I swallow, forcing myself to hold his gaze. “Now it’s all I can think about. Plus, Roman told me I deserve to be happy. He’ll join the Guard in six months. I was hoping…you’d grant me the time with him until then.”
His palm presses flat against the tree beside my head, caging me in. “And if I refuse?”
A smirk curls my lips despite the hammering of my heart. “Then I’ll just have to beat you again.”
A low, dangerous laugh escapes him. “I let you win.”
“In your dreams, fleabag.”
His grin is wicked, but his voice softens. “Yourname should be Fire, not Ember. You burn hotter than any flame I’ve ever known.”
My knees threaten to buckle as he pulls back, his eyes sparking with mischief. Then he shifts in a flash of white fur and takes off through the trees.
“Thorn!” I curse, shifting fast, paws pounding as I chase after him. Our strides fall in sync, shoulders brushing, growls threading the night. Then the vibrant red leaves of the Sacred Tree rise before us, bathed in silver moonlight.
At the last heartbeat, he slows. I dart past him, bursting into the circle first, my chest heaving as I run over to the tree.
I shift. “I beat you again!” I gloat, shifting back, throwing my hands up in mock victory.
He’s in human form, standing with his arms folded, when I turn around. His smirk is sin itself, following me in careful small steps. “Then make your choice.”
I freeze. He isn’t chasing me anymore. He isn’t claiming me. He’s giving me the choice.
The weight of the moment crashes into me.
Slowly, I step toward him. The air between us thrums like lightning. My hand presses to his chest, feeling the thundering of his heart. His eyes blaze, but he doesn’t move. He’s waiting.
I rise onto my toes, close the last inches of space, and press my lips to his.
The world falls away.
The bark of the Sacred Tree digs into my back as Thorn’s body presses into me, heat and hunger radiating like wildfire. His warm hand cups my jaw, his thumb brushing my lip, as his mouth claims mine — hard, consuming — like he’s been waiting a lifetime.
I moan into his mouth, my fingers tangling in his white hair, tugging him closer, closer, until there is nothing but him, the tree, and the endless fire licking through my veins. His lips drag down my neck, sharp teeth scraping at my sensitive skin. My thighs clench. His hardness presses against me.
“Say it,” he growls, his voice a low rumble that vibrates through my chest.
“You,” I pant, arching against him. “I choose you.”
The sound that rips from his throat is half snarl, half plea, and then his mouth trails lower, his teeth nipping at the collarbone, his tongue soothing the sting of the cool air kissing my bare skin. My hands clutch his shoulders as he lifts me, my legs wrapping tight around his waist.
“Mine,” he says again, eyes blazing, wolf just beneath the surface.
“Yes,” I whisper. “Yours.”
He pauses before me as if confirming I’m not going to change my mind again. I nod. Slowly, he eases himself inside of me. Pain mixed with pleasure ripples through me, with each thrust giving me more of himself. I’ve never felt so…full.
“You’re doing so good taking me.”
I whimper.
Then he pulls out, the loss of him makes me groan until he surges into me in one fierce thrust, my cry muffled against his shoulder. The Sacred Tree trembles with the force of us slamming into it and red branches sway above us. I clutch at him, nails burrowing into his back, every movement driving me higher, rawer, until the world narrows to the relentless rhythm of him inside me.
“Thorn—” my voice breaks, desperate, needing.
“Yes, mate. Are you okay? Do you like that?” he grits, forehead pressed to mine, sweat and heat mingling.
Desperately nodding, somehow I utter, “Gods yes.”
