Chapter 48 #2
He crashed his mouth into hers. This kiss was different. Urgent. Possessive. He bit at her lips, growling against them.
“MINE.” The word vibrated through her chest.
His palm skimmed down her body, tracing the dip of her waist, the flare of her hip, before sliding inward. He cupped her through the thin fabric of her underwear, and the pressure of his hand against her heat made her hips snap upward.
He groaned. “Mmmm … we’ll get to that part.
” His low voice sent chills through her body.
The pain was gone. Pain? She’d been in pain?
She couldn’t feel anything but the intense need and desire to be one with her mate.
It was consuming her. She wasn’t even sure she could focus on anything else but the need growing inside her.
The heat was demanding their connection.
Her body was insistent on being mated. She was feeling sensations she never knew existed and she wanted more of him.
She arched her neck to the side, desperately begging for him to mark her.
Her body was reacting on instinct and desire.
When his hot breath beat upon her skin, she shuddered in anticipation.
Then she felt his hot tongue slide up her neck, making her moan from the sensation.
She arched into him with a soft, needy whimper, chasing the lost contact.
He laughed against her skin, the vibration making her shiver as his fingers traveled up her spine to the clasp of her bra.
One quick flick and the tension released.
He dragged the straps down her arms, pulling it free, letting it fall.
He lowered his head and took one peaked nipple into his mouth.
His tongue was impossibly hot—vampire hot, furnace hot—circling the sensitive bud before he sucked hard enough to make her cry out.
Her fingers flew to his hair, tangling in the dark strands.
His other hand found her opposite breast, kneading, rolling her nipple between his thumb and forefinger until her spine bowed off the bed.
Her hips ground against him involuntarily, seeking friction, and the strangled groan he released against her skin told her he felt it.
Felt what she was doing to him. The hard evidence of his arousal pressed against her thigh, and the knowledge that he wanted her this badly only made the heat burn hotter.
He kissed a trail of fire from her breast to her neck, teeth grazing her pulse point, tongue soothing the scrape.
“Mine!” he growled into the hollow of her throat.
She felt a stabbing sensation at her neck, followed by sweet, warm pleasure.
At the same time, the green energy inside her disappeared as Derrick’s energy flowed through her, his venom entangling with her blood, solidifying part of their connection.
She felt him. Not just his body pressed against hers, but him—his longing, his reverence, the fierce protectiveness that burned at his center.
“Derrick,” she moaned out, her breath ragged.
The sound of his name in her voice—wrecked, wanting—sent a visible shudder through him.
He felt her body arch upward, pressing every inch of bare skin against his, silently urging him forward.
He withdrew his fangs slowly, deliberately, and the sensation of them sliding free drew another trembling moan from her.
He ran his tongue over the puncture marks in a slow, reverent stroke, savoring the taste of her blood on his lips.
Sweet. Intoxicating. Uniquely, irrevocably his.
He could feel their blood mixing within him, her warmth weaving into his, creating something entirely new.
He teased the mark with the tip of his tongue, featherlight, until she squirmed beneath him. Then he pulled back to admire it. Two small punctures, already flushing with the beginning of a scar that would never fade. His mark. His claim. She was his companion, his love, for eternity.
“My Lucie” He pressed his lips to hers, soft as a whisper. “My sweet …” Another kiss, at the corner of her mouth. “Adorable … little mate.” Another, at her eyelid.
She pulled him back down, and this time, she kissed him.
His hand raced down her side, hooking into the waistband of her underwear and pulling them down her legs in one fluid motion. She kicked free of the fabric, and he sat back just long enough to strip himself bare.
Her eyes traveled the length of him. All of him.
Her gaze dropped lower and her breath stuttered. The heat flared so intensely her vision blurred at the edges.
He leaned over her again, bracing himself on one forearm, his free hand cradling her jaw.
“You are gorgeous,” he breathed, his thumb tracing her bottom lip.
“Every inch of you.” His forehead touched hers.
“And you’re all mine.” He kissed her again as he settled between her thighs, and she felt him there—hot, hard, pressed against her slick center.
She rolled her hips upward, coating him in her arousal, and the low, guttural sound he made against her mouth sent a fresh wave of heat flooding through her.
Her fingers laced through his hair. She pulled him closer.
“Derrick …” His name was barely a whisper, but his eyes locked onto hers instantly.
The heat was driving her past the point of rational thought, the craving for her mate so acute it bordered on pain.
She needed him inside her. She needed it like breathing. “Please.”
“Baby … you don’t have to beg me for this … ever.” He looked into her eyes and smiled. “I love you, Lucie.”
“I love you, Derrick.”
He pushed his hips forward and entered her. Slowly. Inch by devastating inch. Her fingers fisted in his hair, her lips parting on a silent gasp as her body stretched to accommodate him. He paused, jaw clenched, every muscle in his arms trembling with restraint.
He was trying to control himself and take things slow, but he wanted to devour her, his urges screaming at him to take his mate.
He wanted them both to enjoy this, and despite the circumstances, he wanted it to be special.
They had both waited for this. He refused to let it be anything less than everything.
She lifted her hips, drawing him deeper, and the groan that ripped from his throat was almost pained.
He began to move. Slow, measured strokes that let her feel every inch of him. She melted into the rhythm, her body opening to him, adjusting, accepting. Her tension unwound with each thrust until her nails were dragging down his back instead of gripping his shoulders.
“More,” she breathed against his neck.
He felt her hot, ragged breath beating against his neck as their rhythm picked up. He growled in pleasure as they continued to meet thrust for thrust.
She wrapped her legs around his waist, changing the angle, and they both groaned at the new depth.
His face dropped into the curve of her neck, his ragged breathing scorching her skin.
Her fingers tugged at his hair, pulling him impossibly closer as their hips met in a rhythm that was rapidly losing its patience.
Her body was reacting on its own with a foreign desire, trying to satisfy an urgency she didn’t understand.
She felt a pleasurable pressure building up inside her, and she began to lose control.
Unknowingly, she extended her canines, and before she realized it, she sank them deep into his marking spot, biting down hard and deep.
A guttural moan tore from his chest as the bond exploded between them.
Their pleasure crashed together, amplified, ricocheting back and forth through the newly forged connection until neither of them could tell where one ended and the other began.
She clung to him as the waves broke over her, her cry muffled against his skin, his arms shaking as he followed her over the edge.
But this wasn’t over for them. Lucie was in heat, and her insatiable hunger for her mate only continued to rage.
She reached for him over and over throughout the rest of the day and into the night, continuing into the next day again.
How many times did they consummate their new relationship?
They lost count. The heat kept the desire flowing, and they continued nonstop until pure exhaustion finally took over their bodies and they both collapsed onto the bed.
Derrick pulled her close, and she snuggled against his chest, falling asleep almost instantly.
He wrapped his arms around her and sweetly kissed the side of her head.
Their connection was forming and changing.
The mark she’d placed on his neck was mixing another energy inside him, and the connection between them was being unlocked.
He could feel how happy and content she was through their bond. He felt the same way.
Everything between them, in this moment, was exactly as it should be.
“I love you … my little mate,” Derrick whispered into her hair. He buried his nose against the crown of her head, breathing her in, letting her scent carry him into the most peaceful sleep he’d ever known.