CHAPTER TEN
Roman
The sheriff came and picked up the men and took them to jail, or the hospital. He didn’t question how they received their injuries. Once everyone had left, Roman locked the door, turned, and found Ella watching him with that same steady green gaze that had undone him from the first second.
“Shower,” he said. “Both of us. Then we talk.”
She arched a brow. “Bossy.”
“Yes.”
They washed the day off in silence. He kept his hands mostly to himself. She, on the other hand, seemed to touch every bruise on his body, pressing a kiss on the already fading wounds.
Soap-slick fingers traced the fading marks on his chest, his shoulders, the place where the bullet had torn through him only days ago.
She was thorough, almost clinical, until her hand slid lower.
Small fingers wrapped around his cock that was already half-hard from the simple fact of her naked and wet in front of him. Once, twice, slow and deliberate.
Roman’s breath left him in a rough exhale.
“Ella.”
“Hmm?” She looked up at him through wet lashes, the picture of innocence except for the way her thumb smeared over the head of his cock, spreading the bead of precum there. “Just making sure everything still works. Nurse’s instincts.”
“Everything works just fine.”
“Good.” She gave him another slow pull, then started to sink to her knees right there on the shower floor. Water ran down her back, over the full curves of her ass, and the sight of her about to put her mouth on him nearly short-circuited every higher function he had left.
He caught her under the arms and hauled her back up before her knees could hit the tile.
“Later,” he growled against her mouth. “You can do that later. All night if you want. But if you put that pretty mouth on me right now I’m going to come down your throat and then I’m going to claim you against this wall before you’ve had a chance to change your mind.”
She laughed, breathless and a little shaky. “That’s supposed to be a deterrent?”
“It’s a promise of timing. I want you in bed for this. I want room to take my time.”
They finished the shower in record time. Ella pulled on one of his clean shirts and nothing else. Roman stayed in a towel. Anything more felt pointless.
He led her to the bedroom, sat on the edge of the mattress, and drew her between his knees. His hands settled on the curve of her hips.
“Last chance to change your mind,” he said quietly. “Once I claim you, it’s done. The bond locks. You’ll feel me the way I already feel you. Your life stretches to match mine. And when I knot you tonight, the chance of pups is high. My wolf is already certain. I need you to be certain too.”
Ella looked down at him, and the corner of her mouth twitched.
“Roman Matthews. You just spent the afternoon turning armed poachers into a cautionary tale, and now you’re giving me the full informed-consent speech like I’m about to sign a mortgage.
” She poked his bare chest. “I heard you the first three times. Bite. Bond. Forever. Possible baby wolf. I’m still here.
I’m still saying yes. And if you make me say it again I’m going to start charging. ”
His wolf rumbled in pure delight. Smart mouth. Perfect mouth.
Roman’s hands flexed on her hips. “You’re snarky when you’re nervous.”
“I’m snarky when I’m in love with a stubborn, overprotective wolf who keeps acting like I’m going to bolt.
” She cupped his face, brushing the dark stubble on his cheeks.
Her voice softened, but the sass stayed right there underneath.
“I love you, you idiot. I love the way you look at me like I’m something worth bleeding for.
I love that you cooked me eggs and kissed my scraped-up hands and still somehow think you’re the lucky one.
I love your brothers and this overly large house and the fact that I got lost in the woods and found the rest of my life.
So, stop explaining and claim me already before I start thinking you don’t want to. ”
She didn’t wait for his answer. She pushed him back onto the mattress herself, climbed over him, and kissed him like she was the one making the claim.
The last thread of his control snapped clean.
Roman flipped her under him in one smooth motion, growling his approval into her mouth.
The shirt came off in one pull. The towel in another.
He stretched out over her, naked and already hard, and kissed her while his hands relearned every inch of her.
When he finally settled between her thighs she was slick and ready, and the scent of her need nearly put him on his knees.
“Last time I hold back,” he growled against her mouth as he pushed his cock inside her with one long, relentless stroke. Ella arched, nails digging into his shoulders, a broken sound spilling from her throat. He gave her a moment to adjust, forehead pressed to hers, then started to move.
Deep. Claiming. Every thrust a promise.
“You feel that?” he rasped. “How perfectly you take me? Fucking made for me.” He hooked one of her knees higher and drove deeper, watching her face the whole time.
“When I knot you it’s going to lock us together.
You’ll feel every pulse. Every drop of my cum, pumping inside you.
And when I bite—” he licked the tender spot where her neck met her shoulder.
“The bond snaps into place. No undoing it. No walking away. You’re mine forever. Still okay with this?”
Ella’s laugh was breathless and full of heat. “If you ask me one more time I swear I’m going to bite you.” She rolled her hips, silently asking him to move. “I love you. I want the knot. I want the bite. I want whatever comes after. Now stop teasing and give it to me. Give me you.”
Roman’s control shattered.
He fucked her harder, deeper, the wet sound of their bodies filling the room. Then he pulled out, ignoring her protest, and flipped her onto her hands and knees. The sight of her like that—back arched, full ass, thighs already trembling—ripped a feral sound from his chest. From his wolf.
“Down,” he ordered, pressing between her shoulder blades until her cheek met the mattress and that perfect ass stayed high. “Just like that. I want to see every perfect part of you while I claim you.”
He thrust back into her in one smooth stroke, deeper from this angle, and both of them groaned. His hands gripped the wide flare of her hips, his fingertips leaving imprints. He set a rhythm that was pure possession—deep, punishing, perfect.
“Feel that?” he growled, leaning over her back, caging her in. “That’s the start of the knot. Right there at the base. It’s already swelling for you. Just for you. My mate.”
Ella whimpered, pushing back to meet every thrust. “Roman—oh God—it’s—”
“I know. It’s going to get bigger. Thicker.
It’s going to lock inside this tight little cunt and keep every drop of me right where it belongs.
” He reached around, found her clit, and rubbed in tight circles while he fucked her.
“You’re going to come on it. You’re going to come while I bite you.
And then you’re going to feel me for the rest of your life. ”
The knot was growing in earnest now, the thick swell at the base of his cock catching on every stroke, stretching her wider. She was panting, moaning. Open and taking everything he gave her.
“Roman, please—I need—”
“I’ve got you.” He braced one forearm beside her head, the other arm locked around her waist and drove in hard one last time.
The knot forced its way past her entrance and locked them together with a sudden, intense pressure that made Ella cry out.
Heat flooded him. He could only grind now, short and deep, the knot pulsing as his release built like a storm.
He bit her.
Fangs sank into the curve of her shoulder just as the first hard jet of his release flooded her.
Ella gasped, body clamping down around the knot, and the bond ripped open between them—bright and endless and right.
He felt her shock, her pleasure, the fierce rush of love she had just spoken out loud.
He poured everything back into her. He had no choice.
The years of loneliness, the instant recognition in the woods, the absolute certainty that she was the only thing he would ever need.
They stayed locked together while the aftershocks rolled through. Roman licked the bite clean, sealed it with a slow drag of his tongue, and gathered her close. The knot would take time to ease. He wasn’t in any hurry.
Ella’s fingers traced lazy patterns on his forearm. Her voice, when it came, was a little smug “So. That was the famous claiming.”
He smiled against her hair, rare and real. “That was the claiming.”
“And the knot is still… very present.”
“Mm.”
“And you’re extremely pleased with yourself.”
“I just knotted and claimed the woman I love while she told me she loved me back. Yes. I’m pleased.”
She pinched his side, gentle.
Outside, the last light faded from the mountains. Inside, the bond hummed steady and warm between them—new, unbreakable, and already certain of the life they were going to build.
Roman pressed a kiss to the mark on her shoulder and let his eyes close.
This was what his life had been about. Waiting for this moment.
Waiting for her.