“Oh yeah, just like that.” Stan yanked at my hair, drawing me closer, and I experienced that delicious mingling of pleasure and pain.
“Like this?” I bit his nipple.
“Gods, yes.” He wrapped his legs around me and urged me to fuck him harder.
“Like this?” I plowed into him, following with multiple thrusts. He was so tight, and when he clenched around me, goosebumps raised their spiky heads on my skin.
“Yes!” His shriek bounced off the walls.
I licked around his mouth and nibbled his lower lip while his hand snuck over my chest and tweaked my nipple.
“The way you do that,” I murmured against his lips. “Do you know what you’re doing to me?”
Stan grinned, and there was a wicked glint in his eyes. “I definitely do.” He kissed me and rocked his hips while pressing his legs against me. He took my hand, the good one, and lowered it to his length. He placed his fingers over mine, and we shared a glance.
I raised a brow. “Are you ready for this?”
Stan didn’t reply, or he did but not with words, but with a pump. He gasped, and we tugged his cock in time to me fucking him.
“That right there. That’s doing it.”
Whispers and moans formed a backdrop as our sweat-soaked bodies slapped together, and there were whispers of love. Our movements became more erratic as our orgasms drew near, and Stan’s smoldering eyes narrowed and closed.
“Make me come, love.” He’d put his trust in me and was surrendering himself.
As I plowed into him, his body convulsed and he yelled my name. Cum spurted over us. His cries and spasms sent heatrushing through me, and I unraveled and came. Our bodies trembled, and his heart beat in unison with mine.
We clung to one another as my knot swelled, and I eased myself onto the mattress. Our ragged breathing was the only sound in the room until I asked Stan if he was ready for my mark.
“Do it now. I don’t want to wait a moment longer. I’m yours, Axel.”
8
STAN
Being mated to Ax wasn’t something I’d ever envisioned as a possibility, and now that I wore his mark, I half expected to wake up only to discover it had all been a dream. There was no place I’d rather be than in Axel’s arms—waking in his embrace, falling asleep snuggled beside him, cuddling on the couch with him.
As much as I wanted to spend every waking second with him, I couldn’t. We both had responsibilities, and mine were directly linked to the health and wellbeing of others. And it was time for him to go back to his team so he could get ready to finish out his season.
Before he left, I had him try on all my scrubs. They didn’t come close to fitting him, but they didn’t need to, all they needed was his scent. I wanted to be enveloped by it at all times, even at work.
Saying goodbye to Axel after we were mated was a lot harder than I’d imagined it would be. It was significantly worse than when we said goodbye in college. For some reason, I thoughtthat being bonded would make it easier because it wasn’t “goodbye, goodbye,” it was more of a “See you soon.”
Try telling my fox that. He was already in a pissy mood because we’d spent so many years without our mate, all because I’d been scared. It wasn’t as if he had been doing any pushing. We were both at fault. I wanted to blame it on my youth, but it wasn’t that. Not exclusively.
After the initial joy of discovering that he was mine, mating him, and admitting to all my feelings, I faced the harsh reality that we were the reason it took so long. The two of us. Axel, for not telling me he’d scented me as his because the timing was off which, to be fair, it very much was. And then me, from the very beginning, being too leery to shift in front of him, not communicating the way I needed to, not fully understanding all of the hints fate left for me that only now in hindsight I saw.
They say young love is foolish, and whoever they were, they were right. I was foolish beyond belief, and if it hadn’t been for Axel’s accident, I still wouldn’t have him in my life. I hated that something so horrible was the catalyst for us finally being together.
“It’s time to go,” I said, standing in the doorway of the bedroom we’d been sharing. “Coach said the car will be here in five minutes.”
Axel wheeled his suitcase over to me. “I don’t want to leave.”
“You have to.” I pulled him into my arms and hugged him close. “Your team needs you, and you need them.”
They’d been really good about giving him the time that he required to heal, but once they discovered he was out of the woods, they’d been calling and video-chatting with himfrequently. There was never a night when five or six of his teammates would reach out, but there was always one or two. I half-suspected they had a list to make sure that somebody was in communication with him daily.
Not for the first time, I saw just how much of a pack his team was. Most were human, and there was no hierarchy, political structure, and all of that. But the way they took care of each other, it was very pack-like, and it made it easier for me to say goodbye. Not that it was at all easy.
