I hadn’t thought about it before, but all Frosts have those elongated canines in their harbinger form. Surely that made a claiming bite easier. Would it hurt me when he did it even though his teeth were sharp?
“Probably.” He shrugs and pretends to bite my shoulder over the fabric of my dress. It’s plastered to me, damp with sweat. “But it’s a pain I’ll gladly take.”
Fingers drift up my center, hovering above my sternum where I can somehow sense his touch before he even does it. As soon as his skin grazes my silver mark, it echoeseverywhere. “The bite is meant to be pleasurable. Even moreso than knotting since it’s something exclusively shared between mates. Though that won’t be the case for us.”
“It won’t?” I’ve been so focused on being able to take his knot since I first saw it, I didn’t think about him with other people. A twinge of jealousy sinks into my gut, nausea at the idea that he’s been with harbingers who are better equipped, better built to be his mate. Instead, he’s stuck with me.
“Hey,” he grips my chin and gently swivels it toward him until my eyes are reflected back in the cracked, glittering mirrors of his, “you’ll be the first and only one to ever take my knot.”
“Really?” I sigh, and he chuckles.
“I’ve always known nothing would ever compare to being with my mate.” He dips down and kisses me, his minty breath invigorating me. Our tongues explore each other until he hardens against my back. “Now that I’ve found you, touched you, tasted you, I know I was right.”
My skin flushes. The thought of the other night, when he waspreparingme to take his knot, replays in my mind. It’s like I’m some inexperienced virgin, not a woman that’s had multiple men in her bed. But this, this is different. Not just because of Jax’sunusualequipment, but because it’s him. I want to blow his mind. Be everything he hoped for when he prayed for a mate for years.
I rub my legs together, feeling the remnants of our cum still slick at the top of my thighs.
Jax sucks in a breath.
“Tempest…” he warns, reminding me that he can scent how badly I want this.
“I don’t want you doing anything you aren’t completely certain of. Knotting, claiming—these are things I’ve understood for decades. Things ingrained into harbinger life. I know how strange it all is to you.” His cool breath caresses my shoulder, tousling my hair.
“Are you hesitating because I’m mortal?” I ask. If I can’t hide how much I want this, want him, then how come he’s still cautious? How come our clothes are still on and we aren’t wrapped up in one another?
“Yes.” When my face falls, he quickly adds, “But only because I was taught about mates and everything it entails. You and I,there’s never been anything like us. You might not experience the bond like I do.”
“Tell me what it’s like.”
His eyes shut a moment, and he takes a steadying breath, as if weighing his words. He rests his head on my shoulder, the sharply crinkled corners of his eyes subtly soften. “My connection to you is a constant thrum. An electricity that never shuts off. You could be anywhere and I’d still feel drawn to you.”
His hand drifts to my mate mark, fingers working until there’s apopof a button between my breasts. “The need to be with you. It’s a want beyond wanting. To protect you from pain, love you, bring you pleasure—it is all-consuming.”
Anotherpop.
Then another.
The buttons roll across the furs beneath us, and the fire warms the mark now fully on display. Jax’s fingers swirl over my sternum, and desire pools at the top of my thighs. I clench them together, shifting for friction. He continues to play with my mark, and I can’t help but wonder how it’s connected to his own as his erection thickens against me. “In my world, there is no question once you find your mate. You witness their entire lives, hopes, and dreams in an instant. Fully seen, fully cherished.”
“And that’s how you feel about me?” I rasp, clinging to every word.
“My words barely do it justice.”
He huffs out a laugh. Rolling to face him, I cradle the sharp angles of his cheek.
Staring at him, I can almost imagine what he’d look like if things had gone differently. If he’d lived a full life. If he’d never met Fate. Maybe we would have found each other under different circumstances, though I doubt it. All I know is that I can’t imagine a life where he’s not part of it. Not anymore. “Ever since you came into my life, before I even understood why, I sawyou in my dreams and in my waking hours. At first, I thought I was crazy. I couldn’t understand everything that was happening. But I do feel this tether between us. It’s as real to me as you are. I may just be mortal—”
“You aren’tjustanything, Tempest,” Jax says, platinum brows drawing together, tone deadly serious. “You areeverything.”
37
JOLIE
You areeverything.
I close the distance and kiss him. With each brush of our lips, my confidence grows until every part of me that fears the unknown drifts away. Taking his hand in my own, I bring it back to my buttons and guide him so every achingly beautiful part of him looms over me. His pants are still unzipped, the tip of him poking out above the waistband of his briefs, a pearlescent line of cum leading away from the ball of his piercing. I thumb over it, rubbing his release over his tip. His groan is music to my ears. The sounds of his pleasure, of his want for me, makes me want to dance with him like this for the rest of time.
I tug down his pants until his erection springs free to rest heavy against my stomach. I drag my gaze back up to capture his, the eyes I’ve memorized piercing me so deep they see straight into my soul.
