Chapter Sixteen-Conrad
She smelled like sugar and magic and something I’d never been able to get enough of. I could taste her in the air, feel the thrum of her power like static against my skin.
Every damn time I got close, my Python rose up inside me with one single thought.
Mine.
And she was.
Even if she didn’t believe it yet.
I’d been patient—hell, for a Shifter like me, I’d been a saint.
But watching her move around her kitchen, robe clinging in all the right places, her magic still sparking faintly over her skin from the ritual earlier, yeah, I was about one deep breath away from forgetting every promise I’d made myself about giving her time.
“What’s rattling around that pretty head of yours, Sugar? You’re positively permeating pheromones,” I murmured, leaning in close enough to take a long, slow inhale.
Goddess, she smelled like warm lemon sugar and desire.
She tossed me a sidelong look, chin tilted.
“Wouldn’t you like to know?”
“Damn straight, I would,” I growled, stepping in behind her before she could sidestep me.
Her body went still—except for that tiny tremor I felt when I let my arousal press against her lower body.
She knew exactly what she was doing to me.
My mind flashed back to the last time I’d been buried inside her, the way she’d clutched at me like I was the only thing tethering her to the earth.
I’d never forget that.
Never wanted to.
I dipped my head, brushing my lips over the warm, soft skin just below her ear.
She moaned—quiet, but enough to gut me—and my control frayed another inch.
My tongue flicked out, tasting her, before I nipped at her lobe and spun her to face me.
“I want to know everything about you, sweet Witch,” I told her, and meant it.
Not just her body—though, yeah, I wanted that too, every damn day—but the things she thought were too small or too silly to matter.
The things no one else got to see.
She didn’t even hesitate.
“I’m a Virgo and eating is my love language.”
I laughed, low and genuine.
“Ha ha! Good to know. We have the eating thing in common, but my choice of delights is likely different.”
I let the suggestion roll off my tongue, slow and deliberate, watching the way her pupils blew wide.
Then I kissed her jaw, trailing little nips toward her mouth. She opened for me, but I didn’t rush it—I teased.
Let her chase me.
And when she backed off, I followed, because there was no world where I could let her pull away.
“I want all of it, Maribella,” I murmured between feather-light brushes of our lips. “Every last one of your secrets. Mine. But I can be patient. I’ll wait for you to be ready.”
Her eyes were glazed, her voice distracted.
“Ready for what?”
Oh, she knew.
Her magic was singing to mine, wrapping us both in a slow, burning coil.
My Python was pacing just under my skin, restless and hungry.
I cupped her face, tilting it up until those dark eyes were locked on mine.
“Ready for us.”
And then I kissed her the way I’d been dying to—hard, deep, like I could brand her soul with the taste of me.
Her body melted into mine, soft and warm and wanting.
Sparks flared where our skin touched, and I knew she felt it too.
That connection.
That rightness.
I’d had lovers before. Special ones. Good ones.
But they were nothing compared to Bella.
She. Was. Everything.
This wasn’t about getting off—though, fuck, she could ruin me without even trying—this was about claiming something I knew down to my bones was supposed to be mine.
“Bella,” I groaned against her mouth, because I needed her to hear it, needed her to know.
“Wanna give you everything you want, sweet Witch. Don’t you know how hard it is for me to stay away?”
Her answer was breathless, dangerous.
“Then don’t.”
The sound of her heartbeat thudding inside her soft, sweet body filled the space between us, and my control snapped.
“You’re my mate, Maribella Strega,” I said roughly. “I know you don’t believe me, but it’s true.”
She tilted her head, mouth curving in that way that made me both crazy and weak.
“How do you know that?”
“A Shifter knows. My Python knew the second I saw you—”
“Wait, which Python? This one?” she teased, her hand slipping into my sweats and closing around me with a firm, slow stroke.
My eyes slammed shut.
“Fuck. Yes, that one. But also the other one.”
“I see,” she purred, dragging her tongue along my neck until I thought I might lose the ability to stand.
“Bella,” I growled, grabbing her wrist before I lost it completely. “If you don’t stop, I’m going to take you right here. I’m trying to be a gentleman and give you space, but I’m only human.” I paused, correcting with a feral grin. “Partly.”
“What if I don’t want any more space between us tonight, Big Guy?”
And just like that.
I was wrecked.
Still, I had to ask.
Just had to push the envelope.
Even though her answer just might kill me.
“What are you saying, Bella? Will you let me claim you, Mate?”