As our tongues danced, I slipped my hand between us and took his cock in my hand. He was already hard, and he sucked in a breath as I began to stroke him. I could feel his pulse as my fingers glided up and down his shaft.
Nico caressed my breasts. They were fuller than they’d been a few weeks agoandmore sensitive. I moaned into his mouth as his thumb slid across my nipple. We stood like that, kissing and exploring each other’s bodies.
Right when I thought I couldn’t hold off any longer, Nico wrenched his lips from mine and gently lowered me to the bed. My back pressed against the soft blankets, and I stretched languorously as he nestled himself between my legs. He trailed kisses up and down my inner thigh, each pass getting closer to my pussy. I was drenched, desperate to have him inside me, but I wanted this to go on forever. I didn’t want it to end.
My back arched slightly as he slid his tongue between my legs, sweeping up across my asshole, then thrusting deep into my pussy, and finally flicking across my clit. Fireworks went off inside my head as he continued the torturous path. His hands found their way up my stomach until they palmed my breast, massaging them as he devoured me. Raising my hips to meet his mouth, I put my hands on his, loving the way his fingers glided across my skin.
When I couldn’t take it anymore, I pulled away and tugged at his hands, gesturing him to come up.
“I want you inside me, Nico,” I whispered.
He smirked as he crawled up the bed, pressing his lips to my stomach, my sternum, and finally, my breasts. His tongue circled my left nipple before he pulled it into his mouth at the same moment as he slid the full length of his cock inside me. I opened my mouth and breathed out a sigh of pleasure as he filled me. It was like I was complete. When he started to move against me, grinding himself inside my pussy, I lost all awareness. The only thing that mattered was Nico, me, and how we made each other feel.
I wrapped my arms around him, moaning with every thrust and tilt of his hips. His lips left my breasts and drifted up, kissingmy chest and neck before his mouth found mine again. I twined my fingers through his hair as he kissed me and fucked me. If I had died right then, those few moments would have been what I experienced for the rest of eternity.
His breathing grew faster, his hips gyrating as his thrust became more intense. It made my head spin, and my own climax began to build. An exquisite pressure started building in my pelvis, and electric tingles crackled through my mind. I was getting close, pleasurable spasms shooting through me.
I pulled my lips away. “Faster, Nico. Faster. Make me come.” My voice was barely more than gasping breaths.
Taking my words to heart, he crashed his hips into me. Explosions of ecstasy started to shake me to my core. Even when I’d been in heat, it had been nothing like this. It kept building bigger and bigger inside me. There was fear as well as excitement as I was desperate for the release.
“I love you, Maddy,” Nico groaned softly into my ear.
I dug my nails into his back, feeling myself about to slip past the point of no return. “I love you, Nico. I love you so much.”
Nico stiffened, and his hips moved spastically against me as he came. He called out an inarticulate moan of pleasure. Hearing him come was all it took for me to crash down into rapture. Everything muscle and nerve I possessed clenched and unclenched as wave upon wave of ecstasy rocked me. I cried out his name, then screamed as it kept going. For a moment, I thought I might black out from the unending pleasure.
Finally, sticky with sweat and gasping, we collapsed together. I didn’t even realize it when we fell asleep in each other’s arms. I drifted in and out of sleep all night. Even then, it was one of the most restful and rejuvenating nights of my life.
When I woke the next day, I could sense the shift in the air. Even inside our bedroom, locked away from the outside world, I could smell the reek of testosterone and adrenaline. The rest ofthe pack was awake, and they all knew what was coming. Anxiety and fear were laced through the other scents.
Nico kissed me before he got out of bed and dressed to go check on all the final preparations. After he left, I pulled on my robe and collapsed back into bed. Part of me wanted to do what Nico was doing—go out and check on everyone. I was the alpha’s mate, so it was probably expected, but the bigger part of me wanted to stay here, insulated from the impending horror.
Ten minutes later, there was a knock at my bedroom door. Frowning, I said, “Come in.”
Sinthy slipped in, glancing guiltily at me. “Sorry. I hope you weren’t still asleep.”
I sat up in bed. “Really? I’m surprised I was able to sleep at all last night. What’s up?”
From behind her back, she pulled a familiar object. The dark wooden box that contained the vial. She stepped forward and held it out to me, staring deeply into my eyes. With a bit of hesitancy, I reached forward and took it. I didn’t think I could have given anything more reverence.
“You’ll know when the time is right,” Sinthy said. “You’ll know what you need to do.”
The box seemed heavier than it should have. Like it held the weight of the world within its six sides. That was probably appropriate since, for us, it basically did hold our whole world. Our final, last, and best weapon.
I tucked the box under the bed, wishing I could carry it with me the entire day, but that wasn’t practical.
“When you’re ready, come downstairs. I have something I want to show you,” Sinthy said as she left.
Even though it was something I never thought I’d have to think about, I chose an outfit I thought would work well for both fighting and running. The butterflies in my stomach were going crazy, and I wondered how I’d ever get through the day if I wasalready this stressed out. Once I pulled my sneakers on, I went downstairs. At the base of the stairs, I noticed what Sinthy had for me. She stood next to a very worried Maxwell.
“Maddy, I’ll be out with the others during the battle,” Sinthy said.
“Right.” I nodded. “I wouldn’t want you anywhere else.”
Sinthy gestured to Maxwell. “While I’m out there, Max here is going to act as your bodyguard.”
I raised my eyebrows and smiled at him, delighted when he blushed in response. “Really?”
