Chapter 23 #2
Claim. Take. Make her ours.
He caught her wrist. Stilled her movement. “Thea—”
“Do you want me?”
The question was direct. Unadorned. Completely her.
“Yes.” There was no point in lying. “More than anything.”
“Last night—you were still holding back, weren’t you?”
“Yes,” he admitted. “I didn’t give you my knot.”
Her eyes widened. “Your knot? Is that why it felt as if you were growing bigger?”
“Yes, but I pulled out before it locked us together,” he explained, searching her face for any sigh of horror, but she looked more intrigued than appalled.
“If I’d given you my knot, my Beast would never have let you go.
It would never accept anyone else. You’d be bound to me in ways I can’t fully explain. ”
“All right,” she said so easily that he lost the ability to speak. “Then don’t hold back this time.”
“You don’t know what you’re asking.”
“Don’t I?” Her grey eyes were fierce. Fearless. “I’m asking you to let go. To stop being what Lasseran made you and start being what you are.”
“And what am I?”
“Mine.”
The word detonated something inside him and shattered the last fragile chains of his self-control.
He kissed her, his mouth hard and demanding, pouring everything he couldn’t say into the connection of their mouths. She met him with equal ferocity, her hands fisting in his shirt, and her body pressing against his.
Yes. Finally. Ours.
He pulled back just far enough to speak. “Once we do this, I can’t go back—”
“Good.” She kissed him again, more softly this time. “I don’t want anyone else. Just you.”
“Thea—”
“Stop thinking. Stop worrying. Just… be with me.”
How could he deny her? How could he deny himself?
He’d spent his entire life following orders. Suppressing desires. Becoming a weapon instead of a person. For once—just this once—he wanted to choose.
And he chose her.
He kissed her with all the hunger he’d tried to bury, relishing the small sounds she made when he did something she particularly liked.
He removed her cloak, her shirt. She wasn’t wearing anything beneath it and the cool cave air made her skin pebble.
Made her nipples tighten into hard little peaks.
Beautiful. Perfect.
He traced the line of her collarbone. The curve of her breast. Watched her breath hitch. Watched her eyes darken.
“Khorrek—”
“Shh. Let me.”
Let me learn you. Let me worship you properly.
He laid her back on her cloak and followed her down. Kissed her throat. The hollow between her collarbones. The swell of her breast. She arched into his touch, her fingers tangling in his hair.
He took his time and explored every inch of exposed skin. He found the places that made her gasp. The places that made her moan. He learned her body the way she’d learned his language. With complete focus and the understanding that this knowledge was precious. Essential.
She tugged at his tunic. “Off. I want to feel you.”
He pulled the thick leather over his head and tossed it aside. Her hands immediately found his chest, tracing his muscles. His scars.
“Beautiful,” she whispered.
“I’m covered in scars.”
“I know.” She kissed one. A long ridge across his ribs from a sword wound that had nearly killed him. “Each one is proof you survived. Proof you’re here. Proof you’re mine.”
Hers. Yes. Always hers.
He kissed her again, his mouth more demanding now.
He found the waistband of her trousers and slid them down her legs. And then she was bare beneath him. Completely exposed. Completely vulnerable. Completely trusting.
She reached for his own trousers, fumbling with the laces. He helped, removing the last barrier between them. And then it was simply skin on skin, heat and softness and the overwhelming sensation of rightness.
This. Always this. Forever this.
He settled between her thighs. Felt her open for him. Felt the slick heat of her arousal.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.” No hesitation. No doubt. “I’m sure.”
He entered her slowly, watching her face for any sign of discomfort, but he found only pleasure. Her body rippled around him, hot and tight and absolutely perfect. She wrapped her legs around his waist and pulled him deeper and the world narrowed to just this. Just her. Just them.
He started to move, a slow, deep rhythm that built a fire in his blood. Each thrust sent waves of pleasure through him as she arched against him, her hands moved restlessly over his back, her nails scraping lightly against his skin.
It was too much and not enough. He wanted to go faster. To bury himself so deep inside her they became one being. To claim her so thoroughly no one could ever doubt she belonged to him. But he didn’t want to hurt her. Couldn’t bear the thought of hurting her.
“More,” she demanded. “Don’t hold back. I want all of you.”
Her words shattered his control. His movements grew faster, harder, more urgent.
His cock driving into her as his mouth found hers again in a desperate, devouring kiss that left them both breathless.
She met him thrust for thrust, her hips rising to meet his, her body taking everything he gave her and asking for more.
This fierce, brilliant woman who’d faced down a High King without flinching.
Who’d seen a weapon and chosen to see the man.
His knot began to swell, stretching her further, and she cried out, her body clamping down on him as he drove into her one last time, and came with a hoarse cry, his seed flooding into her and his body shuddering with the force of it, as his knot locked them together.
He felt the mate bond snap into place with a sense of absolute rightness.
She was his. He was hers.
“I felt it,” she gasped, and he raised his head to find her face wet with tears and a radiant smile on her face. “I felt the connection.”
“The mate bond,” he purred. He wasn’t sure if it came from him or his Beast, and he was too filled with satisfaction to care
“And it’s permanent?”
“Yes.”
“Good.” she whispered, then wiggled against him.
“Stay still.”
“I’m trying.” She wiggled again. “But you’re still inside me and it’s… distracting.”
“Distracting how?”
“In a good way. A very, very good way.”
“Then let’s see if we can make it even better.”