Chapter 35
Chapter
Thirty-Five
The drive home from the hospital passed in silence, and Brie could feel something had shifted in Hunter’s energy. The streetlights painted shadows across his face as he gripped the steering wheel.
In her apartment, Brie set down her purse. Hunter stood by the window, staring out at the dark mountain. The tension radiating from him was unfamiliar. Something deep and primal.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, moving toward him.
He turned, and the raw need in his dark eyes made her breath catch. “Holding Adrian today... watching you with him...” His voice was rough, scraped raw with emotion. “It made me realize what I want.” He stepped closer, his hand coming up to cup her face. “I need to claim you properly. Completely.”
Brie’s heart thundered in her chest. “I’ve been thinking the same thing,” she said. “We’ve survived so much, but we haven’t completed the bond.”
“Once we do this, everything changes. We’ll feel each other. Our emotions, all the pain and joy. We’ll share it all.”
“I want that,” Brie said, as they undressed each other. “I want to be yours in every way.”
Hunter pulled her against him, his mouth capturing hers in a kiss that was desperate and reverent at the same time. Brie melted into him, her bear rumbling with satisfaction as their bodies pressed together. He laid her on the bed, then stood for a moment just looking at her naked body.
“Come here,” Brie said, reaching for him.
Hunter climbed on top of her, his familiar weight filling her with desire. His mouth found her throat, and then he kissed down her body. When his teeth grazed the sensitive skin of her thighs, she gasped, and her legs trembled around his shoulders.
When his tongue traced along her folds in one long, slow stroke, her hips jerked toward him. He held her steady, hands gripping her thighs. With soft kisses and gentle licks, he explored her body like he had all the time in the world.
“Hunter...” Her voice came out breathy.
He hummed against her, the vibration making her gasp. His tongue found her clit, circling it with feather-light touches that made her squirm. Every time she tried to rock her hips for more pressure, he tightened his grip on her thighs, holding her in place.
Her hands fisted in the sheets, then moved to his hair, fingers tangling in the dark strands.
He flattened his tongue, licking her in long, firm strokes from entrance to clit.
She moaned, her back arching off the bed.
He did it again, and again, establishing a rhythm that had her panting.
Then he’d switch back to those maddening circles around her clit, never quite giving her enough.
“Hunter...” she mewled.
His mouth sealed over her clit, sucking gently while his tongue pressed firm and direct. The change from teasing circles to focused pressure made her cry out. He worked her with steady intensity now, no more easing back, no more teasing.
The pleasure built rapidly, coiling tighter in her belly with each pass of his tongue. Her fingers tightened in his hair. She was so close, trembling on the edge.
He increased the pressure, his tongue moving faster.
The orgasm hit her hard, radiating from her core through her entire body.
Her thighs clamped around his head as wave after wave of pleasure rolled through her.
She heard herself crying out his name, unable to control the sounds escaping her throat.
He worked her through it, only gentling his touches as the waves began to subside.
“I need you,” she gasped, pulling him up to her. The heat of his cock made her pussy clench in anticipation.
Hunter pushed inside slowly, both of them gasping at the new sensation. They’d been together many times, but never without a condom. It felt more intimate, more permanent, more real.
“God, Brie,” Hunter groaned when he was fully seated. “You feel so good.”
His hips rolled into hers, and her body answered immediately, meeting each thrust. Their breathing synchronized. His exhale became her inhale. Her fingers gripped his shoulders. His mouth found her throat, lips tracing the pulse point that beat wildly beneath her skin.
She felt every inch of him, the drag and slide, the way her body gripped him. Heat built low in her belly with each stroke, radiating outward through her limbs. The pleasure was sharper, more immediate, like her nerve endings had been rewired.
Then something else stirred beneath her skin. Her bear, restless and urgent, pressing against the boundary between human and animal. Her vision sharpened. Colors intensified. The blue of the sheets looked richer. Hunter’s skin seemed to glow in the low light.
His scent hit her with overwhelming force. It filled her lungs, made her bear rumble with possessive satisfaction. Her nails sharpened and pressed against his skin. Hunter’s rhythm faltered for just a moment.
His eyes met hers, and she gasped at what she saw there. Gold flickered through the dark blue like lightning, bright and feral. His pupils elongated, narrowed to slits for a heartbeat before returning to human roundness.
His wolf was right at the surface and barely contained. “I need to claim you.”
Her bear surged in response, a wave of primal need that made her back arch.
She felt her canines beginning to lengthen, the sharp points pressing against her lower lip.
The urge to bite, to sink her teeth into his flesh and mark him permanently, pulsed through her with increasing urgency that bordered on pain.
As the orgasm crashed over them both, they struck simultaneously.
Hunter’s fangs sank deep into her neck while Brie bit down on his shoulder with all the strength of her bear.
She felt him pulsing inside her, filling her with his seed as the claiming venom flooded both their systems. The sensation was overwhelming.
Suddenly, Brie wasn’t in the bedroom anymore.
She floated in an endless expanse of cosmic space, surrounded by swirling galaxies and brilliant nebulae.
She was not human. She was a magnificent polar bear, her fur pristine white and glowing with inner light.
Across from her stood Hunter’s wolf, powerful and dark, with eyes that held the wisdom of ages.
The space between them shimmered, and then everything that was Hunter flooded into her consciousness.
His memories, his fears, his fierce loyalty, his love all poured into her in an overwhelming cascade.
She saw his lonely childhood after his mother’s death, felt his father’s grief that had shaped him, experienced every mission that had hardened him, and understood the vulnerability he’d hidden for so long.
At the same time, she felt her own essence flowing into him.
Her warmth, her creativity, the love her parents had given her, her dreams for the bakery, her strength in the face of fear.
All of it transferred through their cosmic connection.
They weren’t just sharing thoughts; they were sharing their souls.
Her bear and his wolf moved toward each other in this starlit void, touching noses in recognition.
Ancient, primal, eternal. Their bond transcended human understanding.
She could feel Hunter’s wonder matching her own as their spirits danced among the stars, intertwining in patterns of light that seemed to write their future across the cosmos.
“I will protect you always,” Hunter’s voice resonated through their bond, not spoken but felt.
“And I will be your home,” she promised in return.
The vision held for what felt like eternity. Then, gradually, the cosmic space began to fade, the stars dimming as reality pulled them back.
Brie gasped as she returned to her body, Hunter’s fangs retracting from her neck. She tasted his blood on her tongue.
“Brie,” Hunter breathed, pulling back to look at her. His eyes were wide with awe.
“I know,” she whispered. Through their new bond, she could feel everything he was feeling. The overwhelming love, the fierce protectiveness, the bone deep contentment of finally being complete.
She touched his face, marveling at how she could sense his emotions layered with her own. Joy, satisfaction, and a possessiveness that made her feel cherished. “I can feel you,” she said in wonder. “I feel… everything.”
“You’re mine now. And I’m yours.”
“Forever,” Brie agreed, pulling him down for another kiss.
They lay tangled together, legs intertwined, her head on his chest where she could hear his heart still racing. His arm was wrapped around her shoulder. Neither spoke for long minutes, both still processing the magnitude of what had just happened.
The bond hummed between them, no longer potential but fully realized. His contentment washed over her like warm honey. Deep, satisfied, almost purring. It mixed with her own sense of completion, the two feelings twining together until she couldn’t quite tell where hers ended and his began.