Skender dropped his hands and wrapped his arms around her waist, picking her up and carrying her over to the bedding where she’d laid unconscious for so long that he’d been sure he’d lose her. He eased down to one knee and then the other, never breaking the kiss, and then lowered her onto her back. Skender released her waist so he could brace himself over her with his hands. Only then did he pull his lips from hers. He smiled when she raised her head, attempting to follow his mouth. He took pride in the fact his mate’s skin flushed with want for him. Her chest rose and fell as she tried to catch her breath.I did that.
“Are you sure?” he asked, lowering his head to nuzzle his nose against hers while breathing in her scent. “We can wait if you want to make sure this is really what you want.”
Tenia turned her head, bearing her neck to him.“This is what I want. I want to be yours in every way.”
Skender’s wolf rumbled as he watched his mate submit to them. He felt no hesitation through their bond, and he wasn’t going to disrespect her by questioning her again. Tenia was a grown woman. She knew what it meant to be his mate, and she accepted all that came with it.
He lowered himself until their bodies touched from legs to chest and rested his weight on a forearm so he didn’t crush her smaller form. Then he slipped his other hand under her head and wrapped his fingers around her delicate neck. Skender lifted her slightly so her head dropped even further to the side. He roamed his eyes over the skin that ran from behind her ear, down her neck to her collarbone. His mouth watered, and he felt his teeth sharpen. The wolf rose to the surface, instinct taking over. His lips skimmed down her flesh until her shirt impeded his progress. His beast growled and took the fabric in his mouth. With a quick jerk of his head, Skender tore the shirt from her shoulder, exposing her flesh down her arm and collarbone.
Tenia gasped, but he smelled no fear. “We could have just taken it off,” she said.
“Mine,” he growled, so lost to his wolf that he couldn’t even form a sentence. With nothing between them now, Skender licked her skin, starting at her shoulder, over to her collarbone and then up to the spot on her neck where she’d wear his mark. His heart beat so hard in his chest he could feel his blood pulsing through his veins. With every breath, her body pressed closer to his. The desire that he’d tried so hard to keep trapped burst forth like a broken dam. His lips closed over her flesh, and his teeth pierced her silky skin. Tenia’s blood filled his mouth, and he pulled deeply on the wound. She was a decadent feast to all his senses. Her taste, her scent, her touch, the beauty of not only her body but of her soul. The sounds coming from deep within her encouraged both man and beast to take what belonged to them. Skender only allowed himself two more swallows of the precious liquid and then pulled his teeth from her.
“Don’t stop,” she said, her voice husky as she tried to tug his head back to her neck.
“It is enough,soarele meu.” Skender turned her head so he could see her face. “Look at me, Tenia.” She opened her eyes with languid blinks. “It’s your turn.”
A small smile graced her face. She ran her hands down his neck to his shoulders and tugged at his shirt. “I’m pretty sure we’re both overdressed for this whole mating thing.”
Skender chuckled. He pushed back and braced himself on his knees, then reached over his back, pulling his shirt up and over his head. He turned to toss it to the side and heard Tenia suck in a sharp breath.
“Your markings,” she whispered and sat up, her legs still between his.
“They’re on my back, but they’ve moved up to my neck since meeting you,” he explained. His wolf perked up from the lust filled stupor at the mention of their markings.I want to see her markings, his beast demanded. Skender needed to see his claim on her just as badly as his wolf, but he tried to be a little more tactful about it.
“As my true mate, you will have matching markings on you,” he told her and knew his eyes were glowing as his wolf tried to take over.
Tenia looked down at her still fully clothed body. “I haven’t seen any.”
He chuckled. “Then perhaps you need a second pair of eyes to check you over.” A grin spread across her face, and it sucked the air from his lungs. “By the goddess, you are beautiful.” He leaned forward and gripped the bottom of her shirt. He met her eyes, raising his brow in question.
She nodded. It was all the permission he needed. He peeled the torn shirt from Tenia’s body. His eyes drank her in, but Skender forced himself to be patient. It wasn’t easy. He wanted to rip the rest of the clothes from her body. “No markings here,” he said, his voice gruff with his need to make her his.
Tenia reached behind her back, and Skender held his breath as the straps of her bra loosened and fell down her shoulders. Tenia’s eyes didn’t leave his as she took the garment off and tossed it aside. He was frozen, unable to move for fear that if he did, he’d wake up from a dream.
“I think your neck is going to need to be a little closer to my mouth.” She held out her hand to him.
Skender moved without thought, his body covering hers, skin against skin, warmth mingling as he wrapped himself around her. With his hand behind her head, he guided her mouth downward. “Don’t think,” he rumbled. “Just bite. Hard.”
Her lips placed a gentle kiss, and then he felt her teeth. Tenia didn’t hesitate; she did exactly as he told her. She bit him so hard he grunted at the pain. But as quickly as the pain came, it was gone. In its place was a pleasure he hadn’t known could exist.
He rolled onto his back, taking her with him so that she laid on him. His hands roamed, petting, tugging at clothes, memorizing his mate. Skender paid attention to every sound she made when he touched her, noting particularly sensitive areas and filing that information away for later. “Enough, love.” He breathed and pushed her gently from his neck. When she finally pulled back enough that he could see her face, she looked euphoric, lost in a high that he now completely understood.
Skender finished undressing both of them, his lips trailing over every piece of flesh as it was exposed. When he pulled off her pants and she shifted her hips, he finally saw his markings on her skin. In the blink of an eye, he flipped her over, placing Tenia on her stomach. His left hand ran up the back of her left leg, starting at the bend of her knee and moving up her thigh. She sucked in a breath as he continued caressing her buttocks and on until he reached her waist where the mark ended.
“Skender?” she asked, sounding breathless.
“They’re beautiful.” He let his fingers trace the markings again. “My mate, my love.” He leaned forward and pressed his lips to the top of the mark on her waist and then began trailing them down her flesh.
“Skender,” she said again, her voice higher and louder.
“Hush,” he commanded gently. “Let me love you,” he said before going quiet and taking control of her body. She submitted to him, moving with him and whispering encouragement when he pleased her. Skender let himself soak her in. He grew drunk on her as they made love and knew that he could never walk away from her, no matter if he wasn’t worthy of her. The bond snapped into place, tight and strong as their bodies became one. “Mine,” he whispered again before sinking his teeth into her once more.
Pressing his head closer to her and holding tight as if she’d never let him go, she agreed, “Always.”
ChapterTwelve
“Sometimes I think we make things so complicated when they should be simple. Over the course of my existence, it has become pretty obvious that the answer to any problem is love. That’s what it always comes back to. Who do you love more? Yourself or someone else? What do you love more? Things or people? What are you willing to do for love? I didn’t say that following through is easy. Just that the answer is always right there in front of us.” ~Nick
