Chapter 41
Bastian carried his naked mate to her bed.
It smelled like her, and that’s exactly where he wanted to be, bathed in her scent, surrounded by it, buried in her cunt.
He’d come so close—so fucking close—to losing her.
He’d been there the whole time, deep within the recesses of his mind, a slave to the compulsion.
When she’d appeared in that warehouse, he’d felt a fear he’d never known. The fear of profound loss.
It had taken every ounce of his strength to fight Marsh Thadur’s order.
Had they not been mates, had she been anyone else, he would not have hesitated.
Unlike Barbara, his blade was lethal. He knew how to kill, knew how to remove a head with a single, efficient swipe.
Hers would have rolled. Instead, by some grace, Barbara had stabbed her and the mate bond between them had kept her alive, had healed her.
He would have followed her to the grave. This fierce female with pink hair had changed him. Now that he’d had a taste, in no life, in no world, could he give her up.
He crushed his mouth to hers, dragging the covers up and around their bodies, still damp from the shower, cocooning her in, making her comfortable in this nest of a bed.
He planned to take pristine care of her, starting with fulfilling her every desire.
How many orgasms were too many? And how long could she sustain the onslaught of his tongue, his cock? He planned to find out.
She kissed him back, dragging her tongue along his, groaning and grinding against him.
She’d professed her love earlier. It was the key that allowed him to rally his strength. That had been what finally snapped him out of the artifact’s haze, bringing his consciousness to the forefront. Hearing those words on her lips, so desperate, hearing the truth in them.
Had anyone ever loved him this way before? No, not really. Sara’s love had been false. His parents’ love had been paternal. But Eleanor? She loved him, and it was a precious thing he didn’t deserve.
Pulling away, he placed open mouthed kisses along her neck, nipping at her earlobe.
Her breath caught. His hands ached with the need to explore every inch of her soft skin.
The sight of his against hers, silvery-gray to lightly tanned, felt erotic.
She was so different from him, and it was that difference that he cherished.
He slid down her body, laying kisses along her flushed skin, pausing to worship her breasts, kneading and licking, flicking her nipple with his tongue before moving on.
When he reached her pussy, he removed a few sharp claws, parted the folds with his fingers, and gave a long, broad sweep of his tongue.
The ball of his piercing caught on her clit and her hips jerked against him. A small smile toyed with his lips.
He looked up and said, “You are my mate, Eleanor. You understand what that means, yes?”
“I… Yes? I think so? I was hoping we might discuss it.”
He hesitated. As much as he wanted to dive right in, bury his face in her, this probably shouldn’t wait. “What would you like to know?”
She hesitated, looking down the length of her body, studying the way he sat between her legs, everything on full display. She pulled her thighs together, or tried to, but he was sitting between them.
“Oh no, baby girl. No hiding from your mate. Like the rest of you, this pussy belongs to me. I may look my fill whenever I wish.” His hands parted her thighs wider and she blushed. “That is, assuming you will have me.”
A frown pulled her brows together. “I have a choice?”
“Of course you have a choice, sugar. I would never force you to be with me, force you to love me, or be mated to me.”
“But hasn’t that ship sailed?”
He sighed. “In a way, yes.”
“How long—when did you know? The whole time?”
“No. When you put your lips on my cock and blew me. When I came. When I looked at you in that moment, the bond clicked into place.”
“Oh.” She was likely recalling that moment the way he was.
“But as I said, if you do not wish for this, you may reject the bond. You have that power. All mates have that power.”
She came up onto her elbows to better see him. “I do? And you do?” He nodded. “But…you won’t, right? You won’t reject me?” Her voice dropped low, and she licked her lips.
The vulnerability of her question split his heart wide open. The world around him had suddenly become so fucking beautiful with her in it. His pulse started to race. He looked at her, really looked at her, spread before him, beautiful both inside and out. Pure perfection.
“Elle, baby, I fucking love you. I’m so fucking in love with you. I am so deep in over my goddamn head that I’m drowning in it. No, I won’t reject you. Not now, not ever. I meant what I said about goblins, do you remember?”
She pulled her bottom lip between her teeth and nodded. “That you’re all filthy hoarders?”
A laugh burst from his chest, making him feel like a feather drifting in the breeze.
“Something like that. You, sweetheart, are my most precious jewel. A thing to be worshiped and cherished, to be polished and shined, to be cared for and attended to, nourished and loved. If you want pancakes for breakfast every morning? Done. Ten orgasms a day? Twenty? More? Done. You want to go back to school and chase your dreams? Done. I’ll support you through every minute of it.
You want to keep shaking this fucking gorgeous ass in front of a crowd of people…
Well, I’ll have to restrain myself from ripping the throat out of everyone who watches you, but I’ll manage. ”
A sobbing laugh burst from her lips. She fell back on the bed and covered her face with her hands. His chest tightened. Wait, wait, wait. Was she…crying?
He crawled atop her, laying his body over hers, wrapping gentle fingers around her wrists and tugging them away from her face.
“Look at me, sugar.”
She turned teary eyes on him. “Do you really mean all that?”
“Every fucking word. I’m yours, baby girl. I… My lifestyle isn’t the most kosher. You know what I do. If you want me to change career paths, then I will—”
“No! I mean, I could never ask that of you. But… You aren’t going to get hurt, right?”
He chuckled. “I’d be more worried about the people I bring in.” She nodded. “But no, I don’t plan to die on you.”
“I couldn’t ask you to change for me, Bas. I love you how you are. I mean, maybe try not to come home covered in blood, but otherwise…” Something solidified in her expression. “I accept you, Bastian Croft, exactly the way you are.”
His chest exploded with heat. The need to show her, to worship her, to claim her as thoroughly as she'd just claimed him, overpowered every other thought in his mind.
He peppered her face with kisses until her tears turned to giggles and she was squirming beneath him.
His fingers, still aching to worship her, moved down her body and slipped between her legs.
As he played with her pussy, he carefully studied her face, soaking up every minute change in her expression.
He pressed one finger, and then two, inside her, stretching her, working her.
She tried to buck beneath his bulk, but he had her pinned.
When she was dripping from his efforts, he took his cock, guiding it to her entrance. Slowly, so as to not miss a single sensation, he eased inside. The warmth of her wrapped around him and a shiver worked up the length of his spine, short circuiting his brain at the base of his skull.
“I love it when you make love to me like this,” she breathed, her eyes wide and filled with pleasure—pleasure from his efforts. Because she was his mate, only his. “In your beautiful goblin form.”
Those words made his heart ache with so much emotion.
They hadn’t really made love prior to this. It had been a lot of fucking, sometimes slow and languid, other times fast and frenzied. But this? He wanted to make this time different.
He kept his movements slow, holding her gaze, letting her see everything he felt. Letting himself be vulnerable for her. Allowing himself to moan when he moved in a way that felt particularly good.
Letting her see all of him.
“Yes,” she breathed, pulling his long hair back with one hand in a tight fist, using the other to wrap around his neck.
Anchoring them together.
He wouldn’t rush this. Each slow stroke was a true test to his patience.
Soon she was whimpering beneath him, face glowing, eyes glazed with pleasure.
It was impossible to stop himself from dragging the backs of his knuckles along her cheekbone, caressing her face, brushing strands of her pink hair back.
Fussing over her because she was precious to him.
“I love you, Bastian,” she breathed. His heart fluttered as tingles spread through his body. He snaked his arms beneath her, wrapping them around her body, pulling her tightly to him, burying his face in her neck. He inhaled, letting her coffee scent soak into him, calm him.
His balls tightened, his seed rising. Eleanor’s muscles went taught, hands moving over his back.
When her blunt little nails scraped his skin, sending shivers through him, he combusted.
Her body jerked at the same time as she cried out, “Bastian!” Her pussy clenched around him, milking him as he spilled every drop of his seed inside her.
The sound of his name on her lips, and his entire fucking world just stopped, swallowed up by the wave of pleasure pounding in his center.
He pressed in deeper, grinding his hips against her, groaning out her name.
Never wanting it to end. His orgasm disoriented him, brought a wave of blackness that rushed in at the fringes of his mind before receding.
He tightened his arms around her, holding on to the only lifeline he’d ever need, and let it sweep him away.