Frenzied, Viktor released her wrists to position himself and then, with a deep grunt, sheathed himself inside of her.
Camille arched her back, pushing herself against him, taking everything he had to give her. She was hot and slick and so fucking perfect it punched the air right out of his lungs.Like we were built for this,he thought, marveling at the perfect fit and the hot glide.
With his jaws still clamped around her throat, he felt it the moment a purr began to hum its way out of her chest. It was a sound of such perfect contentment that he was momentarily too stunned to move.
This is what she wanted.
The thought was clear, absolutely certain. His mate had been angling for his bite the entire time, and now the dance was done.
He’d won her.
Viktor sucked in a shaky breath through his nose and slowly began to move. Magic pulsed in time with every thrust, tying them together in a way that could never be undone. His bite would leave a scar for all to see, and his magic would live inside of her until the day they passed into the Underworld. In exchange, she now lived in the heart of him — without her, he could not live.
Camille had always been his heart, but now she was his breath, his bread, his water, and his air. She waseverything.
When he’d given her everything he had, Viktor slowly pulled his mouth away from her neck. The taste of her blood — so very different from every other race — lingered on his tongue as he rearranged her under him.
On her back now, with her legs wrapped snugly around his hips, he caged her in with his arms and kissed her hard.
Camille twined her arms around his neck and lifted her hips to match his pace. Her tongue slid sensuously against his in a languid caress. The kiss was deep, their rhythm slow and intense. This moment was about more than sex, more than pleasure, more than the claim they now had over one another.
It was a joining in the truest, most primal sense.
In that perfect moment, he felt their future open up before him, welcoming them with open arms. He felt the joy of waking up beside her every day for the rest of his life. He felt her wildness, freed from the cage of elvish propriety and embraced by his pack. He felt the contentment of a family he did not yet know.
It was an avalanche of emotion, bright and multifaceted, that came and went in a moment.
When the euphoria of the bite finally began to fade, Viktor pulled back from the kiss to press his face into her hair. “I love you,” he rasped, hips moving faster. “I’ve always loved you. I love you so much it hurts, Cam.”
His mate hugged him close, plastering them together until he could feel the beat of her heart against his own. Her breath hitched when she replied, “I love you, Vik. Always have. Always will.”
Tears blurred his vision. He squeezed his eyes shut as pressure began to build, tightening the base of his spine. Determined to wring one more orgasm out of her, he forced himself to slow his pace and reached between them, stroking her as he plunged deep, with enough force to rattle the bed.
When she came, Camille closed her fangs over his shoulder, biting hard, and instantly sent him flying over the edge.
Viktor cupped the top of her head as wave after wave of pleasure rolled through him, emptying him completely. Only when he couldn’t take it anymore did he slow the roll of his hips.
Finally,finallyspent, he stroked her hair until she released her bite.
Pride and satisfaction warmed every dark corner of his mind when he rolled them onto their sides. His healed shoulder ached something fierce and he felt like he’d been hit by a truck, but even so, he’d never felt better than he did at that exact moment.
Camille cuddled close, her eyes closed and her expression blissed out. “You’re mine now,” she whispered. His blood smeared her lips like wine, or perhaps the lipstick of a woman well-kissed.
“I’m yours,” he breathed. His chest felt too tight, too small to contain everything he felt for her. Choked by it all, he hoarsely added, “I am so damn proud to be yours, Cam.”
She rubbed the tip of her nose over the swell of his shoulder, tracing a path to the bloody bite. Kissing the center, she whispered, “Of course you are. I’m aSolbourne.”
Laughter, like all that perfect contentment, bubbled out of him in a rush. “Yeah, you are.”
* * *
They had an escort back to Lake Merced. Two of his senior packmates, both guards, and an armed contingent of Patrol led them back to his —their —territory. No one was taking any chances with their safety now, and Viktor was grateful to have a pack that cared enough to make it a priority.
Although it smarted his pride a little, he was grateful for Theodore’s intervention, too. There was not a chance anyone would get through the battalion of Patrol soldiers he assigned to his cousin. While the coyote might have balked at the implication that he could not care for his mate with his own claws, Viktor knew better.
The coyote could fight tooth and claw, but it could not do anything against a sniper, or a bomb, or nasty spellwork. So even though it didn’t sit well with his pride as an alpha and a mate, he was grateful for the extra protection afforded his elf.
The sun was beginning to set by the time they left the Patrol soldiers at the border. After parking their cars in a discreetly obscured spot behind a wall of trees, Viktor slung her overnight bag over his shoulder and took her hand.
