Page 51 of The Alpha's Runaway Mate
“Not yet,” I rasp, lowering her to the rug in front of the roaring fireplace. The fur is soft beneath her, a contrast to the hard floor. I follow her down, careful even as the urgency claws at me. She’s small beneath me, delicate, and the instinct to protect wars with the need to claim. I slide down between her spread thighs and kiss down her stomach. I need to taste her, have her on my tongue while I’m claiming her. She moans and moves her pussy toward me the closer I get. She needs me just as badly as I need her. I pump two fingers in and out of her, watching her pussy take me. Jesus fucking christ, the sight is better than anything I’ve ever seen.
Unable to resist any longer, I flatten my tongue and lick up her center. Her taste hits my tongue and I groan. I’ll never get used to her taste, I’ll need it every single damn day for the rest of my life. “Fuck, Sweetheart. You taste so fucking good.” I circle her clit with my tongue before scraping my teeth over it. This makes her pulse under me. Her heartbeat matches mine, fast and sure, pounding beneath my palms. Every breath between us iselectric. The world outside fades. There’s only her. The warmth, the scent of rain on her skin, the steady hum of something ancient and right.
“Jessica…” Her name leaves me half growl, half prayer. I fist my cock and press it to her pussy, but don’t slide in. I’ve taken her every damn day, yet this time it’s different. It’s more, because this moment changes everything. Once I claim her, there’s no going back.
She cups my face, steady, certain. “Stop fighting it. I want this, I want you,” she whispers, voice shaking but sure. “Mark me. Bite me. Make me yours for the rest of our lives.”
For a second, I stop breathing. The words hit deeper than she could ever know. My bear surges forward, hungry and sure, but the man inside me hesitates, terrified of binding her to the danger that comes with me. “You know what this means?” I ask, voice rough, barely human. “It’s forever, Jess. There’s no undoing it.”
Her gaze never wavers. “I know that. God, I want it. I want you, Nolan, so damn bad it hurts.”
Every bit of restraint, every ounce of reason shatters at her words. All that’s left is her and the truth that I can’t hold back anymore. I lower my forehead to hers, breath shaking. “Once I mark you, you’re mine. Forever.”
“I already am,” she whispers, hands tangling in my hair. “This just makes it even more real.”
The last of my control breaks as I thrust into her and kiss her again, deep and claiming, pouring everything I have into it, the love, the need, the relief that she’s choosing me. I can’t get deep enough, I want to claim every single inch of her, for her wholebody to know it belongs to me. I slide my hand around her neck, holding her, my thumb sliding up and down the column of her throat as I stare down at the woman who has changed me in ways no one else will ever know.
I fuck her hard, thrusting in and out of her as my cock swells. Her pussy constricts against me, strangling me. I’m seconds from falling over the edge and spilling inside her. Her scent is intoxicating, pulling at instincts I’ve been fighting since the moment I met her. She tilts her head back, baring her neck to me. I lean down and brush my lips against her neck, right where I’ve pictured marking her. Her pulse thrums against my lips. I graze my teeth over her skin and feel her shiver beneath me. Then, with a low growl, I bite down hard enough to draw blood and my shifter magic to take hold. The taste of her blood floods my senses and I lick the mark clean, watching it begin to heal in front of my eyes. I roar as I rut into her, giving her all that I am as she shatters around me and we both come undone, linking our souls to one another on a level that’s beyond our bodies.
Her beautiful eyes look up at me in wonder as the bond snaps into place, raw and ancient, searing through me like fire. I feel it take hold the connection threading between us, alive and strong. I can feel her heartbeat as if it’s my own. Her emotion. Her warmth. Her certainty. She gasps, her body arching beneath mine, and I know she feels it too, the magic settling deep, binding us. When I finally pull back, I lap gently at the mark, soothing the sting.
“Mine,” I growl against her skin.
“Yours,” she breathes, voice soft but steady. “Always yours.”
Outside, thunder rolls across the ridge, the storm reaching its peak. But inside, wrapped around each other on the fur rug,we’ve found our calm. The mark on her throat glows faintly in the firelight, already sealing into her skin.
I gather her close, rolling so she’s draped across my chest. Her heartbeat thrums steady against mine, the bond humming warm and alive between us. For the first time since I came home to an empty cabin, I can breathe again. She’s safe. She’s marked. She’s mine.
Her fingers trace lazy patterns across my chest, her touch feather-light. The storm outside softens, the rain easing to a steady rhythm.
“No regrets?” I ask quietly, needing to hear it.
She lifts her head, eyes glowing softly in the firelight. Her fingers brush the new mark on her throat it’s already darkening into a pattern that’s uniquely ours. She smiles. “Not a single one,” she says, and kisses me, soft and certain. “Welcome home, bear.”
I hold her tighter, breathing her in. The darkness beyond the cabin can wait. The danger can wait. Right now, all that matters is this. Her heartbeat against mine, her scent wrapped around me, and the bond thrumming steady between us.
EIGHTEEN
JESSICA
By late afternoon,the sky outside the cabin glows soft and gold, the last streaks of sunlight spilling through the trees. The storm from yesterday has been gone for hours, but the air still feels heavy, the kind of quiet that hums right before night falls.
I’ve been pacing between the bathroom and the bedroom for the last twenty minutes, pretending I’m deciding what to wear when really, I’m just stalling. Tonight is my first pack dinner and I’m freaking the fuck out. It’s one thing to survive monsters, magic, and a mate bond. It’s another to walk into a room full of his people wolves, witches, bears, and god knows what else and know I’m the only human in the mix.
I smooth my palms down the front of my jeans and glance at the mirror again. My mark’s visible, dark against my skin, faintly glowing when the light hits it just right. I tried covering it earlier, but the makeup barely stuck it’s like the mark refused to hide. Figures.
Behind me, the floor creaks. I don’t have to turn to know he’s there. “You look like you’re preparing for battle,” Nolan says, voice low and amused.
“Maybe I am,” I mutter, meeting his reflection in the mirror. He’s standing in the doorway, rolling the sleeves of his black button-down to his forearms. The movement shouldn’t be that distracting, but my brain’s already short-circuiting.
“Relax, sweetheart,” he says, crossing the room to stand behind me. “It’s dinner. Food. Talking. A few territorial glares. Nothing to worry about.”
“Sure,” I say, dry. “Because territorial glares sound like such a fun time.”
His grin ghosts across my reflection. “You’ll do fine.”
He says it like it’s an absolute truth, like he’s incapable of imagining any other outcome. It should help. It almost does.
