“Again,” he demands against my lips, working the button of my jeans.
“I love you.” The words come out breathy, broken by kisses.
He strips me with efficient movements, his eyes never leaving mine. When I’m bare beneath him, he stares for a long moment, like he’s memorizing every inch of me.
“Tell me,” he whispers, his thumbs brushing just beneath my breasts.
“I love you.”
He lowers his mouth to my collarbone, kissing along the ridge before moving lower. His lips close around my nipple, and I gasp, my back arching off the couch. He takes his time, lavishingattention on one breast and then the other, his tongue circling and teasing until I’m squirming beneath him.
“Darius,” I breathe, my fingers tangling in his hair.
“Say it,” he demands against my skin, his teeth grazing gently.
“I love you.” The words dissolve into a moan as his mouth moves lower, kissing down my stomach, my hips, the inside of my thighs.
He settles between my legs, gripping my thighs and spreading them wider. When his mouth finds me, I cry out, my head falling back against the couch cushions.
He’s relentless, his tongue moving in slow, deliberate strokes that have me trembling. Every time I try to move, to rush him, he holds me exactly where he wants me.
“Darius, please,” I whimper, my hands fisting in his hair.
He looks up at me, desire dark in his eyes. “Tell me.”
“I love you,” I gasp. “I love you, I love you.”
His mouth returns to me with renewed intensity, and I feel the pleasure building, coiling tighter and tighter until I can’t breathe. When I shatter, his name is the only coherent thing that leaves my lips, but the sound is broken and desperate.
He moves up my body, kissing his way back to my mouth. I taste myself on his lips; it should embarrass me, but instead, it makes me want him more.
“I need you,” I whisper in his ear. “Please, Darius.”
He lifts me from the couch and lowers us both to the floor, the soft rug beneath us. His clothes come off quickly, and then his body engulfs mine, warm and solid and perfect.
When he enters me, I let out a small moan. This is the first time we’ve been together since everything happened. He moves inside me slowly, and my eyes flutter shut. I can feel him watching me, watching my expressions. My legs wrap around him and pull him even closer.
My body trembles as he makes love to me. So far, everything we’ve done together has been passionate and driven by tangled emotions. This is the first time our hearts are bound together. Tonight feels special, unhurried. I can feel his thickness inside me, filling me and stretching me, and I enjoy the burn. I don’t ever want itto stop. His fingers touch my face, my lips, and he leans down to kiss me again.
This is connecting, healing. The last line of defense I had is broken. My wolf howls in triumph as Darius clutches my waist, pulling out and then plunging back in. The urgency builds; I whimper in need, trembling under him as he pushes me closer to the edge.
Darius brushes his lips against my jaw. “You’re so beautiful, Violet. You’re mine.”
I nod, my back arching as he winds me up. I can’t think straight. My neck is burning, and as his name falls from my lips, I know what I need.
“D–Darius…” I sink my nails into his shoulders. When our eyes meet, I gasp, “If I’m yours—If you mean it when you say I’m yours, then I want your mark.”
For the length of one heartbeat, he doesn’t respond. Then, wild joy fills his eyes. He grabs me by the hair and yanks my head back. His mouth brushes against my neck, and he whispers, “Are you sure, Violet? Because I can wait.”
“I can’t,” I moan.
My body tenses as my orgasm builds, and just as I am about to go over the edge, his teeth sink into my neck. The force of his bite and the magic that instantly binds us are mind shattering. The orgasm that follows is the most intense one I’ve ever experienced. I scream out his name, and I feel him release inside me.
The pain from the bite is sharp but brief, immediately swallowed by overwhelming pleasure as our orgasms crash through us simultaneously. Through the bond, I feel everything he feels. His love, his satisfaction, his absolute certainty that this is right.
When the waves subside, we lie tangled together on the floor, both of us breathing hard. His fingers keeps returning to the mark on my neck, tracing it reverently.
“Mine,” he murmurs against my hair. “You’re mine now.”
