She was like a goddess sprawled across the silk sheets. Gillian was unlike any woman I had known. There was one thing I hadn’t mentioned. One thing I hadn’t been able to tell her. I was too wrapped up in touching her. Kissing her. Pleasing her. How was I supposed to tell her she was my mate? That the intensity between us wasn’t a coincidence. It was something that would be with us the rest of our lives. The shifter inside me was plagued with the need to confess, but the lust for her was winning.

I gazed into her eyes. Her tits rose and fell. I eyed them hungrily. I wanted them. My fangs wanted to perform the mating ritual. I wanted to drink from her tits. I’d already tasted her honey and it was fucking exquisite. I needed more.

My cock throbbed to be inside her.

“Condoms?” she whispered. She looked at me expectantly. “I don’t have anything with me.”

Damn it. I wanted to fuck her raw. My cock searing into her pussy with nothing between us. I wanted to fill her with my seed. It was the only thing my bear could focus on. This woman was meant to bear my cubs.

It didn’t have to happen tonight, though. I lunged off the bed. “Let’s take this to my room,” I suggested. “I have everything you want and need, love.”

She chewed on her lip. “Did I say something wrong? Safe sex is a thing in Galona isn’t it? Because it’s a deal breaker for me.”

I nodded. “Of course it is. And no, you didn’t say anything wrong. I have plenty for the night and the morning.” I kissed her neck.

I wasn’t going to stop fucking her until we both fell asleep from complete exhaustion. My bear would have to get over the impulse to fill her with cubs tonight. He’d found his mate. He had to accept where she was in this process. Right now, she was in the dark. She wanted sex, not a life mate. All of that would happen with time.

I only had to look at my brothers to know that was true. They had found their mates. Women who had never known bear shifters existed before they came into the Marquis fold. Women who wanted cubs and a life in this family once they learned the truth. It was possible. Gillian needed time.

We needed tonight.

I was careful as I carried her to my bed. I didn’t know how much pain she was in with her arm. I got it. She didn’t feel anything now but the adrenaline rush. Her body surged with the orgasm I gave her. It was like an organic shot of anesthesia. Want and need superseded pain.

I was going to take care of her now, and that included her arm. I wouldn’t let her reinjure it, or make it worse. A bone bruise would take time to heal.

Her sweet scent surrounded me. She was eager for me. I could smell the honey dripping from her delicious pussy.

The master bedroom was dark. I folded back the comforter and slid her on her back.

“This is crazy, isn’t it?” she asked. Her voice was soft and quiet.

“No, it’s not.” I opened the bedside drawer and revealed an accordion packet of condoms. I grinned. “Is this enough for you, love?” I teased.

She swallowed. I could see her expression despite the dark shadows. My shifter eyes adjusted quickly to the dimness.

I ran my fingers between her legs. She closed her eyes and purred. All she needed was a stirring reminder. I pushed a finger inside her and she gasped.

“Somehow I don’t think for one second you think this is crazy. I think you’ve wanted this as long as I have.”

She tipped her hips forward, sending my finger deeper. “Maybe,” she taunted.

I slipped another finger insider her and she hissed. “You want it, love. Just say it.”

Her hips moved wildly as I began to push my fingers in and out, while I positioned her legs wide. She was spread open on the bed for me, like a gorgeous gift.

I took my fingers to my lips, licking her honey.

I groaned and quickly ripped the foil packet open. I rolled the condom over my wide shaft. It was pointed toward her heat. Toward home. Toward the sanctuary I’d sought all day.

She tilted her pussy toward me, letting her legs fall open.

I held my cock as I nudged the tip to her swollen pussy. My eyes closed. It was so hot and wet. Even through the stupid condom, I could feel the pull to her. The need to drive into her.

I wasn’t sure how to convince my bear to savor her body instead of slamming into it. How to tell him to enjoy each inch, instead of devouring it in one gulp.

“Liam,” she called to me. “I need this. I need to forget this day.”

“I know you do, love. I know.”

Her walls stretched around my steel shaft. She was so tight, I was afraid I’d hurt her. I’d cause more pain than pleasure with the first fuck. But maybe this girl was as greedy as my bear. Her good hand gripped my ass, urging me forward.

“Fuck me, hard,” she moaned. “Please.”

All restraint was gone. All patience lost. The remnants of my humanity were shattered as I plunged inside her.

It was like slicing into a crevice of heaven. My cock felt the consuming heat of her pussy as the friction built between us. My feet were anchored to the floor as I began to pump in and out. She matched my pace with a frenzied rhythm of her own.

She was unbelievable. Everything a mate should be. Sexual. Beautiful. Brave.

The more we fucked, the harder it was to keep my fangs from growing. They pushed forward as the sweat dripped down my chest, pooling on her belly. Fuck. I wanted to fill her with my seed.

I wanted to rip this condom to threads and shoot my release deep inside her. I could root and hilt myself so that there was no air between us. No space. Nothing but heat and electricity. A place for our cubs to grow and become strong. I groaned, forcing my fangs to retreat.

I kept eyeing her tits with an unquenchable thirst. One slice from my bear’s teeth and the honey would flow. Our bond would be completed with my seed and her honey. Fuck this was hard.

“Oh Liam,” she moaned. “It feels do damn good.”

I looked into her eyes, and suddenly she brought me back to earth. She restored the strings of my humanity that I had let come untethered.

“Fuck yes,” I agreed.

“More,” she begged.

“Your arm,” I reminded her. It wasn’t like I could flip her on her stomach without hurting her. We were limited on options, that didn’t require her to use some sort of support of balance.

“Let me ride you, please,” she whispered.

It was then that I realized this woman was damn near perfect.