make me yours.”
Before I can respond, she shifts her position, tilting her head to expose the side of her neck—the traditional place for a bonding bite. My heart hammers against my ribs, desire and disbelief warring for dominance.
“Maya,” I manage, my voice strained with the effort of holding back my orgasm. “Are you sure?”
Instead of answering, she sinks her teeth into my shoulder. I groan, hips bucking involuntarily at the sharp pain-pleasure of it.
“Do it,” Ares rumbles from beside us, his voice thick with desire. “She wants it. We all want it.”
That’s all the permission I need. As Maya continues to ride me, I wrap my arms around her, holding her close as I thrust up into her with renewed vigor. She moans against my skin, her body tightening around mine as another orgasm builds.
I turn my head, my lips finding the side of her neck.
I kiss the spot first, tasting salt and sweetness, feeling her pulse race beneath my tongue.
Then, as I feel my own climax approaching, I bite down—hard enough to break skin, to leave a mark that will scar, that will bind us together in the most primal way possible.
Maya cries out, her body convulsing around mine as the bonding bite triggers another, more intense orgasm.
The taste of her blood fills my mouth, copper and cherry and something uniquely her, as my own release crashes through me.
I hold her tightly, keeping my teeth pressed into her flesh as I empty myself inside her, as the bond snaps into place between us with an almost audible click.
For a moment, the world narrows to just this. Maya in my arms, my teeth in her neck, our bodies joined in the most intimate way possible. I can feel her, not just physically but mentally, emotionally. A new presence in my mind, bright and fierce and unmistakably Maya.
Slowly, reluctantly, I release my bite, pressing a gentle kiss to the mark I’ve left. Maya slumps against me, her breathing ragged, her body still trembling with aftershocks. I stroke her back, murmuring soothing nonsense as we both adjust to the new bond humming between us.
“My turn next,” Ares says, his voice a mixture of teasing and genuine desire. “Once you two can move again.”
Maya laughs breathlessly against my chest. “Give me five minutes,” she says, her voice muffled by my skin. “Maybe ten.”
I chuckle, the sound rumbling through both our bodies. “Take all the time you need,” I tell her, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. “We have all night.”
She lifts her head to look at me, her eyes soft and hazy with pleasure but still sharp with that intelligence that first drew me to her. “All night,” she agrees, then grins wickedly. “And tomorrow. And the day after that.”
Ares groans dramatically. “You’re going to kill us both,” he complains, though the hardness of his cock belies any real objection.
“What a way to go,” I reply, earning another laugh from Maya.
She shifts, carefully lifting herself off me with a small sound of loss.
I watch as she crawls toward Ares, her movements languid and graceful despite the exhaustion she must be feeling.
The bonding bite on her neck is already beginning to heal—faster than a normal wound, as all bonding bites do—but it will leave a scar. My mark. My claim.
The thought sends a possessive thrill through me, even as I remind myself that she isn’t mine alone. She belongs to all of us. Just as we all belong to her.
I watch through half-lidded eyes as she straddles Ares, as his massive hands span her waist, as she leans down to kiss him with the same hunger she showed me.
The sight should make me jealous, should trigger the territorial instincts all Alphas possess.
Instead, it fills me with a strange contentment.
This is right. This is how it should be.
Maya glances over her shoulder at me, a smile playing at the corners of her mouth. “Don’t fall asleep,” she warns. “I’m not done with you yet.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it,” I reply, though my body aches with exhaustion. For her, I’ll find the strength to continue. For her, I’ll push past any limit.
As she turns her attention back to Ares, I allow myself a moment of reflection.
How strange that this—Maya, the pack, this complex web of bonds and desires—should feel like home when I’ve spent my entire life avoiding attachment.
How unexpected that I, who have always prided myself on needing no one, should find such contentment in belonging.
Perhaps this is what I’ve been missing all along. Not freedom from bonds, but the right bonds. The right people to be bound to.
With that thought warming me from within, I watch as Maya and Ares lose themselves in each other, waiting for my turn to come again, ready to give her whatever she needs for as long as she needs it.
After all, what’s a little exhaustion compared to the privilege of being chosen by her?