“You are still dressed,” she said, the sultry throatiness of her voice as exciting as a caress. She smiled and reached for his belt. “Let me help you.”
Layer by layer, they tore off his coat, kilt, trews, and tunic until he stood before her as bare as the day he was born. When the tip of her tongue raced across the fullness of her lips, he groaned and pulled her against him, hissing as their flesh finally touched, nothing but skin to skin.
“Take me,” she said, with breathless urgency. “Take me now.”
“But—” He didn’t want her to think him a rutting beast. He wanted to worship her and make her know how he adored her beyond all reasoning, and there was her injury to consider. “Yer bruised arse, m’lady.”
“Let me worry about my arse. I need you with an unexplainable—unbelievable—ache. Please—we can go slow next time.” She wrapped her fingers around his length and stroked. “Please—now.”
He’d heard of the excruciating need in a fated mates’ first burn but had passed it off as exaggeration until now. This was no exaggeration. If he didn’t bury himself inside her, he would die. He tossed her onto the bed and plunged into her. “Sons a bitches!” ’Twas like being immersed in fire.
“Yes!” She arched and met his every thrust, raking her nails down his back to urge him faster. Squeezing his buttocks, she pulled him in while calling out, “Harder!”
And so he did, pounding with a fury. The inexplicable sensations made him growl. For every sound, every delighted moan Emily released, he roared and drummed into her even faster.
When she dug her nails in and screamed, her ecstasy shot through him like powerful lightning, driving him to the precipice of his own release. He buried himself completely and stayed, pouring into her, reuniting their souls, and melding their bond for the remainder of this lifetime.
After a series of violent shudders, he collapsed, bracing himself on his forearms, as he pressed his forehead to hers, and whispered,
“Heart of my heart,
Soul of my soul,
We reunite,
To never let go.
Blood of my blood,
Bone of my bone,
We two are now one,
Our halves are now whole.
For the good of all,
With harm to none,
So let it be spoken,
So let it be done,
So mote it be.”
She laced her fingers in his hair and whispered back, “I love you. So mote it be.”
The fire in the hearth roared with fury, crackling and popping as if doused with a bucket of pitch.
Gryffe smiled down at her. “Thank the goddesses, the fire stayed in the hearth.”
Her mouth fell open, and she stared at him as if she had never seen him before. Then ever so gently, she touched his lips.
“What, my own? What is it?” He lifted himself a bit, in case he was crushing her.
Tears welled in her eyes and overflowed. “You smiled.”
Idly stroking her cheek with his thumb, he almost laughed. “I suppose I did. Is that so shocking?”
