"So tight," he groaned against her throat."Like you were made for me."
When he began to move, it was with the deliberate control of someone who understood exactly how much power he wielded.Each thrust was calculated to drive her higher, his supernatural stamina allowing him to maintain the perfect rhythm until she was sobbing his name against his shoulder.
"Mine," he growled as her nails raked down his back."Say it."
"Yours," Ali gasped, her magic flaring so bright it illuminated every plane and angle of his face above her."Only yours."
The claiming bite he left on her shoulder was gentle but unmistakable, his scent sinking into her skin until she knew she would carry traces of pine and musk for weeks.When her release finally crashed over her, it triggered his own, and Ali felt the deep satisfaction of a mate bond clicking into place between them.
Hours blurred together - his legendary stamina meeting her supernatural resilience, the way he whispered her name like a prayer against her throat, how she learned to read the subtle signs that meant he was close to losing control entirely.By the time exhaustion finally claimed them both, Ali was thoroughly marked, inside and out, with the scent and touch of her mate.
"The convoy," she said eventually.
"Can wait," Tim replied, his voice rough with satisfaction."They'll understand.Alpha's prerogative."
Ali smiled against his skin."Is that what you are?My alpha?"
"If you'll have me."
She looked up at the vulnerability in his voice.
"Forever, Ali.That's what the mate bond means.No take-backs, no trial periods.You're mine, and I'm yours, until one of us stops breathing."
The CB radio crackled with Luna's voice: "Big Timber, when you're done claiming your mate, we've got a situation.Grizz just set up a roadblock at the county line, and Cottonmouth's coordinating with federal agencies.We need to move."
Reality crashed back over them.Tim reached for the radio, his voice steady despite their circumstances."Copy that, Luna.Give us ten minutes."
Chapter 6
Ali
As they pulled back onto the highway, Ali tried to focus on anything other than the knowing looks from the other convoy members.They'd been driving for an hour, the convoy stretched out behind them in formation, when her phone started buzzing nonstop.
Ali was pretty sure she was going to die from embarrassment.
Not from the claiming—that had been incredible, mind-blowing, everything she'd never known she wanted.No, the embarrassment was coming from the fact that apparently every supernatural within a fifty-mile radius had been able to smell exactly what she and Tim had been doing in the sleeper berth.
