• CHAPTER 21 •

She dared him.

Dog couldn’t help but chuckle as he tightened his fingers in her hair and dragged her head back. He took the kiss he wanted. The glands beneath his tongue were swollen, throbbing, the mating hormone so potent now it was like a rush, an incredible high as it hit his system.

Turning, he pushed her back against the wall, one hand going to her rear, filling his hand with one side of the rounded flesh and lifting her where he needed her.

Dare him?

He prayed to God she didn’t expect nice and easy. The sound of those words slipping past her lips was like throwing gasoline on fire. The flames whipped through his senses, seared his brain cells and released a torrent of lust.

Slanting his lips over hers and pumping his tongue between her lips, he forced her to take the taste of him. When he pulled back and her tongue followed, he took hers, trapping it between his lips and drawing on it, licking at it. The spicy sweetness sending the flames in a rush of white-hot intensity tore the last of the restraint from him.

There was no holding back with her now. There was no closing even a small portion of his soul to her now. The mating bond was like a live wire connecting them, merging them together. Heart to heart. Soul to soul.

Tearing his lips from hers, his kisses rained down her neck as he groaned, feeling hers against his neck. Her teeth raked against the line of his throat, stealing his breath. Her tongue licked over it before her lips closed on his flesh and drew on it, marking him. But he was always marking hers. His teeth nipping enough to abrade the skin, before licking over the wound, just over the heavy vein that ran there.

Her arms wrapped around his shoulders, and her hips rocked, caressing the head of his cock with the slick, hot folds of her pussy. The heated moisture spilling from her coated the engorged cap of his erection, heated it, sensitized it. As the broad head pressed against the entrance, a hard ejaculation of the hormone-filled pre-cum pulsed inside her.

Bending his head further he captured the hard bud of a nipple, sucking it into the heat of his mouth, tonguing it as a groan tore from his chest. The taste of her, the feel of her … It wasn’t even logical what she did to him, what she made him feel. Just the scent of her close to him was enough to soothe his soul, a soul he’d been certain he didn’t possess before he saw her in the lens of his gunsights.

Pulling back from her breast, his fingers tightening on her ass, he held her in place and another pulse of pre-cum spilled inside her as she nipped at his shoulder. The heat of her pussy covered the head of his cock, the entrance clenching on it, sucking at his flesh.

Tensing, he thrust inside her, feeling the ultratight, slick heat of her pussy clamping down on his dick, tightening, caressing every inch, forging inside her. Her teeth clamped down on his shoulder, a strangled cry tearing from her throat as he felt those sharp little teeth break the tough skin and the searing spill of that hormone infusing it.

His cock throbbed, flexing with another jetting pulse of the hormone inside her, sensitizing her, ensuring her pleasure.

“Fuck,” he snarled as her tongue lapped at the wound, a smothered cry echoing around him. “Like a hot little vise …”

He didn’t pause, sending his cock burrowing inside her deeper, pushing inside her until he was lodged balls deep and her cries were like a symphony in his ears. The snug flesh rippled, sucked at his cock.

He couldn’t hold back. He couldn’t hold on.

Holding her to the wall and bracing his body, he began thrusting, retreating, then filling her, each thrust inside her increasing the hunger, the need, until he swore he could feel parts of his spirit become infused by her, pulling her into his soul.

Animalistic groans spilled from his throat as he moved faster, harder, stroking inside her as the sensations turned to flames licking over him, setting everything inside him aflame when he felt her tighten further, felt her orgasm rip through her and trigger his own release.

He swore it was never ending.

The most intense release he’d experience since the last time he knotted her tight little pussy. The swelling of his cock inside the clamped muscles had him growling at her shoulder, his teeth locked in it yet again. Filling her, destroying him, as his seed pumped from his dick in exquisite ecstasy.

“Ah God, Cassie … Halfling … I fucking love you. My life …” He threw his head back, teeth clenched as a snarl of pure, lashing rapture overwhelmed his senses.

He was surrounded in a pleasure that went so deep, filling every corner of his soul and healing the wounds life had placed there. A pleasure filled with hope, with savage determination to hold on to her, and a ferocity of such emotion it swamped him.

Not simply his emotion, hers. They mixed, wrapping around each other, filling each other, binding them together in a way he’d never believed possible.

Always.

A part of each other.

 • • • 

Hours later Cassie came slowly to awareness. The room was dark, the bed warm, her mate lay at her back, surrounding her.

And they weren’t alone.

She opened her eyes slowly and stared at the misty form of the couple. Carson and Angel. Parents who had been unable to pass to a place where there was no worry, no fear, because their fierce devotion to their son refused to allow them to leave his side.

So much so that his mother had searched out his mate, found her in danger, and left her mate to watch over their son while she watched over Cassie.

Her head tilted in understanding, knowing Cassie’s thoughts as she always had, as her mate looked on in approval.

Seeing you grow, your strength, your heart, has been a joy, Cassie,she whispered across the bond they’d established years ago. I could not have chosen a better mate for my child, nor wished for one truer. He was born, just as you were, not created. My mate raised him with love, taught him rather than trained him, and the heart he possesses is one more fierce than any but you could know. And know, we’ll always be close if there’s a need.

Cassie stared back at the spirit, only then realizing that a part of her had feared Angel wouldn’t be there to warn her when danger came too close.

We can both be near, together now, Carson assured her. Tell our son of our love for him. That emotion resonated so deep and pure from the male spirit that Cassie felt tears fill her eyes. He’s the best part of both of us. And he has fulfilled every dream his parents ever had for him.

She would.

“Thank you,” she whispered, a breath of sound. “For everything.”

For her safety as a child, for the guidance, but most of all, for her mate.

No thanks needed, Cassie, Angel assured her. Build your lives now, see your way through the trials together, and love each other with everything you are. The future won’t be easy. There are battles yet to come for not just you and Dog, but for all Breeds. Stay true. Follow your instincts and your heart. And always love …

They faded away slowly, going wherever the spirits went until they sensed they were needed.

“Thank you, Cassie.” Strangled, filled with awe, Dog’s voice had her rolling quickly to face him, to stare into his eyes and the well of emotions that filled them.

Love, wonder, joy and the sadness that came from the realization of what was lost when the world stole his parents.

“Thank you, little halfling,” he whispered, his eyes damp as his palm cupped her cheek. “For your heart, for my parents.”

“You saw them?” Surprise filled her. No one had ever seen them before.

“I saw them. I heard them. Finally. I dreamed of them together as a boy, and now you’ve given me that dream.” His lips touched hers. “Every dream I’ve held, Cassie, you’ve brought to life.”

His lips brushed against hers, a gentle, heated caress that reaffirmed his words. The kiss was a benediction, a promise, a vow.

It was everything they were meant to be.

She was what she was, what she was meant to be, in her mate’s heart, in his arms.

Finally, no longer a cross breed, but a mate.

Dog’s mate.