They didn’t make it far into the woods before he couldn’t wait any longer. With a low growl, he pressed her back against a wide tree. She looked up at him, eyes glazed with the same desire that pounded through his veins. Her fingers clutched at his shoulders.
“Need.” He stroked her neck again, his mouth watering, and she shuddered. “Claim.”
His ability to form words had vanished, his beast too close to the surface. She didn’t seem to mind.
“Yesss,” she hissed, and her eyes held a challenge. “Take me. Claim me.”
Her scent changed, growing deeper, richer, and his cock throbbed in response. He tugged at her coveralls, pushing them down impatiently, needing to feel her skin against him. Her nimble fingers flew to his waist and his pants dropped away. His cock sprang free and her fingers closed around it.
“Impatient little mate.”
“You have me pressed against a tree,” she pointed out. “What else do you expect me to touch?”
He laughed and the sound seemed to echo in the woods, but there was no one to hear it other than the two of them.
“I want to feel you,” he growled.
“Less talk, more action,” she said, but he heard her breath catch when he shoved her coveralls down and his hands finally touched her bare skin.
His mouth followed, tracing the soft curve of her stomach, the fullness of her breasts. He took a nipple into his mouth, suckling eagerly, and she moaned and clutched his head. His hand slipped between her legs and her thighs parted, giving him access.
Wet heat met his questing fingers and he growled, thrusting a finger inside that slick channel and seeking the place that gave her the most pleasure. He knew when he found it because she moaned and her hand tightened on his cock, stroking him until he was afraid he would explode in her hand. He took her other nipple in his mouth and she shuddered helplessly.
He couldn’t wait any longer. He grasped her hips, lifting her higher into the air before pulling her down over his cock in a long, slow slide. Her tight little channel fluttered wildly around him as she tried to adjust to his size, and then she cried out, her fingers digging into his shoulders. Her legs wrapped around his waist and he was lost to the pleasure, thrusting helplessly as the beast roared its triumph.
With each stroke their bond intensified, strengthening until he was certain it could never be broken. He felt his climax approaching, the pressure building to impossible heights, but he fought against it, determined that she would come first. His teeth ached with the need to bite, to claim her, but instead he forced his lips to her breast, nipping lightly at the tender flesh.
She exploded, convulsing around him, and he roared his pleasure. As his cock jerked inside her, his seed flooding her welcoming body, he found her neck. He bit down, claiming her, and her body shuddered helplessly as another orgasm swept over her. Her body clamped down on him as his knot expanded, and his own release seemed to go on forever. When they were both spent, he lowered them carefully to the ground, still locked together.
She sprawled across his body, her head pillowed on his chest, while he wrapped his arms around her and held her close. The sun filtered through the leaves, warming them while they rested in the peace of the forest. He’d never felt so satisfied, so content.
“My mate,” he growled softly, stroking the mating mark. His claim, clearly visible on her pale skin.
Her eyes widened and he felt her quiver through their still joined bodies.
“Oh! That feels so strange. But so good…” She reached down between their bodies to where his knot stretched her open and let out an amazed chuckle. “You knotted me.”
“It is the way of the beast,” he said, and then a pang of regret swept over him. “Does it displease you?”
“Displeases me? Of course not.” She twisted, trying to get a better look and he groaned as the movement made her body clamp down around him. “Oh my.”
“You should not move,” he growled. “Not unless you want to remain here longer.”
“I’m in no hurry. Are you?” She gave him a teasing smile.
His hand closed over her ass. “I could remain like this forever.”
“As delightful as that sounds, we do need to return to the cottage in time to meet Seren.”
He murmured his agreement, but then he bent her back over his arm and licked the mating mark. She shivered again.
“That feels so good,” she whispered.
“Only when your mate touches you. Only me.”
“Only you.”
She tilted her head, offering him her neck again and he licked the bite, then teased the sensitive flesh with the tip of his tongue. Her breathing increased, her hands stroking his skin, and his knot expanded again, drawing another one of those soft helpless sounds from her lips.