Page 43 of The Silent Mate

One of my hands dared to creep up his chest, coming to rest on the scarred half of his face. My fingers soothed the warped, puffy skin bisecting his cheek. He shuddered beneath my touch.

“Claim me. For the Moon Goddess and the world to see,” I whispered, aligning our hips. “I need to know that I am yours.”

19

ARIA

It surprised me how quickly Malik’s sorrowful demeanor shifted as soon as the request slipped from my lips.

His pupil dilated, his unscarred eye turning more black than gray as he held my gaze. He went still beneath me, heart thundering like it might burst through his chest, and I felt him harden against my seam—a hot, steel-like rod that grew larger and larger with every passing second.

Still, he didn’t move. He seemed to search for something, and, though he couldn’t speak the words aloud, somehow I knew exactly what he needed.Confirmation.

I gave it to him with the soft stroke of my fingertips against his cheek. With my breath that fanned against his neck, just beneath his ruined jugular, as I drew the tip of my nose to the base of his throat.

His chest heaved with every inhalation, and his hands clamped down on my hips with enough force to bruise. He didn’t draw me closer or drag me against his erection. Instead,he merely held me in place, as if reassuring himself that I wouldn’t hurt him.

My nose stopped where his scent, masculine and musky and familiar, became the most potent. There, I pressed an indulgent kiss to his flesh, savoring the vibrant pulse beneath my lips.

Malik shuddered, and instinct told me thatthiswas the spot.

A barely-there ache formed in my gums as my canine teeth expanded, my body knowing what to do in spite of my inexperience. My tongue darted out to taste his salty skin, preparing the skin to take my bite.

I’d mark him first—claimhim as my own—then, Goddess willing, he would do the same for me. But that meant nothing if we didn’t complete theotherpart of the mating ritual.

My attention fell to the warmth dripping between my legs. It should have concerned me how quickly my body reacted to him. How it immediately forgot the heartache and pain that consumed it mere minutes ago, favoring lust and hunger instead.

The scene in front of the pack house was a mere blip in my memory, now. It didn’t matter. Not anymore. Not with this magnificent male beneath me, trembling as I pressed another kiss to the sensitive flesh at the base of his throat, pulling the skin into my mouth, teasing.

Reason slipped away as heat pulsed through my blood. I felt feverish. Dizzy. Bursting with need to be filled, consumed, broken, healed?—

My canines descended into his neck, puncturing the thin veil of skin. Malik’s blood seeped from the wound, and the coppery tang filled my mouth as I dug deeper.

A low raspy breath vibrated from his chest, his version of a groan, and it emboldened me. One of my hands hiked up to his shoulder, while the other tangled in his hair. I moaned into hisneck, biting harder out of sheer desperation to claim this male asmine.

My mate. My fated partner.Mine.

His hands found my backside, digging into the fleshy muscle and lifting me higher, granting me better access to his neck.

“Malik,” I gasped against his skin, my canines retreating from the neat holes they dug. Rivulets of blood dripped from the wound, and I couldn’t fight the primitive urge to lap up the precious liquid, soothing the red skin with my tongue and lips.

No longer able to control himself, his hips bucked once beneath me. I hovered just out of reach. The mark and its effects would only become permanent if we consummated our union—quickly.

Something wet and urgent burst through my core, and I pulled my mouth away from his neck, lips stained by blood, and kissed him. He took me into his mouth in an instant, all hesitation forgotten.

Our tongues tangled, teeth clashing as I clung to him like I’d die if we separated. We’d never kissed like this before, and it felt good. So impossibly, beautifullygood.So mind-numbingly perfect that I found myself lowering onto his hips again in search of relief.

I didn’t make it far. “Oh.”

As soon as I pressed down, my sex brushed against Malik’s engorged head. The bulbous tip slid between my folds until it notched directly beneath my opening. Only then did I truly realize the extent of my arousal.

I lowered an inch, and he easily breached my center. The slick wet welcomed him in, daring to suck him deeper. I paused, my thighs straining to hold myself up while every fiber in my body screamed at me to sink onto him.

We were both panting when I withdrew from the kiss.

Malik’s eyes flared wild, his jaw clamped like it took every ounce of strength to control himself. We held each other’s gazes for one long moment, exchanging the same breath. The dark hair spanning his chest tickled my breasts with each ragged exhale.

His grip on my hips tightened, and I knew for a fact that there’d be handprints decorating my flesh in the morning. Without looking away from me, he guided my hips downward, and I took another half-inch.

---