I’m still buried inside her, hand still loose around her throat, feeling her pulse thunder under my palm. Slowly, I ease my grip, letting her drag in air. She sags against the tree, trembling, snow melting in her hair.
I shrug out of my coat and wrap it around her shoulders—it swallows her whole—then I pull the spare thermal blanket from the duffel by the bench, and drape it over us both as I sink to the ground with her in my lap, back against the tree.
She exhales a small, wrecked sound and nuzzles deeper into me.
Then—
“Are you fucking kidding me? In the goddamn snow?”
I don’t even bother turning my head toward him, just press my teeth to her temple in a lazy bite and growl, low enough only she hears it.
Talon storms into the clearing, snow kicking up around his boots. His jacket’s half-zipped, hair a mess, cheeks red from the cold. His gaze rakes over us.
Then he stops dead, nostrils flaring.
“You couldn’t wait five fucking minutes? I was literally walking out here to call dibs tonight, you selfish prick.”
Mara lifts her head from the crook of my neck. “I don’t do waiting lists.”
Talon just smirks and jerks his chin toward the safe house lights glowing faintly through the trees.
“Let’s go inside. Come on...”
“We’re coming.”
“Good. Because Jasper’s making hot chocolate and threatening to come out here with a hose if we don’t bring his girl back in one piece.”
Mara’s laugh vibrates against my chest, and the sound goes straight to my balls, like I didn’t just empty myself inside her ten minutes ago.
I shut her up the only way I know how. I fist her hair, drag her mouth to mine, and kiss her until the laugh turns into a moan and she swallows against my tongue.
When I pull back, her eyes are glassy, lips wet and red.
“Up,” I order.
She tries, but her legs betray her immediately. I stand with her still wrapped around me, yank the blanket tighter, then zip my coat so it swallows both of us. She’s cocooned against my chest, thighs clamped around my hips, face buried in my neck.
I start walking.
She’s limp in my arms, every step making her hiss softly when the movement rubs her raw, sensitive skin against me.
Talon’s already a few paces ahead, but we catch up fast. Mara lifts her head from the crook of my neck, snowflakes clinging to her lashes, and gives him a lazy, satisfied smirk.
“Next round starts after cocoa... and maybe after I can feel my legs again.”
I tighten my grip under her thighs. “No. You need to rest.”
Both of them turn their heads, snapping toward me. Talon stops dead in the snow, eyebrows up. “Since when are you the fucking party pooper?”
“Yeah, since when, Dredyn?”
I meet her eyes and don’t blink. “Since I just fucked you into a tree hard enough to leave bark burns on your cheek and belt marks on your wrists. Since you came so hard you stopped breathing for a five full seconds and I felt it against my palm. Since you’re shaking like a leaf and running on adrenaline and endorphins and nothing else.”
I shift her higher, careful now, and brush my lips against her temple.
“We’re going inside. You’re drinking something warm. You’re getting cleaned up, checked over, and you’re sleeping curled up against me for at least two hours before anyone lays another finger on you. No arguments.”
Talon opens his mouth, but he must see whatever’s on my face because he shuts it again. After a beat, he just nods, once, respect flickering behind the usual cocky mask.
