The shadow realm closes around me, trying to trap me like it did before. But Maren won't allow it. Her determination blazes through what binds us. She plants her feet, channels ley energy, and holds the connection open by sheer refusal to let me be cut off from reality.
What connects us stretches between dimensions, golden and sure. She anchors me to reality even as I push deeper into the void. Her presence is a compass pointing home.
I need that anchor now more than ever. Because the Guardian is here, and it remembers me too.
An hour before...
The compound is chaos—brothers checking equipment, mates preparing defenses, Calder orchestrating the ritual setup. But I pull Maren away to my cabin one last time, the door closing behind us with finality.
"I need you," I tell her. Not a question. A statement of absolute necessity.
She understands. Comes to me without hesitation, her mouth finding mine with hungry need.
"So neither of us forgets what this feels like," she breathes against my lips.
I back her against the wall. Fast and hard and desperate. Something real to anchor us both when the shadow realm tries to make me forget what's worth fighting for.
Her jeans hit the floor and I lift her, pressing her back against the cabin wall. She wraps her legs around my waist immediately, opening for me. The scent of her arousal floods my senses, hot and sweet and undeniably mine. My cock throbs, already hard and straining against my jeans. I can feel the heat of her through the denim, feel how wet she is, how ready.
"Jonah," she gasps, grinding against me, seeking friction. "Please."
That single word snaps the last thread of my control. I fumble with my belt, my zipper, desperate to be inside her. She helps, shoving my jeans down my hips with urgent hands. The moment I'm free, I line up and thrust home in one deep stroke.
She cries out, head falling back against the wall. I freeze, buried to the hilt, giving her body time to adjust. She's tight and wet and perfect, her inner walls clenching around me. The mate bond flares bright, amplifying every sensation until I can't tell where my pleasure ends and hers begins.
"Move," she demands, nails digging into my shoulders. "Jonah, please move."
I pull out slowly, savoring the drag of her body against mine, then slam back in. She moans, the sound going straight to my cock. I set a hard rhythm, driving into her again and again. Each thrust sends sparks of golden light through our connection. I feel what she feels—the stretch and fullness, the desperate need, the building pressure coiling tighter with each stroke.
Her nails rake down my back, leaving marks I'll carry into the shadow realm. The sting mingles with pleasure, sharp and bright. She bites my shoulder and I growl, hips snapping harder, faster, chasing the release building at the base of my spine.
"Touch yourself," I rasp against her throat. "I want to feel it."
She obeys without hesitation, one hand sliding between our bodies to find her clit. The moment her fingers make contact, pleasure explodes through the bond—hers and mine, doubled and reflected back. I groan, the sensation almost too much.
"That's it," I encourage, adjusting my angle to hit deeper. "Take what you need."
She circles her clit in tight movements, her body clenching around me with each pass. Through the bond, I feel the pleasure building in her core, feel the tension winding tighter. It drives me higher, pushes me closer to the edge.
"Jonah," she gasps. "I'm close. I'm?—"
"I know." I can feel it through the bond, feel her climbing toward release. "Come for me. Let me feel it."
I thrust harder, grinding against her with each stroke. Her fingers move faster, more urgent. The bond pulses between us, golden and bright and absolutely unbreakable.
She comes with a cry that echoes through the cabin, her body clamping down around me like a vice. The sensation roars through the mate bond—her pleasure crashing into mine,amplifying, multiplying. I feel her orgasm as if it's happening in my own body, feel every pulse and clench and wave of bliss.
It's too much. I bury myself deep and let go, my release tearing through me with devastating force. Golden light blazes between us, so bright it illuminates every corner of the dim cabin. Our pleasure tangles together through the bond until I don't know where I end and she begins.
We shudder together, riding out the aftershocks. My legs shake with the effort of holding us both up. She's boneless against me, face buried in my neck, breathing hard.
I stay inside her, not ready to break the connection. Not ready to face what comes next.
"Come back to me," she whispers against my throat. "Come back to this."
"Always," I promise, pressing a kiss to her temple. "I'm coming back. Nothing in that realm is strong enough to keep me from you."
But even as I say it, I can feel the shadow realm waiting. Patient. Hungry. Ready to test that promise.
