Through our bond, I feel her awe at the sensation of being filled, the way my seed floods her womb, held in place by myknot. She can feel my satisfaction, my possessive pleasure at marking her from the inside out.
“Mine,” I growl against her throat, my knot still pulsing. “Completely mine now.”
“Yours,” she agrees breathlessly, her hands threading through my hair. “Always yours.”
We lie locked together, both of us trembling from the intensity of what just happened. My knot shows no signs of subsiding—it could be anywhere from twenty minutes to an hour before we can separate. The thought of being joined to her for that long, of feeling our connection strengthen with every passing moment, makes my cock twitch inside her.
“How long?” she asks softly, echoing my thoughts.
“Could be a while,” I admit, shifting slightly to relieve some of the pressure on her hips. “First knotting between mates usually lasts longest.”
She hums contentedly, her fingers tracing patterns on my back. “Good. I don’t want to let you go yet.”
My wolf preens with masculine satisfaction, finally having marked and claimed his mate properly.
“Tell me what you’re feeling,” I request, wanting to hear it in her own words.
“Full,” she says immediately. “So incredibly full. I can feel you pulsing inside me, feel your seed filling me up.” Her cheeks flush at the explicit words. “And the bond—gods, Kier, I can feel everything. Your satisfaction, your possessiveness, your love. It’s like you’re part of me now.”
“I am,” I confirm, pressing a kiss to her temple. “We’re mated now. Truly mated. There’s no undoing this.”
“I don’t want to undo it,” she whispers.
I feel her truth through our bond, the way our connection has settled something restless inside her. My knot gives another pulse, drawing a soft moan from her lips.
“Still sensitive?” I ask with a grin.
“Everything feels more intense,” she admits. “Like every nerve ending is connected to you now.”
To test her theory, I contract the muscles at the base of my cock, making my knot swell slightly. She gasps, her back arching.
“Kier,” she warns, but there’s no real protest in it.
“Sorry,” I say, not sorry at all. “I like watching you react.”
“You’re going to drive me mad,” she mutters, but I can feel her arousal building again through our bond.
“Good,” I reply, settling more comfortably over her. “We have time.”
And we do. All the time in the world to explore this new connection, to learn each other’s bodies and minds through the bond that now ties us together. My knot may trap us physically, but emotionally, we’re both exactly where we want to be.
When my knot finally begins to soften forty minutes later, neither of us is eager to separate. But when I finally slip free, the sight of my seed leaking from her body fills me with primitive satisfaction.
“Mine,” I murmur, gathering the evidence of our claiming on my fingers.
“Yours,” she agrees.
“Any regrets?” I ask, though I can feel the answer through our bond—contentment so deep it makes my throat tight.
“Only that we waited so long,” she admits, pressing a kiss to my collarbone. “I wasted so much time being afraid.”
“Not wasted,” I correct, tightening my arms around her. “You needed to heal. To learn to trust. I would have waited forever if that’s what it took.”
She lifts her head to look at me, something vulnerable in her expression despite everything we’ve just shared. “What happens now?”
“Now?” I brush my knuckles across her cheek. “Now I officially join Shadowmist. Permanently. No more guestquarters, no more being an outsider looking in.” I pause, letting her feel my certainty through our bond. “I belong here. With you. With this pack.”
Relief floods through our connection—relief that she doesn’t have to choose between duty and desire, that I’m not asking her to abandon everything she’s built here.
