I didn’t know what else to call it. Something hot and bright opened between us, not outside my body, not exactly inside it either. It bloomed where his chest pressed against mine, a warmth that felt like heartbeat and sunlight and Kazan all at once.
I gasped.
He froze.
“What was that?”
“The bond,” he said, voice ragged. “You feel it?”
“Yes.”
His control nearly snapped then. I saw it happen on his face. The wonder and hunger. The relief was so sharp it almost hurt to look at.
“I love you,” I said.
His whole body shuddered.
“I love you,” I said again, because I could. Because nobody could stop me. Because it was true and it was mine to give.
He buried his face in my neck and moved harder.
“Mate,” he said against my skin.
This time it wasn’t a secret. It wasn’t a warning. It was a prayer.
I clung to him, pleasure winding tighter and tighter in my belly. The bond burned warmer, and every place he touched me felt lit from the inside.
“I chose you,” I said. “I’d choose you again.”
His rhythm faltered.
Then his mouth found mine, and he kissed me like those words had done what no tribunal ever could.
I was close. Too close. My body was already clenching around him, greedy and desperate, my nails scraping over his shoulders.
“Kazan,” I panted. “I’m going to?—”
“I know.” His hand slid between us, thumb finding my clit. “Come for me.”
I did.
No dignity. No quiet. No swallowing it down.
I came apart under him, crying out as pleasure rolled through me, bright and hot. He kept thrusting, drawing it out until I was shaking, until my body was trying to push him away and pull him deeper at the same time.
Then he followed me.
His arms locked around me, careful even then, as his hips drove deep and held. He came with a rough groan against mythroat, his whole body trembling, filling me as the bond pulsed warm between us.
For a minute, neither of us moved.
I couldn’t.
My bones had left. I was skin and breath and satisfaction.
Kazan pressed a kiss to my jaw. Then my cheek. Then the corner of my mouth.
“I love you,” he said.
