Chapter 31 #3
Something shifted. Like a door opening inside my chest. Warmth flooded through me, not my own.
A presence settling into place beside my heart—constant and solid and Axel.
I could feel him there. Not his thoughts, per se, but his emotions.
The fierce possessive love. The relief so profound it made my breath catch.
The joy. The lingering thread of fear that this was too good to last.
I gasped, tears streaming down my face, a mix of pain and the joy radiating from him. “I can feel you.”
“Aye.” He pulled his teeth free and began licking the wound, his tongue soothing the sting. “The mate bond.”
I tried to crane my neck to see the bite but I couldn’t.
His arms tightened around me, his forehead pressing against me.
“I love you,” I whispered.
“I love you too, Rebecca.” His voice broke. “So fucking much.”
I felt those words land somewhere deep in my chest. He’d carried centuries of loss and solitude, and he’d just handed me something precious, something I suspected he’d never given another living soul since becoming a wolf. My throat went tight with the magnitude of it.
I reached back, threading my fingers into his hair, anchoring him to me. “I’ve got you. We’ve got each other.”
He made a broken sound, somewhere between a laugh and a sob, then carefully rolled us onto our sides, spooning me, still locked together by his knot. One arm wrapped possessively around my waist, the other pillowing my head.
“How long?” I asked aloud, my voice hoarse from screaming.
“At least thirty minutes.” He pressed kisses to my shoulder, my neck, the bite mark. Anywhere he could reach. “Maybe longer. First time knotting takes a while.”
“Oh, you’ve done this before have you?”
“Never, lass. Just what I’ve heard.”
“Well, I’m not complaining.”
“Good. Because I plan to knot ye every day for the rest of our lives together.”
I noticed he used together, like he still expected some kind of expiration date. That was okay. He’d see in time. I wasn’t going anywhere, I wasn’t letting anyone hurt him.
I wasn’t even upset about it. Because I was happier than I could remember. “That sounds perfect.”
We lay there, locked together, the bond settling into place between us. I could feel him in the back of my mind now. Like knowing someone was in the room with you even with your eyes closed. His presence. Warm and solid and undeniably there.
A few minutes later, his wandering hands found my clit and he began to massage it. I sucked in a gasp as a zing of pleasure shot through me. “Best thing about this is I have you right where I want you.”
“Axel,” I moaned, overly sensitive.
“Let’s see if I can make you come just like this, while you’re full of me.”
“I can’t.”
“You can, lass.”
“Is that a command?” I teased.
But he went still. For a moment I worried I’d gone too far. I knew the idea of compulsion was a sensitive subject for both of us. One we’d have to breach.
But his voice was low as he said, “Do you want it to be?”
“Could we try it? So I know… So I know what to expect?”
There was a long hesitation and then his hand disappeared. “Very well. Massage your clit, Rebecca. Make yourself come.”
The authority in his voice made my mind go blank temporarily. When my thoughts returned, my fingers were already pressed to my clit, circling. I cried out at the sensation, my hips jerking.
“Careful,” he warned. His palm tightened on my hip to keep him in place.
My eyes were wide—a mix of disbelief and pleasure as sparks erupted from where my fingers pressed and worked.
“You… You’re going to make me make myself come?!” I was both affronted and incredulous.
His gravely laugh was pure torture to my pussy, which clenched around his cock. “I might help a wee bit. Keep going.”
There was the blankness again until my mind sharpened. I was panting, chasing my pleasure as my hand massaged my clit.
Axel lifted my leg and draped it over his. We lay on our sides as he gently rocked into me.
Another orgasm built upon the waves of the last one. The pressure swelled. Axel’s fingers crept up my thigh until they came to the lips of my pussy. Massaging just below my own.
“Oh, fuck,” I cried as another orgasm swept through me. My hips bucked as he held me in place. I rode each wave, panting and mindless, until the pleasure subsided and my hand dropped to the bed, fingers wet with my arousal, finally free from his compulsion.
“Is your curiosity satisfied? If not, we can test it out further? I’ll never tire of watching you come.”
“Fuck,” I breathed.
“Rebecca?” He repositioned us slightly so that he could lean over me, hold my gaze. “I promise to never intentionally abuse it. I never want to take your agency. But… I can’t promise the wolf inside won’t take advantage of it from time to time.”
“I know you’d never use our bond to hurt me. And if… if you ever wanted to, you know, use it on me in the bedroom, I don’t think I’d mind.”
“So, yer not complaining then?”
A laugh burst from my chest. “No, definitely no complaints on that front.”
It was then I felt the knot inside me begin to soften. I sighed, perfectly content. A moment later, he slipped free, then propped himself up, repositioning my body to examine me. His head was inches from my pussy.
My cheeks heated with embarrassment. “Is this like, wolf protocol or something?”
He hummed, his eyes flicking up to mine. “Like seeing my come drip out of ya, is all. Proof you’re mine.”
“Possessive wolf,” I teased, though heat curled through me at his words.
“Your possessive wolf.” He swiped his fingers through his seed and began massaging it into my skin, pushing some of it back inside me.
Fuck.
It was one of the most erotic things I’d ever experienced.
“How do ye feel?”
“Good. A little sore, maybe. But…good.” It was an understatement. Because I felt incredible.
He leaned over me. “Let me see the bite.”
“Oh. Right.” I’d almost forgotten about it. Because it didn’t hurt anymore, strangely enough.
He gently tilted my head, examining where his teeth had broken skin. “Already healed.”
“Is that…normal?”
I was a witch but superhuman healing abilities didn’t come with that.
“For a claiming bite? Yes. Now everyone will know you’re mine.”
“I want to see it.” I tried to push up but his hand landed on my chest, pushing me back down.
“Later, Rebecca. I’m not done with you yet.” Then he crawled over me until he was cradled between my thighs. He captured my lips with his, then pushed inside me with a single, easy slide.