Page 42

My head snaps up when her low voice drifts down from our room. “Come to bed and hold me.”

I jog up the stairs. She didn’t say it above a whisper, but the want in it? I feel it in my gut. I flash her a grin from the doorway and duck into the bathroom to brush my teeth. My mate is not getting kissed with stew on my breath.

When I come back into the bedroom, she’s lying on her side and watching me cross to the bed. The lamplight turns her brown skin gold. It’s just us at last, with no pack cousins dropping out of the trees and no one in Wintermoon breathing down our necks.

“It’s been a long day,” I say as I slide under the covers beside her. She clicks off the lamp and curls into my side.

“It has,” she answers. She sounds sleepy, but there’s heat under it. My dick twitches against her hip.

I wrap my arm around her waist to pull her in. She strokes my cheek and traces my jaw. I turn my face into her hand.

“Yes.” I kiss her forehead. “But it was a glorious long day. Well worth the headache.” I drop my voice. “I finally get to be with you. Even with the chaos, it’s still just me and you. And all of Wintermoon knows it now.” I keep my eyes on hers. “But it’s not enough. I want the world to know it.”

Aya presses her body to mine. Her arousal fills my nose. I love that she’s the one starting this. She can have anything she wants from me tonight.

I kiss her slow at first and take my time with her lips and the sigh she breathes into my mouth. When she whimpers, I deepen it. I slide my hands over her nightgown and learn every curve and dip of her body. Her nipples harden under my thumbs.

She hooks a hand around the back of my neck to keep me close. I want all the soft sounds she makes and the little jump she gives when I find a sensitive spot. Somehow we’ve rolled so I’m on top of her with my weight on my elbows. She spreads her legs wide beneath me. I ache to sink into her, but I need to be sure first. I break from her mouth to sniff the air.

She tries to drag me back down and murmurs against my lips. “What are you doing?”

I give her a hard kiss and pull back. “I’m checking for your heat cycle.”

Aya tugs me down to her mouth. She slides her tongue over mine and bucks up to grind her bare pussy on my dick through my pants. I groan at the friction and rock to match.

She’s soaking me through, and I can taste her on every breath. My dragon strains and demands I bury myself in her.

I tear my mouth off hers with a growl. My arms shake from fighting him. She smells like pure want, but this isn’t her heat cycle.

She sits up. “Why are we stopping?”

I look down between her legs, where her nightgown has ridden up to her hips. Her pussy is wet and swollen for me. I bite my lip until I taste blood.

“Umm.” She copies me and sniffs the air. She presses her foot against my dick and curls her toes along the outline. “You smell aroused.” She rubs harder. I hiss and push up into it. “And you feel aroused. So what’s the problem?”

“The first heat cycle is special,” I force out. “Ritualistic. Even more bonding than the mate bond itself.”

She stares at me with her scent gone warm. She drops her eyes to my chest. “I didn’t realize how much of me you studied.”

I look down at her pussy again. My tongue stretches long and forked in my mouth until I’m drooling for her.

Aya sighs and pulls her foot away. She closes her legs and hides herself from me. I nearly lose my mind and huff smoke out of my nose.

“Well, who knows when I’ll get my heat cycle?” she says with a shrug.

Fine, she wants to play. My dragon roars and fights my control. I ball my fists on my thighs while he drives me to take her, claim her, and make her scream. I’m through waiting. She’s not going to sleep until we handle this.

She lies back to get comfortable. I grab her by the leg and drag her down the bed. Her eyes go wide. “What?”

“You need me,” I growl. “So you’re going to get me. Just not in the way you think.”

She blinks. “You’re right. I want to keep the tradition⁠—”

She yelps when I flip her onto her hands and knees. I yank her nightgown up over her hips. She skipped her panties on purpose. I’d have torn them off her if she hadn’t.

She grins at me over her shoulder. My brat thinks she’s won this.

“I’m not gonna make it through the night without a taste, Aya.” It comes out more dragon than man. “Bend over.”