I thanked all the gods and goddesses I knew that I’d gotten her pregnant that night. A blessing. Because if I hadn’t, she wouldn’t be here right now. Would she have even given me another chance?
“Look at me,” I growled, cupping her face. I leaned down, pressing my lips against hers. The words slipped over her tongue when I said, “This means everything, Erina.”
She stared up at me, and I saw the raw emotion cut open on her face. I saw that shewantedto believe me, that little piece of her that perhaps still held hope, and that nearly broke my heartall over again. Because I knew she wouldn’t fully allow herself to give in. To have faith.
Not yet.
So, I didn’t pressure her. Not right then. Instead, I said, “We will make this our own. Whatever it becomes, whatever we need it to become, it will be. All right?”
Finally she nodded, and I caught her gasp with my lips, beginning to move my hips again, sinking deeply into her. There was a new determination pounding at me, beating at my very soul.
I felt the orgasm rise as she began to clench around me. I threaded our hands together, shoving my face into the crook of her neck, licking at the bite wound that I’d already healed.
“Erina,” I groaned into her skin.
She made a choked, ragged sound when she felt my knot seat inside her, swelling with my pleasure. The tightness around it—gods, theheatand pulse of her body—I couldn’t withstand it. I thought it surprised her when she began to come again—a shocked little gasp was my only warning before I felt thesqueeze.
And that was it for me. I felt my come sizzle up my cock, my vision momentarily blackening, stars dotting the darkness.
When I surfaced again, I was bellowing with the intensity, the flood of my pleasure unleashing into her body over and over. I could only move slightly, my knot like a seal at her entrance. But every minuscule amount of friction prolonged my orgasm.
I hadn’t knotted a female in well over a decade—only when I’d been young, and it had been more hassle than it’d been worth—but it certainly hadn’t felt likethis. This electricity zapping up my spine. All I could do was fuck my way through it, trying to catch my breath.
When it was over, I nearly collapsed onto her. I felt like all my renewed strength had been stolen again. At the last moment, I rolled to the side, the seal of my knot taking her with me. She groaned, her eyes holding an edge of her tiredness.
“Come here,” I said quietly, my voice raw. I hitched her legover my hip, tucking back a strand of hair away from her glistening forehead. “It’ll be a while. I’ll hold you until it eases.”
Thankfully Erina didn’t protest. She sighed, her body melting against me. It couldn’t be a terribly comfortable position, but her eyes were already sliding shut, her cheek coming to rest on my pectoral.
We probably looked worse for wear. We still hadn’t washed, and the blankets of the bed were a haphazard tangle of a bloodied mess from my previous wound. But I didn’t find it in me to care.
All that mattered was Erina in my arms, our child safe between us.
I pressed my lips to the top of her head, already feeling the exhale of her even breaths drift over my skin. Passed out. I was still trying to catch my breath, folding my arms over my blood mate tight, my cock still throbbing between her legs.
“Everything, Erina,” I whispered, more comforted by the feel of her warm, bare skin against mine than anything in my memory. “I’ll give you everything.”
CHAPTER 42
ERINA
The beginnings of dawn light were filtering in through the window when I opened my eyes. At first, I couldn’t place where I was, groggy with bleary eyes.
Kaldur.
There were arms wrapped around me, his familiar scent on my skin, his heat along my back, his palm cupping my swollen belly.
Last night returned like a lightning bolt, striking straight into me. For a long moment, I sank into those memories, of the strong surge of him inside me, the ferocity and passion which he’d taken me with, the relief that had bloomed with his feeding. The panic. The panic at knowing that if he continued to hammer at my defenses like he’d done last night, I was as good as doomed.
My body felt like a stranger’s, I realized as I shifted slightly in his arms to peer over at him. There was a heavy soreness between my thighs—not unpleasant, but it still grabbed my attention. I thought maybe I would discover a few bruises too. Though he had been careful, especially because of the baby, there had been moments last night where we’d seemed to both abandon reason, to give in to the startling sensations of the pleasure.There had been a wild little animal in me last night, one that had demanded him, one that had been selfish in her need and desire. And Ilikedthat. It didn’t feel like me, and yet it had felt right. Like unlocking a new adventure, a new part of me that I would like to explore.
The small movement woke Kaldur. But unlike me, he knew exactly where he was, and his eyes, already alert, fastened on mine. He tugged me more firmly against him, as if we weren’t completely pressed against each other.
I realized another thing. We were clean. And so was the bed. I didn’t remember anything after…after hisknot.
“What a beautiful dawn,” he murmured, voice gravelly from sleep, as his hand came to thread through my hair. He only looked at me, and a pleased smile threatened to steal over my face, a part of me preening at his compliment.
“What happened last night?” I whispered.
