Chapter 23 - Tessa
There’s something so different about the way Hunter kisses me now, as if something has finally been freed inside him, and he’s not stopping now.
He made quick work of my clothes while his lips mapped every reachable inch, and now, he’s guiding me back to the bed. Carefully, he lowers me down once I nearly run into the mattress, but he doesn’t let me go far before he kisses my neck like he can’t get enough.
“You have no idea,” he murmurs, voice already rough while he slots himself between my legs and pulls his shirt up before tossing it aside. He’s immediately moving down to my collarbone, hands almost shaking from holding himself back. “… How badly I need you. How much I’ve been needing you.”
I shiver both from his words and the way he keeps going, leaving his affections against my chest, then my stomach.
Emboldened by the way he dedicates himself to feeling and kissing every inch of my body, I hum and let my head drop back against the pillows. “Then show me…”
Hunter growls lowly at the invitation wrapped in a taunt, and he slides down until his lips find my inner thighs, and he gently nips at me in reprimand. “By the time I’m done, you won’t need to question anything.”
Already working to prove himself, he finds my apex and flicks his tongue out to taste me.
When my breath catches, and I grab the sheets, he hums against me, more than satisfied to make me react in any way possible.
His hands wrap around my thighs more thoroughly, and he takes his time exploring me all over again, pinning me in place despite how much I squirm already.
“Hunter—” I gasp, head tipping back when he laps at me, so focused on giving me his complete attention.
He muffles a moan against me and adds his fingers, idly rubbing them against my heat before gently sliding one in. “You sound so needy already, and I’ve barely started.”
Warmth spreads through my cheeks at that, but I can’t bring myself to care.
Instead, I bite back my sounds and writhe even more, letting my fingers find his hair.
I try to stay quiet given the other people in the house tonight, but when I do, Hunter huffs in faint irritation before lightly biting my thigh again, making me jolt.
“Don’t hide your sounds from me. Let me hear you.”
The slight command in his words catches a specific interest in me that immediately makes me want to obey, but I hesitate.
“What about the others?”
“They won’t hear you… not with this thunder and rain,” Hunter tells me, so sure of it while he leaves more kisses against my skin, pulling me a bit closer.
The storm has mostly been background noise up to this point, but when he teases my clit again and moves his fingers, my next moan leaves me faster than I can try to stop it, but a crash of thunder conceals it anyway.
Well aware of how hard the rain is still coming down, I find it helps loosen my inhibitions, and I give up trying to keep quiet.
The next sound he elicits from me causes Hunter to groan against me, then he starts working me over like he won’t be satisfied until I’m a complete mess for him. I believe it too.
“Perfect…” he murmurs, focusing so hard on feasting on me that he doesn’t care about whatever noises he makes in the process. He hums. “You sound incredible.”
His praise does all the right things to me, and I soak it in while I feel every second of his dedication. It’s dizzying how concentrated he is on me, wanting nothing more than to push me over the edge.
Eventually, the heat in my lower stomach gets far too hot to ignore, and every point of stimulation hits me at once.
I arch from the bed and grip the sheets tighter while the euphoria and shock rip through me the moment the pressure releases. A more desperate sound escapes me while I reach the precipice, fingers gripping his hair tightly.
Hunter sounds far too satisfied, almost like his pleasure is directly linked to mine, and he’s just as greedy as I am. He coaxes me through it, prolonging every sensation until I squirm when it becomes too much.
Immediately, he eases up, pressing soft kisses to my thighs in between panted breaths.
My head feels like it’s full of fuzz while I come back down again, sinking into reality with lighter limbs now.
My heart still pounds, but it’s like I return to baseline, not feeling as ravenous, yet wanting more of him anyway.
Hunter moves upward, hands sliding along my body with quiet reverence. The way he looks me over sends a thrill down my spine, unable to hide just how much it excites me.
His blue eyes are darker now, and his focus is almost predatory while he presses in close again and finds my lips in a deep, slow kiss.
I melt into it immediately, arms wrapping around his waist. Like this, I can feel just how coiled up he is, having held back his base instincts for as long as possible.
Unlike before, there’s something even more intense burning inside him, and I can sense how close it is to snapping.
As he drags the kiss out, Hunter makes a low sound in his chest, then he grabs my thighs and props my legs up.
Another hard shudder moves through me the moment his heat engulfs me, body pressed against mine, while his skin feels hot enough to burn. He’s reaching new levels of desire I haven’t seen from him yet, and it’s both unnerving and thrilling all at once.
“I need you, Tessa,” he murmurs against my lips before finding my neck again. His hips idly rock against mine in slow, impatient rolls while he breathes me in. “I need my mate.”
Mate.
I don’t know what it is about the way he says it, but it flares something new inside me, too, and I almost feel like I might implode if I don’t have him.
On the same wavelength now, I cradle his jaw in both hands and press our foreheads together. “Take me…”
His eyes flood with a feral gleam, and he brushes against me once more before slowly sinking into me, hands gripping my hips tightly. He groans and tries to hold himself back, obviously not wanting to go too fast.
The feeling of my body stretching to accommodate him tears a breathless sound from me immediately, and I arch, fingers gripping his back harder.
Hunter groans and fills me as much as he can, one arm bracketing the side of my head while the other holds me in place. He curses under his breath, caught between man and beast in a completely new way for him.
“Tessa…” he murmurs, both strained and keening for more.
No response reaches my mind the moment he withdraws his hips, then slides back into me with the most erotic sound falling from his lips.
His hard body is taut with tension, rippling with the need to take as much as he can, yet he won’t give in completely. Not yet, anyway.
I moan as he builds up a pace, knowing he’s caught between kissing my lips and wanting to taste more of my skin. Each thrust feels like being hit with pure ecstasy, given how deeply he reaches from this angle.
Jaw slack and head tipped back, I don’t bother holding back with the storm as my cover. Instead, I hold on tight, riding out the intensity coursing between us. The pounding rain drowns out the way the bed creaks subtly, and the winds mask each time his name escapes me.
Hunter rocks into me with increased speed and desperation, staying close and not leaving any opportunity for me to escape now. Not while he’s wild with this unpredictable lust and needing to release it more than anything.
“You were made for me… and I was made to give you everything,” he growls against my neck, teeth grazing my skin while he ruts inside me, so deep now that nothing could erase this claim.
His body ripples with tension while the threads of his restraint snap, breath lightly fanning against my pulse point. His nose presses against me, and he pulls in a deep breath before settling at the junction where my neck and shoulder meet.
I shudder, able to feel the intent behind this new fascination of his. I know exactly what he wants, regardless of how primal it may be.
He wants to mark me, and to show every wolf who might glance in my direction that I’m inexplicably his. It’s the kind of claim that brooks no argument, and one that will stay with me for the rest of my life.
That thought should bring me pause, but right now, while I can feel him hitting every perfect spot inside me, sending unfiltered bliss through my system, it’s exactly what I want.
Hunter groans when he breathes me in again. “Say I can… please.”
Something about that pained tone of his nearly undoes me completely. I’ve never heard him like this before, and just knowing he’s so desperate for this because of me makes it all the more appealing.
“Yes,” I tell him, panting softly while he moves with such urgency that I have to cling to him just to keep up. “Do it… mark me.”
My permission causes a ripple of excitement to move through him, and with an almost agonizing sound, Hunter pins me against the mattress more completely.
With the crashing thunder to hide us, he finds that place he likes most on my shoulder, and he bites down without hesitation.
My breath hitches from the feeling of his teeth sinking into me, along with an immediate rush of pain. But right behind it, pleasure follows, and they collide somewhere in the middle. At first, it’s too much, and my body doesn’t know what to do with it. Then, it hits me.
I cry out as that wicked sensation pushes me over the edge, nails raking down Hunter’s back while he stays latched to me. My vision whites out completely as I clamp around him, so lost in immediate euphoria that I can’t think about anything else.
In response, his hips falter as he follows suit, stilling against me with the rush of his own orgasm. It hits him hard, making him groan and squirm through the immediate shockwave before he withdraws his teeth and gently licks at the wound.
Hunter trembles faintly when his forehead presses against my neck again, holding me tightly like he can’t stand the thought of letting go. This kind of claim always takes a toll.
“Tessa…” he murmurs, almost breathlessly and worshipful all in one. His fingers slowly move along my side while he remains like this.
As my breathing gradually relaxes, I go to shift my hips, but his grip on me keeps me from doing it, and a soft grunt slips from his mouth.
“Stay… don’t move,” he says, breath fanning lightly against my skin. His palm slides idly along my stomach. “Stay like this.”
That’s when it fully registers, and my skin warms all over again.
Still inside me, he’s somehow almost double in size, swollen and nowhere near ready to come out. It keeps us locked together, like a physical manifestation of our bond.
The feeling keeps me keenly aware of him and every way we’ve connected ourselves, body and soul.
The daze consuming me doesn’t leave either, and I gravitate towards him, seeking his warmth and comfort through something so primal that I almost don’t recognize it.
Without hesitation, Hunter keeps me as close as possible without jostling us much, arms wrapped around me while his natural heat makes me melt further. He noses at my jawline, leaving light kisses all the while our bodies do what they need to.
“My mate in every way,” he murmurs against me, sounding beyond content now. “You have my mark to prove it now.”
He’s undeniably right, and that truth sinks in even deeper while he holds me against his chest like the most precious thing in his life.
I’m the alpha’s mate, unable to be contested.
And I like how it sounds more than I should.