Pulses syncing and breaths catching at once, the initial feeling overcomes us both, and something pulses in my lower stomach in response.
“Naia…” Zane says on an exhale, shoulders deflating with subtle relief at being one again. His lashes falter, and he grips me tighter. “More…”
Seeing him like this, succumbing to base desires while surrendering control to me, isn’t what I’m used to, but it instills a new, tender kind of power in me.
So I move, slowly rocking my hips against his while drinking in every sensation and every burst of warmth coursing through me.
Zane tips his head back with a groan, moving me enough to guide my movements rather than to control them, looking wrecked already. More dazed than I’ve ever seen him before, he struggles to stifle his pleasured sounds, and something about it sends a thrill up my spine.
As the room becomes almost stifling with heat and the gradually building urgency in pursuit of more bliss, I keep my movements as steady as I can, taking all of him.
Zane’s panted breaths deepen, and as I start going faster, he growls low in his throat before holding my hips still and bucking upward.
I gasp at the sudden change, only for it to be swallowed up by his mouth in a greedy kiss.
Warmth scatters through me the moment he takes over, moans leaving me unbidden. My fingers tangle in his dark hair, and I feel as the roles reverse again, but I don’t complain.
Not while Zane quickens his thrusts and holds me like he can’t stand the thought of ever letting go again.
“You’re mine, Naia…” he utters, piloted by pure instinct.
From this angle, he hits every perfect spot inside me, pushing me further and further until static courses through me.
His words replay in my head again and again, coaxing me into tightening my grip on him as my thighs tremble and I can barely hold on.
As it all becomes too much, and he pushes deeper, my breath catches, and I give in completely.
“Zane—”
My inner walls constrict and flutter around him as I release, and Zane buries his face against my neck. He groans, and his teeth graze my skin. His arms tighten around me, writhing under the pressure of his own orgasm.
Warmth fills me as he gives a few shallow thrusts, then he forces out a breath and slumps against me.
His heart rams against his ribs like it’s trying to break free in search of mine, and while the desperation fades, the need to be close lingers.
“Don’t move,” Zane murmurs, voice barely breaking through the room’s silence. His breath gently fans against my neck, and he settles in more comfortably. “Not yet…”
Something about the raw vulnerability in his tone makes me stay put, leaning into him while my fingers absently play with the hairs at the nape of his neck.
Spent and soothed now, I regain myself little by little, and rather than trying to find a way to leave the moment, I linger in it.
I savor how I’ve managed to reduce Zane to this. The otherwise level-headed, aloof Alpha of Delmont is barely hanging on as if that claim has taken it all out of him.
Still, he tilts his face up a bit to nuzzle against my skin in a gesture that seems almost too soft for him, but I don’t question it.
Not while I’m basking in the warmth and pleasant glow of it all.
Chapter 23 - Zane
A few days pass without anything exploding, and that alone feels like a win.
The patrols have been strengthened, while Zeke and the others rotate shifts along the outer lines, tracking movement and reporting anything that even seems off.
The rogue activity hasn’t stopped, but it hasn’t breached further either. For now, at least.
Inside Delmont, things have settled into something that almost resembles normal, or as close as we get to it.
The guys are still around more than usual, coming and going as they need to, but the tension from that first confrontation has eased for the most part. They don’t watch Naia like she’s about to turn on them anymore. While they still keep an eye on her, it’s less accusatory, and that fact keeps my inner wolf from going insane.
