"Lumi." My name was a groan against my lips. "Tell me if this is too much. Tell me if you want to stop."
"Don't stop." I pulled at his shirt, frustrated by barriers. "Please don't stop."
His shirt was gone in a blur of motion, followed by mine. Layers were shed with a frantic, clawing urgency. When we were finally bare, the air in the tent felt electric, charged by the heat radiating off his skin.
James pulled back, his chest heaving, his eyes tracking over me like he was seeing a miracle. Through our partial bond, I didn't just see his hunger—Itastedit. It was a dark, heavy honey coating my tongue, a thrumming vibration in my marrow that screamedMine.
"You're beautiful," he breathed, his voice a low, gravelly timber that made my core ache.
"You're biased," I whispered, though my heart was hammering against my ribs.
"Completely." He lunged back in, his mouth find the sensitive cord of my neck. He didn't just kiss me; he claimed me. His teeth grazed my collarbone, a playful, predatory nip that sent a jagged bolt of lightning straight to my thighs. "Don't care."
He worked his way down, his tongue trailing fire over the curve of my breast. When his mouth closed over my nipple, I cried out, my fingers tangling in his hair. Through the bond, I felt his sharp spike of triumph. He wasn't just hearing my moan; he was feeling the way my nerves ignited from the inside.
His mouth traced a devastating path lower, over the dip of my ribs to the sensitive skin of my hip. He knelt between my legs, his hands sliding under my thighs to hook them over his broad shoulders. The vulnerability should have been terrifying, but with James, it felt like coming home.
"I've thought about this," he murmured against the soft skin of my inner thigh, his hot breath making me tremble. "Every night since we met. What you'd taste like. What sounds you'd make if I finally had you like this."
He looked up at me, his shifter eyes glowing with an amber intensity. "Let me?"
"Yes," I choked out, my hips arching off the sleeping bag instinctively. "God, James, yes."
When he finally tasted me, I lost the ability to breathe. He was thorough—relentless. His tongue was a warm, firm pressure that knew exactly where I was most sensitive, guided by the feedback loop of the bond. Every flick, every suckle, was amplified a thousand times. I could feel his own arousal mounting, a heavy, pulsing weight in the back of my mind that fed my own.
I was a wire stretched too tight, vibrating with a frequency only he could hear. When the orgasm hit, it wasn't just a physical release. I screamed his name, my fingers digging intohis shoulders as the bond flared white-hot, stitching us together in the dark.
He crawled back up my body, his skin slick with sweat, his muscles roping with the effort of restraint. I could feel him—thick and hard, pressing against my thigh—but he hesitated.
"We don't have to do anything else," he rasped, his eyes searching mine. "Lumi, that was—"
"I want to." I reached up, cupping his face, my thumb tracing the rough stubble of his jaw. "I want you to be my first. I’ve spent my whole life building walls, James. But with you... I don't want them anymore."
The reverence that flooded the bond nearly brought me to tears. He didn't just want me; heworshippedme.
He positioned himself, the blunt head of his length probing my entrance. I gasped at the sheer size of him, my body tightening in anticipation.
"Ready?" he whispered, his voice strained.
"Ready."
He pushed inside slowly. So slowly. Watching my face, checking in with the bond, adjusting based on what he felt from me. There was discomfort—a stretch, a fullness I'd never experienced—but beneath it, something else. Rightness. Connection. The primal satisfaction of being joined with someone who mattered.
"Okay?" He was trembling, his arms locked as he held his weight off me.
"Yes." I wrapped my legs around his waist, pulling him deeper, seeking that friction. "Don't stop. Please, James. Move."
He let out a low, animal growl and began to drive into me.
It was rhythmic, powerful, and utterly consuming. Every thrust sent a shockwave through the bond. I could feel the way my slick heat felt to him—the way I gripped him, the way myinternal muscles pulsed around him. We weren't just two bodies anymore; we were a closed circuit of pleasure.
"Lumi," he groaned, his pace quickening, his teeth baring in a feral grin. "God, you feel... perfect."
The tension built again, sharper this time, coiled in the base of my spine. I gripped his arms, my head falling back as the world narrowed down to the sensation of him filling me, over and over. He dipped his head, capturing my nipple between his teeth, sucking and pulling.
"James—close—I'm—"
"Together," he gritted out, his movements becoming frantic, desperate. He reached between us and his thumb circled my clit. "Feel me, Lumi. Stay with me."
