Seth’s grip tightens, not punishing but claiming. “With me you can,” he says, certain as law. “You trust me, and I’ll show you what you like and what you’ve been missing.”
I nod breathlessly, barely able to think past the way he’s spreading me with each plunge, deepening the pressure inside me, how he’s dragging me closer to the edge and not letting me hide from it. Every time I try to pull away from the intensity, he holds me there, makes me stay with it, makes me take it.
“Shaking already. That’s what I want. You falling apart for me.”
I make a broken sound, my back arching, my whole body trembling as the peak rushes up too fast, too big. The open sky, his strength over me, his hands keeping me exactly where he wants me. It’s overwhelming. It’s perfect.
“I’m close,” I choke out.
“I know. I feel your sweet little pussy squeezing my cock,” he says, calm and brutal, like he owns the moment. “Give it to me. Let me hear it.”
The pressure coils tighter, tighter, until I can’t hold it back. I can’t even form words properly. I just cling to him with every shaking breath.
And then I break.
His name tears out of me, raw and helpless, like it’s the only thing I know, like it’s prayer and surrender all tangled together.
Seth’s mouth curves, satisfied, and his eyes stay locked on mine as if that sound is exactly what he’s been chasing the whole time.
“Yeah,” he murmurs, dark and pleased. “That’s it. That’s what I wanted.” Then his rhythm turns ruthless, clearly chasing his own release.
He gasps aloud, the control in him finally cracking. He buries his face against my neck and curses through his teeth, whole body tightening as he hits the end too, and I feel the change in him instantly. The way he holds himself there. The way he doesn’t pull away.
A sharp, helpless sound slips out of me.
Because I know what that means.
That deep, claiming finish I’ve been bracing for. The pressure of his knot swelling within me, holding him locked inside of me, as he spills his seed into me, more and more. The bond connecting us in the way my body has been waiting for, the final proof that this isn’t just want anymore. We are meant to be together.
Seth’s grip stays tight around me. The cool air brushes my skin, and the world beyond us is nothing but open sky and jagged rock and wind, but inside his arms, it’s strangely quiet. The aftermath is still humming through both of us while we’re locked together.
He lowers his face into my hair, and for a second, I think he’s just catching his breath, that he’ll say something rough or teasing to cut the intensity.
“I love you, June,” he whispers, then lifts his head to stare down at me, releasing my wrists from his grasp.
I go completely still because, my whole life, I’ve dreamed of an Alpha saying that to me.
Seth—saying it as fact, as promise, as something he’s willing to stand up for.
My eyes burn. I swallow, but it doesn’t help. All I can think is how he carried me when I fell apart, how he made space for my fear without letting me ignore it, how he keeps reminding me that I’m his.
I lift my hand to his jaw, thumb brushing along the edge of it, needing to touch him.
“I love you too,” I whisper, and it comes out shaky and honest, the kind of truth you don’t get to take back.
He lifts his head and stares down at me, the wind gently tugging at his hair. “I’m the happiest man in the world,” he says quietly, like he can’t quite believe he’s allowed to say it. His gaze drops to my chest again, then returns to my eyes. “And I’m about to make sure I don’t lose it.”
My breath catches. I nod, then force the words out past the lump in my throat. “I want this.”
Seth’s expression tightens. “Say it again.”
“I want it,” I whisper. “Secure it, Seth.”
He leans in, presses a slow kiss to the top of my breast first, a steadying touch, then he bites me with the final mark, firm and undeniable. I gasp, my body going taut for a heartbeat, and he holds me through it until he lets go and licks the wound and I can breathe again.
Seth lifts his head, eyes locked on mine. “Now you’re mine forever.”
23
