Page 92 of Veil of Shadows

And then I was sitting on the bathroom counter, hauled up on it so quickly that my head spun. Jax was peeling my clothes off, his coming free just as fast. The need inside me grew stronger, more urgent. Jax was my mate.Mymate.

His lips met mine, our tongues clashed, and my fingers raked down his bare skin, relishing the feel of his naked chest.

In a blink, his antlers emerged in a tidal wave of potent magic. Their huge span brushed the walls. Breaking our kiss only long enough to see what I was doing, I tentatively touched an antler, not even knowing I was going to until my fingers curled around the right one and then, with my other hand, the left. They felt textured. Rough. In a way, his antlers felt like stone.

I caressed them, running my fingers along that part of him, marveling at their width and feel.

“Fuck, Elowen.” A wild grunt came from Jax’s throat as my feathery touches cascaded over his antlers, and then in a flurry of speed, we were both entirely naked, and his hard length was parting my folds as he entered me with a single thrust.

He plunged himself inside me so swiftly that I arched against him, grabbing a hold of his antlers to steady myself. My grip only seemed to heighten his frenzy, so I held on fully and ran my hands up and down them, crying out with each buck of his hips.

He pumped into me hard and fast, with so much force that my entire body shook, and the counter groaned beneath me.

“Mine, Elowen,” he grunted and slammed into me again. “You’re fuckingmine.”

“And you’re mine, Jax,” I replied as my bottom squeaked against the counter. “Forever and always.”

The wildness around him grew, and then his magic simmered in the air, coasting over my mark, heating my blood. Something cracked open inside me, and tendrils of my magic surged forth. But instead of trying to stop my magic from colliding with his, I let the well to my power burst open, knowing there was no going back after this, but with the bond gaining hold of me, I was powerless to stop it.

Magic slammed out of me, heading toward Jax until our powers collided. Spirals of our magic swirled around us, entwining, embracing, and tangling together. My magic coated him as his did to me, and that was when I fully felt our connection solidify. The fated bond within me fully, finally connected with his.

A shattering of power melded our souls, and his mark burned on my neck just as light flared on his wrist. The skin near his palm, shone with a twist of shadows and the eye of a semelee. A lorafin’s mark. The same mark I bore upon my lower stomach. My stamp was now upon him, just as his was upon me.

Jax growled in pleasure when my mark settled on his skin, enacting the final acts of our bond.

He slammed into me even harder, and our souls blended and became one. Finally, the instinct he’d been feeling all along, the deep throbbing need to claim another as their own, fully awoke within me too.

The need to be with this male, own him, claim him...it nearly overtook me.

And in that moment, when Jax did a final thrust inside me, and we both came together, our climaxes shooting through our bodies in a final blazing light, I realized that he was right. He’d been right all along.

I was his fated mate.

And he was mine.

And somehow, we would figure out a way to forge a path together.

CHAPTER 25

Jax carried me from the bathing chambers, my body limp and sated. Internally, a new bond hummed inside me. Golden, beautiful strands danced within me, linking my soul to my mate’s. We were mated. Bonded. This was more than just a stag claiming a female, and there was no going back. I’d heard that mate bonds allowed you to feel the other, but I’d never known it would be likethis.

I felt Jax’s presence, his very being, and his emotions strummed into me. Love. Satisfaction. Possessiveness. The ultimate victory.

Back in the bedroom, he set me down on the cool sheets, his eyes glowing like twin sapphires. He crawled in beside me and gathered me in his arms.

Soft kisses were pressed to my mouth, throat, cheeks, eyes, breasts, stomach...everywhere Jax’s mouth traveled, I felt his love filling me up, rolling through me like a warm spring coming to life after a harsh, cold winter.

My bond vibrated in contentment.

“We’ll figure this out,” he said softly. “I don’t care if my father and mother disown me. I don’t care if I’m dishonored among the Houses. I won’t give you up.”

I laid a hand on his cheek and nodded. “I’m not giving you up either.”

A soft knock came on the door, and Jax immediately growled and whipped the covers over me. Possessive energy strummed from him, and my insides curled as the extent of his protectiveness washed over me.

So this is what it’s like to be mated.

It was the only thought I had before Jax called, “Enter.”

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