“I’ve got you,” I said again, sliding one hand up her back and pulling her closer. “You’re safe.”
Her rhythm faltered. Her thighs trembled around me.
I brushed my tail against one as if to steady her and thrust up, just enough.
She cried out.
There.
I did it again.
She clutched at me, panting, her body tightening around mine. The buggy rocked harder now, the field humming beneath us, the whole damn thing swaying like it knew exactly what it was doing.
“Kazan,” she gasped.
“I know.” My mouth found her throat, right above the scarf. “Come for me.”
She did.
Her whole body bowed against mine, tight and shaking, her cry muffled against my shoulder. The feel of her clenching around me snapped the last thread of control I had.
I held her close and came hard, burying my face in her hair, careful even then. Careful while pleasure burned through me and the bond blazed like a star behind my ribs.
Mate.
I didn’t say it.
But I felt it in every part of me.
After, the barn was quiet except for the sounds of the orchard and the low hum of the buggy.
She lay against my chest, limp and warm, one arm tucked between us. The scarf had gone crooked, one end trailing over my arm. Sawdust clung to her shoulder.
I brushed it away with my thumb.
Her fingers traced one of the old scars on my chest. Lightly. Like she wasn’t afraid of where they’d come from.
“I’m keeping the scarf,” she said. “That’s mine now. The auditor can pry it off my cold dead neck.”
A laugh rumbled out of me before I could stop it. “I’ll have Drevus make you ten more.”
“Five was already too much.”
“And yet you took them.”
She finally lifted her head. Her cheeks were still flushed, her hair a mess, her mouth swollen from my kisses. She looked wrecked.
She looked perfect.
“I’m done refusing things I want,” she said. “Turns out it’s a habit. I’m breaking it.”
“Good.”
She smiled, and something in my chest went dangerously soft.
Two weeks of pretending. Of keeping distance. Of washing this from her skin and acting like I hadn't just had her naked and trembling in my lap on the ridiculous floating buggy I’d built her.
I could do it.
