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"Don't stop," she gasps. "Don't you dare. I’m so close."

I can feel it. She’s close. Right there. Her pussy clenches rhythmically around my fingers, her clit swollen under my tongue, her whole body coiled tight. I work faster, harder, adding a third finger and stretching her open while I suck her clit between my teeth.

She moans my name. Full, uncontrolled, the kind of sound she makes when she’s past thinking. I feel her walls start to flutter.

Now.

I pull back just enough to look at her. Her eyes are half-closed, lips parted, chest heaving. "Maren. Look at me."

Her eyes open. Dark. Desperate. Perfect.

"I'm going to bite you now. And I'm going to be inside you when I do."

"Yes," she whispers. "Yes. Please."

I shed my clothes in seconds. Shirt gone, jeans kicked to the floor. My cock is painfully hard, flushed dark, and her eyes drop to it and widen. I remember how her throat worked as she swallowed.

"Next time, I want my mouth on that again," she says.

"Whatever you want, baby." I chuckle.

I settle between her legs, the head of my cock pressing against her entrance. She’s so wet I slide in an inch without even trying. I draw in a ragged breath and brace my hands on either side of her head. I look down at her, this fierce, impossible woman who walked into my life and refused to be afraid of any part of me.

I push forward. Slow. Steady. Feeling her stretch around me, inch by inch, her body opening and gripping and pulling me deeper. She’s so tight it makes my vision blur. Her hands find my back, nails dragging down my tattoos, and I bottom out inside her with a groan that comes from somewhere primal.

"Look at me," I say again. "Stay with me."

"I'm here." Her voice is breathless. "I'm here."

I pull back and thrust in again, deep and hard, finding and rubbing her clit again with my thumb at the same moment. I drop my mouth to the curve where her neck meets her shoulder. I feel my canines extend, my wolf surging forward, sharp and hungry. I bite down just as she starts to come, fluttering around me.

The sound she makes isn’t pain. It’s something beyond it. Something that crashes through the boundary between hurt and pleasure and comes out the other side in a scream that rattles the windows. I feel her orgasm slam through her, her pussy clamping down on my cock so hard I can’t move. Her body arches up against mine, her nails drawing blood down my back.

The bond snaps into place like a lock turning. I feel it like a rush of heat and connection and Maren, flooding my chest. Her pleasure, her need, the overwhelming sensation of her coming apart beneath me. I feel it all.

I release the bite and lick the wound gently, tasting copper and something sweeter underneath. Her walls still pulse around me and I start to move again, slow, deep thrusts that drag the aftershocks out of her until she’s trembling.

"Oh God," she breathes. "I can feel you. I can feel…"

"I know." I press my forehead to hers. "I know, baby. I've got you."

Her eyes are wet, overwhelmed, and I kiss the tears off her cheeks. The bond hums between us, warm and solid, and underneath it, her arousal is already building again. I feel it like a second heartbeat.

I pick up the pace. Long, hard strokes that have her gripping the sheets, that have the headboard knocking against the wall, that has her hips meeting me thrust for thrust. She wraps her legs around my waist and pulls me deeper. I bury myself to the hilt on every stroke.

"Harder," she pleads. "Gage, harder!"

I give it to her harder. The sound of skin on skin fills the room, wet and loud. I feel her pain and pleasure braided together.

Then I feel it. The base of my cock starts to swell.

I slow down. Her eyes snap open, confused.

"What is that, Gage? I feel pressure."

"It's my knot." My voice is strained. I fight for control. "It's part of the claiming for fated mates. My body is…it's going to lock us together."

Her pupils blow wide. I feel a spike of something through the bond, not fear, but sharp, electric curiosity. And underneath it, arousal. Sharp and sudden.