“Hear me take you so hard, you’ll be begging me to bury my teeth in your neck and my seed in your womb?” I nip at her throat, harder than I’ve ever done before, and let her feel the edge of my teeth. When she gasps and grinds against me harder, satisfaction rolls through me.
She shivers in my arms, then pulls back slightly to look at me. “Ben... Natalie mentioned marking. She said it’s important. That it... completes the bond?”
“You met my sister?” I go still, searching her face. “And she told you about marking?”
It should have been me, but I didn’t want to pressure her.
“A little.” Her fingers trace my jaw. “She said without marking me, your bear would make you crazy. But she didn’t explain what actually happens.”
My bear pushes harder at my control, desperate now that she’s asking.
“When I mark you, I’ll bite here.” I press my thumb to the spot where her neck meets her shoulder, feeling her pulse race. “My teeth will break the skin, leaving my claim for everyone to see. It bonds us completely. You’ll feel what I feel. Know when I need you. And I’ll know the same about you.”
Her breathing quickens. “And if we don’t?”
“Then we’re always incomplete. Always yearning. The separation we just went through?” I tighten my hold on her. “It gets worse. The bond is there but unfinished. It drives us both mad.”
She processes this, then her eyes flash with determination. “Do it.”
“Zara...”
“Mark me, Ben. Right now. I want everyone to know I’m yours. I want to feel you, even when we’re apart. I want...”
The rest of her words are lost as my control snaps. My bear roars to the surface, and I slam my mouth over hers in a kiss that’s all teeth and desperation. She wants my mark. She’s demanding it.
Something primal and possessive takes over completely.
“Fuck.” I growl against her lips. “You want my mark? You’re getting it. Tonight. But first, I’m going to fuck you so hard, you forget everything but my name.”
I pause to study her face. I’ve made it sound like it’s already decided, but if she’s scared, if she needs time, I’ll wait. Even if it kills me.
Her eyes search mine, pupils blown wide with lust, and I hold my breath until she nods, just once, certain. Relief crashes through me like a wave. The weight I’ve carried since she left vanishes, and I can finally breathe properly again.
“Thank fuck,” I mutter, practically running toward the bedroom now. We fit together perfectly, and Zara laughs as I shoulder the door open.
Jerry tries to dart in behind us and nearly trips me.
“Out. This isn’t for your eyes.” I bark, shooing him back with one foot while balancing Zara.
She’s still laughing as I kick the door shut, the sound filling all the empty spaces in my chest.
“You think that’s funny?” I press her against the door, pinning her there with my hips, while my mouth finds hers again. My cock throbs against her core, and she moans into my mouth, her nails digging into my shoulders.
She nods, gasps when I grind against her.
I spin us away and toss her onto the bed.
She bounces once, still grinning, and kicks her legs playfully until I catch her ankle. “Poor Jerry. He just missed you.”
“Poor Jerry? Poor me.” I moan, yanking her to the edge of the mattress. My hands make quick work of her leggings and underwear, stripping them down in one motion.
The scent of her arousal hits me with full force now, and with nothing between us now, my mouth waters. She’s already wet, so ready, and the knowledge that she’s been thinking about this nearly breaks my control.
“Ben?”
She’s wearing one of my shirts over a tank top, and when she tries to press her knees together, I growl. The sound fillsthe room, primal and demanding, and her legs fall open like she can’t help herself. Her pussy glistens in the lamplight, pink and perfect and mine.
“Look at you,” I murmur, running my hands up her inner thighs then spreading her wider. “Already soaked for me. Did you touch yourself while I was gone? Wearing my shirt, in my bed?”