Page 25 of Seven is Swell

“Fucking perfect, Delaney.” Her hips start to press against me, riding my face as my hands find her thighs to grip onto. “Fucking perfect and fuckingmine.”

My dick is hard and throbbing, leaking in tandem with Delaney like it thinks she needs reciprocal support.

She gasps as her first orgasm from me is forced into her, our bond strengthening as I continue to give her as much pleasure as I can. “A-plus for orgasm before penetration.”

Of course, this throws me completely off my game, so I lick her once more before I'm forced to just kneel there, naked, between her spread legs, in utter confusion. “What?”

“We have a rating system. You just…earned your first A-plus. Good work. If you want it to remain an A-plus you better shove something in me. Preference for cock.”

Is it weird that my first instinct upon hearing this information is to reach for my phone and send something through the group chat?

WTF. There's a RATING system? I cannot support this.

Inretribution, and because I kind of just want her to stop talking, I stand somewhat abruptly and shove myself inside of her. “Ratethis.”

I give my lion control, and I relish the second she feels my penile spines. They’re rubbing into her with every thrust, tugging at her and adding the best kind of friction for both of us.

I can almost feel her lioness get closer to the surface as I pump into her, pulling her hair to the side so I can see the mark I gaveher, the thought of how it felt to sink my teeth in her spurring me on. “Fucking mine. You hear me? Mine to touch, mine to claim.”

“Fuuuck. Sure, whatever you say.” I appreciate that her voice is as affected as I feel, all tone gone as I continue to move into her body, but her words have me halting.

“I’m sorry, was that not enthusiastic enough for you?” She flips around and dislodges me, shivering at the feel of my hard barbed cock sliding out of her. “Here’s how this is going to work. You don't get to claim me when it suits you and ignore me for the same reason. You don't get to ask me to do something and then get angry at me when I find a better solution. You’re caught up in your head, and you need to learn how to share things with me and communicate. Would you have broken your silence If I hadn't forced my way into your classroom?”

“What is happening right now?” Really. My head is spinning, my still-wet cock is throbbing with denial, and my mate is starting to…get dressed. Fuck. I messed up. “Delaney, of course I would have reached out. Not speaking to you felt impossible—”

“Then why the fuck did you do it? Do you have any idea how much can change in a damn week? I needed you there. I was fucking worried about you, and you were too busy avoiding me to bother comforting me. I had to hear all accounts of the pride meeting from your fucking auxiliary, who actually made time for me, because my mate thought he was too good to pick up his phone and call me. Or better yet, walk to my dorm and talk to me about it in person.

“I sat in your class this week and listened to you lecture and you didn't look my way once. Notonegoddesdamned time. And you know what? Cory tried to comfort me because they saw how much that hurt, and I ended up pulling away from them a little because I was so angry, and it almost felt like they weredefending you. So I had to come back for the next class to see if I could get you to look at me. Still nothing.

“Do you have any idea how fucking humiliated I was, sitting alone in a big class of people I didn’t know, desperate for you to reach for our bond and realize I was maybe 10-15 feet away from you? Only for you to continue to ignore the fact that you even have a mate?”

She pulls on her shirt and starts walking towards the door, but I'm still naked.

“Then what the hell was this all for? Why even let me touch you if you didn't actually want me to?”

She lets out a scream of frustration and digs her fingernails into her scalp. “You thick-headed, self-centeredidiot.This?” and she draws a circle in the air with a finger, connecting us, “was to get my little bit of time with you I needed and was me insuring you didn't run off and fuck that awfully desperate shifter professor because I still don't know how that would have played out if I hadn't interrupted.Thiswas me being so desperate for a little validation from one of my mates that I goaded him into getting physical with me, because the last time I tried to initiate things with you, you turned me down.

“I respect what boundaries you need, but we're fucking mated and you need to godsdamned act like it. Get your shit together and make me believe you deserve to be in my mate group.”

She storms out. And I'm still naked.

My dick has thankfully finally gotten the message and is starting to deflate as the depth of my betrayal starts to sink in.

I've been stewing in my own self-righteous anger while my mate had been hurting. There were only had a handful of times this past week that I thought about how my distance might havemade her feel because I was too busy trying to teach her a lesson and show her how mad she made me by going against my wishes. Then I was stewing in my embarrassment for realizing I had no box to stand on.

It's also abundantly clear I need help, because I've never dated someone as complex as my conduit is, never been with someone that can get what they need from other, sanctified partners when I fail to provide. I'm completely useless to her if I can't pull my weight and make her a priority, and isn't that a shot of reality?

Chapter Eight

Cory

I’ve just gotten the final touches for the dinner I'm making everyone done when Delaney’s door opens, and she appears like a furious angel in the entryway.

There’re a few seconds where we just stare at each other, me caught off guard by her appearing suddenly, her probably confused as to why I’m standing in her kitchen in just a frilly pink apron and my white cotton boyshorts, but there’re definitely reasons for both. “Do you… need a hug?”

“Thank the goddess,” she says before rushing into my arms. She squeezes me and I drop my stir spoon onto the counter and immediately return the gesture.

“Is it too early to ask what happened?”

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