Page 55 of Fated Exile

He growls, sucking a kiss against my skin and dragging his teeth down. Then he gently pushes me forward. I take a stumbling half step, my legs trying to run away from me. A loud, ripping sound catches my attention, and I manage to steady my legs enough to turn around and find its source.

Lance has done what I asked and stripped himself naked for me. He did it in a single motion, ripping his clothes off with claw-tipped nails. Throwing the remains to the side, he steps towards me and grabs my hips, his powerful body exposed from head to toe. Dark brown skin gleams in the warm torchlight, the blue threads swarming his torso glittering on his skin like fireflies. His irises are a perfect blue, the hardness between his thighs making promises as it slips against my skin, bare and perfect.

I feast my eyes on him, then reach up on my tiptoes and ask a question with my eyes. He answers with a searing kiss, dropping his mouth to mine and pressing plush lips against me. My lips part to his strong tongue, which he sweeps inside my mouth with a claiming purpose.

At the same time, he drops his hands to my ass and pulls me up into his arms smoothly. I gasp against his lips, my legs parting and slipping to either side of his waist. With a fluid motion, Lance adjusts my weight into his grip fully, his arm muscles rippling as he easily supports all of me.

His eyes sear mine with a gaze that seems to look into me completely. I gasp at the brush of his silken hardness against my still-throbbing apex, my thighs trembling. Lance draws my body up and positions himself beneath me perfectly. Then he rolls his hips forward and drops me down onto him in a fluid motion that makes my back arch and my fingers dig into his shoulders.

As he enters me all at once, his length piercing me, sliding in my body with a fluid motion, I scream with pleasure. That's the only word for it. My senses are so overwhelmed, my body taken over so completely that I barely even notice the space between one thrust and the next.

Lance takes care of all the positioning, holding my weight effortlessly and doing all the work. All I have to do—all I'm evenableto do—is dig my fingers into his back and hold on. He watches my face with each thrust, my open-mouthed moans making his eyes flash with pleasure. I shiver and tremble, aroused by his strength as much as everything, my body giving in fully to his.

Then he pivots around in a little half-circle, bringing me with him effortlessly, not even losing the pace, which is when I realize that he's showing me off. He wants them to see what he can do to me. Flushing from head to toe, I close my eyes and try not to think about it—but a moment later Ican'tthink about it, because Lance is leaning back and drawing my weight forward. Somehow this adjusts the angle of his thrusts so that he's pressing up against things inside and my body is rubbing up against his, and oh god, it feels sogood.

I can feel it coming before it descends. A high-pitched whimper leaves my throat, my brows drawing together with pained pleasure. Lance growls, pressing his mouth against my neck and licking just beneath my jawline. He twists up inside me and I gasp, hanging onto his shoulders for dear life as every muscle inside me gives in to the sensations.

Then he's digging his hands into me, and I'm panting and clenching around him, and he's growling so loud as my fingers dig into his chest. I feel the graze of canines against my jawline, the trickle of blood beneath my fingers, and I throw my head back andhowl.

The sound is purely primal and as close as I've ever felt to being a wolf in a woman's body. My orgasm crashes against me in powerful, all-consuming waves, and in the same moment Lance releases inside me. As the howl leaves my body, I drop my head down and find his mouth as he kisses me searingly.

Then he's drawing me down to the ground, placing me on the platform reverentially and still, somehow, moving inside me even as his body clenches in orgasm. Shuddering, he buries a hand in my hair and kisses me softly. I arch up against him and draw him into me with my legs, bringing my hands up to his neck and kissing him deeply.

In a soft, low voice, he murmurs against my skin. "I can feel you...allof you."

As he says the words, I feel him as well. The threads around us shiver and dance, then sink into our skin, thoroughly knotted. Lance's joy and apprehension sing through me, deeper emotions than I've ever felt with my hybrid powers alone. His presence drops into my mind like a single glowing firefly, nestled in beside Finn, who I can feel as a distantly amused and aroused warmth in the back of my mind.

Sinking into me, Lance holds himself above my body for a long moment. His eyes meet mine, their gaze soft and sweet. A shiver wracks his body, and I reach up to draw circles up and down his strong muscles, enjoying the bulge and ripple of them against his dark skin.

"I can feel you too," I tell him, biting my lower lip. "You taste... sweet. And minty."

He chuckles. "Somehow I doubt you can taste me downthere."

Scoffing, I clarify, "No, silly. Your presence in the back of my mind."

"Oh." Lance cocks his head to the side, considering for a long moment. "You taste like... peaches. And steel. Does that even make sense?"

"As much as anything."

We kiss, the sweat cooling on our skin. Lance pulls me against his chest and rolls over, sighing as our bodies part. He glances down at my neck and touches the spot where he bit me with his fingers, a slightly morose expression on his face. "No one will ever see that or the scratches you made on my back, since us werewolves heal so quickly."

"No. But they'll see this." I hold up my right arm, showing him the runic tattoo as it softly glows blue, dimming slowly. He holds up his own and marvels at it. "That's us. You and me, Babe. Isn't it wonderful?"

His mouth smiles a wide, soft smile. "I like that. Babe. Call me that more often."

"Okay."

I kiss the tip of his nose, and hold him until the night air has cooled our skin, and anticipation fills the ancient stones once more. Then, reluctantly, I take his hand and look at him. Lance knows instantly that I need his strength in this moment. He pulls me to my feet and walks with me down the platform steps as my jellied legs grow solid beneath me.

Lance is the first to shift to his wolf form, but I follow close behind. We howl, and the pack howls with us, some shifting into wolves, others staying human and cupping their hands over their mouths. When I shift back, I feel the curse magic lurking in the shadows, but it flees at the brush of my attention. It knows that it's met its match.

The moment is shorter and sweeter than last time, because we've already discovered I can survive the mating bond. I'm grateful for it, though, because connecting with my wolf has given me renewed strength and energy.

Grateful for it, I kiss Lance one last time, then watch as he slowly steps away from me and melts into the dark space between the torches, his eyes still glowing blue. I can sense that he doesn't want to walk away from me, that he does it only grudgingly, and because he knows I need more than he can provide.

I send him a silent thanks through our new bond, and feel his soft sigh of affection in response. My heart squeezes, and I wonder how soon it will be before I feel up to telling the guys I think I love them. Maybe they'll sense it in my heart before I'm even able to say it.

Looking out over the pack, I confess, "Some of you went home already, it looks like. The rest of you may want to do the same. This is going to take a while, and the night is long already."

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