Page 62 of Claimed By Stone
We collided.
Once we finally came down, I pulled out and collapsed next to her. She moaned again, followed by a groan. I couldn’t help the small chuckle that slipped out.
“Don’t you dare laugh. You’re the one who made this mess.”
I sat up and looked at her, knees still in the air with her feet planted on the bed. I spread her knees and looked at her center, pink, perfect, and dripping with my seed. I wiped some up with my finger and pushed it back inside of her where it belonged. She moaned, and I thought I might be able to go again at the sound.
“You are perfection,” I said before turning to get a cloth.
I cleaned her up, and I fell into bed next to her. We lay tangled in the blankets, her soft breath cooling the sweat on my chest, her fingers tracing the curve of the tattoos on my chest like she was memorizing me. I didn’t want to break the moment, but it needed to be said.
"Are we mated now?" she asked.
“That wasn’t the bond,” I murmured.
She lifted her head, brows furrowing. “It wasn’t?”
I shook mine. “The bond, when it happens, there’s magic to it. A joining deeper than the body. It leaves a mark on the soul.”
“Is it… dangerous?”
I cupped her cheek. “No. Not with you. But it is powerful. And once it’s complete, it can’t be undone. When you finally take my knot, I will also bite you. When that happens, you will be marked. And you will be mine.”
She went quiet, biting her lower lip like she was weighing her whole world.
“But there’s no rush,” I added, kissing her forehead. “I’ll wait. As long as you need."
Even if the waiting makes my bones ache, I would not rush her. I would not rush this.
"I don't want to wait too long, my mate," she said up at me with her eyes sleepy and her face still flushed from our fucking.
"Gods, you are perfect," I say as I press another kiss to her lips.
She lay her head on my chest again, curling in close like she was made to fit there. My arms wrapped around her without thought, instinct guiding me where reason had long since given up.
The fire crackled in the hearth, casting long golden shadows across her skin. My little flame, I still don’t know howthis is all going to work out, but I know one thing for certain: she is mine.
Let the Westerly Clan scheme and whisper. Let their plans churn in the dark.
They hadn’t counted on this.
Onherbecoming mine.
And that mistake…
That mistake would cost them everything.
Chapter 26
Thavros
Iwoke with her in my arms, her soft breath brushing against my chest like a blessing. For the first time since she came alive in my study, she hadn't cried out in her sleep. No tremors. No thrashing. Just peace, and the quiet press of her body against mine like she'd always belonged there.
I didn’t move, didn’t dare. The weight of her arm across my stomach, her leg tangled with mine, grounded me in a way I hadn’t known I needed.
My mate. As I watched her sleep, I began to allow the feeling of that certainty to sink in. If I had been honest with myself, it had been there all along, possibly even before she came to life, but that didn't make sense. But the way my body responded to her that first time, even though she was a creature made of stone, I had felt this stirring I couldn't explain. And once she had started to come to life a little more every night until she allowed me to make her come for the first time, I should have known them. But it wasn't until the night I found her crying and bleeding on the dungeon floor that I knew I was already soul-bound to this woman.
But then last night, when she had acknowledged it too, my entire world shifted. She was at the center of everything. TheGods had somehow blessed me with this perfect creature, and I would belong to her just the same.
