Chapter Twenty-Three – Michael
Oh, yeah! This is just the beginning! Michael’s bear roared. Although I might have to pinch myself several times to check that I didn’t just dream of meeting our mate in the flesh.
Pinch away, Michael said as he held their mate in his arms. He could not have imagined breaking the news to her about shifters could have gone better.
Sarah ran her hands down Michael’s chest, her touch featherlight yet sending jolts of electricity through his entire body. She leaned in, her warm breath tickling his skin just before she nuzzled against his neck. The soft press of her lips against his pulse point made him shiver with desire.
“Sarah,” he murmured, his voice rough with need.
“Yes,” she whispered, trailing kisses down the column of his throat, each touch of her lips more intoxicating than the last.
His bear purred with contentment inside him, urging him forward. Michael swallowed hard, gathering his courage. “Is there anything else you want to ask me?” The question hung in the air between them, weighted with possibility.
Sarah leaned back, her eyes dark pools that reflected the dancing firelight. She held his gaze, a moment of vulnerability crossing her features before she spoke. “Will you make love to me?”
The request sent heat rushing through Michael’s veins. He slipped his hand under her sweater, finding the soft skin of her stomach before moving upward to stroke her nipple through the fabric of her bra. It hardened beneath his touch.
“I would like nothing more,” he answered truthfully.
Sarah reached for the hem of her sweater and pulled it over her head in one fluid motion.
The firelight cast a golden glow across her skin, highlighting the curves Michael had imagined but never dared hope to see.
He gazed at her breasts still contained in a simple lace bra, then leaned forward to press his lips against the swell of flesh above the fabric.
Her skin tasted faintly of vanilla, sweet and intoxicating.
He reached around to unclasp her bra with steady fingers, drawing the garment away before cupping one breast in each hand.
They fit perfectly, as if made for his touch.
He rubbed his thumbs over her taut nipples, reveling in her sharp intake of breath.
When he lowered his head to take one taut bud into his mouth, Sarah’s hands flew to his hair, holding him against her.
He swirled his tongue over the sensitive bud, then grazed it lightly with his teeth before turning his attention to her other breast. She writhed against him, whimpering softly, the sounds driving his desire higher.
His bear was unnaturally quiet, as if holding its breath, allowing Michael this moment of pure human connection with their mate. Michael slipped his hand between her thighs, stroking her mound through her slacks. Feeling her heat even through the layers of fabric.
Sarah parted her legs, giving him better access as he stroked lower, tracing the seam of her slacks along her entrance. The scent of her arousal reached him then, so sweet it made his mouth water and his control fray at the edges.
She tugged at his shirt, her movements growing more urgent.
He reluctantly freed her breasts to pull his shirt over his head, tossing it aside without care for where it landed.
Sarah’s hands were immediately on him, exploring the planes of his chest, her fingers finding his nipples and teasing them to hardness.
She leaned in to nuzzle his neck again, her tongue darting out to taste his skin while he returned to the sweet torture of her breasts. The dual sensation of giving and receiving pleasure threatened to overwhelm him.
Then Sarah’s hands were at his belt, unbuckling it with surprising dexterity. They parted momentarily, helping each other shed the rest of their clothing until they stood naked before the fire, skin gilded by its warm glow.
Michael took a moment simply to look at her. All soft curves. Beautiful. Perfect. His.
They came together again, hands exploring newly revealed skin, every touch a discovery. He guided her down onto the soft rug before the fire, lowering himself beside her.
“You’re so beautiful,” he whispered, his voice thick with emotion.
He settled between her thighs, gently spreading them wider before slipping a finger inside her.
Her inner walls clenched around his finger, and he pushed deeper.
Michael watched her face as he stroked her, mesmerized by the play of pleasure across her features.
Sarah bit down on her bottom lip, her eyes locked with his as he added a second finger, curling them to find that spot that made her gasp.
When he felt her trembling, close to release, he withdrew his fingers despite her sound of protest. Kneeling between her parted thighs, he lowered his head and tasted her for the first time, his tongue flat against her mound.
Sarah cried out, her back arching off the rug.
Michael lost himself in her taste, in the sounds she made as he licked and sucked at her most intimate flesh.
He slipped his fingers back inside her, working in tandem with his mouth until she was writhing beneath him, incoherent pleas falling from her lips.
When her release came, it was with a shuddering cry that echoed through the cabin. Michael gentled his touch but didn’t stop completely, drawing out her pleasure until she tugged at his shoulders, urging him upward.
He moved over her, bracing his weight on his forearms. Sarah reached between them, wrapping her hand around his hardness and guiding him to her entrance. The first touch of her slick heat against him nearly undid Michael completely.
With monumental effort, he maintained control as he slowly buried himself inside her, inch by exquisite inch. When he was fully seated within her, he paused, savoring the moment he had waited for his whole life. This was more than physical pleasure; this was a primal recognition of his mate.
“Michael,” Sarah whispered, her voice thick with emotion that mirrored his own.
He began to move then, pulling out almost completely before thrusting back into her welcoming body. Each stroke built the pleasure higher, stoking the fire between them. His hands roamed her body, caressing her breasts, his mouth finding her nipples once more to lick and suck them to taut peaks.
Sarah’s hands were everywhere. Stroking his back, threading through his hair, tweaking his nipples in a way that made him groan against her skin. When her fingers dipped between them to fondle the place where they joined, Michael jerked forward, his rhythm faltering for a moment.
He moved faster, harder now, his control slipping away as the pleasure built to impossible heights. Gripping her knee, he altered the angle of his thrusts, lunging deeper into her slick heat, her inner muscles clenching around him.
Michael reached between them, his fingers finding the sensitive bundle of nerves at the apex of her thighs.
He circled it gently, watching her face as pleasure overtook her once more.
The sight of her coming beneath him was his undoing.
With one final thrust, he followed her over the edge, his release pulsing deep inside her as he called her name.
Afterward, he collapsed beside her, gathering her close against his chest. Their heartbeats gradually slowed from racing to steady, their breathing evening out in the quiet of the cabin. The fire crackled beside them, casting dancing shadows across their entwined bodies.
Michael pressed a kiss to Sarah’s temple as his bear stirred contentedly inside him, supremely satisfied that they had claimed their mate.
But more than that, Michael felt a profound sense of peace. Content in the knowledge that his search for his mate was over. “I never thought I’d find you,” he whispered against her hair.
Sarah tilted her face up to his, her eyes soft with emotion. “I wasn’t even looking. After my divorce, I never expected to find love again,” she admitted. “But here you are.”
“Here I am,” he agreed, tightening his arms around her. “And here I’ll stay.”
Outside, snow began to fall again, blanketing the world in pristine white.
But inside the cabin, wrapped in each other’s arms before the fire, Michael and Sarah had found their own kind of magic—one that had nothing to do with shifting forms and everything to do with two hearts, two mates, finding each other at last.