"Mine." Hwan groaned, his whole body shuddering as his release pulsed hot and deep inside me, filling me, the warmth flooding my core in pulse after pulse that seemed to go on forever. "My omega. Mine forever."
The knot throbbed inside me, each pulse sending another wave of pleasure through my oversensitized body, keeping me locked in an endless cycle of cresting and falling. I was full — so impossibly full — stretched and claimed and complete. My omega was finally, finally satisfied, the desperate burning need replaced by a warm, floating bliss that made my limbs feel like they were filled with honey.
"The bite." Hwan's voice was rough, barely recognizable, his lips brushing against my ear. "Need to claim you properly. Need to— can I— please?—"
"Yes." I tilted my head without hesitation, baring my neck to him with instinctive submission, my omega purring with anticipation. "Mark me, alpha. Make me yours."
His teeth sank into the curve of my neck — not the primary bonding gland at the back, that was for Jae-won as pack alpha, but a secondary point at the side that flared with sensation. The pain was sharp and bright, his teeth breaking skin, and then pleasure twisted through it, transforming it into something transcendent, something that rewrote my very being.
I felt the bond snap into place — a golden thread connecting us, bright and warm and eternal. His emotions flooded through me: love and relief and fierce possessive joy and overwhelming gratitude. Everything he felt, I felt too. We were connected now in a way that went beyond physical, beyond anything I could have imagined.
Mine,my omega purred, satisfied at last.Bonded. Claimed. Alpha's.
"Now you." Hwan pulled back, his warm brown eyes wet with tears that spilled down his cheeks, his platinum hair plastered to his forehead with sweat. He tilted his head, baring his neck to me with vulnerable trust, exposing his throat in complete submission. "Claim me too, Keira. Make me yours."
I surged up as much as the knot would allow — the movement making us both gasp as it shifted inside me — my teeth finding the curve of his neck, the same spot where he'd bitten me. I bit down hard, tasting copper and salt and skin and something that was purely him. Hwan cried out, his whole body shuddering above me, his knot pulsing inside me as another wave of pleasure crashed through us both. The bond strengthened, doubled, became something unbreakable — a golden rope instead of a thread, binding us together forever. I was his. He was mine. Forever.
When I released his neck, breathing hard, the haze had cleared enough for rational thought to return. His neck bore my mark — already bruising purple around the teeth marks, bloodwelling from the deepest punctures, proof of my claim on him. He was mine now. Really, truly mine.
"Look." Hwan breathed, holding up his left wrist with trembling fingers, his warm brown eyes wide with wonder. The teal flower that had been beautiful but unfinished was now complete — fine lines tracing every petal, every leaf on the delicate branch, details that hadn't been there before. I could see each vein in the petals now, each tiny gradation in the coloring. The bond completing through our bites had finished the soulmate mark too.
"It's done." Hwan whispered, his voice cracking with emotion, staring at his wrist and then back at me. Tears continued to stream down his face, but he was smiling now — that famous sunshine smile, but softer, more real, more vulnerable. "We're bonded. Really bonded."
"Forever." I agreed, reaching up to cup his face with trembling hands, my own tears falling freely. His cheek was warm and damp beneath my palm, rough with the beginning of stubble. The heat had receded to a manageable warmth, giving us this moment of clarity.
"Mine." Hwan pressed his forehead to mine, still locked inside me, his voice rough with emotion. "My omega. My mate."
"Yours." I whispered back, my thumb brushing away his tears. "My alpha."
He pressed a kiss to my lips — soft and sweet despite the intensity of what we'd just shared, tasting of salt and copper and claiming. "Always."
We lay tangled together as the knot slowly released — the pressure gradually decreasing, my body adjusting as he softened inside me. Hwan pressed soft kisses across my face — my forehead, my cheeks, my eyelids, the tip of my nose, the corners of my mouth. Each touch was gentle, reverent, worshipful. Theheat simmered low in my belly, temporarily sated but already beginning to build again.
From somewhere nearby, I heard Tae-min's voice, soft and awed: "Her mark. It's finished." Hwan's eyes moved to my collarbone, tracing the line of flowers from my ear toward my heart, and his breath caught in a sound that was almost a sob.
"Keira." He breathed, his warm brown eyes filling with fresh tears, his fingers hovering over my skin without quite touching. "It's beautiful. You're beautiful."
I couldn't see it, but I knew — the fourth flower on my branch, the golden amber one at my pulse point that represented Hwan, had gained its fine lines. Our bond, written on my skin forever.
"One down." Min-jun's voice came soft from somewhere to my left, warm with emotion, his vanilla scent drifting closer like a comfort. "Four to go."
"Rest while you can." Jae-won's voice, steady and grounding, his cedar-and-thunder scent wrapping around me like a blanket against the cold. "The next wave will hit soon."
As if summoned by his words, I felt the heat stirring again — the need beginning to claw its way back to the surface, embers catching fire once more. Hwan's golden thread pulsed warm and steady in my chest, an anchor against the coming storm, and I held onto it with everything I had.
The first of five.
One down. Four to go.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
KEIRA
The second wave hit harder than the first. I'd barely had time to catch my breath, barely had time to register Hwan's golden thread settling warm and permanent in my chest, before the heat roared back to life with a vengeance. It crashed through me like a wildfire, burning hotter than before, the brief respite making the return of the need even more devastating.
Alpha,my omega screamed, clawing at my insides.More. Need more. Not enough. Need?—
"Jin-ho." The name fell from my lips before I even knew I was speaking, my body reaching for him instinctively. I could smell him — woodsmoke and old books and rain — cutting through the haze like a lifeline. My grey eyes searched the edges of the nest blindly, finding silver-grey hair catching the fairy lights like moonlight on water. "Jin-ho— please?—"
