Chapter 34
THIRTY-FOUR
ATLAS
Seal the bond.
Seal the bond.
Seal the bond.
A primal, choked-off growl came from deep inside, and I stood. Grasping his face, I slammed our mouths together, tasting him again after what felt like an eternity. Max moaned, plastering his body to mine, and I was gone.
The floodgates holding back my rut flung wide, sweeping me away in the depths of my need for him.
Mine. Finally, he’s mine.
Pupils blown wide, Max pulled back and stared at my mouth, hungry and searching. My vision flickered. The world around him blurred again, and I didn’t have words anymore except one.
“Mate,” I growled. The sweet tang of his slick made my mouth water; I needed to bury myself in him, needed to taste him and take him and fuse us together.
Seal the bond.
Seal the bond.
Atlas, seal the bond!
Max shook me by the shoulders, mouth moving, but I couldn’t understand him anymore. The world spun, and I fell on my back, landing on the soft bed.
My omega’s face appeared over me. He was definitely yelling something now, but I couldn’t make it out. Slipping further and further away from him, I tried to tell him it would be alright, that he was mine and I loved him, but my mouth wouldn’t form the words.
I didn’t want to leave. He was my home. Where would I go if I didn’t have him?
He’s ours, my alpha whined helplessly, clawing at its cage. Go back to him.
But I couldn’t. I’d waited too long, pushed Max away when he offered himself to me freely, and now it was too late.
Just as he disappeared from my vision altogether, warmth surrounded me.
Something sharp pricked at my neck, followed by a great pressure.
Like the deep thrum of a gong, heat and warmth and light shot through me.
Chains shattered. Splintered to pieces, they fell to the ground, never to be needed again.
And I was home again.
My alpha stood, howling in triumph. Bright omega pheromones swirled and swirled through my blood. Suddenly, I was yanked out of the inky dark with a gasp, eyes flung wide open.
Max was here. Mate was here.
And he’d claimed me.
I felt it in the tingling at my neck and the fierce burning in his eyes. He was over me, and inside me. The glow of his omega—the true heart of him—danced through my veins, twirling and teasing my alpha with a flick of his tail until they darted off together, never to be separated again.
He wanted me. With all my flaws and secrets and fucked up need for violence, for vengeance, my mate wanted me.
My mate saved me.
“Max,” I said, finding words through the overwhelming emotions I couldn’t even begin to voice. “You did it. You—you—”
“Yes,” he breathed. His freckled smile stretched wide, and his honey-warm eyes were filled with joy. “Come back to me, now. Claim me, my mate. It’s time.”
Seal the bond, my alpha called. We belong to him now. Make him ours!
I groaned, swallowed by the might of my desire. Fire and need roared in my chest, and my cock ached so hard it might actually fall off.
I couldn’t resist the urge to lay my claim anymore. It was too much. Everything in my body and mind told me to bite him, knot him, and seal the bond to make us whole.
“Love you,” I said, reaching for him. “So much.” I needed him to know that before the last of my control snapped and I fucked him through the mattress.
He must’ve understood, though, because he was already kicking off his shorts and boxers, wriggling until they were free before he straddled me. “I know,” he replied, reaching into my boxers to pull out my cock. “I know you do. Now make me yours.”
My eyes rolled at the feel of his soft hand wrapped around me, guiding me home. From the depths of my sanity, I halted him long enough to reach around and run my finger across his hole, making sure he was ready. I groaned, finding him already wet for me.
He gasped when I twirled my finger there, pushing more slick out. Even without looking, I could feel he was tight. No longer in heat, I’d be harder for him to take. Plus, I was so keyed up I already felt the tell-tale tingling at the base of my cock.
If I didn’t get inside him soon, my knot would pop, and I’d tear him apart.
“Just a tight little thing, now,” I groaned, massaging the star until it softened and I could slip a fingertip in. The squelch of his slick around the digit made me drool. “Did your hole already forget what it’s like to take me?”
He shook his head and whimpered. “No, alpha. I’m ready for you. So ready.”
He wasn’t, but I was out of time. Later, I’d make it up to him and eat my cum out of his ass until he came all over himself.
“Then tell me who it belongs to,” I said, taking hold of my cock to help him sit on it.
He lowered himself through the resistance, bearing down until the head popped in. “You—ah! You, alpha.”
I snarled at the overstimulation of his heat surrounding me all at once. “S’fucking right,” I slurred, vision whiting out at the pressure around my cockhead. I lost all of my restraint after that.
My omega trembled and wailed when I rutted up inside him. It took two heavy thrusts while I pushed him down by the shoulders until I was fully seated, punching little noises out of him that made me want to hunt and devour.
His claws dug into my back, holding me tight and driving me further into that primal place. “At-las,” he called, words punctuated by each thrust. “Do—it. Seal the bond.”
Words only held vague meaning to me in this state, but I understood enough that he wanted me to consummate this act of instinct and blood and love so deep I’d rend the world apart should he ask it of me.
Breed him first, my alpha snarled. Give him our cum.
I shook away the ache in my teeth to bite. “Need to see it,” I said, pistoning my hips harder into him and staring down at his belly. “Need to see my cock in your womb. It’s mine.”
It shouldn’t be possible with his heat finished, but my rutted-out brain didn’t know that. All I knew was I couldn’t claim him and end this until my mate’s womb was full.
My knot caught on his rim, and he wailed, tipping back to brace himself on my thighs. I hissed. The wound in my arm ached when I shifted down so only my shoulders were propped up on the headboard, but I didn’t care because it gave me a better angle to push my cock deeper into him.
“Just—a little—more,” I snarled, gripping his waist to grind him down every time I thrust up.
“Can’t take any—anymore,” he said, nothing but a cocksleeve in my arms. It was a good thing his slick only smelled of pleasure and passion, because stopping now might actually kill me.
“Mate can.” I was beyond multi-word sentences.
He whined and shook his head, but he continued to bounce on my cock, helping me bury deeper and deeper into him.
I was almost there. I could feel that soft, tight gland high up in him, tempting me farther into my omega.
Almost. Almost. And… there it is. “Ah!” I cried when something inside him softened and gave way, before that little bump on his lower stomach popped out right as my knot swelled, tucked safely inside him.
I roared. My cockhead was in paradise, squeezed by his tight breeding gland that opened just enough to fit me inside one last time before it closed until the next heat cycle.
“God!” he cried, shaking in my arms. “Now! Do it now!”
His words were distant, like we were underwater. Unable to pull out, I rocked him on my knot, mouth watering at the protruding bump appearing and disappearing with each shift of his hips.
Back and forth. Seal the bond.
Back and forth. Seal the bond.
I pushed my hand into his stomach to feel myself there. Again, and again, and again. Seal the bond, Atlas! Seal it!
Was that Max shouting? Or my alpha? Or was it me, finally releasing two years of pent-up need?
All I knew was my face was suddenly at his throat, and then his scent gland was in my mouth, and my teeth plunged in, and—
Blinding light exploded behind my eyes.
I came. I came so hard I could feel my cock pulsing against the palm of my hand through his stomach.
Somehow, I ended up on top of him while he mewled and squirmed on my knot. His skin was sticky with his release. I’d clean it off with my tongue later, and then make him dirty all over again with another orgasm.
I released my hold on his neck, licking at the now permanent mark. “My mate…” I said, in awe. Overwhelming peace came over me, lifting the clouded veil of rut and soothing years of strain and stress. Tears splashed onto his chest, and I realized I was crying.
Max purred and threw his arms around my neck to pull me close. “Yes. And you’re mine.”
With the weight of the world finally lifted from my shoulders, all that remained was Max and the life we could have together.
Two years ago, I resented the circumstances in which we met and the inexplicable pull I felt toward someone I thought I could never have. Tied together through a bond neither of us chose, I thought it could only end in pain and separation.
And yet, even then, we were always meant to be. My mate fought for me and saved me, just as I’d saved him.
I pulled away to look at Max, glasses askew. “Thank you for saving me,” I said, kissing his sweaty forehead.
He smiled. “We saved each other.”
Yes, we had. Our bond, now forged in love, glowed bright and true.
This was healing; this was coming home.