She silences me with her lips, her tongue sliding against mine as her hands roam lower, tracing the ridges of my abdomen. When her fingers brush the base of my cock, I nearly come undone.
“Mine,” I growl against her throat, my fangs scraping lightly over her pulse point. “You’re mine.”
“Yes,” she gasps, arching into my touch as my hands slip beneath her coat to find the warm skin at her waist. “And you’re mine. All of you.”
Her possessive words make heat surge through me, and I can feel myself hardening against her thigh. She notices too, her breath hitching as she feels the evidence of my desire for her.
“Aelin,” she whispers, her hand sliding down to wrap around my length. The sensation is electric, and I buck into her touch with a sound that’s more animal than human.
“Fuck, Jessa,” I breathe, my head falling back as she strokes me with gentle, exploring touches. “Your hands?—”
“I want to touch all of you,” she says, her voice husky with desire. “I want to learn every inch of your body.”
The possessive claim in her voice makes my cock twitch, but this moment is about more than desire. It’s about acceptance. Recognition. The acknowledgment that we belong to each other in ways that transcend choice or reason.
I pull back to look at her, this impossible woman who kneels in the snow and sees a king where others would see only a beast. Her eyes are bright with unshed tears, but she’s smiling, and the expression is radiant enough to light up the entire forest.
“How?” I ask, my voice rough with emotion. “How are you not afraid?”
“Because I see you,” she says simply. “All of you. The man and the beast, the king and the creature. And I love every part.”
Love.The word hits me like a physical blow, and I have to close my eyes against the surge of emotion it brings. When I open them again, she’s watching me with an expression so tender it makes my chest ache.
“I love you too,” I admit, the words feeling foreign on my tongue. “I’ve loved you from the moment I saw you on that road, even though I didn’t understand what it meant.”
She laughs, the sound bright as silver bells in the cold air. “I knew there was something special about that stag. Those eyes—they haunted my dreams.”
“And now?”
“Now I know why.” She reaches up to trace the line of my jaw, her touch gentle despite the claws that tip my fingers. “You were calling to me even then. The bond was already forming.”
The bond. I can feel it now, solid and unbreakable, tying us together with threads of magic and love and destiny. It’s not the trap I always feared it would be, but a gift. A completion.
“Nineteen days,” I murmur, brushing a strand of hair from her face. “We have nineteen days until the Solstice.”
“Then we’d better make them count,” she says, and kisses me again.
This time, when she pulls me down to her, I don’t resist. I let myself sink into her warmth, her acceptance, her love. The snow falls around us like a benediction, and the moon watches over us like a blessing.
For the first time in three centuries, I’m exactly where I belong.
In her arms.
We kiss until we’re both breathless, until the cold finally drives us to seek shelter. I shift back to my reindeer form and she climbs onto my back, her arms wrapped around my neck as I carry her through the forest to my lodge. She’s light as a feather, warm as sunshine, and having her so close makes every protective instinct I possess sing with satisfaction.
At the lodge, I shift back to humanoid form and carry her inside, both of us still high on the magic and heat of what just happened. The fire roars to life at my command, casting dancing shadows across the walls as I set her down gently on the furs.
“You’re still cold,” she says, concern threading through her voice as she reaches for me. “Let me warm you.”
Before I can protest, she’s pulling off her coat and sweater, revealing the thin undershirt beneath. My mouth goes dry asshe moves closer, pressing her warm body against my chest, her hands sliding up to cup my face.
“Better?” she asks, and I can only nod, overwhelmed by the sensation of her soft curves molding against me.
“Much,” I manage, my voice rough with desire. My hands find her waist, spanning the narrow curve as I pull her closer. “Jessa, what you did tonight… accepting me like that…”
“Shhh,” she whispers, pressing a finger to my lips. “No more talking. Just feel.”
Her mouth finds mine again, and this time there’s nothing gentle about it. She kisses me with hunger, with need, her tongue sliding against mine as her hands explore my chest with growing boldness. When she nips at my lower lip, I growl and flip us over, pressing her back into the furs.
