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I shook my head. “I’m fine.” I swiped a tear away. “I’m just thinking about how much I love you.”

He lowered his upper body to mine, tucking his face in my neck, breathing in my scent. “I love you, Rae. I’m so close. Are you ready for this?”

I wrapped my legs around his hips and grasped both horns with my hands. I angled my head to give him room to bite me.

His thrusts grew urgent, my body jolting with every raw snap of his hips. It didn’t take long for my body to respond when his fangs sank into the soft spot between my neck and shoulder.

The sweeping pleasure triggered by his bite sent me hurtling over the edge.

I slapped my hand over my mouth to stifle the scream as my body convulsed with the intensity of my orgasm, spots dancing in my vision.

His rhythm faltered before he stilled, groaning, his cock twitching inside of me as he came.

Though he didn’t drink much, his tongue on the bite triggered another small orgasm. He hissed in response.

We stayed locked together for a while, catching our breath.

As we remained still, with nothing but the sounds of our heavy breaths, something changed.

An overwhelming sense of need, love, and home washed over me and brought tears to my eyes. It only intensified when Ash’s bay rum and cinnamon scent spiked in the room as if he knew what I was experiencing.

“Rae,” he breathed into my neck. “It’s incredible.” He laughed. “It’s everything. More than I could have ever dreamed it’d be.”

I stroked his beard when he lifted his head to peer down at me, no longer in his alternate form. “What is this?”

“Our souls are tethered together now. We can feel each other’s deepest wants and needs.”

“Like read minds?”

“Not telepathy, no. It’s like an idea.”

“Home,” I whispered.

His eyes rounded before softening. “Yeah, Rae. Family. I’ve only had the guys, but… there’s just some holes they can’t fill.” His thumb brushed the tear that slipped down my temple.

To think that something he needed and wanted all this time was something I’d thought I’d never have again after losing my parents and Grandma. Something I thought I could never give someone else because of the things I saw. But it turned out the things I saw brought me what I’d lost in the end.

When his cock softened, he slid out and collapsed beside me, drawing me into his arms.

I didn’t know what the future held, but I knew deep down that the step I’d taken with Ash was the right one. Everything else I’d deal with as it came along.

At least now I knew I wouldn’t face the future alone.

63

BONDS

RAE

As soon as I came downstairs for breakfast, Zeke ambushed me. I shrieked and clutched his shoulders as he picked me up and spun me in a circle, laughing the entire time.

“Put her down,” Ash said with a chuckle.

Zeke stopped spinning and smiled at Ash, who entered the living room right after me. “Congratulations!”

I looked between them, eyes wide. “How…”

When Zeke released me, Ash wrapped his arm around my waist and kissed the top of my head.