Chapter 10
TEN
KORRAN
Korran’s world narrowed to the taste of Tess’s mouth and the feel of her body pressed between him and the solid wood of her suite door. His hands were buried in the silk of her hair, and every rational argument he’d clung to for decades crumbled to dust.
She’s human. The bond could destroy you. Look at your father.
His bear roared back, a visceral force that vibrated through his bones.
Enough with theories you’ve never verified for yourself. This is the only truth. Claim your mate.
Heat, pure and savage, coursed through his veins, drowning the last shreds of logic in a torrent of need.
With a guttural sound torn from his chest, he broke the kiss, his breath coming in ragged pulls.
He couldn’t do this here, where anyone could see.
He fumbled for the door handle behind her, his eyes never leaving hers.
The latch gave way, and he shouldered the door open, pulling her inside with him before kicking it shut with his heel.
The solid thud of the door closing was the sound of the outside world being locked out. They were in a cocoon now. For a suspended moment, he waited for her to come to her senses. For her to push him back, to remind him of her purpose here.
Instead, her fingers went to the buttons of his shirt.
The first button slipped free. Then the second. Her movements were deliberate, her gaze fixed on the skin being revealed. The hunger in her eyes wasn’t just desire; it was recognition, a mirror of his own consuming need.
Every warning and every fear evaporated. There was no turning back from this. This moment had been barreling toward them since the electric shock of their first touch, a gravitational pull too fundamental to resist.
“Tess,” he rasped, her name a half-formed question, half a plea.
She didn’t answer with words. She answered by pushing the shirt from his shoulders, her palms smoothing over the hard planes of his chest. The cool air of the room hit his skin, but it was nothing compared to the fire of her touch.
His bear surged, impatient and dominant.
Take her now.
The last of his control frayed. With a low growl, he helped her, tearing the shirt the rest of the way off and letting it fall to the floor. He made quick work of the rest of his clothes, kicking them aside until he stood before her completely bare.
Her eyes swept down his body—over the miles of muscle earned through combat training and survival in the harsh north, down to the hard, throbbing evidence of his want for her.
Her sharp inhale was the most potent praise he’d ever received.
The appreciation darkening her gaze, the way her lips parted, it fueled the fire in his blood until he thought he might combust.
He couldn’t wait another second. His hands went to her blouse, his fingers making quick work of the buttons.
The blue fabric soon joined his on the floor.
Her bra was next, a flimsy barrier he dispensed with, and a raw sound tore from him at the sight of her breasts, full and perfect, her nipples peaked and begging for his mouth.
He dropped to his knees, his hands on the fastening of her slacks. He looked up at her as he pushed them down her legs, along with the delicate black panties she wore. Her hands came to rest in his hair, not pushing him away but holding on as if she needed the anchor.
When she stepped free of the last of her clothing, Korran rose slowly, drinking in the sight of her. She was flawless. Lean strength and enticing curves, with skin like moonlight.
Mine.
Then his bear took the reins completely.
He scooped her up in one swift motion, her surprised gasp swallowed by the heat of his skin.
He carried her through the archway into the bedroom, to the massive four-poster bed draped in furs and silks.
He laid her down gently, a stark contrast to the storm raging inside him, and followed her down, covering her body with his.
His mouth found hers again, this kiss deeper, more consuming.
His hand mapped her body as their tongues tangled, claiming every inch of her skin.
He cupped the weight of her breast, his thumb brushing over her nipple, feeling it pebble tighter under his touch.
Then he trailed lower, over the soft skin of her abdomen, until his fingers finally found the heat between her thighs. Her low moan vibrated against his lips.
She was already wet for him. His bear rumbled its fierce approval deep in his chest. Then he stroked her, learning her folds, circling the sensitive nub that made her gasp, sliding one thick finger inside her tight, welcoming heat.
“Korran,” she breathed against his mouth, her hips lifting to meet his hand.
He added a second finger, stretching her, preparing her, his kiss swallowing her escalating moans. Her inner muscles fluttered around his fingers, and the scent of her arousal, mingled with her rose-and-rain essence, was an intoxicating drug.
She finally broke the kiss, her green eyes hazy with pleasure. “I need you,” she panted, her voice husky and raw. “I need you inside me.”
Korran moved to hover over her, every muscle in his body corded tight.
Her hand slid down the planes of his chest, over the ridges of his abdomen, and then wrapped around the hard length of his cock.
She guided him slowly to her entrance, her gaze locked on his, her eyes dark with a need that mirrored the storm inside him.
Soon, the broad head of his cock pressed against her warmth, a tantalizing promise of oblivion. A last thread of his princely control made him pause, his body trembling with the effort.
“Tess.” Her name was a raw scrape in his throat. “Is this—“
“Yes.” The word was a breathless command. “Please.”
Then he surrendered.
He pushed forward, a slow, devastating invasion.
Her tight, wet heat enveloped him, inch by exquisite inch, until he was buried to the hilt, fully sheathed inside her.
A loud moan tore from her lips, her head tipping back into the furs.
The sound went straight to his core. But he held himself motionless, letting her body adjust to his size.
Her nails bit into the muscles of his shoulders. “Korran, move.”
He obeyed. He withdrew almost completely before driving back in, a slow, deliberate thrust that made her cry out.
The rhythm he soon set was maddening in its control.
The rightness of it, the perfect fit of their bodies, shattered the last of his resistance.
This was where he belonged. This was who he belonged with.
The mate bond, a thrumming cord between their souls, ignited into a blinding symphony.
Every rational argument against her, against the bond, evaporated in the furnace of their joining.
Mark her. Make her ours.
His bear’s demand was a primal drumbeat in his blood. The instinct to sink his claws into the skin over her hip, to seal the bond forever, was a physical ache in his chest.
No.
The denial was a weak whisper against the roar.
She didn’t even know what they were to each other, and he wasn’t ready for the irrevocable step of a completed bond with a human.
For now, there was only this—the slide of skin on skin, the sound of her ragged breathing, the building pressure coiling at the base of his spine.
“Korran… faster.” Her plea was a broken whisper.
His pace shifted from deliberate to desperate.
His thrusts became faster, harder, a relentless piston driving them both toward the edge.
Her legs locked around his waist, her heels digging into the small of his back, pulling him deeper with every plunge.
Her nails scored his skin, the sharp pain a counterpoint to the blinding pleasure.
This was nothing like the casual, physical transactions of his past. This was a convergence, a claiming that went beyond flesh.
Korran could feel her climax gathering, a tidal wave of sensation through the nascent bond. Her inner muscles began to flutter and clench around his cock, her thighs trembling violently against his sides.
“Let go, Tess,” he growled softly.
She finally shattered. Her back arched off the bed, her body convulsing around him.
The fierce, rhythmic pulsing of her release was the trigger for his own.
With a roar that was more bear than man, he buried himself to the hilt and spilled into her, his climax tearing through him with seismic force.
Pleasure, white-hot and endless, obliterated every thought.
He collapsed onto her, his forehead pressed to her damp shoulder.
Their hearts hammered a frantic, synchronized rhythm against each other’s chests.
For long moments, there was only the sound of their ragged breathing and the sweet scent of their joining. He floated in the aftermath, savoring the feel of her body beneath his, her arms coming up to hold him close.
Then, the anchor slipped.
Before he could process it, she was sliding out from under his weight, leaving the bed in a fluid motion. The cool air hit his skin where her warmth had been. He pushed himself up on his elbow, watching as she snatched a silken robe from the closet and wrapped it around herself.
The swift action was a bucket of ice water. Reality crashed over him, cold and sharp.
What the hell just happened?
One moment he was lost in her, the next she was putting up walls. His bear snarled in confusion and fury.
He rolled off the bed, the high evaporating, leaving a hollow ache. He moved to the sitting area and gathered his discarded clothes from the floor, his movements stiff. The silence in the suite was suddenly oppressive.
“I’m sorry,” he said, his voice gravelly as he pulled his clothes on. “I shouldn’t have let that happen.”
She stood by the archway. “It’s not your fault. I was right there with you.” She turned, her expression a careful mask of composure, but he could see the turmoil in her eyes. “But you’re right. We shouldn’t have done that. I’m here to work, not get… tangled up.”
Tangled up.
The phrase was a dull blade to his gut. He gave a sharp nod. “Right. We focus on the investigation from now on. Chalk tonight up to the wine and a moment of… poor judgment.” He met her gaze, forcing a neutrality he didn’t feel. “Don’t worry. I won’t pressure you for anything further.”
She nodded once, a tight, professional gesture. “Good.”
“Good night, Tess.”
He didn’t wait for a response. He strode out of her suite, closing the door with a definitive click behind him. But the moment he was alone in the hallway, his bear erupted.
Coward! She is ours! Go back!
He leaned a hand against the stone wall, his head bowed, trying to wrestle the beast back into submission. He’d just put distance between himself and his mate after the most profound experience of his life. He’d reduced it to ‘poor judgment.’
As he stalked toward his own chambers, the new dimension of the mate bond made itself known.
It was no longer a faint pull; it was a live wire humming with her emotions.
He could feel her want. But underneath it was a spike of guilt—not for the act, but for losing control.
And threading through it all, a low, thrumming worry about what it meant, about complications.
Within minutes, he slammed the door to his own chambers, the sound echoing in the emptiness.
Focus on your father’s health. The clan. The territory. Not on the human scientist who is your fated mate.
But the bond was a physical thing now, a tether he could feel stretching across the estate, pulling at his sternum.
His bear didn’t want strategy or duty. It wanted to turn around, march back to her door, and not just hold her through the night, but wrap itself around her until every doubt was smothered.
The conflict was a fresh, open wound, and tomorrow, he would have to look her in the eye and pretend it didn’t exist.