He leaned in, brushing his lips against hers once, a soft seal on their pact. Then, with a sudden, possessive growl that was all alpha, he scooped her into his arms.
She gasped, her arms looping around his neck. “Leander!”
“I need you closer,” he murmured into her hair, his long strides carrying them out of the library and toward the grand staircase.
His heart hammered against his ribs, a primal drumbeat urging him to claim, to mark, to make her his in the way his very soul demanded. He carried her up the stairs and then down the hall to the guest room they were to share, kicking the door shut behind them with a decisive thud that echoed in the quiet hallway.
The room was bathed in golden light, the four-poster bed a promise of forever. He laid her down on the soft linens with a reverence that belied the fire in his blood. She looked up at him, her blonde hair fanned out like a halo, her expression one of eager surrender and profound trust. No fear. No conflict. Just a radiant, hungry devotion that stole his breath.
His lion urged quickness, a frantic pulse beneath his skin. Leander shut the impulse down with a force of will that made his muscles tremble. This would not be a frantic, desperate coupling. This woman, who had seen his scars and called him righteous, who had faced down rogue lions and chosen him anyway, deserved worship. She deserved to be cherished.
He locked the door, the click a final sound separating them from the world. When he turned back, she was already rising onto her elbows, watching him with those luminous blue eyes. He returned to the bed, lowering himself over her, caging her gently with his arms.
“You are incredible,” he breathed against her lips before capturing them in a deep, slow kiss.
He poured everything into it—twelve years of loneliness, the fierce joy of her acceptance, the staggering hope for a future he’d thought impossible. It was a confession, a vow, and a question all at once.
She answered by opening for him, her tongue meeting his with equal intensity. Her hands slid into his hair, holding him to her as if she, too, feared this might be a dream.
When they broke apart, he began the deliberate task of undressing her. The yellow sundress, a bright spot of summer, was peeled away. He unhooked her bra, let it fall, and slid her panties down her legs, his hands tracing the lines of her body as if committing a sacred map to memory. Soon, she lay gloriously bare before him, all soft curves and flawless skin, her eyes dark with desire.
“You are the most breathtaking thing I’ve ever seen,” he growled, lowering his head to kiss the pulse at her throat. She arched into him, a soft sound escaping her lips.
She guided his head lower with a gentle pressure in his hair, and he obeyed, trailing kisses down her sternum to the swell of her breasts. He took one taut nipple into his mouth, lavishing it with his tongue while his hand cupped and teased the other. Her breath hitched, her back bowing off the bed.
“More,” she pleaded, her voice a husky command.
He moved lower, kissing a path down the plane of her stomach, nuzzling the delicate skin of her inner thighs. Her scent, warm and intoxicating, filled his senses, and his lion purred in approval. When his tongue finally found her core, she cried out, her hips lifting off the bed. She was already wet, ready for him, and the taste of her desire was everything. He feasted on her, licking and sucking with a focused intensity until her pleas became a broken litany of his name.
“Leander… please… I need you inside me.”
The raw need in her voice shattered the last of his control. He rose, stripping off his henley, jeans, and boxers with impatient movements until he stood naked before her, his cock heavy and urgent. Her gaze traveled over him, hot and appreciative, and a surge of masculine pride tightened his chest.
He lay back on the bed, pulling her with him. “Take me,” he said, his voice gravel. “Take what you need. You’re in control.”
A slow, confident smile touched her lips. She moved above him, straddling his hips, her weight a delicious pressure. Her small hand reached between them, guiding him to her entrance. The first touch of his cock against her slick heat was electric. She sank down onto him, inch by glorious inch, her body stretching to accommodate him, welcoming him home.
“God, Camille,” he groaned, his hands gripping her hips. “You feel… perfect.”
She began to move, a slow, rolling rhythm that stole his breath. The mate bond flared between them, a shimmering thread of shared sensation. Her pleasure echoed in his own nerves—the delicious friction, the building tension, the rightness of their joining. He felt her wonder, her love, her fierce joy, and he let his own emotions—the protectiveness, the awe, the bone-deep devotion—flow back through the bond to her.
He pulled her down for a searing kiss, thrusting up to meet her downward stroke. She moaned into his mouth, the sound vibrating through him.
“Harder,” she gasped against his lips. “Please.”
He obeyed, his thrusts becoming more powerful and more primal. She rode him with increasing abandon, her nails digging into his shoulders. He could feel her climax coiling, and he knew his own was approaching, an unstoppable tide.
Now. It had to be now.
He stilled her hips for a heartbeat, his gaze locking with hers. Her eyes were glazed with passion, but she focused on him,completely present. “I’m going to mark you now,” he rasped, the words both a warning and a plea.
She nodded, her breath coming in short pants. “Mark me, please.”
A fierce tenderness washed over him. He would remember this trust, this courage, forever. With a thought, his right hand shifted, his human fingers elongating into sharp, golden claws. They caught the light, deadly and beautiful.
Her eyes widened, but she didn’t flinch. She held his gaze, her trust absolute, as she began moving again, chasing her peak.
He felt her inner muscles begin to clench around him, the first tremors of her release. When her orgasm broke, a cry tearing from her throat, he dragged his claws—with careful, deliberate pressure—across the smooth skin of her left hip.
