Page 98 of Starting a New Life

“Quit it with the magic.”

Nix grinned up at me, not looking sorry at all. He looked… free. Playful. Perfect.

My heart lurched, and I caught his lips once more, then pushed all the way in. His muscles tightened around my cock, the heat almost too much.

“Goddess, Nix,” I breathed and pulled back just to slide home again. And again, and again, setting up a slow, deep rhythm that had Nix meeting my every thrust.

I closed my eyes and allowed myself to get lost in the moment. In the feeling of him, his body surrounding me, his magic crackling in the air. His noises, his pleasure, his scent. It all washed over me again and again, waves building until the final one crashed into me.

Nix came with a shout, his body clamping around me, sending me deep diving into the ocean of pleasure.

I didn’t think. One moment I was kissing him, and the next, my teeth pierced the skin of his neck and my mouth filled with his coppery-sweet blood.

Nix shouted again, and purple lit up the room. My cock spurted, blinding pleasure rolling over me as something inside me snapped into place.

My lips found Nix’s just in time to taste him one more time before everything turned black.

I couldn’t have been out long. My muscles were still pleasantly sore and tense, yet at the same time relaxed and gooey. It was the oddest sensation, a contradiction of feelings, but one I associated with bone-deep pleasure.

I was on my back, I realized upon opening my eyes and seeing the ceiling with the exposed wooden beams.

Nix was lying next to me, his hand in mine, our fingers interlaced. He was breathing evenly, and the air surrounding us was calm, the storm gone.

Mate, my wolf preened, puffing out his chest. Ours. Finally.

Wait… fuck.

I rolled to my side, scanning Nix’s body, my eyes immediately zeroing in on the spot I’d bitten him. The spot where a very prominent, very much healed imprint of my fangs sat, proudly marking him as my mate.

Shit. Oh crap. I’d just…

“Don’t freak out,” Nix said, and turned his head in my direction, face all relaxed. He didn’t look like he minded; hell, he didn’t feel like he minded. Because he was there, in my chest, his emotions echoing through my body.

It should’ve calmed me, but I’d still fucking mated with him without asking.

He squeezed my hand in reassurance.

“You’re still freaking out,” he whispered conspiratorially, as if he were letting me in on a secret, not my own feelings. “You don’t have to.”

“Don’t I?” Because from where I stood, I definitely had to.

Nix snorted. “What did you expect to happen?”

I blinked. I’d expected us to have sex.

“We’re mates,” Nix explained, raising his eyebrows at me. “It’s kind of what happens between mates.”

Yeah, but it was his first time. I should’ve… Nix rolled over, pushing up to his elbow, and smiled down at me. “I knew we would likely end up mated.” He shook his head slightly, like he couldn’t believe what he was saying. “And I wanted it. You know, when I first realized we were mates, I was terrified. I thought fate was playing some kind of cruel joke on me. But the truth is, you’re a good man, Gray. And an even better Alpha. Your pack is… I think I might actually be able to be comfortable being part of a pack, if it’s yours. And that’s something I didn’t think was possible. But it’s you who shaped this pack. Your views, your ethics.”

I swallowed.

“I’m not doing much. My grandfather…”

Nix rolled his eyes, then pressed a kiss to my lips, silencing me.

“Don’t sell yourself short. You’re doing that a lot. Your father this, your grandfather that. Rhett this, Oakley that. Don’t get me wrong. They’re all playing important parts, but you’re the heart of this pack. And that’s the only reason I’m even willing to consider being a part of it.” Nix whispered the words against my lips, his breath fanning over my face, sending a shiver down my spine.

He… did he really think of me like that?