Page 109 of Taming the Kraken

“You are magnificent, Ken,” Alexa mumbled against his chest as she slid against him, her feet finding the ground again. She looked into his green eyes, his gaze filled with love.

“Thank you.”

“Thank you? For what?” Alexa smiled, but his face remained serious.

“I know it may not have seemed like a big deal, but that whole situation was for me. You have to understand that since the beginning of time, my existence …”

“Ken.” Alexa raised her hand and trailed her fingers over his chest. “You never had me in your existence before. I’m your soulmate.”

“And I never realized just how important that was. I need you, Alexa. I’ve never needed anyone before … but I need you. I can’t imagine ever living without you. Lex, are you sure about what you said earlier? Because we don’t have to rush. We can wait until you’re ready.”

“I’m ready, Ken. I’ve been ready. I’m better now after the day I had yesterday. I felt like my mind was all over the place. But after spending time with my family, everything just … everything settled down inside.” Alexa shrugged slightly and smiled. “Seeing all my family together with their mates—I have such a diverse family. I guess it helped put things into perspective too. I need your mark. I—” She clenched Ken’s shirt, then glanced down at her feet. “I’m a strong woman. I like to do things on my own. I like to be self-reliant. It’s who I am.” She shook her head slightly and licked her lips. “But—” Her voice trailed to a whisper. “It’s different now, with you. My existence is tied to yours. When I go through something, I need the other half of my soul with me. Because now I know what it’s like to be whole. I want what they all have. I don’t want there to be anything separating us.”

Ken reached down and gently lifted her chin, meeting her eyes. “You won’t have what they have, because each relationship is different. It’s built on their own experiences and lives. But ours will be better because it’s ours. It’ll be perfect because it’s us. I’m not going to lie. You terrify me. Your existence terrified me at first, because I’ve never needed anyone ever. Instantly, it was like I was connected to you by some invisible force I couldn’t control. I tried to fight it. I tried to fight it to protect you. But how can you fight what’s meant to be?” He rested his forehead on hers. “I love you, Alexa. And with your consent …” He felt her head nod against his. “With your consent, I’m going to claim you now.”

Heat bloomed through Alexa, though he hadn’t moved. Ken’s warmth was sinking into her, becoming hers, and beneath it rose a low hum she felt more than heard, a vibration threading through her bones. It built and built until it broke all at once, and something warm slid down her neck. Her fingers came away bloody. She looked up in confusion, and he only smiled, because he’d never once touched her throat. Then she saw the thin line of blood tracing down his neck too, and understanding arrived with a rush of wonder. An eight-pointed star marked his skin, and her hand found the same shape stinging gently on her own. Matching marks, drawn on them both by the claiming itself. So this was how an earth deity gave his mark. She would be giving him hers in a different way.

She leaned her head to the side and met his eyes again. She could feel herself connecting with him. A rush of warmth embraced her as her body relaxed, getting what it needed.

“I’m yours,” Alexa whispered as she touched the mark on Ken’s neck, her entire body heating up from the contact. She lifted up on her tiptoes and pressed her lips against his. “Mine.” She whispered it again as their lips crashed together. Her hands wrapped around his shoulders as she deepened the kiss, her fingers digging into his flesh as she clawed at him. Her nails raked over his body as her tongue tangled with his.

She didn’t hold anything back. She poured every bit of her love, her passion, and her soul into it. She could feel his lips curve into a smile as he kissed her back, and the growl that rolled out of him then was pure pleasure as they lost themselves in one another.

“Mine,” he whispered, his voice deep and husky. His free arm wrapped around her waist and pulled her flush against him. He lifted her off the ground as he deepened the kiss even more.

The air around them shifted. Alexa opened her eyes long enough to see they were back in their bedroom. The maddening kiss carried them forward until they tumbled onto the bed together. He pulled back, panting as he stared down at her, and she answered the question in his eyes by stripping her shirt over her head and tossing it aside. His lips found her throat first, then the star at the side of her neck, freshly healed where the blood had been, and he sucked at it slowly. He knew what their marks could do, the pleasure they released at a mate’s touch, and he felt the truth of it in the way her body arched into his.

Then his mouth moved lower. He reached beneath her and unclasped her bra one-handed, dragging it off and away, and when his lips closed over her nipple, she felt it everywhere at once. She threaded her fingers into his hair and held on. He took his time there, working her with his tongue until her breath came in ragged pulls and her hips lifted off the bed looking for something to press against.

His hands found the waist of her pants. He had them unbuttoned and stripped down her legs in one impatient motion, and she lifted her hips to help him, her cheeks burning as he settled between her thighs and looked at her. Then his hand slid up her inner thigh and covered her.

“Mine,” he whispered against her stomach, and started to move his fingers in slow circles.

She made a sound she didn’t recognize. There was a possessive urgency running through him, a need to learn every part of her now that she carried his mark, and he wanted all of it. Her sounds. Her shaking. The way she said his name.

He pushed her leg up toward her chest and kissed his way past her stomach, lower, and then his tongue was on her. Her head fell back against the bed. He licked into her in a lazy, deliberate pattern, learning what made her tighten and going back to it, and her fingers curled hard in his hair, her nerves on fire.

“Mmm … Ken,” she moaned, and it came out closer to begging.

Her thighs trembled as he blew a hot breath over her wet skin. Then he hummed against her, low and rumbling, his tongue working her clit in tight circles until the sound and the pressure blurred into the same thing. She gasped and locked her thighs around his head, holding him there while her orgasm tore through her.

Her mind was still swimming when the drive surfaced, insistent, impossible to ignore. It was her turn. She was going to put her own mark on the other side of his neck, and she had no idea which of her beasts would claim him first.

Ken stripped off the rest of his clothes while she pushed herself up onto her knees. He knelt facing her on the bed, and she pressed her hands to his shoulders and guided him down onto his back.

“Look at you,” he said, his voice rough with emotion. “I still don’t know what I did to ever deserve you.”

“Nothing.” Alexa straddled him and watched his eyes go dark as they moved over her body. “You were just you. The person meant to be my other half. That was enough. It was always enough.” She reached between them, took him in her hand, and slowly lowered herself onto him.

They both groaned. She stilled for a moment, adjusting to the stretch of him, feeling the way he filled her completely, and then she started to move.

His hands closed on her hips. His eyes fell shut as she rode him, and she watched his jaw tighten every time she came down hard.

“Look at me,” she said, and his eyes opened. “I want you looking at me.”

He held her gaze and never let it go after that. She braced her palms on his chest and picked up her pace, her breasts bouncing with it, and when she leaned down to catch his bottom lip between her teeth, he lifted into her, meeting her thrust for thrust. She could feel him swelling inside her. Her head tipped back and her thighs shook, and she knew neither of them was going to last. She bent to his neck and stopped there with her lips resting against his pulse.

“They both want you,” she whispered. “My wolf and my dragon.”