Page 37 of Talk Howly to Me

His cock, hard and heavy, pressed against the swell of her backside as he reached for the bar of cedar-scented soap. Then he lathered his hands and began to wash her, starting with the elegant slope of her shoulders. His movements were slow, deliberate, a tactile exploration he'd denied himself for too long. He mapped the ridges of her spine, the dip of her waist, the glorious swell of her hips, his large hands learning the terrain of her body with a focus that was almost worshipful.

But when his soap-slicked hands slid around to cup her breasts, his patience frayed. He filled his palms with her, his thumbs circling her nipples until she gasped, her head falling back against his shoulder. The scent of her arousal, mingled with steam and cedar, became his whole world.

He turned her around and he bent his head, his mouth finding the sensitive skin of her neck, then trailing lower until he captured one taut peak into his mouth and sucked on it gently.

"Ronan…" His name was a plea on her lips.

He lavished attention on her one breast, then the other, his tongue and teeth wringing soft cries from her that were barely audible over the drumming water. Her hands came up, not pushing him away but gripping his biceps, her fingers digging into his muscle.

When he finally lifted his head, her eyes were glazed. "Ronan," she breathed again. "I need you."

Ronan's patience, so carefully cultivated over twelve years of leadership, shattered. The heat of the water, the slick perfection of her skin beneath his hands, the heady scent of her arousal amplified by the steam—it was a sensory overload that demolished his discipline. His wolf surged forward with a single, primal command.

Now.

His hands slid from her breasts to her hips, and in one fluid motion, he lifted her up. A startled gasp escaped her lips, but her instincts were flawless as her legs wrapped around his waist, her heat pressing directly against the rigid length of his cock. His wolf roared its approval.

Finally.

The nascent mate bond, humming gently since her arrival, blazed like a live wire tossed into dry tinder. He could feel the echo of his own desperate need reflected back at him, amplified by her desire until it thrummed between them, a tangible force in the steam-filled space.

But he didn't hesitate. He guided himself to her slick entrance, his gaze locked on her hazy eyes, and he drove into her with one powerful, claiming thrust. She cried out, a sharp, breathless sound that was part shock, part profound relief as he filled her completely.

Her nails dug into the hard muscles of his shoulders, anchoring herself. "Ronan."

He didn't move for a heartbeat, savoring the sensation of being sheathed inside her, of the bond singing with a rightness that vibrated in his very bones. Then he began to move, a slow, deep withdrawal followed by an even deeper, more powerful thrust.

Mine. The thought was primitive and all-consuming.

Her pleasure built quickly, a bright, rising tide he could feel through the bond, tangling with his own. It was intoxicating, and his own control frayed with each rhythmic plunge. He'd waited so long—not just days, but decades—for this. For a moment that belonged purely to him, not to his duty, not to his pack, but to his own soul-deep hunger. And it was everything.

She was everything.

She wrapped her arms around his neck, burying her face in the curve where his shoulder met his neck. He followed suit, pressing his lips to her damp skin, inhaling her scent. The urge to claim her permanently, to sink his canines into her flesh and bind her to him for eternity, surged with terrifying force. His canines suddenly elongated, a sharp, aching pressure against his gums.

No.

The image of Kozue's face, the hurt in his eyes when Ronan had chastised him, flashed with brutal clarity. This bond wasn't a singular claim. It was a triad. To mark her now, without Kozue, would be a betrayal of that bond, a theft of a shared future. It would be the ultimate selfish act from an Alpha who had sworn to protect his own. With a force of will that felt like tearing his own skin, he pulled the primal impulse back and his canines retracted, the ache a reminder of his restraint.

"Faster, Ronan," she breathed into his ear, her voice a ragged plea that shattered his remaining control.

He obeyed willingly. His rhythm altered, abandoning the measured pace for something raw and primal. His thrusts became harder, deeper, a relentless pursuit of mutual pleasure. He angled his hips, searching, and found the spot that made her cry out, a broken moan that sent a fresh wave of heat rushing through him.

"There," she gasped. "Oh, god, right there."

He growled, the sound rumbling from his chest as he hammered into that sweet spot, each impact driving them both higher. The world narrowed to the slap of wet skin, the ragged symphony of their breathing, and the brilliant cord of the mate bond, vibrating with a frequency of pure ecstasy. Minutes blurred into a sea of sensation.

"I'm so close, Ronan," she panted, her inner muscles beginning to flutter around him.

He drove into her with renewed ferocity, his own climax a coiled spring at the base of his spine. He wanted to give her this. He needed to see her shatter because of him.

"Come for me, Sloane."

It was the permission she needed. Her orgasm detonated, a cataclysm he felt through the bond before he saw it wrack her body. A raw, unfiltered cry tore from her throat as she convulsed against him, and her inner walls clenched around his cock in a fierce, milking rhythm that shattered his last thread of control.

His own release exploded, a violent, outward rush of pleasure so intense it bordered on pain. He drove into her one final, deep time, burying himself to the hilt as he spilled himself inside her. His body shuddered against hers, his arms tightening like bands of steel to keep them upright as the aftershocks rippled through them both.

They stayed joined like that, pressed against the cool tile of the shower wall, as the hot water cascaded over them and their ragged breaths slowly evened out. Their heartbeats, frantic and wild, gradually slowed into a single, synchronized rhythm as the mate bond hummed a contented vibration.