30. All Mine
CHAPTER 30
All Mine
Hawke Stormblood
She tastes like honey and fruit and pure bliss. The sight of my mate, bare and open before me, her beauty steals every last bit of air from my lungs. She is a vision, a goddess in mortal form, and I am humbled and grateful that she is mine. The shard of my soul pulses in her chest like a second heartbeat, synced perfectly with mine.
Melinda is everything.
My destiny.
The silk of her skin against my fingertips, the siren song of her sighs in my ear, awaken parts of me I never knew existed. And when a smile graces her lips, haloed in an aura of disbelieving wonder, as if joy is an unfamiliar friend, it simultaneously breaks my heart and sets my blood on fire.
I want to spend the rest of my days coaxing out that smile, until the shadows of fear melt away and she can revel in her own radiance. I want to show her that her magick is a gift to be celebrated, not a curse to shy away from. I know in my heart with time it can be controlled–wielded even. With every touch, every caress, I want to remove the chains that bind her, to set her spirit free to fly as it was always meant to.
The vision Yggdrasil granted me that fateful morning haunts my waking dreams–the image of Melinda, glowing and ripe with my child, surrounded by the melodic laughter of our future children. It's a promise of a life I never dared to imagine for myself, a tapestry of love and belonging that I now crave with every fiber of my being.
I will move heaven and earth to make that vision a reality. I will stand by her side, no matter what challenges we may face. She is my forever, my mate, my love, my queen. And I will spend the rest of my days proving to her that our bond is unbreakable, that our love is the most powerful magic of all. And that the curse she fears has no power.
My fingertips dance across her skin, tracing constellations between her freckles, marveling at the way she shivers beneath my touch. Her skin is a canvas of smooth velvet, begging to be worshiped. And worship her I will, until she understands the depths of her preciousness to me, how she has become the very center of my universe.
I take my time, a cartographer mapping the undiscovered country of her body, committing each dip and curve to memory as if my life depends on it. And in a way, it does. She is my salvation from the darkness.
I trail a path of devotion down her form with soft, open-mouthed kisses that linger on each beloved freckle, savoring the honeyed sighs and shuddering breaths that spill from her lips like the most exquisite symphony.
As I venture lower, tension coils in her muscles, and a flicker of nervousness appears in her eyes. Immediately, I move back up, cupping her face in my hands, my thumb stroking over the delicate arch of her cheekbone. "You are so beautiful," I say, pressing a soft kiss to her forehead. “Do you trust me?”
She nods, relaxing under my touch. I back away from her spread legs and her glistening core, calling to me more than any siren’s song. I get off the bed and drop to my knees, using her legs to pull her to the edge of the bed so I can enjoy the feast that is her body.
The first taste. Fuck . So sweet, I growl against her clit, letting her hear how pleased I am.
“Please,” she moans.
I push her knees wider and curl my tongue inside her body, drinking in her spice and sweetness. I ply the little bundle of nerves above her entrance in slow, deliberate circles with my tongue. Her moans and cries urge me on. She’s so close. The tension in her body is about to burst.
I lock my mouth over her swollen clit and suck hard. Honey and spice flood my tongue, and she combusts beneath my hands and mouth. I could spend the whole night. Every night. On my knees. Consuming her and it wouldn’t be enough. It would never be enough.
“Hawke.” My name on her lips makes me instantly harder. Her hands are reaching for my head. She weaves her fingers through my hair.
I thrust my tongue deep inside her again and use a finger to rub small circles around her clit, spreading some of her arousal. She’s going to come several times before I take her fully. Her hips thrust, lifting and pushing herself into my mouth.
“I want you to come again, Melinda.” I bite down firmly on her clit.
She gasps, curling up toward me, pulling on my hair as she implodes. “Hawke?—”
A few moments later she flops back with a breathy whine, and I stroke my tongue over her clit again, soothing the oversensitive flesh. At least for a moment. As soon as a couple of slower breaths are exchanged, I capture her clit again with my mouth and smile against her body when her hips buck and her legs squeeze either side of my head like a vice.
“Open for me.” I push against her thighs with my forearms. She can’t see my pleasure or feel it yet, but watching her writhe and whine is my absolute new favorite thing. Every sound. Every movement drives me higher.
So perfect. So beautiful.
Her legs relax again, and I don’t hold back. I will get another release from her. One more. I fuck her with my tongue, lashing her clit until her back arches off the bed and her body thrashes. She’s not screaming my name yet again, but I’ll get her there.
“Good girl.”
“Hawke, please.”
“Please what?”
“I need?—”
“Soon, I promise.”
“Please.”
That last please pushes me over the edge. I crawl up over her on the bed, slip an arm beneath her and drag her with me up toward the pillows. Her legs part and wrap around my hips, and I push gently against her opening. It’s so tight. So wet. She’s ready.
Her eyes open wide and meet my gaze. “It’s going to hurt, isn’t it?”
“Only for a moment and then only pleasure, I promise.”
Her legs tighten around my waist, pulling her molten core down on my hard shaft.
So warm. So perfect. So right. Home. Mine.
I put a hand on her hip to hold her down and a beautifully needy cry rumbles from her throat. Pushing forward an inch or two, I give her body a bit more to get used to. She tenses below me, and a gasp steals her breath.
“Hawke—”
“So perfect. Your body was made for mine.”
A couple of tears roll from the corners of her eyes. Terror flashes in those whiskey brown depths. I freeze. Fear creeps around my heart like thorny vines. “Melinda?”
“Maybe it’s better we don’t. You said the bond is sealed with a bite. We could avoid my curse?—”
The idea of not having her completely makes the feral beast inside me come roaring forward, but I hold it back with sheer force of will. I promised. “Melinda. I?—”
“Hawke, I don’t want to lose you.”
I shake my head, and my fangs drop all the way, even though I’m pushing hard to stay in control.
She bares her neck. “Take what you need. Take back your soul.”
It’s tempting. I could bond her with just a bite, but what she doesn’t understand is that the following madness would consume us both if we didn’t physically mate also. “It’s not a one or the other choice, Melinda. I don’t want just part of you. I need all of you. But you have to say that’s what you want.”
She nods. “I do. I want that. I need you, too.”
Her body clenches around the tip of my cock and I give her hungry cunt more of what it wants, driving the rest of the way inside her and breaking through her virgin barrier. She’s warm velvet and she clutches at me in desperation.
Pain twists her face and her mouth opens, but she doesn’t cry out.
“Mine.” I repeat. “Mine.” I growl this time. This woman belongs to me. My mate. My soul. She will have my children. I will love her for all the centuries I have left.
“Yours.” She stretches, baring her neck for me.
I nuzzled the soft skin and drag my fangs across the soft part where her neck meets her shoulder. I breathe in her sweet citrus scent, and I never want to leave this bed. I never want my cock to be outside her sweet cunt again.
Moving my hips, I test her body’s resistance. She moans, but it’s not from pain anymore. This time the moan tells me to keep going. And I pull almost all the way out and then drive deep into her. Then again.
Her body shudders against mine and I feel the eclipse of pleasure explode inside her. Her walls clench down on me like a vice and pulse, urging me to reach for that bright place of release with her. But I want more for her on this first time. I steel myself and slowly drag myself from her warmth and thrust in again, finding a slow and tortuous pace that will drive her toward release again.
I will make her mine, completely. When she’s so high on pleasure, the pain of my bite will only add to it.
Her hips buck into mine and her fingers grapple with my shoulders like she’s trying to simultaneously push me away and pull me closer on every other breath. “Hawke. I?—”
“Does it feel good? Do you like being filled with my hard cock, Melinda?”
“Yes, so much. Please.”
“What do you want?”
“I don’t know. I just need more.”
I pull away from her, instantly missing the warm sheath of her body. But I know what will drive her even higher. I know what will get her to the place I need her before I give her my mark and bond our souls. The pretty whine that tears from her throat makes me smile.
“On your hands and knees, my sweet girl. Turn around.”
She scrambles on the bed in front of me and gets on her knees. I guide her until she backs up and is straddling my legs with her back to my chest. Then lift her small body up and sit her down on my cock, filling her completely in one stroke.
“Oh, fuck!” Her back arcs and I lock her against me, one arm around her chest and shoulders and the other lower, around her belly so that my hand can play with her clit. “That’s it, sweet girl. You feel so good. So perfect. Mine.”
Her core clenches, eating up the words of praise.
“You like how full you are? You like how perfectly we fit together?”
“Yes. More. Please, Hawke.”
“More?” I nuzzle her neck and chuckle teasingly into her ear. “Like this?” I tighten my grip on her body and rock my hips, driving myself up into her, harder this time.
She whimpers and writhes in my grasp. “Please. Yes.”
I rock again, driving harder, faster, until we’re both slicked with sweat and panting. She’s absolute perfection. Her head drops to the side, baring her beautiful creamy flesh to my mouth. An offering just for me. An offering I want with every breath. The primal beast within me roars to life, urging me to take what is so freely offered. Mine , it snarls. My mate. My everything .
I squeeze her clit between my thumb and forefinger and I bite down, breaking the skin. The coppery tang of her blood hits my tongue, sealing us together with magick older than the world itself. Her following scream is one of pleasure and desire and satisfaction. I come with her, filling her with everything I have to give.
In a burst of blinding light, our souls collide, and the world around me falls away. In that moment, everything changes. The emptiness that has haunted me for centuries, the void that I thought could never be filled, is suddenly overflowing with love, with joy, with a sense of completeness that I never knew was possible.
Her essence intertwines with mine, her light chases away the shadows that have clung to my soul for so long. The magnitude of the moment washes over me and tears sting my eyes. The darkness, the beast that has fought to rule my every action and decision, is finally within my control again. For the first time in centuries, I am truly myself.
Next through the bond is a deluge of emotion. A tidal wave of my mate’s experiences crash over me. The anguish of her losses, the scars left by unimaginable pain, threaten to take me down. Her fear is a living thing, clawing at my heart with icy talons, desperate for any hint of hope.
And then all her power slams into my consciousness. The magick inside her is overwhelming and magnificent and I can immediately see why it took a Drakonii to help temper and keep it under control. Within that storm of mental chaos, I also feel her attraction to me. Her love, even though we haven’t said the words out loud. The emotion is there, and it settles deep in my chest and makes me so fully and completely content.
I take us both slowly to the bed, dropping to my side and holding her tight enough to stay buried in her soft heat. I’m not ready to let her go. Not yet. I pull her tight to my chest, cupping one of her breasts while the other hand is splayed over her mound. She relaxes into the hold, snuggling deeper and sighs contentedly.
“Mine,” I rumble against her neck, licking across the fresh bite mark.
Her body shivers against mine. “Mine,” she echoes, and I feel her mirrored claim on me at a soul deep level.