Suddenly he was standing, lifting me while keeping our bodies pressed together, his arms flexing under my thighs. My legs locked around his waist, ankles crossing at the small of his back, heels digging into his ass to hold on. I clung to him, my arms wrapped around his shoulders, nails scratching down his back muscles, leaving red trails on his skin. My mouth still fused to his, tongues tangling sloppy and urgent, teeth nipping at his lower lip until I tasted a faint copper tang. He walked us through the living room, his bare feet padding over the rug, nearly tripping over the coffee table. His shin bumped it with a thud that rattled the remotes, but he didn’t stop, just growled low in his throat and adjusted.
And then we were at the stairs. He took them two at a time, hips bucking up with each step to keep his cock rubbing against my folds, the motion making me gasp into his mouth. Somehow managing not to drop me, his mouth never left mine, sucking on my bottom lip, then biting down just hard enough to make me yelp.
It was hot. Incredibly, ridiculously hot, the way he manhandled me like I was his to take anywhere, anytime.
We reached the top of the stairs and he turned toward the bedroom, kicking the door open with his heel, the wood banging against the wall. He then kicked it closed behind us, the slam echoing through the room like a gunshot. My back was against the door, the wood cool and smooth against my heated skin, a stark contrast to the fire building inside me. The impact jarred a moan from my throat, my pussy clenching emptily at the roughness.
I linked my arms tighter around his shoulders, one hand yanking at his hair, twisting the strands until he hissed, the otherclutching the hard muscle of his back, feeling it shift under my palm as he pressed forward. He pinned me there with his body, chest to chest, hips grinding in slow circles now, his cock grinding against my center. The head nudged my clit repeatedly, slick with our combined fluids, while the shaft dragged through my slit, parting my lips wide.
“You’re doing so good, baby,” he groaned against my neck, hot breath fanning my skin as his lips latched on, sucking a mark just below my ear. “So fucking good.”
I whimpered and rocked my hips up, chasing more friction, trying to angle so his cockhead would catch inside me, but he held me firm, teasing. My clit throbbed under the pressure, swollen and aching, every grind sending sparks up my spine.
“I love you so fucking much,” he continued, his teeth grazing my collarbone, nipping the skin before soothing with his tongue. “You’re a goddess, Lina. You’re driving me insane.”
Every word sent sparks through my chest, mixing with the heat pooling low in my belly.Yes, yes, yes, my body seemed to say. This is what we were missing. This is what we needed. What kept us linked to this world, what stopped us from disappearing into the void. This connection to this person right here.
He had saved me. I didn’t remember how, didn’t remember the details, but I knew it in my bones. This man had pulled me back from the darkness. Had waited for me. Had loved me even when I couldn’t love him back.
And now I could feel him. Not just his body against mine, but his pleasure echoing in my chest, a warmth that spread through myveins. His love wrapped around me, his devotion, his desperate need. It was overwhelming. Beautiful and terrifying.
I broke the kiss, gasping for air. “Knox.”
“Yeah, baby?”
“I feel you.” I pressed my hand to my chest, right over my heart. “Inside. I can feel what you’re feeling.”
His eyes softened, even as his hips continued their relentless grinding. “Yes, baby. It’s the mate bond.”
He ducked his head and pressed his lips to my neck, kissing along the column of my throat. Then he found a spot, right where my neck met my shoulder, and my entire body jolted.
“Oh my god,” I cried out. “That’s... that spot, gods...”
Knox chuckled against my skin, the vibration sending shivers down my spine. “This is where I first bit you. When I claimed you as mine.”
And then he bit me.
His teeth sank into that tender spot, not hard enough to break skin but hard enough to send a shockwave of pleasure through my entire body. I screamed, my back arching off the door, my pussy clenching around nothing as an orgasm slammed into me out of nowhere.
I came so hard I saw stars. My body shook and trembled, my pussy dripping down onto his skin, my moans filling the room. He held me through it, his mouth still on my neck, his armskeeping me pinned against the door while pleasure crashed through me in endless waves.
And then the memories came.
Fragments. Pieces. A young girl running through a bookstore, her parents laughing behind her. A woman with gray hair and kind eyes, teaching her to bake. Two small faces, wrinkled and pink, placed in her arms for the first time. A beast with red eyes, crashing through a shop window. Another beast, larger, darker, standing between her and danger.
Knox. His name was Knox.
A car ride, accusing a man with green eyes of kidnapping. Small voices telling her not to leave. Noah’s house. A wedding dress. A kiss at an altar.
The twins blowing out candles on a cake. Knox reading them a bedtime story, doing ridiculous voices that made them giggle. Laughter. So much laughter and happiness.
The memories flooded back, not all of them, not even most of them, but enough. Enough to know who she was. Who he was. What they had built together.
Tears streamed down my face as the orgasm faded, leaving me shaking and overwhelmed in Knox’s arms.
“Knox,” I whispered. “Knox, I remember.”
He pulled back, his eyes searching my face. “What?”
