“I don’t want you to let me go.” Her eyes are shining with excitement and curiosity, not fear, as she pushes up onto her elbows, her voice steadying despite the flush still staining her chest. “I want to be yours.”
It’s everything my bear wants to hear, yet it’s bittersweet because I know she doesn’t fully understand.
“You don’t know what you’re saying.” I unbuckle my belt, slide it free, and let it drop to the floor. “You don’t know what I am.”
She watches me unbutton my trousers, her eyes tracking every movement. When I pause, fighting a battle between my desire to claim what’s mine, the woman who’s stolen my heart, and doing the right thing, she regards me with mild amusement.
“Are you a vampire?”
The question startles a laugh out of me. Of all the things I expected her to say, that wasn’t it. Why isn’t she afraid?
Emma blushes, and I lean down to press a kiss to her knee, reassuring her that I’m not mocking her. Her scent blooms and my worries ease. She’s not scared because this is what’s meant to happen. We’re supposed to be together. Her body recognises me even if there are some details I need to fill in later.
“No, my love. Not a vampire.” I straighten and push my trousers down, kicking them aside. Her eyes go wide as she takes in the full sight of me, and I let her look. “I’m something better.”
“But you’re not... normal.” Her gaze travels up my body slowly, over the thick muscles of my thighs to the heavy length of my cock and the ridged planes of my stomach. “The strength. The growling. Your eyes.” She meets my gaze. “I’ve seen them change.”
“You’re not afraid?” I kneel on the bed, crawling over her, caging her beneath me.
“No.” She reaches up, her fingers tracing along my jaw and down my neck, across my shoulder. “Whatever you are, I want it. I want you.”
My other half. My destiny. Accepting me, wanting me, without even knowing the full truth.
“No one else will ever touch you.” I lower myself until our bodies are aligned, until I can feel the heat of her against my cock. “No one else will ever have you. Just me.”
“Yes.” She’s nodding, her legs falling open wider, welcoming me. “Just you.”
I reach between us, positioning myself at her entrance, and pause. She’s slick and ready, but she’s also never done this before. I need to be careful. Need to go slowly.
“Tell me if I hurt you.”
“I will.”
“Promise me, Emma.”
“I promise.” Her hands slide up my arms, gripping my biceps. “Please, Bodhi. I need you inside me.”
I push forward. Just the tip, letting her stretch around me, and her breath hisses out between her teeth.
“Okay?”
She nods, her fingers digging into my arms. “More.”
Another inch. Another. I watch her face, cataloguing every flicker, every hitch of breath. When I meet resistance, I pause.
“This might hurt.”
“I know.” She pulls me down, pressing her forehead to mine. “I want it to be you.”
I push through in one slow stroke, seating myself fully inside her. She cries out, her nails biting into my shoulders, and I hold perfectly still, every muscle trembling with the effort of restraint.
“Emma.” Her name comes out strangled. “Are you alright?”
“Don’t stop.” Her voice is fierce despite the tears glittering at the corners of her eyes. “Whatever you do, don’t stop.”
I drop my head to her shoulder, breathing hard, giving her time to adjust. She’s so tight. So hot. Gripping me as if she was made for me and me alone.
Because she was. My mate. Mine.
