“Oh…” Mara breathes, her voice hitching at the end into something like a moan. Her legs, which had been tense around my hips, now come up and wrap hesitantly around my waist, as if instinct drives her to bring me closer. The next time I sink home, I do it with a fraction more force, and she cries out softly, her head tipping back.
I can’t tear my eyes away from her face—the way it shifts from lingering discomfort to tentative pleasure. The worst of the pain is passing; I can tell by how her body starts to move with me instead of against me. Her tight heat envelops me, and I let myself feel the exquisite agony of it for a moment—the ecstasy of being joined with her coupled with the effort of holding back my own climax that already threatens at the base of my spine.
I set a slow, gentle pace, rocking my hips against hers in a steady rhythm. Each thrust draws a new sound from Mara’s lips. The initial pain must be fading into something else because those sounds are growing sweeter, more urgent. Her nails, which had been digging into my shoulder, now slide up into my hair instead, holding me close as I pepper kisses along her jaw.
At one particularly deep stroke, her inner muscles flutter around me and she gasps, “Oh God… right there…”
I smile, feeling a spark of pride that I’ve found a spot she likes. I repeat that angle, rolling my hips just so, and am rewarded by her sudden moan. Her arms cling around my back, legs tightening at my waist.
The sight and feel of her beneath me, opening up and starting to enjoy this, is almost too much. Mara’s eyes, which had drifted closed, snap open to find mine. “Jasper…” she whimpers. “I-I feel…” Her voice cracks, and I understand—it’s building again inside her, the pressure of a second climax. Her nails scrape lightly down my back, not painful, just desperate. “I think I’m going to?—”
I hush her softly with a kiss, releasing her hand so I can snake my arm under her lower back. Changing the angle, I thrust a little harder. My now-free hand slides between us to where we’re joined, and I find her swollen clit once more with my thumb.She’s so slick, it’s easy to rub tight circles there even as I continue moving within her.
That does it. Mara’s entire body goes tense. She breaks the kiss, eyes wide and unseeing as she cries out my name. Her inner walls clamp around me like a vise as she comes for the second time. The cry she gives is louder, freer this time, echoing off the walls of the bedroom in a way that makes me almost feral with satisfaction. She trusted me with her pleasure, and now she’s drowning in it.
The sight of her unraveling—head thrown back, lips parted in ecstasy, breasts flushed and bouncing with each ragged thrust I can’t even stop anymore—pushes me over the edge with her. With a guttural groan, I finally let go of the tight control I’d held. My hips jerk forward one, two more times, burying myself as deep as I can go.
White-hot pleasure explodes at the base of my spine and I shudder violently, spilling into her. I press my forehead to Mara’s as wave after wave of euphoria crashes through me. I’m vaguely aware of my own voice, low and broken, murmuring, “Mine…you’re mine,” as I ride out the peak inside her tight warmth.
I slowly pull out of her, and she winces a little but then lets out a soft breath at the relief of it. I roll to my side, gathering her against me immediately so she doesn’t feel empty and alone. Her head finds my chest, and I wrap an arm around her, holding her close. For a long minute, neither of us speaks. There’s nothing but the sound of her breathing gradually slowing, and the pounding of my heart gradually calming.
Our moment is interrupted by a sudden weight dipping the mattress at the edge. Large hands close around Mara’s ankles and pull. Mara gasps as she’s yanked a few inches down the bed, out of my arms and onto her back again.
Dredyn has climbed onto the bed near her feet, his eyes dark with an intense fire. Behind him, on Mara’s other side, Talon is perched on the edge with that signature smirk of his. My brothers gave me the lead, and now they’re ready for their turn.
THIRTY
DREDYN
Ours.
I think the word tastes like iron and fire. She gave herself to us tonight. She chose to walk through the door and fall into our arms. Jasper took her first, the way we all agreed he would—gentle, careful, like she deserved. He did what he had to. Now the beast in me paces and snaps and I’m done waiting.
I drag her toward me by the ankles, hard enough for a sharp little sound to leave her. She blinks up, stunned, and for a second, heats up and something like fear flashes across her face. Jasper shifts, a warning in his posture, but he’s not moving to stop it. He knows me. He knows I held back. He steps to the side with that quiet watchfulness of his—ready, but not interfering.
Talon’s on the other side already, his grin a jagged thing. Mara’s eyes dart between us. Her lips part, but nothing comes.
Good.
Let her breathe the chaos.
Let it sink in.
I crawl over her and seize her face with both hands. The littlegasp she manages is a sound I own. I shove my mouth on hers because my mouth has been thirsty for things and tonight I’m allowed to drink. She tastes of him and herself and want. It makes me harder than anything.
Her fingers press at my shoulders, unsure if they should shove me off or pull me closer. I bite her lower lip because I want it marked, because I want her to remember the way I break and the way I heal. A thin bead of blood breaks through the skin. I swipe my tongue over the nick and the salt bursts across my tongue. She shudders, throws her head back, and some small, feral thing inside me roars.
“Do you know what you’ve done?” I rasp in her ear. “You came home, crawling to us, Hellcat. What were you thinking?” My hand slides to the hollow of her throat. Her pulse slaps under my palm like a drum.
She answers with a stuttering sound and then she finds her voice. “I belong here,” she whispers, thin, trembling. The words are a brand I stick inside my chest. Good.
“Say it right.” I don’t ask.
She looks at Jasper, at Talon, and back to me, “I’m yours,” she says, stronger this time. The syllables land, and something animalistic and satisfied rips through me.
I trail one hand down to her chest and palm her, rougher than necessary but not careless. She cries out—wishful, needy—and the sound lights a thousand soft things in me. I grab her nipple between my thumb and finger and I bite the corner of my mouth until it hurts. She whimpers and pulls me tighter. I like the way she tries to claim me back with her fingers in my hair.
“Don’t break her,” I tell Talon, voice low and gravelly as I climb off the bed. He smirks, but his hand is careful when he settles beside her. Jasper inclines his head once, the ghost of a nod—understanding passed between us without words.
