43 – To Me

Leilani grabbed at Jaggar, sick to her stomach at what was going on. She didn’t understand any of it, but the silver was back, the clock was back, and oh it just wanted to travel, to take her somewhere, to take her anywhere. She put her hand to her head, tried so hard to keep herself in one place.

Jaggar growled so loud it hurt her ears. She almost collapsed. “Leilani needs you-” someone was saying. Her head. The silver-

I love you, she chanted in her own mind. That would be her mantra. I love you, Jaggar. The silver abated somewhat.

I love you, she sent to her mate in ruhi. I’m sorry I didn’t say it before. I love you and I’m behind you no matter what you decide. But if you aren’t going to claim me, take us home.

He was there, his arms around her, his lips on her neck. Then his teeth grazed her sensitive skin there. “Oh!” She cried out lightly at the thrill of the sensation. Her knees wobbled beneath her.

“I can’t wait that long,” he rasped into her ear, slinging a strong arm under her knees, picking her up, almost running with her in his arms.

Her core swelled at the heat in his voice. He turned left, then right, and then he balanced her on his hip so he could open a door and usher them inside.

Her breathing came faster as he put her down and locked the door.

“Where are we?” she whispered.

“In an office at the back of a hallway.” His voice was quiet, still, and dangerous-sounding, like he was planning something and just barely holding himself back from it to answer her question. “There’s empty desks and curtains on the windows. No one can see us.”

Leilani squeezed her eyes shut, willing that silver to fade. She didn’t want to see the clock, or the hands that wanted to spin, or one sliver of silver light. She didn’t want to see at all. She didn’t need to see to receive what her mate was about to give to her by taking from her.

The silver light faded. The clock on the wall trembled, but did not fade, but she could look away from it. She did so, leaving herself to the senses of her body. The effort it took was monumental, but worth it. She would have this moment to herself, with no silver light between them.

She zeroed in on the connection between her body and her mate. He held onto her left hand, just barely, by the pinky and ring finger. He moved around her, so that his front pressed up against her back. He moved her hand the opposite way so she twisted her body toward the wall next to the closed door they’d just come in. He put her hand on the wall and pressed it lightly. “Don’t move this hand,” he said.

She sucked in a breath at the command in his voice. Good lord, had he been hiding this part of him from her? She wanted what was about to happen utterly, and now she wanted it more, wanted only to hand herself over to this male in every way possible.

“Ok,” she said, barely able to hear herself. He pulled his hand away, running it feather-light down her forearm, then her triceps, and down her back, until it reached the zipper on her dress. His other hand grasped her right hand and placed it on the wall. “This one, too,” he rasped. He put his hands next to hers on the wall, and covered her body, pressing her belly against the wall with his hips.

“I can’t be gentle when I do this,” he said into her ear, his voice laced with the tightest control.

“I’m glad,” she said fiercely, dropping her cheek to the wall. Her body trembled with hot anticipation.

I can’t pull out, either, he said in ruhi.

“I want your young,” she said simply, plainly. The statement echoed slightly, making her think the room knew how important it was to both of them.

“What did I do right to deserve you?” he said, and then the growling started. Leilani reached behind herself and slid the zipper to her dress down quickly, flicking off the shoulder straps and dropping the dress to the floor. She kicked it away before Jaggar could destroy it. He could destroy anything else of hers he wanted, but not this dress, not what she was wearing the night he claimed her.

She wore nothing underneath.

The growling faltered, stumbled, then turned into the snarl of a jungle cat that scared Leilani for just a moment. Then her mate was there, his hands and his mouth on her, his hard cock pressing at her from behind. Yes. She opened to him.

He bit her from behind at the same time as he entered her from behind and she might have cried out, she didn’t know. Pleasure spread through her, so much it almost disconnected her from him. Her body clenched and her orgasm started, collapsing her against the wall. Jaggar was there. “I’ve got you,” he whispered into her ear.

***

Jaggar caught his mate and held her against him, his teeth still buried in her flesh. Her hot wet heat clenched him, demanding an orgasm from him, demanding he surrender his full self to her. He could deny her nothing. His cock jumped inside her, spilling heat and seed. He could no more pull out of her than he could not love her, and that was impossible. She was perfect for him.

Energetic angel wings erupted from her back, sealing them together in pleasure, lifting them both off the floor, leaving them nothing left to fight.

In the moment, he felt the true pulse of his mate’s immense power, the notion of her being fragile being pushed completely out of his head by its opposite. She was stronger than he would ever be.

Still his teeth were buried in her, still, their bodies were locked together. They came down slowly, and when his feet touched the ground, Tabias left him.

***

Leilani’s head lolled back as the all-consuming bliss of being claimed rocked through her. It came in such thick waves she didn’t know where her mate ended and where she began, where one orgasm stopped and the other started.

Pleasure and something more filled her. Power, maybe. A burning spread through the bite mark, into her body and mind, and she arched backwards, confused for a moment. Eventine had said it would not hurt at all.

Then her chest filled with strength and the clock in her mind flared the brightest silver yet. A feline snarl filled the world and made her cry out, then arch backwards. Her mate pulled out of her like he’d been pushed. He fell backwards on the floor, his head thunking like a melon, sending her into a panic, but she couldn’t turn around, couldn’t move, could not even get her back straight.

The silver flared brighter, the snarl boiled over until it was like no sound she’d ever heard before, and then thick silver pain shot through her head. She collapsed to the floor, but as quickly as the pain had come, it passed.

Tabias, to me.

The voice was strong and clear and filled the room. The catamount. Inside Leilani’s head, something shifted and the silver fell away from her mind completely.

Leilani didn’t dare move. She didn’t dare breathe. The moment was surreal and long-lasting and she might have thought she was dead if she didn’t need to check on-

“Jaggar,” she cried, her eyes squeezed tightly shut, not daring to open them. She scooted over the floor, feeling for him. There he was, big and on his back, unmoving, but breathing.

She kept her eyes shut and touched her head gently, probing for pain there. “Tabias?” she whispered.

“He’s gone,” Jaggar said, his voice ragged and worn down.

“Oh!” Shock made Leilani’s eyes fly open. Walls. Chairs. Floor. Not a thread of silver. Her gorgeous, gorgeous mate, staring at her with narrowed eyes and his hand on his forehead. He didn’t have a line down his face. They locked eyes. She laughed once, a barking laugh that hurt her throat, and then she cried, big bawling sobs that prostrated her on the floor.

“Tabias,” she said, the word clogging in her throat. “What did he do, Jaggar? Is he dead?”

Jaggar didn’t answer. He only put a hand on the back of her neck, rubbing it lightly.

He pulled her close, his body tense. “Yeager is talking to me. My… my wolf, Yeager. He says Tabias volunteered to do it, for me and you both. He took your… your clock to the meadow, and he’ll stay there now, with the catamount.”

Leilani clutched her mate to her chest, so happy, and so sad at the same time. Why did there always have to be a sacrifice?

No sacrifice, Lele. You will see Tabias again. He has much work in the meadow.

But her mate…

Her mate’s body changed under her fingers, filling out, thickening and twisting, until she felt thick, vibrant fur instead of bare flesh.

Yeager, the handsome gray timber wolf, scrambled to his feet, bent his head, and licked her face.