I pulled her against me, and the kiss was everything I needed it to be.Desperate and tender at once, possessive and pleading in equal measure.She opened for me, her tongue sliding against mine, her body soft and warm in my arms.
Now.My wolf demanded.Claim her now.Complete the bond.Make her ours forever.
The claiming bite.The one thing I had denied us both.My father’s shadow still loomed, the memory of my mother’s screams, the blood, the moment he lost control and destroyed the person he loved most.
“Raphael.”Lena pulled back, her eyes searching mine.“What is it?”
“The claiming bite,” I said, my voice rough.“You asked about it before.”
“You weren’t ready.”
“I’m terrified.”The confession came out ragged.“If I lose control.If I hurt you.If I become him.”
She cupped my face in her hands.“You won’t.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I do.”Her eyes were steady, fearless.“I know you.I know the man and the wolf.You have more control than you give yourself credit for.”She tilted her head, baring her throat.“I want the bond.I want to feel you.All of you.”
My wolf trembled inside me, and my hands shook against her skin.
“Lena.”
“I choose this,” she said.“I choose you.Both the man and the wolf.Forever.”
I kissed her again, harder this time, my control already fraying.We fell onto the bed together, hands pulling at clothes, skin against skin.Her scent surrounded me, mixed with the warm honey of her arousal, and my wolf was a living thing inside me, straining to be free.
I positioned myself between her thighs, feeling her heat, her wetness, the way her body opened for me.Her eyes held mine as I pushed inside, slow and deep, and the sound she made undid me.
“Raphael.”My name on her lips like a prayer.
I moved inside her, long deep strokes that built the tension between us.Her nails dug into my shoulders.Her legs wrapped around my waist.The collar gleamed at her throat, and I could feel the pull between us humming, straining, waiting to be completed.
My fangs descended.I could feel them, sharp and ready, aching to pierce her skin.My vision turned crimson.My claws extended without my permission, pricking the sheets on either side of her.
Now.My wolf demanded, his voice a roar that drowned out rational thought.Bite her NOW.Make her ours forever.No one else will ever touch her.Claim her before we lose our minds.
I buried my face in her neck, breathing her in.Her pulse fluttered against my lips, fast and trusting.She tilted her head further, giving me access, and the submission in that gesture nearly broke me.
“Beg me.”The words came out guttural, more growl than speech.The wolf was so close to the surface that my voice no longer sounded human.“Tell me you want my mark.Tell me you want to be mine forever.”
“I love you,” she gasped.“Raphael, I love you.Claim me.Make me yours.Please.I want your mark.I want to be yours forever.”
The words shattered the last of my resistance.
I am not him.I have never been him.
I bit down.
Her blood flooded my mouth, hot and sweet, and my wolf roared in triumph.The bond snapped into place like a live wire connecting us.Mine.Finally, completely mine.No one could take her from me now.I felt her.Not just her body wrapped around me, not just her pleasure as she cried out beneath me.I felt her love, her trust, her complete and total acceptance of everything I was.
It hit me like a wave.Her emotions, her sensations, flooding into me until I could not tell where I ended and she began.She was gasping, feeling me too, feeling my devotion, my terror, my overwhelming relief.
I thrust deeper, lost in her, and she came apart with my name on her lips and my teeth in her shoulder.Her pleasure crashed into me, doubling back on itself until I had no choice but to follow her over the edge, spilling inside her with a roar that was pure wolf, pure animal, a sound of primal triumph that shook the walls.
The wolf was howling inside me, triumphant and complete at last.
I released her shoulder and licked the wound, watching my saliva seal it.The claiming mark would scar, a permanent sign of what we were to each other.Bonded mates, now and forever.