The pressure kept building, slow and steady, rolling through him like the building tension before a storm, deep and inevitable.
“Tristan.” It was broken, on a gasp. “I’m close.”
“Let me see.” Tristan kissed his jaw, his throat, his mouth. “Let go for me, Colby.”
And he did—with a shudder and a cry, his whole body bowing up into the pleasure. He came with Tristan’s fingers still deep inside, with Tristan’s voice in his ear and his name on Tristan’s lips.
When it passed, Colby collapsed into the sheets, boneless and gasping. He didn’t realize he was shaking until Tristan gathered him close, murmuring something soft and grounding against his hair.
“I’ve got you,” Tristan whispered again. “Always.”
Colby clung to him, trying to breathe past the knot in his chest. Not from fear. From the overwhelming flood ofthis. This safety. This love. This power that didn’t come from dominating.
After a long moment, he managed to whisper, “Thank you.”
Tristan kissed his temple. “Thankyou.”
Colby let out a deep breath, wrung out in the best way. But as he recovered, awareness crept in. Tristan’s breathing was fast, his cock still hard against Colby’s hip.
Colby lifted his head to look at him. “Wait,” he said. “You haven’t—”
Tristan smiled, brushing damp hair back from Colby’s forehead. “It’s okay,” he murmured. “This wasn’t about me.”
Colby searched his face. “But it is.”
Tristan looked like he didn’t know what to do with that statement.
“I want to,” Colby said, voice quiet but steady. “Let me. I’m okay. And I want to make you feel good.”
Tristan hesitated for a second—just long enough to be sure—but then his smile turned a little wrecked, a little breathless. “You already have.”
“Not like this,” Colby whispered, and kissed Tristan’s neck, finding that spot with his lips and his tongue that never, ever failed to make Tristan squirm helplessly.
Tristan’s cock was hot and silky smooth, and he was making little grunts as he pushed into Colby’s hand. Colby wished, just for an instant, that he could give Tristan more, but then Tristan’s eyes were on his, open and adoring as he looked at Colby, and Colby realized—he was giving Tristan himself. Somehow, for Tristan, that was enough.
It wasn’t about acts or expectations, but about them, together, in an intimacy like nothing he’d ever known. Even before Nico, he’d never known this was possible.
As Tristan arched up and came, with a series of soft, helpless cries, Colby leaned in and kissed him, tender and full of wonder.Mine, he thought. But it wasn’t a claim. It wasn’t Nico’s possessive brand of ownership. It came from his wolf—the part of him he’d missed so badly. The part of him that knew, with quiet certainty, that this was his mate. That this was forever.
They lay together afterward, tangled in rumpled sheets. Tristan hadn’t moved from where he’d curled protectively around Colby, one hand stroking idly along his arm, like he couldn’t stop touching him.
The rush of release had passed, but thefeelinglingered—softer now, and strange in its quietness. Colby felt cracked open. Not in a painful way, but as if light was getting in.
“You okay?” Tristan asked, his voice rough-edged with emotion, but gentle.
Colby nodded, relaxed in Tristan’s arms. “Yeah. Just…” He hesitated. “That was more than I expected.”
Tristan’s hand stilled. “Too much?”
“No. Not that kind of more. Just—” He searched for the right words, then gave a breath of soft laughter. “You keep surprising me. In good ways.”
Tristan’s fingers resumed their path over his skin. “You surprise me too,” he murmured. “What yougive. You’re incredible.”
Colby huffed, not knowing what to say. “I think maybe you’re a little biased.”
“Hell yeah, I am,” Tristan said without hesitation. “Doesn’t mean I’m wrong.”
That got a small, helpless smile out of Colby that he didn’t even realize he was making until Tristan leaned in to kiss it.
