“Because they weren’t my mate,” he declared, wrapping the words in a claiming snarl. He plowed into me once, hard and rough at the word “mate.” “They weren’tyou, faerie. No one else could take my cock butyou.” He brazenly thrust into me again a single time, pausing with our bodies fused, chilly skin to chilly skin. “And especially notenjoyit.”
Snaking a hand to the back of his neck, I scratched my nails over the ridges of ice that’d replaced his spiky hair. “Fuck me, Frost.”
A rumble vibrated in his chest, pulsing through my back, and he fisted my hair, unleashing a long dark blue tongue that I would beg him to use later—after we were mated and safe and eternally together. He licked my cheek and lapped it over my lips, before giving me a frozen kiss and pushing my head back to the ground.
He wrapped a hand around one of my shoulders, the other snatching my wrist and holding my arm captive behind me. His thrusts became positively animalistic, waves of pleasure twisting through me in so many tantalizing knots I couldn’t see straight, couldn’t think. The climax built like a cracking glacier until it broke away completely, plunging me into frigid waters and sending rapture pulsing through my core. I moaned his name through my release, once for Jack and once for Jakzair.
Jack kept thrusting, his claws pressing to the skin at my breastbone. “I claim you, Sylvaria. You’remine.” At that, he pushed the bulbous end of his cock inside me, stretching and filling my opening. It hurt for only a moment before the dizzying pleasure had me going boneless.
Arching his back, he spilled inside me—a pleasuring river of chilly essence that had my knees shaking, plunging me into another orgasm. Jack didn’t stop there. He kept us connected, his cock pulsing inside me, and an icy hotness sizzled over my skin from where he touched my chest. He leaned over me, his canines grazing my nape before they sank in. It wasn’t so much as a bite, however, as it was him lapping and sucking. Glancing down at my chest, a glowing blue tendril formed, creating an intricate pattern around each breast, up and over my collarbones, and didn’t stop until it reached just below my chin. Below the dip where my collarbones met, an icy patch matching those of Jack’s creature formed in a diamond shape.
Jack’s rough nose nuzzled my hair, and he tapped the patch with his claw. “A piece of my true nature will now always bewith you, Sylvie.” Slowly, he pulled out of me, allowing me to recalibrate myself from the unnerving emptiness it created.
Nibbling my lip, I turned to face him, running my fingers over the glowing patterns on me now, but mostly, the diamond. “This is your mark?”
“Yes.” Cracking his neck, he grunted, the monstrous parts of him gradually morphing back into the snowy blonde fae male I’d met in my bakery.
Snapping my wings, I gasped, panic replacing the contented satiation. “Diedre. Jack, we have to?—”
Jack pulled me against him, sending snow pluming around us. He wrapped one burly, secure arm around my waist and stroked my hair. “It’s alright. We’ve been rushing through everything because we didn’t have a choice. Now?” He kissed the side of my head. “We can slow down. She can’t do a fucking thing to us now. Alright?”
I believed him, and a relieved sigh melted from my lungs. Resting my head on his shoulder, I cooed as he gently began to sway us. The forest was quiet, save for the occasional bird chirping, branches rustling, and the subtleness of snowflakes collecting in the trees. We stood naked in these snowy woods, newly mated, and finally had the chance to simplybe.
With my creaturesettled and my heart now thawing, relaxation came to me in a luxurious, chilly wave, making me boneless. I had ported us deep into the woods behind my castle—what was soon to beourcastle. It could be days before Diedre found us if she bothered to look after the last grain of sand fell. I’d carve that look on her face when she realized she lost, seeing us mated, into my bone marrow. Fuck her. I’ve been a fair and just king toward her, giving her a kingdom, her own lands. She chose to show her appreciation by cursing me, threatening my crown,andmy mate. Winter’s night only knew the punishment I’d bestow on her, but perhaps still being her ruler with a new queen at my side would be punishment enough.
I sculpted the snow into a lounging bank, our naked forms lying nuzzled against it. Sylvie was curled into the crook of my arm, my fingers making lazy circles on her arm. She rested her head on my chest and played with the snowflake pendant hanging from my neck. Snow fell silently around us, but didn’tcollect on us from my magical shield. I dared say it was one of the most memorable moments of my celestial existence—for today.
My mark glowed ever brightly on my faerie’s chest, its glacial hue matching the colored tips of her hair and making her amethyst eyes radiate. Grinning, one canine poking over my bottom lip, I traced my thumb over the icy diamond patch.
“You look far too satisfied with yourself, Jack,” Sylvie mused, her tone calm and sleepy. A smile graced her lips, and she gazed up at me with hooded lids.
“Mm,” I groaned, switching to rubbing her chin. “Can you blame me? I’ve searched for you for so long, Sylvie. To see my mark on my mate. To have you here in my arms, and for you toacceptme? I’m not sure what else could top it.”
Sylvie, still smiling, scraped her nails over my stomach, tracing each curve of my abdominal muscles before trailing to the blonde hair that led to my still hard as packed ice cock. “I can certainly try.”
My heart raced as my mate moved to straddle me, her thighs clutching my hips. She positioned my cock at her entrance, the slick, chilly heat of her driving me mad as she slid down, sheathing me inside her. It was a revelation to feel such warmth, not only comforting but godsdamned euphoric. Sylvie rocked her hips back and forth, her insides clenching my length like a fucking vise. I rested my hands on her waist, kneading her there, trying not to let my head fall back the way it wanted. I didn’t want to miss one damn glimpse of the beauty writhing on top of me.
Those gorgeous winter wings of hers flapped somberly, their sparkle amplified from the falling snowflakes. Sylvie’s lips parted, her hands gripping her hair, and gasps, moans, and whimpers delicately echoed from her throat. When she opened her eyes, a pulsing sky-blue glow replaced the usual violet, mymark radiating so profusely it was almost blinding. I grunted as her thrusts grew more frantic, bringing me ever closer to the edge.
No sooner had Sylvie cried out, exploding through her release, the pulse of it shuddering around my cock, than I tore through my own climax. My back arched from the snow bank, my fingers digging into her hips, my neck and spine tensing. With me still buried inside her, Sylvie leaned forward, her petite fingers tilting my chin upward. Her mouth slightly opened, but instead of kissing me like I thought she would, tendrils of blue, white, and shimmering silver flowed from her lips, traveling into my mouth, down my throat, and settling in my chest.
The inside of my left forearm burned and sizzled before turning icy hot. Sylvie’s wings flared excitedly as if they were in on whatever my mate had just done to me. Grinning, Sylvie’s eyes turning back to their normal purple hue, she lifted my forearm into view. A winged pattern was carved into my flesh, the bulk of the design on the inside of my arm, wrapping around to the outside. It wasn’t created with ink like a tattoo, more like crystals, preserved ice and snow, and bits of Sylvie’s magic.
“Now, you too, are mine, Jakzair,” Sylvie whispered, petting my new marking with pride.
It was exquisite and uniquely hers.
“You know,” I teased, leaning back on the snowbank with my arms propped. “I was already yours; you didn’thaveto take it a step further.”
Sylvie danced her fingers up my abs before wrapping her fist around my snowflake charm and holding the chain taut. “A gal can never be too sure.” The grin plastered on her face, one of a female who was satisfied, joyous, and enamored with her mate, had my chest going tight.
“Now, who looks far too satisfied with themselves?” Smiling, I curled a hand around her neck and gave her a long, luxurious,universe-consuming kiss. Pulling away, I cinched my brow, hesitant to ask what had been itching my curiosity since she brought it up.
Sylvie sat back on her haunches and tilted her head. “Jack? What is it?” She rubbed the pointed tip of one of my ears, and it was such an effortless, intimate touch that it damn near took my breath away.
“You said your people, the faeries, cast you out because they feared your power. What were they if not winter faeries themselves?” My shoulders tensed after asking, awaiting her answer and fearing she’d either close herself off to me or worse, get angry.
Sylvie sighed and resettled herself so she was lying in my arms again, playing with my abs. She had such a fascination for them, and it was hardly the moment to tease her about it, but eventually I would. “I was the only winter faerie in our community. My parents died when I was a baby. To this day, I’m not entirely sure they were even my birth parents, given what I am, but it started out as my special powers being a gift.”
