Page 86 of Blood and Trouble

He should be here.

I didn’t know what to do with that. So I didn’t do anything, and I became all animal instinct and primal urge. I wanted to claim Poe. I wanted Poe to claim me. And perhaps, somewhere in there, we were both claiming Lycan by doing this to each other.

I shoved back on him harder, indicating the pace I wanted him to set. Poe got the message. He gripped me tight and fucked me like he had something to prove, like the world would come crashing down around us if he didn’t get his cock as far inside me as it would go as fast as he could.

I reached my hand between my legs to massage my clit while he pounded my insides. The tension built. My cunt swelled, and slick ran down the insides of my thighs, making a mess on the floor. I was so full and so weightless, barreling toward euphoria. My second climax took me by surprise, and I erupted with so much force, it shoved him out of me. My cunt pulsed, spraying and convulsing, and I clenched my eyes shut to ride out the waves. Moans poured over my tongue, and the sounds of Poe’s filthy mouth echoed distantly in the background.

“Fuck, yes,” he said. “Come all over me, baby. Fuck, that’s hot. Give me all of it. Every last drop.”

It went on and on, and when I came back to earth, my bones were lifeless. I sank to the ground, no longer able to hold myself up. Poe took the reins. He rolled me over onto my back and spread my legs, slotting himself at my entrance before rutting home again.

I hissed and tried to scramble away, but he pressed a gentle kiss to my lips and grabbed my wrists to hold them above my head.

“Shh,” he whispered against my mouth. “It’s okay. I’ve got you. One more. Just give me one more.”

“I can’t.” Everything was so wet and hot and sticky. I ached in the best way, and even though Poe’s gentle thrusts felt amazing, I didn’t see how I could come again.

“Such a sweet girl,” he said, licking down my cheeks to my neck. I turned my head to give him more access, and when his teeth grazed over the place where my neck met my shoulder, the world shifted. My wolf reared up inside me, taking over any remaining sense.

Take. Take. Take.

Mine. Mine. Mine.

The magical tether to Poe inside my soul vibrated, humming with adrenaline. I couldn’t stop myself. I didn’t even try. I licked the column of Poe’s throat, compelled by his salty-sweet sweat and the steady beat of his heart. When I got to the place where his scent was the strongest, I struck.

I sank my teeth into his skin until it broke. I swallowed his blood and his magic. I let it fill me up, twisting with mine, coating my insides with him, him, him.

Poe reared back so hard, my teeth ripped out of his body, leaving a messy wound that dripped crimson onto my shoulder. He blinked, frozen inside me. But that connection between us, that blinding thing that appeared when we first met, snapped into place like a rebounding rubber band. I felt it. He felt it. And neither of us could deny it.

Our wolves spoke to each other, even if the humans couldn’t understand.

“Yes?” his asked.

“Yes,” mine replied.

It needed no more thought. Poe peeled his lips back over his fangs and plunged them into my neck, surging his cock deep inside me. Everything went white. My vision blanked out. I wrapped my legs around his hips, hooking my ankles at the base of his spine, and hugged my arms under his shoulders, pulling him closer. His bonding scent flared, covering me in territorial protection. I was his. He was mine.

It didn’t make sense, but it didn’t have to. Magic rampaged inside me, sparkling and golden and incendiary. My climax poured out of me into him, and he reciprocated with his own, his knot expanding, holding him deep inside. He kept thrusting in tiny movements, shooting the last of his release into my cunt. He groaned, and I cried, hot tears spilling down my temples.

The space between us blurred, his darkness flooding all the cracks I’d left open. I sensed his affection for me, a quiet devotion that had slowly built in a short amount of time. His heartbreak and angst and utmost reverence for everything we’d created together. Finally, his worshipful commitment to Lycan. He loved my husband with every ounce of his being.

In the aftermath, he collapsed on top of me and licked the bite mark on my neck, softly lapping at it while I tended to the one on him. Our heartbeats synced, pounding through our ribs like they were trying to reach out to each other.

We didn’t say anything. Nothing needed to be said.

He rolled us so I was on top of him, his cock still buried deep inside, and I lay across his chest, staring up into his beautiful brown eyes. He brushed hair out of my face and kissed my forehead, but reality stealthily crept back in.

Objectively, I knew what we’d done couldn’t be taken back. I’d marked him as mine. He’d marked me as his. We didn’t belong to each other. If anything, we both belonged to Lycan—and what a strange, beautiful, tragic thing that was. He didn’t want anything permanent between us, and yet, we’d created something irrevocable.

We’d have to tell him.

I waited for the dread to arrive. Braced for it.

It didn’t come. What came instead was worse, and much harder to explain. I wanted to tell Lycan. I wanted to watch his face while he heard it. I wanted him in the room when he found out, close enough that I could see the fury war with hunger in his eyes. I couldn’t line that up with any version of guilt I’d ever felt before.

People who cheated hid it. Some deep-seated instinct told me not to, and not just because of remorse or shame. It said there was more between the three of us, and this was just the catalyst.

Poe licked his lips and started to say something, probably to bring us both back down to earth, but I put my fingers over his mouth to stop him.