Page 57 of Fated to the Alpha

When she was sure he would lose control, Kimberly lowered herself to her knees in front of him. Together, they worked to completely free him of his pants and underwear, leaving him gloriously naked.

As he had done before, she let herself ogle the raw sight of him.

“Like what you see?” he asked.

Kimberly looked up at him from behind her lashes. “Looks tasty.”

She ran her hands down the curve of his powerful hips and thighs, loving the way he gasped and shuddered at her touch. She relished the taste of him, licking with the same careful, methodical slowness as her hands had used.

His ragged breaths told her that this was just what he liked. When she took him into her mouth, his hands found her shoulders and held on as if she were the only thing keeping him on this planet.

As she drew him in and out between her lips, one of his hands caressed up her neck and settled against her head, a gentle plea to stay where she was. She groaned at the feel of his fingertips raking her scalp, and he moaned at the vibration of her voice, amplifying his bliss.

“Kim, I can’t hold it. Can I … please?”

With one last pull, Kimberly released him and rose to her feet, letting her body drag sensuously against his along the way. “Since you asked so nicely.”

They shared a short but intimate kiss before Shane acted.

In one powerful, swift move, he caught her up and whisked her to the bed. She bounced with the force of her landing on the mattress, but his mouth stifled the tiny laugh.

The heaviness of him pressing her into the duvet was oddly comforting. Even just a week ago, she might have slipped into a full-blown panic attack. But now, there was nothing but delight as she lost herself in Shane’s caresses.

He sat back on his heels and hooked his fingers on the elastic waistband of her pajama pants and underwear. He did it in such a gradual way that she wanted to scream. When her legs were finally free, both of them lay bare before the other, something crackled between them. It spread and filled the room, completely intoxicating and making her dizzy.

Shane crawled his way back up her body, between her legs, and she squirmed with impatience.

If she were human, they would have discussed contraceptives before this moment. As a shifter, there was a finite window of opportunity throughout the year when she was fertile enough to conceive, not unlike a real wolf. The rest of the time, when she wasn’t in heat, no condom was needed. Chemical birth control of any kind was useless because of her metabolism. They were free to feel one another without fear, without hesitation, unbridled passion demolishing all reason.

“I want to taste every inch of you,” Shane growled against the hollow of her throat.

Kimberly arched and let her arms drift above her head, exposing herself fully and willingly to his wishes.

The tip of him touched between her legs. Instinctively, her knees widened, and her hips tilted up, beckoning him to take her. When he slid deep inside, fluidly filling her hot, wet center, Kimberly let Shane know, loud and clear, just how perfect it was. Like a piece of her had been returned, like the feeling of coming home but never having been to this place of total, consuming happiness.

Shane, in turn, groaned and buried his face in the place where her neck met her shoulder.

He pulsated inside her, pumping slowly at first and then faster as savage, wild need overcame them both. Kimberly hung on, letting him mark her and, in turn, marking him. Higher they climbed, caught up in a tornado of passion that had been all but beaten out of them over the last ten years, withstanding heartache after heartache, trial after trial. In the crescendo of the moment, they realized they had weathered life long enough to finally claim one another for their own and come together to enjoy the first break of sunlight after the storm. Tears gathered at the corners of her eyes, and she couldn’t decide what they meant.

They rode together to completion. Shane was gentleman enough not to drop in an exhausted heap but stayed suspended over her, his face hot against her skin. Their sweaty, quivering, warm bodies still flush together, they heaved for air and panted in raspy tones that seemed on the verge of hysterical laughter as they both floated down from the high of sex, wallowing in the afterglow.

Through the haze, something new and unexpected struck Kimberly. Her eyes popped open, and her body went deathly still. Even with Shane still inside her, something else threatened to sneak in. A spirit, an airy force so familiar and yet foreign, reached out to touch her soul.

She knew what it was without ever having experienced it before.

“No! Don’t!”

The panic Kimberly expected earlier finally gripped her chest, and she writhed, pushing on Shane as if that would stop what his wolf tried to do.

He snapped to attention, fully aware as he slid out of her. “What? What’s … Oh, shit.”

Suddenly, it shut off. The force dissolved at Shane’s bidding.

No mating bond was formed.

They stared at one another, only the lamp light from one of the nightstands casting an amber glow on their shocked faces. Shane had almost tried to form a mating bond with her.

They had talked about it as kids, but it was always something reserved for later down the road, when they had things figured out. Mating bonds were serious commitments between shifters and their partners. Though they could be broken, the process was excruciating, which was why only those shifters who were fully and unabashedly committed to one another formed such a bond. Anything less made things muddled and never ended well.