Page 21 of Off Limits
"Fuck, yes—take it—" Gabriel's words came out broken, barely coherent as he pulled Asher down harder. "Should've been yours—should've always?—"
Asher cried out as he worked himself down on the swelling knot, his thighs shaking with the effort, his hole stretching impossibly wide. The sight of it—Asher's determination to take it, the way his body opened for Gabriel's knot—made Gabriel's wolf absolutely feral with satisfaction.
The stretch was intense, and Gabriel could see the moment it became too much to lift off anymore—Asher grinding down desperately, working the knot deeper with tiny circular movements until finally, finally, they were completely locked together.
"Fuck, fuck, fuck," Asher chanted, his whole body trembling, his cock twitching untouched between them. "So big. So fuckingfull?—”
OURS, Gabriel's wolf roared in triumph.
Gabriel surged up, unable to resist any longer, and bit down on the junction of Asher's neck and shoulder—right on the mating bite, still fresh from his last claiming Hard enough to bruise deep, to mark, to claim in the way his wolf had been screaming for.
Asher's whole body went taut, a broken cry escaping him as his cock jerked.
Gabriel could feel everything—every flutter of muscle around his knot, the way Asher's body gripped him like a vice, the rapid pulse where his teeth pressed against Asher's throat. But more than the physical, he could feel something deeper happening. The bond unfurling between them like a living thing, connecting them in ways that went beyond bodies.
"Mine," Gabriel breathed against the bite mark, watching Asher above him, powerful and wrecked all at once. The word came out reverent, like a prayer he'd been too afraid to speak for three years.
He watched Asher's face as understanding dawned—this was permanent, this was everything, this was them finally choosing each other without fear. The vulnerability in those green eyes, the trust, the complete surrender despite being the one in control—it was everything Gabriel never thought he'd have.
“Always was,” Asher agreed, voice breaking on the words. "Just took you a while to claim me properly."
Gabriel's hand found Asher's cock, and it only took a few strokes before Asher was coming. Gabriel watched, mesmerized, as Asher fell apart above him—his whole body going taut, head thrown back, a broken cry escaping as he painted Gabriel's chest with thick stripes of come. The way he clenched aroundGabriel's knot, rhythmic and overwhelming, the way his thighs shook, the tears gathering in his eyes from the intensity—Gabriel catalogued every second.
He was beautiful.
"That's it," Gabriel murmured, working him through it, unable to look away. "Fuck, Asher, look at you?—"
The rhythmic clenching around his knot, the hot splash of Asher's come on his chest, the sight of his mate claimed and satisfied above him—it sent Gabriel over his own edge. His orgasm hit like a revelation, wave after wave as his knot pulsed inside Asher, pumping him full of come. He could feel it with each pulse, filling Asher impossibly full, trapped by his knot with nowhere to go but deeper.
Mine, his wolf growled with each pulse.Claimed. Mated. Mine.
Through it all, he watched Asher's face, saw the moment the bond hit him too—his eyes going wide, a gasp escaping his kiss-swollen lips as he collapsed forward onto Gabriel's chest, both of them covered in sweat and come and completely wrecked.
"Holy fuck," Asher panted, when he could speak again. "That's... okay, that's weird as hell. I can feel how satisfied you are. How your wolf is basically doing victory laps."
Gabriel's heart was doing something complicated in his chest. He pressed a kiss to the bite mark, feeling Asher shiver.
They stayed locked together as the sun rose properly, Gabriel's knot keeping Asher plugged full. He could feel their bond strengthening with each pulse, a warm awareness of Asher settling into his bones.
"You know," Asher murmured, voice rough and fucked-out, "I came back here to deal with Ray's house. Thought I was inheriting walls and a roof." His fingers traced lazy patterns on Gabriel's chest. "Turns out I was coming back to you."
Gabriel's throat went tight. His arms tightened around Asher, holding him close while they were still locked together.
"Welcome home, baby," he whispered into Asher's hair.
11
Asher had never thoughthe'd find peace in silence.
Years ago, silence meant danger. Meant keeping his head down on street corners, listening for footsteps that might mean trouble. Meant the hollow echo of empty apartments where he counted minutes until the next client, the next fix, the next escape. Silence was something to fill, to run from, to survive.
Now, with snow falling thick outside the cabin windows and Gabriel's steady breathing in the bed beside him, silence felt like home.
The storm had been building for days. Gabriel had spent yesterday afternoon splitting wood with that methodical focus that made Asher want to climb him like a tree—muscles flexing under his flannel, sweat making his skin gleam despite the cold. Asher had pretended to organize the supplies while really just watching his mate work, still amazed that this was his life now.
Ray's cabin. The place his father had built with his own hands, where Asher had spent summers before everything went to shit. Before he'd run.
Now it was theirs. Really theirs.
