“Am I hurting you?”
“Gods no.” I reach back to rub his thigh. “It feels incredible. I think I might float away.”
Rowen relaxes, chuckling against my neck. He slides a hand up and down my side, rolling his hips gently, and we both moan.
“Keep doing that and you’ll make me come again.”
Rowen hums. “Oh, yeah?”
He takes it as a challenge, licking up my throat to suck behind my ear. He rocks slowly, sensually—that deep pressure against my prostate turning into intense waves. Rowen and I fist my cock together. He swipes a thumb over the sensitive head just as I nut a second time.
He smiles against my skin.
I pull his hand away. “Okay, stop. I’m way too sensitive now.”
Rowen chuckles, but it’s cut off abruptly. He pulls away, fingers tracing a line on my neck. “I bit you.”
He sounds like he doesn’t remember it.
“It’s okay. It didn’t hurt.”Much.
His whole body tenses. “I could’ve bitten you for real, though.”
I freeze. I’ve known since I was ten how shifters claim their mates, but is Rowen saying he nearly did that just now? Like his wolf almost lost control? I don’t know what to think about that.
He hangs his head, sliding an arm around me. “I need to tell you something.”
I wait.
“Do you remember me saying how Red and Sage are fated mates?”
“Yeah.”
He hesitates, planting a feather-like kiss on my shoulder. “You’re mine,” he whispers.
I smile instantly. It was the same thing I’d said during sex. But then it hits me what he means, and I twist around to see him better. “Wait—what?”
“We’re fated, Toby. I can feel it. I’ve felt it for a while. Even my wolf…” He shakes his head. “We only knot with our fated mates.”
I exhale hard.Holy hell, he’s serious.
“You’re telling me thisnow?When you’re still—in me? Oh my God, Rowen!”
I turn away, hiding my face against the pillow. Rowen tenses, like he’s bracing for rejection, then he sags against me as a bubble of laughter slips up my throat, quickly followed by another. It grows until I am full on laughing. I pull his arm tight around me.
Rowen hugs me, chuckling against my shoulder.
“Sorry,” he mutters. “The bite left me no choice.”
I cover his hand with mine as we settle down. Wow. Fated mates? I did not see that coming.
“How can we be fated when I’m only part shifter?”
“I don’t know. But it’s true. I feel it inside me.”
“I think you meanIfeel it inside me,” I say nudging my hips back. He laughs, the sound low and tired, but real.
In a way, being fated explains everything—the way I’d trusted him from the beginning, how his touch comforts me, the unusual panic I’d felt when he was going into danger. Maybe even the weird pulling in my chest just a few minutes ago. I’ll need to ask about that later.
