His words shattered the last of her control. Her orgasm exploded through her, a detonation of light and sensation that clenched her core around him in rhythmic pulses. She shook with the force of it, a broken cry escaping her lips.
The feel of her tight channel milking him was his undoing. With a roar he smothered against her skin, he drove up into her one last, deep time, his body shuddering as he spilled himself inside her. She felt each hot pulse, the intimate claim, and held him through the tremors that racked his powerful frame.
They stayed locked together, slick with sweat, their hearts hammering against each other in a frantic, slowing syncopation. His arms wrapped around her, pulling her tight against his chest, his face buried in the curve of her neck.
In the quiet aftermath, the reality of what they’d just done—where they’d just done it—filtered back in. Tess, the controlled scientist who planned every detail, had just had wild, desperate sex with a bear prince in the back of his SUV after his father’s funeral.
And unlike the frantic coupling in her guest suite, which she’d dismissed as a mistake born of wine and stress, this felt like a choice. A declaration. Messy, complicated, potentially disastrous, but utterly, irrevocablyhers.
She didn’t know how any of this would work. The stolen vials waited in his fridge. A kingdom was in mourning. A council expected him to choose a politically expedient mate. An entire belief system labeled their bond a fatal weakness.
But curled in his lap, his strong arms creating a fortress around her, she didn’t care about the how. For this single, stolen moment, she simply let herself feel the rightness of it. The bond between them hummed, not just in her blood, but in her bones, a silent, joyous song she finally stopped trying to mute.
EIGHTEEN
KORRAN
The drive to the estate passed in a haze of satisfaction as Korran was still riding the high of claiming his mate in the most primal way possible. The scent of their coupling lingered in the SUV—rose and rain mingled with pine and spice, marking the space as thoroughly theirs. His hands flexed on the steering wheel as he replayed every moment: Tess straddling him, taking him deep, her inner walls clenching around him as she came apart in his arms.
Mine.
His bear prowled, demanding more. Demanding he complete the bond properly—with his mark seared into her skin. But Korran forced himself to maintain control, even as his claws ached with the need to sink into the soft skin over her hip.
Not yet.
Not until he knew for certain that Varix’s mate bond theory was complete fabrication.
The logical part of his mind—the part trained by years of royal duty and scientific observation—insisted on proof before he irrevocably bound Tess to a fate that might destroy them both. If there was even a chance that the human-shifter bondhad caused his father’s decline, he couldn’t risk exposing her to the same fate his mother had endured.
But his bear snarled in disagreement, pushing closer to the surface with frustrated fury.
She is ours. Mark her. Stop this foolish hesitation.
But Korran held firm. One more day. Just long enough to test those stolen vials and shatter the last of his doubts.
When they pulled into the circular drive of the estate, Tess turned to him with eyes still bright from their encounter. “I want to test those vials immediately. Every moment we delay?—“
“I have to attend my father’s private burial first,” he interrupted, his voice rough. The reminder of duty crashed over him, sobering the heated satisfaction still coursing through his veins.
Her face softened with understanding. “Of course. I’m sorry, I wasn’t thinking?—“
He reached across the console and cupped her face, his thumb brushing over her kiss-swollen lips. “Don’t apologize for wanting justice for him. I’ll call Kael to pick you up here, and I’ll meet you at the lab as soon as I can.”
She nodded, then leaned forward to press a quick, fierce kiss to his mouth. The brief contact sent heat spiraling through him again, and his bear rumbled approval. Then she slipped out of the SUV and hurried up the front steps. Korran watched until she disappeared inside, then forced himself to focus on the grim task ahead.
He found his mother in her private chambers, standing at the windows overlooking the snow-covered gardens, her posture rigid with barely contained grief.
“What took you so long?” she asked without turning. “They’ll be expecting us soon at the burial grounds.”
Korran closed the door behind him, then moved to stand beside her at the windows. “Tess and I... reconciled. I told her she was my fated mate.”
His mother’s reflection in the glass showed a flicker of something—relief, perhaps, or satisfaction. “And?”
“She didn’t exactly choose the mate bond yet,” he admitted, running a hand through his dark hair. “Neither did I, not completely. But she’s staying to help uncover the truth about Father’s illness. Maybe once we have answers...” He trailed off, unwilling to voice the hope building in his chest.
His mother finally turned to face him, her blue eyes sharp despite the exhaustion etched around them. “Well, I hope this all wraps up soon. Malvek is putting tremendous pressure on me to step down as queen, and for you to choose Seraya. We’re running out of time here, Korran.”
“I know. That’s why Tess is going to the lab now with Kael. They’re testing samples we... acquired... from Varix’s private stores. She thinks Father’s immunity booster may have been toxic rather than therapeutic.”
