“Mornin’, big bad wolf.” He huffed out a small laugh when I spanked his bare ass. “What’s the plan for today?”
I mouthed his jaw and ran my thumb over the faint teeth marks I’d left on his neck last night, already blooming a deep purple, to claim my ownership over him. Whenever a bruise began to disappear, I’d do it again, and Mark preened every time I bit into his skin, like the perfect mate he was. Mine. Even though he said he didn’t want to be owned, he didn’t mind me leaving that mark on him.
“We have to pick the girls up at two. Liv’s got another date with the principal.”
Mark laughed when I nipped at his chin and swatted me. “That seems to be going well. They started dating before us. Have they put a name on it yet?”
I shrugged. “She said they can’t, not yet, because he’s the kids’ principal.”
“So she’s going to wait until they’re in middle school? No, that doesn’t seem fair.” His brows furrowed and he got that look on his face, the one that said he was going to have a serious conversation with Liv when they met for coffee. They had all kinds of talks when I wasn’t around, and they were more than friends; they were best friends, as far as I was concerned. She listened to him more than me. I was surprised she hadn’t mentioned the principal to Mark, or maybe she had, and he wanted me to feel important. He hated when I felt left out, which was cute but unnecessary. I liked that my partner and the mother of my children got along so well.
“Liv will do what she feels like she needs to do. You know what she’s like.” I snuggled in closer and captured his mouth again, and he moaned, leaning into me and deepening the kiss.
“I love you,” he said, with a sigh of pleasure.
“I love you, too.” Bopping his head, I grinned. “Which reminds me, I have something for you.”
“What is it?” He bounced into a seated position, and I laughed as I rolled out of bed, unfazed by my naked state as I walked into my den. With the girls not here, we’d left the door open after we’d played last night. I went left to the toy side of the room and grabbed the collar that had been hanging there waiting for the right person—and now he was here. When I walked back into the bedroom, his eyes widened, narrowing in on the delicate black leather collar. “Is that a….?” He frowned seriously at me. “Is that for me?”
“No, it’s for my other mate.” I grinned at him when he glared and joined him on his side of the bed. Sitting down beside him, I unbuckled the collar and held it up. “This is my mating collar. I bought it for when I finally found a mate, someone I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. I never found someone I wanted to give this to, not until you came along.”
“Oh.” His cheeks flushed red, and he smiled gently, then frowned again. “You want me to wear acollar, though? Isn’t that like owning me?”
“I won’t force you to take it. I’ll never force you to do anything you don’t want to do.” I pressed my forehead against his and kissed his mouth again. “But I would like it if you did. It’s not about ownership. It’s no different to me than a bracelet or a ring. It’s my commitment to you.”
His eyes widened and his shoulders relaxed, the redness in his cheeks growing deeper. There was a softness to his face, though, like he couldn’t decide if he wanted to kiss me again or coo at me.
“Would you wear my collar, little rabbit?”
He nodded and stretched out toward me. I placed the collar around his throat and buckled it up, not tightly enough that it would hurt, but so it stuck close to the base of his neck.
“You are mine now,” I growled out, and the smile he gave me took my breath away.
“I already was.”
Need pounded through me and went straight to my cock, filling my already half-hard meat with more blood and making it rise. Heat licked at my stomach, swirling like lava in a pit, and a desire to chase, catch, and fuck churned there with it.
I smirked with feral intention, and Mark’s eyes widened. “Run,” I whispered.
He acted on impulse, kicking off the blankets and rolling off my side of the bed, tumbling to the floor when he got caught in the sheets. I moved slowly across the mattress, and when he got back to his feet, he took off out of the bedroom. Following at a leisurely stalking pace, I walked out the door and down the hallway, tapping on the walls as I went.
“Little rabbit. Where have you gone?”
The sound of pounding on the wooden steps made me grin wickedly, and I picked up my speed, racing down the stairs after him. I caught him halfway to the kitchen, searching for a hiding space, and grabbed him around the waist, hauling him against me. My collar was dark against his pale neck, but it suited him.
He squealed and kicked, but I held on tightly, dragging him to the family room. No matter how hard he fought, he couldn’t win against me, but that didn’t stop him from trying. That’s what I fucking loved about Mark. He continued to fight, even after we’d settled down. No other man could give me that dedication.
I threw him over the back of the couch, and he groaned, wriggling, so I smacked him on his cute ass. The contact made him freeze as a blush bloomed on his pale skin in the shape of my palm. “Stay there, little rabbit, while I get the lube.” I leaned forward to whisper hungrily in his ear, “Don’t move or Iwon’teat you all up.”
He whimpered, and I smirked to myself as I stalked back up the stairs and to our bedroom. I grabbed the lube, and by the time I was downstairs again, he hadn’t moved an inch, perfectly arched over the back of the couch, his marked bare ass teasing me, and his hole peeking out between his rounded cheeks.
There was no way I could take this slow, not when my cock was hard as nails and throbbing to get inside his heat. I grabbed his hip and dragged him back slightly so he was at a better angle before I squeezed some lube on my fingers. I didn’t take long to prep him, using only two fingers, but I listened to every whine and whimper that left his pretty mouth. There was nothing better to hear than the noises he made.
“Please.”
“Please what, little rabbit?” I pressed my chest to his back and kissed the bruise on his neck, dark and vivid andmine. “Tell your big bad wolf what you want.”
“You,” he moaned. “I want you. Please. I fucking love you.”
