“Mmm, Monte?” She wiggled her hips slightly into hisstav.
“Did I wear you out?” Monte let out a low growl that reverberated through his chest. He moved her gently to the side, spanning her waist with his large hands. “Because I need to take you again. I can’t help myself, I just...”
“Shhh.” She pressed her lips to his. “I take it the full moon puts you in a mating heat all night?”
“Yes.” He nodded, tracing her leg with his tail.
“Then take me again, Monte. I’m yours, always.”
He rolled her smoothly onto her back, the weight of him settling over her, heavy and thrilling and full of delicious promise. Kiri reached up to stroke his jaw, to trace the curve of his horns, her eyes luminous with love and rekindled wanting.
Monte captured her lips in a searing kiss and Kiri opened for him eagerly, welcoming the thrust of his tongue, the nip of his teeth. He continued to roam his hands over her body, leaving trails of tingling awareness in their wake as he mapped her curves and hollows anew.
He dragged his mouth hotly down the column of her throat, painting her skin with licks and kisses and gentle bites that had her arching into him with a needy whimper. “You taste so good.” He groaned against her collar bone. “I could feast on you for hours.”
When Monte finally settled between her thighs, hot and hard and pulsing against her slick folds, they were both more than ready. He notched himself at her entrance and paused, his glittering black eyes meeting hers in a moment heavy with unspoken emotion.
“I love you, Kiri,” he breathed reverently.
“I love you too,” she whispered back. “Now please, I need you inside me...”
With a flex of his hips, Monte granted her wish, filling her exquisitely in one deep, smooth glide. They moaned in unisonas he buried himself to the hilt, fitting together as Kiri’s body welcomed him eagerly.
They made love all throughout the night, until the sun crested in the early morning light.
Epilogue
Kiri
Kiri stirred awake, a contented sigh escaping her lips as she stretched languidly in bed. The silken sheets caressed her bare skin, still carrying Monte’s warm, musky scent. His side of the bed was empty but the indent of his massive frame remained. Slipping out of bed, she pulled on a sheer robe, the gossamer fabric floating around her curves.
The aroma of sizzling bacon and brewing coffee wafted in from the kitchen. Her stomach rumbled with anticipation. Padding across the hardwood floor, Kiri smiled to herself, marveling at how much her life had changed since meeting Monte.
Their eCommerce store had taken off beyond her wildest dreams. Handcrafted goods, custom metalwork, and artisanal foods from Monster Island were now being shipped worldwide, putting Lone Lake Pack on the map. The boost to the local economy warmed her heart. She’d been able to leave her soul-crushing corporate job to start her own marketing firm, one dedicated to helping monster-owned small businesses thrive.
Kiri ran her fingers through sleep-tousled blonde locks as memories of the past year flickered through her mind. Late nights pouring over web design and social media strategies. Weekends exploring the island’s hidden wonders with Monte by her side as her guide.
Stolen kisses in the moonlight as he fulfilled his promise of claiming her all over their land, thoroughly.
She bit her lip, pulse quickening at the delicious images. Never in her wildest fantasies had she imagined falling for a monster.
And yet, Monte never failed to make her feel cherished, desired, like the only female in the world.
As Kiri entered the sunlit kitchen, Monte’s keen ears twitched at her approach. In one fluid motion, he set down the mixing bowl and whirled to face her, a wide grin spreading across his bovine features.
“There’s my sleeping beauty,” he rumbled, dark eyes twinkling with mischief and adoration. Before Kiri could respond, he closed the distance between them in two long strides and swept her into his burly arms, lifting her feet off the ground.
Kiri let out a surprised squeal that melted into laughter as she looped her arms around Monte’s thick neck, burying her face in his downy fur. “Mmm, good morning to you too, my Mountain,” she purred, inhaling his earthy, masculine scent—a heady musk tinged with hints of maple and spice from the pancakes sizzling on the griddle.
Monte nuzzled into the crook of her shoulder, his nose grazing the sensitive skin of her throat. “I missed you,” he murmured, planting a trail of soft kisses along her neck that sent delicious shivers racing down her spine. “You could become a morning person...”
“You know I can’t.” Kiri smirked, running her fingers through the coarse hair on his broad chest. She pressed herselfagainst him, reveling in the solid wall of muscle that held her close. “I’m the night owl, you’re the morning bird.”
She captured his mouth in a claiming kiss, all playful nibbles and teasing flicks of her tongue that left them both breathless. Monte growled low in his throat, one large hand splayed possessively across her lower back as he deepened the embrace.
They lost themselves in each other, tongues dancing and hands roaming, until the acrid scent of burnt batter jolted them back to reality.
“Shit! The pancakes!” Monte hastily broke the kiss and rushed to the stove, using his spatula to scrape the blackened discs from the griddle with a sheepish chuckle.
