5

Mikkel

 

 

 

Mikkel watched as Thalia tried the pancakes he’d made for her.

These bad boy buttermilk beasts were stuffed with bacon and drizzled with syrup, and she eyed the five-stack with a wrinkled nose that didn’t exactly speak of delight.

“Are you sure you don’t want some of these?” she asked doubtfully, her head tilted as she took in the admittedly impressive stack.

If there was one food group Mikkel could cook, it was breakfast.

And nothing beat breakfast for dinner.

That was just a fucking fact.

“I don’t. They’re for you,” he told her, tongue-in-cheek, fully expecting to have to polish off three-quarters of the stack.

“I really don’t think. . . .”

“That’s right. Don’t think. Just try.” Ever since she’d told him of her horrendously healthy diet, he’d felt it was his duty as an American to clog her arteries some.

Sweet Jesus, the woman had barely had any bacon in her damn life. How the fuck she could call herself American was beyond Mikkel’s comprehension! And peanut butter? That had apparently been illegal in the TriAlpha household.

The whole ‘being kept under house arrest’ shit was bad enough, but torture by health food? That was something Amnesty International needed to be contacted about.

Stat.

She heaved out a sigh, then reaching for the knife and fork, cut into a segment. It was gooey now. The syrup and the butter had merged into one delicious morsel and his pancakes—which even his mom said were damn good—had soaked up the goodness.

Underneath, crispy pieces of bacon were peeping through, and as his own mouth started watering, he watched as she popped the sliver onto her tongue.

For a second, she just let it sit in her now-closed mouth. As she did, a look came across her face and he knew, point blank knew, that one day he’d make sure she had that look again when he was going down on her.

He had her.

He fucking had her.

“I knew you’d like them,” he told her smugly as she let out a deep, low moan that made his balls tighten.

It was really damn hard not to adjust himself.

Fuck.

“Sweet gods,” she blurted out after finishing that piece off. “What is this?”

“Better than IHOP, baby,” he told her proudly, and dusted off his shoulder.

“I have no idea what IHOP is, but holy fuck, these are good.”

For a second, he just gaped at her, and made another inward note to dose her fathers’ coffee with laxatives or throw them in the pool at the earliest convenience.

Then, he shrugged the thought off because that spoke of the future. And the present was enough to be dealing with.

Quite content to watch her eat, he felt his mouth gape wider and wider as she proceeded to polish off the stack of five pancakes that were as round as dinner plates.

As each one disappeared, he studied her, wondering where the fuck she’d put it.

“That was delicious,” she told him, patting her mouth with a napkin. “I can’t believe how good they tasted.”

He couldn’t believe she’d just packed away two thousand calories worth of brunch in one sitting.

“I bow down to your stomach,” he told her with a wide grin, and compounded the glory by literally bowing and waving his hands, too. “We are not worthy, we are not worthy.”

She snorted. “What’s so funny?”

“You ate it all. All of it,” he repeated, still taken aback.

“You told me to,” she grumbled, fiddling with the fork.

“I know I did, but I’m. . . .” He winced. “Fuck.”

“What?” She swung her legs, which made the counter seat rotate a little from side to side.

“I’m used to human females. They eat salad and pick at that.”

Her cheeks flushed. “Oh.”

“Yeah. ‘Oh’.” Fuck, why had he brought that up? Clearing his throat, he murmured, “I thought I’d be finishing it off, that’s all.”

“I should have saved you some. I’m really sorry.” She jumped down from the stool, her cheeks flushed. “I can make you some breakfast?”

“No.” He held up his hands—for the first time in his life, showing them in the sign of surrender. “It’s okay. I-I should go for a run anyway.”

“You should?” Thalia peered at him. “Why? It’s hot out.”

“I’m used to it. I was in the Middle East, remember?”

“Yeah, but you’re not anymore.”

He hated working out during the day, but he wasn’t about to tell her that. Not when he was busy comparing his last lay to Thalia, and thinking about her having seen him with the random Tinder date he’d picked up when he’d arrived Stateside.

The idea of those visions fucking sucked. So, having to live with them? No wonder her She-Wolf was batshit.

With guilt gnawing at him, he gave her a tight smile. “I’ll see you later, okay?”

She blinked at him. “Okay. Thank you for breakfast, Mikkel.”

“Brunch, babe. Brunch,” he corrected, then saluting her, got the fuck out of Dodge.

 

** **

Rafe

 

“How are you doing?”

Rafe frowned as he turned away from his laptop and stared at his mate. Gods, she was beautiful, and for some reason, had a fetish for his shirts.

Not that he was going to complain when she looked like fucking sin in them.

His lips curved as he took in the short yet somehow long legs that were toned and firm to an extent that spoke of how in shape her She-Wolf was. The two were at peak condition. Like a combination of someone who could run a marathon while also being able to win a Spartan Race.

“I’m okay. Are you?” When she hovered in the doorway, he cocked a brow and held out a hand as he twisted his desk chair around to face her properly.

Seeing he’d made a place for her, she stepped forward. Her hand was hesitant as she placed her fingers in his, but there was no hesitation in his as he dragged her onto his lap.

The minute she was there, she curled into him like a kitten. Her head settled against his chest as he jostled her slightly for their mutual comfort. The chair rocked back with their weight and it put them at a great angle, so much so, he sighed with the joy of it.

Gods, having her in his arms was like being welcomed into heaven.

He rubbed his chin against her crown, and murmured, “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

“Liar,” he told her without heat, even as he sucked up air that was dosed in her scent as well as his laundry detergent.

“Are you working?”

He hummed under his breath as he rested his hand on her knee which peeked out under the hem of his shirt. Letting his fingers trace up and down her calf, he continued, “A little.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means I’m going through my emails.”

She started to sit up, but he hushed her and tightened his arm about her waist. “Don’t move. This is nice.” And it was. Nice wasn’t even the word.

A sigh escaped her. “It is.” She tilted her head down, but he could see her lick her lips. “This is my favorite place in the world.”

He grinned. “Really?”

“Really.” She pressed her forehead to his chest. “I love you, Rafe.”

“I know you do.” Somehow, he knew she didn’t want to hear him say the words, but wanted to know he was aware of her feelings for him.

“No matter what,” she insisted.

“I know. And, Thalia, I feel the same way.”

“Good.”

His lips quirked at her satisfied sigh, for Thalia, at that moment, all was right with the world. “Where’s Mikkel?”

“Went for a run.”

“You’ve been talking to him all day, haven’t you?” There was no heat to his tone. He wasn’t jealous of her giving the other male attention, but he’d been careful to give them space.

She needed to get to know Mikkel as well as she did him, and she couldn’t do that with him hovering. It had been no hardship for him to escape to his office and catch up with some work.

Mikkel was exactly what Thalia needed. Not that she didn’t need Rafe, he was under no illusion about that. He had not one ounce of fear in his soul that she wouldn’t want him any longer. But Mikkel was the protector Rafe would never be.

Truth was, he wondered what role her third mate would bring to their relationship. With Rafe being the healer and Mikkel the soldier, what place would another male take? What did the Mother consider imperative for Thalia to have at her side?

“Do you mind?”

As she plucked at the hem of his shirt, messing with the lines in a way the delicate tailored linen would never recover from, he pressed another kiss to her forehead. “Why should I?”

“Because . . . I don’t know. I’d be jealous if I were you.”

His lips curved at that. “Because you’re a minx.”

She tilted her head to peer up at him. “Maybe.”

That had him laughing. “No maybe about it. It’s the truth. But . . . I don’t feel that way. I feel connected to him, too, Thalia.”

“How?”

“I don’t know.” He ignored her narrowed eyes, instead tried to think of a way of answering her curiosity in a way that would fulfil them both. “Like my Wolf is aware he’s what you need, and so is at peace with the situation.”

“I’m glad, because the last thing I want is for you to be unhappy.”

He smiled at her then pressed a kiss to the tip of her nose. It wasn’t sexual, but that was intentional. “Thalia?”

She hummed, “Yes?” Her arms came up to wrap around his neck.

“Do you remember the day we claimed one another?”

Her eyes sparkled. “As if I could forget.” The joy in her tone made him wonder if he was wise broaching this subject but, in many ways, she was one of the strongest females he’d ever known, while also being one of the most vulnerable.

He was aware that made little to no sense.

Rafe had treated Gamma females who’d been abused by Torres, he’d seen his mother being beaten by his father. How could this one woman be more vulnerable?

Truth was, he couldn’t say. He just knew that his Wolf, those talents that the beast gave him, sparked to life in her vicinity. The Wolf wasn’t interested in healing, though. It was more that the creature wanted his mate to realize how perfect she was to him.

“When you didn’t think I’d accept you, you said you could change. Why did you say that?”

She stiffened, as he’d known she would, on his lap. Tension filled her, and her brow crinkled in distress. “Rafe?”

“I want to know,” he urged. “I need to know.”

“Why?”

“Because you’re perfect, and yet you said you’d change for me.”

For a second, she was silent, and then she turned her face into his chest. “I was desperate.” A hard laugh escaped her. “Sexy, huh?”

“No,” he admitted calmly, but he tightened his grip on her when she stiffened. “It’s not sexy. And maybe it is a little pathetic. But that’s what I don’t understand. I know you now. Not one bit of you is pathetic. You’re a warrior. It’s in your bones.”

She seemed to ponder that, truly ponder it because she didn’t speak for several moments, and then, when she did, she about broke his heart. “Around you, Rafe, I’m not a warrior. I’m a woman. And I’m a woman with flaws and imperfections.” She sucked in a shuddery breath. “All my life, I’ve been told I’m not good enough. Poor little rich girl, I know,” she said on another mocking laugh that made him cringe inwardly. “But, this is more than just being told you’re shit at something. I was literally the downfall of my species in my parents’ eyes, Rafe. Can you even begin to understand what that could do to someone?”

“No,” he admitted. “I was a disappointment to my family, but it was localized. Contained.”

“I hate that your parents put you through that.”

“You think I don’t hate what yours did to you?”

She jerked a shoulder. “I guess. I-I’m not diminishing what you went through. Not at all. I’m just. . . . When you’re never good enough for the people who are supposed to love you, why would you be good enough for someone you need to love you? And why wouldn’t I do anything in my power, even change the way I look, to make sure I didn’t lose you?”

If she’d plunged a knife into his belly, she couldn’t have hurt him more. And then, he saw the agony in her eyes and felt his throat close in response. It took several attempts at clearing it to be able to speak. “I didn’t think I was good enough for you.”

“And you know I felt the same way.”

“But you’re. . . .” Words failed him. “You. How could you not be good enough? You’re beautiful. Fuck, Thalia, you’re perfect!”

“But you were going to walk away from me. I couldn’t take that, Rafe. I couldn’t be alone. I just couldn’t do it. I needed you more than I needed my pride, and I know that’s shameful. I guess I let women around the world down that day. But . . . I’d waited so long for you, and you were going to walk away. I couldn’t spend another moment without you, Rafe. You have to understand that. I was so alone, and had been for so long.” She wriggled her shoulders. “I had no choice. And my She-Wolf was in complete agreement.”

She’d submitted to him, he realized now. But he didn’t say the words aloud. Only now, with time and distance between that point and today, could he see that, and he vowed that Thalia would never have to debase herself in that way.

Ever a-fucking-gain.

Resolute in that, he lowered his mouth to hers and told her again, “You’re perfect.” He’d tell her a million times, anything to make her realize she was exactly that to him.

Her lips curved a little. “Thank you.”

“If anyone isn’t worthy here, it’s me.”

Immediately, she scowled at him. “Don’t you dare say that.”

Knowing that would be her reply, he grinned. “See? Takes one to know one.”

Realizing his game, she laughed. “You got me.”

“I did,” he said with no small amount of satisfaction. “You can’t put yourself down if I can’t either. Deal?”

“Deal.” She pulled a face. “And here I was thinking you were up here hiding or something. I should have had faith in you. Instead, you were plotting and planning.”

He snorted. “Hardly. Well, not on that score. I was just giving you space and some time alone with Mikkel, and I really did have some things to catch up on.” Things that did require some organization.

She pursed her lips. “We need to figure out a way to make sure you. . . .”

He cocked a brow at her, more than willing to fight over this. Again. “We already discussed this. I’m going on a sabbatical.”

He’d used most of his vacation time to stay with Thalia at the TriAlpha palace, and then, when they’d come to the decision that being the Triskele was the next logical step, he’d told her he was going to ask for a sabbatical until they figured out the next phase of their lives together.

She wasn’t happy about it, but he couldn’t see an alternative solution.

“If you want to go around being Triskele, Thalia, you know we can’t fly back for surgery and rounds as much as I’d need to to maintain my practice. It doesn’t work like that.”

“I don’t want you to give up something you love.”

He sighed. “It’s my vocation. But so is what we’re going to do together.”

“You don’t know that.”

“Don’t I?” He grinned at her. “Speak for yourself. I think I saved your butt in the arena last night.”

“This is true. Although you distracted me enough to get hit.”

He winced. “I know.” Blowing out a breath, he whispered, “I’m so sorry.”

She turned her face and reached up to rub her lips on his chin. “Don’t be. I’m glad we learned you could do that. Still, can’t you just request more time off? I don’t want you to cut ties with–”

“I don’t care about cutting ties, Thalia. Don’t you understand, I only ever became a surgeon because I had no place in this world. I had to become a part of human society to do something with myself, to find a niche. Now, with you, you’re changing that. You’re bringing me home, bringing me back to exactly where I want to be.”

She swallowed, and her light-blue eyes turned stormy at his words. “I need you.”

He smiled gently. “I need you, too.”

Thalia’s hand reached for his, she pulled it from her calf and dragged it up to her thigh. “I need you inside me.”

He frowned. “Are you sure?”

As he started to turn back toward the door, she stilled him. “He went out for a run. I told you.”

“Funny time to go for a run. It’s damn hot out there.” And it was. It was summer and just past two in the afternoon—it would be molten.

“I guess it’s cooler than Afghanistan. Either that, or he was BSing me and just wanted some space.”

“He’s overwhelmed.”

“Can’t blame him.”

“I can,” Rafe said darkly. “He’s being a douche.”

She snorted. “He’s entitled. He’s known about this less than a day.”

“I know, but what I don’t is how he’s kept his hands off you.” He shook his head. “Braver man than me.”

She cocked a brow at him. “Brave?”

He grinned. “Yeah. Brave.”

“Not sure that’s the right word, babe.”

Something inside him perked up at her endearment. “You think I’m a babe?”

Flinging her head back with her laughter, she tightened her arms around his neck and squeezed him. “I think you’re gorgeous.”

“Yeah? The feeling’s mutual,” he murmured huskily, his hands reaching for her ass as his lips sought hers.

They supped from one another for what felt like endless moments. Licking and tasting, exploring and learning. It was a revelation. But then, each time with her was.

She savored him like he was a chocolate truffle, he thought amusedly. She lapped him up like he was whipped cream, and then, she managed to set him alight with the way she was both submissive and dominant, bringing his Wolf to life in ways he’d never known before.

The way she flung her head back?

That meant nothing to a human. It meant everything to a Lyken. She submitted to him, bared her throat for his attack, and she did it with more and more frequency. She let him kiss her there, her most vulnerable spot. Let him suck down and mark her, with his lips and with his teeth.

She submitted in the most basic way of their kind, and it was like being given the keys to a damn city every time she did it.

Then, there was the way she’d take charge. Not afraid to entice him into fucking her mouth with his tongue, totally willing to grab a hold of his hands and drag them to her breasts, to make him touch her exactly where she needed to be touched.

The contrasting sides were delicious and delightful, and all the more reason to spend hours upon hours in bed.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t going to happen anytime soon.

While his body wept with frustration, his mind was focused on the here and now.

He could have his mate, could give her the pleasure she needed. And his Wolf suddenly needed that very badly.

He grabbed her ass and tucked her tighter against him, and as he did, his hands slid over her hips. Her line-free hips. A groan escaped him, and he pulled his mouth from hers, pressed his forehead to her own, then whispered, “You’re killing me.”

She giggled, the sound soft and youthful, and completely uncharacteristic of her. Sometimes, it was hard to remember how young she was. Impossible in the face of her maturity. That little sound made his damn heart melt and simultaneously expand with feeling for her.

“When did you take them off?”

“The minute he went out,” she told him, peppering his lips with little kisses, dotting them around his mouth, wherever she could reach without breaking the connection.

“Minx. You planned this?”

“What do you think?” she asked with a little snort. “I knew you wouldn’t want him to hear us.”

He winced. “Was I that obvious?”

“When you didn’t make a move this morning?” She wrinkled her nose. “Yeah. I saw that morning wood you were packing, felt it, too.” When she licked her lips, as though remembering his taste, as though wanting to savor it further, he felt everything in him tighten with desire. “When you didn’t try anything, I knew it was because of Mikkel.”

He sighed. “I just need time.”

“And you can have as much as you need, my love,” she informed him, but it wasn’t a grand gesture on her part. She didn’t say it like she was making a major concession. She gave the words with that side of her nature he was coming to learn—the generous part that would give her life to protect and serve the people she’d been born to rule.

Then, she spoiled the grandiose thoughts he was having about her by grinning wickedly at him. “That just means we have to find sneaky moments.”

That excited her, he realized. His eyes darkened as he studied her flushed features, the peachy blossoms on her cheeks where arousal had stained them, the ice-bright eyes that flashed with arousal and flickered slightly—telling him her She-Wolf was as in control as ever.

That was a concern, but the beast was as much his mate as this armful on his lap.

Taking advantage of that, he reached forward and lunged upward with her in his arms. She squeaked, clung to his neck, and then let out a grunt when he pushed her into the wall of windows behind his desk.

When he worked from home, he liked to look out onto the pool, to take in the view of Austin, to watch over his domain that had been a lifetime in the making.

Now?

Now he wanted to see the fire in Thalia’s eyes, the sun bleaching her hair white as he fucked her with that view. She was a part of his domain now, and he wanted this memory lasered onto his retinas.

Her thighs tightened about his hips as she arched her back, rippling like a cat as she whispered, “Mm, the glass is warm.”

“Too warm?” he asked, concerned enough to drag her back against his chest.

“No. It’s nice,” she said with a purr, her grin wicked as she reached between them and began to unfasten the shirt buttons.

“Can you wear my shirts every day, please?” he asked a touch hoarsely as he watched her reveal, inch by inch, skin that reminded him of vanilla ice cream—the kind he wanted to eat by the gallon.

“Of course,” she said on a chuckle. “For bed or around the house?”

“Either answer is acceptable,” he told her on a grunt as she revealed her flushed tits with the cherry nipples.

Nostrils flaring, he bowed his head and pressed his lips to each peak in a kiss. Her hands came up to run through his hair, and he groaned as her nails dragged over the sensitive skin of his scalp. He pounced then, sucking one nubbin into his mouth with a harsh touch that dragged a moan from her. Then, he did the same with the second one.

Using his weight to hold her up, he reached between them to free his cock from his pants, and with the other, cupped the breast he wasn’t teasing with his mouth.

Her hips were low, so low that his cock brushed the curve of her ass when he freed it. She stilled at the wet kiss then let out a deep, guttural moan that set his Wolf to pacing in his very soul. Unaccustomed to that restless agitation, he froze a second, uncertain of what to do.

No woman had ever awoken his Wolf, and the creature rarely stirred even with the full moon. To feel him now?

Was this what Thalia had to endure?

This strange sense of feeling flustered? Like you weren’t alone? The very real proof that you were sharing your soul with someone else–someone else that didn’t understand human rules and etiquette?

He panted hard enough to release her nipple and pressed his forehead between her breasts to catch his breath as the Wolf seemed to explore the limitations of the cage it was in.

“Rafe?” she asked, hoarsely. “What’s wrong?”

For a second, he couldn’t speak. Then, in a broken voice, he whispered, “You woke my Wolf.”

Silence fell. “Has that never happened before?”

Her tone was curiously blank. “No,” he admitted.

“Oh,” she whispered, but he could hear the lazy satisfaction that made a sudden appearance in her words.

He sucked down air like there was an oxygen shortage as the Wolf started to butt the cage he was kept in while Rafe was in his human form. The sharp gasp that fled from his lips had her hands coming up to his jaw. She forced him to look at her, moving against the pressure he exerted to keep his head resting between her breasts, so she could look him in the eye.

She hummed. “It’s normal between mates, love,” she said in a low tone, the hum seeming to vibrate through the words in a way that was pitched for both man and beast.

He felt the Wolf’s ears prick, felt the creature still, his attention on their female.

“My She-Wolf wants your Wolf as badly as I want you.”

He licked his lips. “My Wolf’s small.” He ignored the beast’s outraged snarl.

“Your Wolf’s perfect.”

“He’s weak,” he whispered, shaking his head as much as he could in the tight clasp she had on his jaw.

“He’s made for me. My soft to your hard.”

“It’s the other way around,” he gritted out. “I’m soft. You’re hard.”

“You’re perfect,” she countered easily, the words throbbing with sincerity. “You’re what I need. You make me normal, Rafe. You bring me peace. You bring her peace. I can breathe around you; did you know that?”

He blinked. “What do you mean?”

“I mean . . .,” She paused to lick her lips, her eyes flashing in a way that said the She-Wolf was coming to the fore, “before you, my She-Wolf was always there. The way your Wolf has awoken? Mine never sleeps. With you, she rests. She only flares to life if she thinks you’re in danger.”

“That’s not right, Thalia. I’m supposed to protect you,” he ground out, and making to pull away, found he couldn’t when her legs clamped around his hips with a power that made him grit his teeth.

“You do protect me,” she stated, her calm tone starting to fray slightly. “You think I need you to protect me with your fists?” Thalia snarled at that. “My She-Wolf doesn’t need that. She needs you. I need you. Didn’t you hear me? You bring me peace. Do you know how safe that makes me feel? Do you know what that does to me?”

He stilled, the words penetrating the shame that was bone deep. The ingrained humiliation that had been instilled from the very moment he’d realized he was different from his sisters, when he’d learned his father hated him. Not for what he did, not for misbehaving or anything like that, but for what he was.

“What? What does it do?” he asked, desperate to hear her answer.

“You know how close to the edge I am, Rafe,” she admitted, beginning to stroke his jaw with her thumb. “You drag me back from the precipice. You make me feel human again. You make my She-Wolf less restless. You bring me something nobody ever has.

“I don’t need your claws. I don’t need your fangs. You’re my haven, baby. Can’t you understand that?”

A shaky sigh escaped him, and he pulled away from her touch on his jaw but only because he wasn’t pulling free of her hold, but leaning into it. He rested against her breast once more and sucked in a shaky breath. “I need to get over this, don’t I?” he admitted gruffly.

Her small laugh made his lips twitch, then shivers ran down his spine as she played with the ends of his hair. “You do. But these insecurities are a lifetime in the making. We have all the time in the world to make you realize you’re not my inferior, Rafe. You’re my equal.”

The words would stick with him like the best glue in the universe. He made a vow that, no matter what they faced, no matter what happened, he’d hold them up like a talisman to ward off the feelings of inferiority that plagued him.

She was right.

She didn’t need his fangs or his claws. She needed the part of him that was a healer. She needed his Wolf’s talents that weren’t sourced in brawn or might, but that were mystical and Goddess-granted.

He was strong, Rafe realized. Just not in the way that was cherished by their people. But different didn’t mean wrong, and it was time he started climbing that particular learning curve.

Turning his head to the side, he reached for her nipple. She froze for a second as he sucked the cherry-tip into his mouth, and then, just like he’d flicked a switch, the inferno raged between them once more like they’d never had that conversation, like they hadn’t just had an erection-draining discussion about his inadequacies.

Shuddering, he palmed her ass with one hand and grabbed his cock with the other. He slipped the tip between them, loving how she arched her spine, and spread her legs wider, so she could accommodate him.

He pulled back once he’d raked his teeth down a sensitive nub, and collecting her weight on one hand, stared down between them to see the tip of his cock running through her hot, slick folds.

They both shuddered at the visual. The crest of his sex was slick with both his juices and hers, and it was a ruddy purple from the need he felt.

“My softness to your hardness,” she whispered, and the words broke him.

They fucking annihilated him.

With a snarl, he tensed his ass and arched up onto tiptoe. Using that momentum, he found her entrance and pushed home.

She resisted at first, she was still so small. But her pussy conceded to him as it always would, he knew. She enfolded him in her scorching hot depths, searing him with the fire that burned for him.

When he hit home, she moaned, her body close to vibrating against the wall of glass that supported her. Her eyes were closed, her head tilted back against the windows. He watched her for a second, saw her process what he was doing to her, and knew he had to mark her.

She was already covered in love bites. They dotted her throat, her chest. Her breastbone and belly. Even between her thighs, there were the marks of his touch. Just like his body was equally as claimed. But at that moment, in that singular moment where they were together as true equals, he needed his teeth on her.

Shifting forward changed the angle of his cock, and another guttural groan escaped her. His Wolf, still restless, keened at that, and knowing what the man wanted, the beast urged him on. With both sides of his nature in accord for once, there was no way Rafe could stop himself from pouncing.

When his teeth clamped around her throat, hard enough to make her squeak a little in protest, the inevitable happened.

He knotted inside her.

She tensed in his arms, and with zero thrusting on his part, she blew apart, too.

It was crazy, it was insane. It was impossible. But it wasn’t. It was happening. Now.

Her nails dug into his back, and he felt the shirt shred under her touch. He felt blood prickle to the surface, staining the air with a metallic scent that his Wolf reacted to.

He felt his cum damn near boil in his balls, spurting free with the need to overwhelm her with his scent, to make her smell of him wherever they went today. For all males to know she was claimed and that she was his.

The sounds of her orgasm, the way she clutched down on him, made him feel like he was about to go crazy. His beast was no longer restless, but that pacing was incessant, endless.

In self-defense, Rafe rocked his hips, tugging at the knot in a way that had keening cries escaping them both. And then, just when his orgasm started to die down, it was her turn to stun him.

Though she was pinned to the wall with his weight on hers, his cock inside her, and his teeth at her throat, somehow, she angled her head so that she could bite him, too.

As her teeth sank into his throat, as she clamped a hold on him once more, he felt it again.

The soaring whirlwind that morphed into a hurricane that decimated his defenses, that made his cock hard and his soul weak, a storm of sensation that roared into power.

Her cries flooded his ears, the rhythmic pulsing of her cunt around his shaft as she exploded into orgasm, made his sensitive dick rage into life once more.

As lights began to prickle behind his eyes, as his ears rushed with the sound of his pulse, he knew, in his hearts of hearts, that this had been their second claiming.

Only that of their Wolves truly counted, but this? It was in their skin.

She was his, and he was hers.

And while he’d never doubted that, while he’d only feared that he’d never be good enough for her, this eradicated any concerns.

They were made for each other.

He was born to be inside her, and she had been born to shelter him.

The Goddess had willed it, and Rafe would spend the rest of his life on his knees in thanks for her gift.