Col slipped his arms around his mate’s body and pulled her closer, away from the white wash bowl. He slanted his mouth over hers and claimed it, thrusting his tongue deep and tasting her sweet flavor. The kiss wasn’t rough and angry, more like demanding. He was staking a claim.

She was his. Would be his.

He imagined how it would be to kiss his mate like this every day for the rest of his life. His hands moved to her hips, pulling her closer, pushing his body into hers. She was so soft. So welcoming.

He released her hips for a second, but only long enough to work the fastenings on her covering. Col opened it and pushed it down from her shoulders until it fell to the hard, bare floor. Then he pulled her against him again, her breasts soft and firm against his chest beneath her remaining clothing. So perfect. Only, he wanted to see more of her skin. More of the glow that called to his soul. Wanted to kiss and taste her entire body.

There was no hesitation in her kiss. Her mouth moved against his, tangling and tasting his mouth as he had with hers.

Col nipped at her lips, then moved to the soft exposed skin of her neck. Not now, but soon he would mark her as his own. No other male would come near her if she bore his bite mark—his scent would forever be mixed with hers.

Yes. His dragon agreed.

She moaned into his mouth and blood rushed to his cock. No way had she missed the way his hard erection was pressed into the soft roundness of her belly. The sounds she made. The soft mewls and cries as he nipped and kissed his way down her neck to where her shirt began.

Thoughts of ripping it off crossed his mind, but instead he grabbed the bottom and tugged it up and off. She’d need her clothes when they left this shelter.

His shuarra gasped and shivered. The cold air made her beautiful sandy colored skin tighten. Bumps rose along her arms and torso, and around the strange bit of fabric that she wore to encase her breasts.

Col looked for a tie to remove the thin covering. “Off.” He growled deep in his chest, pulling at one of the shoulder straps. It didn’t come loose, and he couldn’t see how to remove it.

Her arms folded behind her back and a second later the fabric came loose.

He pulled it down her arms, freeing her beautiful, full breasts. Her nipples were pink and erect and begging for his mouth. His stomach tightened, like someone had landed a well-aimed fist to his mid-section. She was a gift from Fate. More than he could have ever imagined. Energy surged through his veins, a rush not unlike what he felt during battle. Or while he was soaring through the skies of Reylea.

This woman was his new home.

She put her hands into his long hair as he licked and sucked and worshiped her breasts. The little gasps and moans drove him further.

The way her fingertips traced over his face and ear and neck. She drew circles on his arm, following the lines of his family markings. Ink he’d earned as he’d advanced through the levels of his warrior training.

The way she touched him…so soft, but inquisitive. Curious. It drove the lust inside him even higher. His heart hammered in his chest. His cock throbbed with the overwhelming need to sink deep into his shuarra. To claim her as his own. He’d never known such desire.

Not in all his years. Not with any woman.

His mate was different. Her soul was his alone. Fate had chosen her to glow just for him. It was a gift and a promise he could no longer ignore. Perhaps it was Fate’s way of telling him he shouldn’t desire vengeance. His vow still stood. He would seek his family’s justice, but he’d keep his mate safe and close as well.

The light emanating from her tan skin illuminated the shadows of this small wash room, but only for him. She couldn’t see it. Probably for the best, too.

The window behind her was the only other source of light and it was quickly fading. The sun had already fallen behind the distant peaks.

Col growled, wrapping his hands around her body, lifting her from the floor. There was a bed in the other room. He wanted a chance to fully enjoy his mate.

He took three steps and laid her out on the bed. Her legs had wrapped around his hips and he took pleasure in rocking toward her as if he were already sinking his cock deep into her heat.

She whimpered and cried and begged softly for more, saying his name over and over again like it was the only word she knew.

Col leaned down to kiss her bare stomach, and then trailed kisses up her ribcage, to where her breasts waited for more attention. Her pink nipples were hard. He cupped both in his hands, loving the way they fit perfectly in his palms. He thumbed over her nipples.

She gasped for breath. “Col.” Her voice shimmered, beautiful and erotic and heavy with desire.

“Shuarra,” he said, using the only name he had for her. The only one that truly mattered. She was his. He dipped down again and took one of her nipples into his mouth again, caressing and nibbling just hard enough to make her gasp over and over and over.

She writhed beneath him, rising up to capture his head in her hands as a long moan of pleasure tore through her chest. A sheen of sweat had broken out across her brow, cheeks, and torso. The slight salty taste only added to her perfect flavor on his tongue.

He sampled her other breast and she cried out again.

“Please.” Desperation grew in her voice, rocketing his pulse. She was not Reylean. She didn’t know about the way souls glowed and called to their mates in his world. But he could tell she felt the need as strongly as he did. Felt the way the magick pulled them together.

He put his mouth on one breast, cupping it with one hand, while his other went to the fastener at the front on her leg coverings. It came undone without much trouble and he worked at the metal teeth below the fastener until they came apart as well.

Then he slid his hand beneath her bottom, grabbed the top of her coverings and pulled them down with one effortless stroke. Something remained; something bright pink covered her pussy. Col grabbed that too and yanked it down, tossing it to the floor with the rest.

Now she was glorious and bared to him completely. He parted her legs and brushed his lips reverently across the lips of her sex. A smattering of brown curls teased him.

She stilled on the bed, panting for breath. She smelled amazing. Clean and sweet and perfectly woman.

His woman. His shuarra.

He parted her damp folds and licked, drawing his tongue slowly over her swollen clit. Even though she wasn’t Reylean, she was similar in every way to their female’s forms.

She gasped and whimpered and writhed beneath his mouth.

Col continued to lash her with his tongue, holding her in place, taking his pleasure by giving pleasure to her.

“Col, please.” Her body trembled beneath the powerful hold of his arms.

He kept one arm across her hips, stopping her from wriggling away. With the other hand, he slid two fingers inside her slick wet warmth, exploring. In and out. Slowly then faster, mimicking how he’d fill her with his cock very soon. “You are beautiful, my shuarra. Fly for me.” His voice rolled from his chest, dark and commanding.

Col curled his fingers inside her, loving the feel of each shudder and clench of her thighs. He flicked his tongue over her clit again, moving his free hand to the other breast where he pinched and rolled her nipples just enough to make her moan.

Her body tightened again. The orgasm was rising, pulling her to the very top. She panted and gasped, “Col. Col, I need—” She dropped her head as another cry ripped from her throat.

He stilled his fingers as her body tightened around them. Then took her clit into his mouth and gave her what she needed.

She bucked off the bed beneath his hold as she came. The keening cry made him feel more alive than he’d ever felt before.

His name on her lips was the most powerful magick he’d ever experienced. He wouldn’t leave her. Ever. He’d stay with his shuarra until the day he died.

“Ohmygod.” She shuddered violently and fell back on the mattress with a satisfied sigh.

Col released her hip and crawled up over her body, lifting her small form and dragging her up toward the head of the bed. Then he kissed her again, taking her mouth. Slowly. Deeply. Enjoying each mewl and cry that squeaked out of her.

Her arms went to the waist of his kilt, fumbling and exploring, looking for a way to unfasten it.

“If I’m naked, you need to be,” she whispered on a breath against his lips.

He reached for the knot at his hip and worked it loose without releasing her mouth. He didn’t want to miss a single moment of tasting her.

The leather and fabric kilt came loose and fell from his hips, leaving nothing for her imagination to consider. His cock was long and hard, and he wanted nothing more than to drive it deep into her right in that moment. His tip dragged along the velvety smooth skin of her hip.

Her fingers dug into the meat of his arms and she arched off the bed, thrusting her hips closer. “Col, please. I need you inside me so badly it hurts.”

Col nudged her opening with his cock, pressing forward just a little to make sure she could take him. A little more. Then a little more.

Her body stilled as she stretched to accommodate his girth. She was tight and needy. The fire in her eyes locked with his as he pushed further. Her mouth opened in a wide “O” that turned to a moan. Her figure quivered next, anticipation building from within.

Her eyes were wide as he sank deeper, slowly, inch by inch until he was seated all the way to the base. She fit him like a glove. Her skin glowed and glistened.

She was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. She was his.

His hips rolled into hers and she groaned, digging her fingernails into his biceps. He slid out, nearly all the way, before pushing in again.

It was like he’d found what had been missing his whole life.

“Watch me,” he ordered. “See me claim you, shuarra.”

Her big brown orbs locked with his gaze as he drove into her harder than before.

Col relished the way her hands clawed at his arms, his shoulders, anything she could reach from where he’d pinned her to the bed. The slight pain of her fingernails only increased his desire.

He pushed her legs, guiding them around his waist.

She wrapped them tightly, lifting her hips off the bed.

He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and lifted the rest of her until she was straddling his thighs as she rode him.

Her arms were around his neck and his face was buried between her gorgeous breasts. He licked and sucked and bit at her nipples until she rocked up and down. Then he took hold of her hips and slammed her down hard.

She cried out as he lifted her again and then pulled her right back down. “Col!” Her body was tightening, winding its way closer and closer to release.

He wasn’t going to last much longer, but he wanted her to come first. Wanted to feel her bear down as she found her climax. “Fly for me again, shuarra. Now.” He growled deep in his chest and bit down a little harder on one of her nipples. The pain was just enough to push her over the edge.

She screamed, digging her fingers into his back, then screamed again, wave after wave of her climax rolling through her to him.

He laid her back on the bed, driving into her again and again as she came, his mouth moving closer and closer to the soft curve where her neck met her shoulder.

She came again with another furious cry of need and pleasure all wrapped into one.

Col joined her this time, a roar tearing from his throat. His balls tightened and then heat poured through his body until it erupted, filling her with his seed, marking her as his mate.

His dragon fangs lengthened, and he bit down on her shoulder, tasting her blood, sealing her to him.

Forever.

It could never be undone.