Page 47 of Howl About That

Then she began to move. The pace was not slow and steady. It was deliberate and powerful, a rhythm set by her primal need. Each rise and fall was a promise, each roll of her hips a claim. Keiro met her thrust for thrust, driving up into her, the force of it pushing a guttural sound from her lips. The mate bond was no longer a subtle thread; it was an electric current, amplifying every sensation, every spike of pleasure, until the air itself seemed to vibrate with it.

He could feel her pleasure coiling, a tight spring within her. His own built in tandem, a pressure growing at the base of his spine. Her movements became less controlled and more frantic, a wild, beautiful abandon taking over.

"I'm close," she gasped, her rhythm fracturing. "I need… I need to mark you soon."

"Then come here," he growled, his voice thick with need.

She obeyed, folding herself down over him, her breasts crushed to his chest, and her mouth finding his in a searing kiss. The new angle was deeper, more intense. He wrapped his arms around her, holding her flush against him as he drove into her, losing himself in the feel of her, the scent of her, and the sound of her ragged breaths in his ear.

The change started at her hand. He felt the subtle shift, the prick of elongated claws against the skin of his hip. The sharp bite of pain cut through the pleasure, a brilliant, clarifyingcontrast. His own canines lengthened in response, a primal answer to her call.

Within seconds, her climax hit her like a storm. A raw, broken cry tore from her throat as her body convulsed around him. At the same instant, he felt the searing heat of her claws breaking his skin, the mark of her claim burning into his flesh.

The pain was a trigger and a release. His control shattered and he buried his face in the curve of her neck, sinking his teeth into the tender junction of her shoulder. She cried out, the sound a mixture of pleasure and sublime agony.

Then the world exploded into white light and shuddering sensation. His release ripped through him, violent and endless, as he spilled himself deep inside her. But it was more than a physical climax. It was a cataclysm. He felt the final, irrevocable snap of the mate bond locking into place, a completion so profound it stole the air from his lungs.

For a long moment, there was only the thunder of their hearts, the shared, shuddering aftershocks of pleasure, and the warm, steady trickle of blood from their fresh marks. Then, a new awareness blossomed in the silence of his mind.

Keiro.

Her voice. Not in his ears, but in the very center of his consciousness. Soft, awed, and intimately his.

Mine, he projected back through their new telepathic link.

A fierce, possessive joy flooded the newly completed bond from her side. He sent back a wave of absolute, staggering reverence. The profound rightness of it settled into his bones.

The lonely, half-formed feeling that had plagued him for sixteen years—the hollow space he'd filled with duty and control—was gone. In its place was a terrifying, exhilarating wholeness. He was no longer a man standing alone against the storm. He was an anchor. And she was the chain. And together, they were unbreakable.

NINETEEN

POPPY

Consciousness drifted back to Poppy like sunlight filtering through deep water—slow, warm, and utterly peaceful. She'd never experienced anything quite like it, this bone-deep contentment that seemed to radiate from her very core outward. The completed mate bond thrummed between them, a golden thread of connection that made her feel simultaneously grounded and weightless.

A shadow fell across her closed eyelids, and she became aware of Keiro's presence before she even opened her eyes. His scent—cedar and rain and that indefinable something that was purely him—wrapped around her like a cocoon.

"What time is it?" she mumbled against the pillow, her voice still thick with sleep.

"Nearly ten o'clock."

Her eyes snapped open. "Ten?" She pushed herself up, blinking in disbelief. "Ten in the morning?"

Keiro stood beside the bed, already dressed in tan slacks and a crisp white shirt that made his dark hair look even more striking. His expression held a mixture of amusement and something deeper—a possessive satisfaction that sent heat curling through her belly.

"Yes, I didn't want to wake you sooner. I figured you needed the rest." His voice carried that Alpha authority she'd grown to love. "I've never seen you so peaceful."

Embarrassment heated her cheeks. In eleven years of leadership, she'd never slept past six-thirty. Her internal clock was merciless because her responsibilities were endless. But last night, after they'd completed the bond, after she'd finally allowed herself to choose him fully, she'd fallen asleep in his arms with a comfort she'd never known existed. And that should have terrified her, but instead, it filled her with joy.

"I can't remember the last time I slept that deeply," she admitted, sitting up fully.

The sheet pooled around her waist, and she caught the way his eyes darkened as they tracked over her bare skin. Even after everything they'd shared, the hunger in his gaze made her pulse quicken.

"Maybe because you finally stopped carrying the world alone." His hand reached out to brush a strand of hair from her face, the gesture achingly tender. "Your lioness knew she was finally safe."

The truth of it settled into her bones. For the first time since her father's death, she'd truly rested and felt at peace. No hypervigilance, no mental catalog of threats and responsibilities cycling through her mind. Just profound peace.

"Let's get some breakfast here on my pack territory," Keiro said, his tone shifting to something more businesslike, though warmth still threaded through it. "Then afterward, I want to introduce you to my pack."