“Not yet.” He lowered his head and scraped his teeth across her mating mark before moving lower and drawing one taut peak into his mouth. The wet heat of his mouth, the rough texture of his tongue against her sensitive flesh, made her buck against him. He took his time, building the need higher and higher until she was grinding herself against him, desperate for more.
“Adrian, please.”
“Not yet, my impatient little mate.” He shifted until the head of his cock nudged at her entrance. “There’s something I want to try.”
Her breath hitched. “What?”
He didn’t answer. Instead, he guided her down onto him in one slow, inexorable thrust. She cried out as he filled her, stretching her to her limit in the way she’d begun to crave. For a long moment, he held her there, seated to the hilt, letting her adjust to the fullness.
“Ride me, kitten,” he commanded softly.
She took a deep breath, letting her body relax, then slowly raised herself up before sinking back down. The friction, thesensation of him moving inside her, was exquisite. She set a slow, deliberate rhythm, her hands braced on his shoulders, her head thrown back. Her hair, loose from its customary ponytail, tumbled down her back, and the cool mountain air brushed against her heated skin as she moved.
He watched her, his golden eyes hot and intense, and the look on his face sent a fresh wave of heat through her. This powerful, dominant male, her Alpha, was letting her set the pace. Letting her take control. The trust in that gesture was more arousing than any touch.
She increased her speed, her body moving in an urgent rhythm, her breath catching in ragged gasps. His hands gripped her hips, guiding her, encouraging her, his own body tensing with each downward stroke. His knot began to swell at the base of his cock, stretching her further, and she moaned, pushing down harder, taking him deeper. She was close, so close, hovering on the edge of that blinding, shattering release.
“Look at me,” he growled.
Her eyes fluttered open to meet his blazing gaze. In that moment, she was completely exposed, completely vulnerable, completely his.
“Come for me, kitten.”
The command, combined with a particularly well-angled thrust that sent a jolt of pure electricity through her, sent her tumbling over the edge. She came with a sharp cry, her body convulsing around him, her muscles clenching him in a frantic, desperate rhythm. The intensity of her climax triggered his own. He surged up to meet her, burying himself to the hilt, and a hoarse cryerupted from his throat as he poured himself into her, his knot pulsing as it locked them together.
She collapsed against his chest, her body limp and boneless. He wrapped his arms around her, holding her close, and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. She was still impaled on him, her body stretched to accommodate his knot, and she could feel every pulse, every throb of him inside her. The possessive intimacy of it made her feel cherished and claimed and completely, irrevocably his.
They clung together for a long moment, their bodies still joined, their breath still ragged. She could feel the deep, steady beat of his heart against her ear, a comforting rhythm that anchored her to the world. The bonfire’s distant celebration had faded to a low murmur, the sounds of the pack absorbed by the vast, silent mountains.
“I love you,” she whispered, the words muffled against his chest.
His arms tightened around her. “I love you too, kitten. More than you know.”
She burrowed closer, content to stay locked in this embrace forever. Tomorrow, there would be work to do—rebuilding trust, integrating new systems, forging a future for a pack that was learning to change.
But that was tomorrow.
Tonight, she had everything she needed.
A place to belong.
Someone who loved her.
And a home, at last.
Epilogue
Three months later…
“For the love of—will someone get me an update? Now!”
Derek’s roar echoed through the hospital hallway, making two nurses scatter like startled rabbits. Adrian watched his older brother pace the length of the private birthing suite’s waiting area for what had to be the hundredth time in the last three hours, and felt something he rarely experienced towards Derek.
Sympathy.
“She’s been in labor for six hours,” Derek snarled, raking both hands through his disheveled hair. The billionaire CEO of TalkToMe looked nothing like himself—his shirt untucked, his sleeves rolled haphazardly, his tie abandoned somewhere around hour two. His brother had started off in the birthing room, but after almost attacking anyone who came near Julie, he’d been banished. “Why won’t anyone tell me anything?”
“Because you’ve threatened to fire the entire medical staff twice,” he said dryly. “Possibly three times. I lost count.”
