Page 47 of Ranger's Oath
I growl against her, licking her deeper. “Best tactic I’ve got for keeping that sassy mouth of yours in line.”
Her laugh fractures into a scream, high and raw, as I drive her over the edge. She convulses violently, thighs locking aroundmy head, her body shuddering apart as wave after wave rips through her. I drink her down greedily, savoring every desperate cry, refusing to stop until she’s trembling uncontrollably, slick and undone, whimpering my name like a prayer and a curse all at once.
I rise, mouth slick with her, unzipping, freeing myself with hands that shake from the hunger clawing at me. Her eyes widen, pupils blown with heat, and she gives me a breathless nod before I can even voice the question. Consent—eager, unashamed. I drive into her in one long, hard thrust, burying to the hilt. She cries out, wrapping herself around me, nails raking down my back like fire. I find a rhythm that’s brutal and relentless, each snap of my hips a claim, each grind deeper an oath carved into her body as much as her soul.
She tries to hold on to her wit, gasping words between cries. “Is that… all you’ve got, Ranger?”
I slam into her harder, lips grazing her ear. “Careful what you wish for.”
Her body arches, shuddering as she tightens around me, each contraction pulling me deeper. The sound that escapes her is a ragged blend of moan and challenge, raw and intoxicating. I drive her into the table again and again, every thrust scattering papers to the floor in a storm of chaos. She gasps out laughter between cries, defiance burning even as pleasure rips through her, taunting me with every breath.
“Thought you wanted quiet. You keep at me and the whole damn ranch is going to know.”
“Then scream louder,” I growl, grinding deeper. “Drown me in it.”
She answers me with abandon, her cries echoing off the walls, wild and unrestrained. My control unravels with every squeeze of her body clenching around me, dragging me deeper into the storm. I haul her higher onto the table, poundingharder, slamming into her with all the hunger I’ve bottled up. She surges to meet me, thrust for thrust, her nails carving lines down my back. Our bodies crash together in rhythm, daring each other to give in. Her eyes lock on mine, blazing with defiance, pupils blown with heat, her gaze daring me to take her further, harder, until neither of us can breathe.
“You can’t break me,” she gasps.
“I don’t want to break you,” I snarl, driving harder. “I want all of you.”
Her breath stutters, her nails dig in, her body seizes, trembling violently around me. Watching her unravel beneath me, mouth open, gasping my name in broken cries, tears through every layer of control I have left. I fist my hand in her hair, tilting her head back, forcing her to meet my gaze as pleasure ravages her, locking us together in raw, desperate intimacy.
“Mine,” I growl.
“Yes,” she cries, shuddering. “Yours.”
Her surrender detonates inside me, obliterating the last threads of restraint. I slam deep, hips jerking, climax tearing through me like an explosion I can’t contain. Instinct claims me whole. My mouth finds the juncture of her neck and shoulder and I sink my teeth in, hard enough to mark her for eternity. Her scream splits the air, raw pleasure braided with pain, shaking through both of us. Her body convulses around me, gripping tight, pulling me deeper as she milks every last drop of me. The bond locks in place, a flood of heat, fire, and brutal certainty crashing through my veins. My mark sears into her skin, binding us in ways there will never be undone.
The echo of her cry lingers, but beneath it I hear something else—her heartbeat syncing to mine, the steady drum that reminds me of the promise I once made in the dark:I will not let you fight alone.It isn’t biology that tightens my grip now,it’s choice. I claimed her because I can’t imagine a world without her, not because fate demanded it.
Afterward, I slump over her, chest heaving, still buried inside her warmth. Her scent clings to me, rich and intoxicating, her taste still coating my tongue. Her heartbeat slams against mine, wild and frantic, syncing with the thunder in my chest. Possessive euphoria surges through me, hot and unrelenting, a rush so fierce it nearly drowns me. But guilt pushes in hard and cold. I’ve marked her, claimed her, tied her fate to mine without offering her the chance to breathe, let alone decide if she wanted it.
She trembles in my arms, fingers brushing the bite. Her voice shakes, but it cuts me to the bone. “Tell me what that means.”
I cup her face, holding her steady until she’s locked into me, nowhere to look but my eyes. My voice is raw with possession and reverence all at once. “It means you belong to me. Fated. Bound. Stronger than law, stronger than reason. I will guard you, fight for you, die for you if I must. You’re part of me now, and there will never be any walking away.”
A defiant retort rises in her throat — the kind that usually lights fires — but it catches and softens when my thumb brushes the corner of her mouth. She gives a breathy, uneven laugh, part challenge, part surrender, and it lands between us like an offering.
I huff out a breath, half growl, half laugh, pressing my forehead to hers. “You have the most beautiful mouth when it’s not talking smack. Don’t think for a second it changes the fact that I’d burn down the world for you.”
Her eyes glisten, mischief and tenderness tangling together. “Then we’ll burn it down side by side.”
The words slam into me harder than the bite ever could, fierce and undeniable. Relief and possession surge through me, devastating and sweet, flooding every corner of my chest. Icapture her lips in a kiss that is softer, reverent, yet threaded with the ache of hunger that never stops. For the first time in too damn long, I feel whole, claimed as much as I have claimed her.
We linger there, still tangled, bodies slick and shaking. She traces the line of my jaw with her fingers, voice teasing but raw. “So, this is what happens when you lose control?”
I manage a low chuckle. “Careful, Sadie. I haven’t even started.”
Her grin curves slow and wicked. “Promise?”
I capture her mouth again, slower this time, drawing out the taste of her. She sighs into me, body pliant, but her eyes gleam with mischief. “You’re going to have to do better than one table, Ranger. I’m not that easy to impress.”
I laugh, low and dark, dragging her tighter against me. “Then I’ll just have to keep trying until you’re satisfied.”
She strokes her thumb over the mark on her neck, expression softer now, almost reverent. “It doesn’t hurt. It feels… alive. Like it’s pulsing with you.”
My chest clenches. “Because it is. It’s part of me now. Part of us.”
